Lucca El Cangrejo Panamá — Restaurant in Bella Vista

A quick but nice lunch at one of my favorite Italian restaurants in Panama City disappointed today. Food is normally excellent and although the service is generally good I've never found it to be great. Not important as it's casual upscale and always adequate. Lunch was tapering down and it's typical in a restaurant that service gets a little sloppy during those times (or when it's quiet -I'm in the business!). Getting the order in wasn't easy today even though we were asked three times by the friendly young staff if anyone had taken our order followed by a "I'll send the waiter over". Our order was small and easy with a delicious gnocchi at only $11 (bargain!) and a starter consisting of prosciutto, burrata, salami, and toasted bread at $15. I've had the latter before so I knew what to expect. I didn't want any surprises. The food was plopped down without any follow up, no olive oil, no extra plates, no "can I get you anything else" (I did tell the waiter though that it was my only course but hadn't expected to cut into the nice wooden service tray nor have the bread without the olive oil!). That was the end of service. As it was supposed to be a quick lunch I went up myself to ask for plates instead of trying to get the attention of a group of workers in the corner chatting. The "prosciutto" had been exchanged for thick, tough cuts of lesser quality "Serrano" Ham which I wasn't excited about and hence asked the waiter to speak to get to speak with someone in charge which there wasn't (it all made sense now!). A head waiter (tall guy who's worked there for a few years) came over. I just wanted to find out what was happening as the menu said Prosciutto (which I was also paying for!). I try not to be a difficult customer but had it been a high quality Serrano as a replacement for the Prosciutto, no problem. But again, this was tough no-fat who-knows Serrano (see my posted photo). The head waiter couldn't understand my issues but after a while we agreed that one was Italian and the other Spanish. And that was it. No "I'm sorry about that mix up", "let me check with the kitchen". He said flat out: We only use Serrano and not prosciutto! So this is why I'm writing this review. They now don't use Prosciutto. Only tough thick sliced anything cured ham. And the waiter didn't understand why that was a problem for me??!! I hate to see this once great place not caring anymore about their ingredients but oh well. The whole thing was handled so unprofessionally that it hurt. After that we were completely ignored with the exception of two waiters stationed right in front of us, arms crossed, just staring at us. We were never asked for extra beverages (my finished wine glass sat empty for a long while) desserts or anything. Ignored! Wow! Had not expected THAT at Lucca but that is how restaurants come and go. I'm sure the restaurant will still have many great dishes and good adequate service, but the times of being consistently great...

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE, I WILL NOT GIVE YOU A SECOND CHANCE BECAUSE YOU SHOULD BETTER MANAGE YOUR CLIENTS! I was excited to come to this restaurant. As I am Italian and I LOVE PIZZA, many people had told me "You should try Lucca Restaurant" so at the first chance I went. The menu looks nice, the dishes are well presented and the staff is well trained. That's all that I can say that it is positive because me and my partner had a terrible dinner. We ordered a Mozzarella in Carrozza to share and this was nice, accompanied with a nice sauce. My partner had the Tortelloni di Zucca witha butter sauce and it was not well made. The Tortelloni where not well cooked as on the bite you could still feel some hard edges and the sauce it was truly terrible - it felt like they just melted some butter without too much thought. 1 Star here - very bad!!! I had a Margherita Napolitana, the queen of the pizza when well made and it was burned (the first one). I told the manager, the oven is too hot so it burns it does not cook show them the pizza and the could simply admit to the fault. They brought a second one and it was undercooked - What they did was simple: They just left it in for less time to avoid to burn it but of course it was not cooked so I could not finish it and left half of it or I would have likely suffered indigestion (DON'T EAT RAW PIZZA BREAD!!!). The mozzarella was not melted properly and there was way too much tomato sause! See the pictures for proof. 0 Stars for the pizza and only 3 stars for the staff, they were kind and well trained but the manager has no excuses - you should not serve these meals! Disgraceful!!! I realise that you might have a bad day but after you see the second pizza is bad, at least ask me if I would like a coffee on the house and perhaps I would comeback because I see you take charge of the situation.It would have cost you approx. $0.30 cents for a coffee, and it would have been a nice gesture but not. Thank you for the...

Visited in July 2024. Panama. Panama City.

We chose this restaurant based on its good reviews and convenient location. We love Italian food and eat it quite often. The restaurant's interior is fairly simple, with plenty of space. What impressed us was the enormous pizza oven.

The Food: We came here specifically for the pizza. We opted for the mortadella with pistachio – a favourite combination of ours – and a classic Margherita. The pizzas took about 10 minutes to cook, which is pretty quick. You could tell at a glance that this was a great Neapolitan pizza – the puffy edges with air bubbles are a sign of proper dough fermentation, and the slightly charred bubbles suggest that the pizzas were baked in a professional wood-fired oven. The dough had a neutral flavour, which is essential for a pizza as it shouldn't compete with the toppings. The toppings were generous, with a good amount of sauce and cheese. The tomato sauce was excellent, perfectly balanced between sweet and tangy. The mortadella was tasty – we asked for double, so I guess the standard portion might seem a little small. All in all, it was a truly great pizza.

Service: The service was decent. The waiters didn't speak much English, but we still managed to order without any problems. The pizza was prepared quickly, and the waiters were friendly.

Overall: I would recommend this pizza. It's delicious and properly made. The dough had an amazing aroma, barely any yeast smell, which is also a sign of well-made pizza. If you're looking for a tasty pizza, this is the...