La Terrazza — Restaurant in Lucerne

Americans BEWARE! We stopped in for a very late lunch upon arrival in Lucerne. Its a cool location right on the Reuss river in old town, and we were famished and did not bother to check reviews. The place was basically empty, with 2 tables finishing up and leaving shortly after we were seated. We split a small beef carpaccio as an app, and my husband ordered a small pizza with prosciutto ham, and i ordered a Caesar salad with Tiger Prawns from their menu. We placed the order all together. We enjoyed the carpaccio, and had very pleasant conversation and interaction with the waiter, and were served in a very reasonable time frame - up to that point. Then 3 more groups came in - one family of 3, a couple, and another group of 6. All were locals and/or regional folks - we were the only Americans in the place. We waited and waited for our entrees, and watched everyone else, that had come in long after us, being served their food. I even saw an order of the salad with Tiger Prawns being delivered to the table next to us. These were clearly extra large tiger prawns (which are easily ID’d by their color/stripes. Our waiter, at this point, was no where to be found. But the manager/owner was taking dishes to all the other tables. I looked at him across the room and shrugged my shoulders to imply ‘where are our dishes that were ordered much earlier’? He said, rather rudely across the room, ‘your food is coming’. So he finally delivered our entrees - and rudely said ‘here’s your food’. He also seemed ticked off that i did not want bread with my salad - seriously? He made some snide comment as he walked away. My salad, as it turned out, did not have the nice, large Tiger Prawns, like the other table received, but rather cheap, medium sized frozen shrimp. Also, the ham on the pizza was clearly not prosciutto, but typical cheap ham that mediocre joints serve. There was no point to complain by now, since we were starving and needed to get to the hotel - and it would serve no good purpose. The waiter finally showed back up and we paid the check. As we left, we walked by another table that had, you guessed it, a pizza with REAL prosciutto ham on it! Bottom line to this review is this …. The owner doesn’t like American customers, and substitutes CHEAP INGREDIENTS on high priced dishes - while serving locals the real deal, and prioritizing their orders. He should be closed down for this kind of nonsense. So BEWARE and steer clear of this joint. Reprehensible service and attitude, while misrepresenting...

After so many very good restaurant experiences during our European holiday, the La Terrazza regrettably delivered our worst experience by far for what should have been a celebratory New Year’s Day dinner. The first off-note was being presented only with the so-called “festival” food menu which had a far more limited range of dishes than the normal menu and at significantly inflated prices. The second off-note was the waiter providing us with only the expensive bottled wine list leaving us to inquire about the availability of wine by the glass, beer and soft drink. It was only when my daughter queried a drink the waiter had promoted to her because “young people like it”, that he briefly showed her the other drinks menu. The third off-note was the quality of the food vis a vis price – we all had the same pasta dish with salmon and shrimp. It was thoroughly unremarkable – something you could readily cook at home and with more salmon and shrimp filling than at La Terrazza. That might have been okay if it had been moderately priced but at 35.50 CHF, it was seriously over-priced. The fourth off-note was finding – as other reviewers have discovered – that we would be charged 5 CHF for a carafe of tap water. I have never encountered such an outrageous request in many years of dining out. At least the waiter then agreed to our request to a couple of glasses of water for no charge. The final off-note was the waiter’s “suggestion” when we paid the bill that we consider adding a tip and the ultra-curt “thanks, bye” when I declined. The best part of the night was...

From the time earlier in day making our reservation through our reception when we arrived for dinner till we left the restaurant at the conclusion of our evening everything was excellent. Our sever Luan, he was superb, ensuring that everything was perfect including providing advice on the menu when requested. The staff working with Luan provided equally as attentive service. They were always there at the right time, being very friendly and ensuring things were to our liking but not obtrusive.

Of note as well is the quality of the meal. I had beef tenderloin carpaccio to begin and veal as a main course which were top quality. My wife had beef tenderloin. She likes it well done. The chef took the time to do it as a full piece, cooked to perfection, not burnt and not dried out ( as many restaurants do), my wife gave it A+. For desert my wife had an ice cream dish and I had tiramisu which were recommended by Luan and both excellent.

We sat on the outdoor patio which is against the river and is private so no one walking through the area. We would highly...