De Luca Cucina & Bar — Restaurant in Cambridge

The food was some of the best I’ve ever tasted! The restaurant had nice decor and they have certainly made the most of the space.

The service was impeccable although trust was impaired as the waiters were too focussed on upselling and making revenue rather than giving the guest the best experience eg when we asked for water at the table the waiter didn’t ask if we wanted a bottle of mineral water or a jug of tap water, needless to say he had already opened. Bottle of billable water, we dined as a family of 4 and when I asked the waiter if 1 portion of calamiri would be enough for 2 children to share he advised that there were “only 5 pieces” which was the truth, but he conveniently failed to say that the portions were of gigantic size and 1 portion would have been suffice. Another example was my son ordered the King Prawn risotto which turned out to be quite spicy - the menu description did not mention this - the waiter took the plate away without fuss and offered an exchange without chilli (again as spice was not mentioned on the menu) but my poor son had to wait until we had finished our meals to receive his (at which point he lost interest). In this situation I can’t help thinking that the waiter a) when taking the order from a child could have taken the initiative to check whether he was ok with chilli heat and to give him the option to order the dish without chilli OR b) when they realised their mistake, he should have taken that meal off the bill.

Overall it was a lovely experience but I still feel disappointed that we paid £20 for a meal that wasn’t as described and took 30+ mins to...

Had mussels and calamari as starters. Mussels were well cooked with great seasoning so was highly satisfied. Calamari could’ve been smaller pieces so it fries better rather than being such a big chunky piece but the sauce was remarkable.

For mains we had bolognese and daily special pasta which was meatballs. Bolognese was classic, more like home cooked style but still great flavour. Meatballs with pasta is not traditional way to eat it but still the taste was okay. However both pasta could’ve been better considering they were both £16/£17 but not much difference from other Italian chain restaurant such as Zizzi or Bella Italia. Also felt like the pasta was slightly over cooked and I would’ve preferred other types such as tagliatelle or linguine. I was seriously disappointed for the fact that they don’t do arancini anymore as I really wanted to try it.

The service was great. They were all kind and friendly while being professional. The atmosphere of the restaurant was amazing, it was a hot day but they had air conditioning with full power. Upstairs rooftop was small but looks cute and the downstairs was comfy and cosy.

Willing to visit again to try different menus but I really hope they will do...

End-of-year dinner! We tried and shared almost all the starters. All delicious. The handmade pasta gave a rustic, homely feeling, though on the softer side. The sauce blended well and was not too heavy. The pizzas smelled good from the oven and over people’s table ;) For desserts, tiramisu is quite good, especially the moist lady fingers. My friend also said the cheesecake was one of the best white chocolate cheesecakes he’s ever had.

Last but not least, I was a little nervous when I booked the place as we have three Italians in the group, but they reckoned the food here was fairly nice (except that Melanzane Parmigiana should not be misleadingly categorized under pasta as it does not contain pasta 😅 and that the food from the Foggia region was actually underrepresented probably due to the exoticizing and homogenizing process of commercialization, which is common for all foreign cuisines.)

(Originally recommended by a friend from London H who discovered the place during her...