Luciano's Cucina Italiana — Restaurant in Akron

Where to start? The restaurant is nicely decorated but quite loud. Not the worst thing about this place. Our waiter started out very cheery and upbeat.

We were seated at 8:15, slightly later than our 8pm reservation but this happens. It took some to get our first drinks only to have our waiter forget to order wife’s drink. Cue our waiter disappearing for 15 min. He comes around again and gets our full order and was going to stagger them coming out. Great right? Cue yet another disappearing act.

He flies by again with promises that our appetizer would be out in 5 minutes and he would bring bread.

He then proceeded to take care of the tables to the left and right, chatting wonderfully with them. Does a fly by…no bread .

55 minutes after being seated we had bread! Our appetizer followed in short order, a meatball. It looked great, it smelled great. It was not great. The sauce had some flavor but the meatball had none and cried wee, wee, wee all the way to a sad place in our bellies.

Salads came out a bit later. I had the Ceaser, my wife had the pastatini soup. My salad was average, fairly heavy with the dressing but edible. The pastatini….lets dive in. Pastatini soup, also known as Italian penicillin, is usually a very flavorful soup with tiny round noodles. I’m not sure why they made this with an anemic stock, large chunks of chicken, and mini ziti noodles but that’s what we got.

Cue another long wait for dinner, but hey, we had some food in us so all is…okay.

Dinner comes, 3 out 4 entrees are fine. I had the carrot risotto with a 4 oz filet, ordered med-rare. The risotto was fine with an interesting cheese but I liked it. The steak was cooked blue. Rarer than rare. Cold to the touch. Clearly not medium rare.

I managed to snare our waiter (Matt or Matthew) and let him know about my issues. He promptly takes my plate, with my fork in it, to correct it. Two minutes later it’s out and should be great according to our waiter. The aforementioned blue rare meat was now grey. Wet grey lumps of still very rare filet.

I am no expert, but I’ve worked in restaurants and I know what microwaved meat looks like. Grey wet lumps or meat. I raise my objection to Matt again only to be told “Sir, we don’t have a microwave in our kitchen.”

Okay, this magically turned grey and was back to my table in two minutes. No indication it ever touched the grill. Oh, and when it came back it was the same dish, partially eaten risotto, with my original fork planted firmly in it.

I’ve been to enough fine dining establishments. This was not my first time. I’ve had other restaurants under or over cook a steak. It happens. Each and every other time this has occurred a new steak or at least a recooked steak came out, new plate, fresh side, new fork.

Our second round of drinks I reordered my original - the floating petal I think. First one was fantastic (if you do go here, order it), but the second one tasted like gin and grapefruit.

At this point I’ve had it. I send my entree back and just tell him to take it off the bill and I’m fine. No need to do the entree shuffle again.

I head up front to speak to a manager about how long we have waited for our various courses, the food issue, etc. Folks let me tell you, she was the one redeeming experience at this establishment. She listened, she apologized, and she said we will come up with a plan. And she did. She comped all 4 of entrees even though we said we were fine with just mine coming off. After all, that was the only entree that failed. She would not hear it. She was very concerned with our experience and wanted to make it so right that would try again. I don’t recall her name but she deserves every penny she earns and more. I hope she moves on to a restaurant that she can be proud of.

Our waiter? Near silence. No apology. Nothing said to even validate the experience we just had. Matt, if you read this, please find another profession. This is not for you.

You can try this place but there are many other restaurants in this area that deserve your...

Outstanding, from start to finish. Service was perfect: the host greeted us promptly, our server treated us like regulars, and other service team members even stepped in to help with the aggressive bees that attacked our bone marrow. (I don't blame them, it was delicious!)

Ambiance was stellar as well. We sat in a private room previously, but this time opted for the patio. My date sat facing the valley and had a gorgeous view; my view made me feel like I was dining in a bigger city. Beautiful patio!

I forgot how to order a dirty martini - it's been SO long - but it came out perfect, I enjoyed every sip, and the drink definitely set the stage for a wonderful meal.

On to the food: as usual, the mussels were impeccable. Two pieces of bread is not enough for that broth! The shrimp tempura was so crisp and seasoned perfectly. Next time we'll ask for extra dim yum sauce ;)

We opted to share the porterhouse that came with bone marrow, roasted garlic, more crusty bread, and asparagus, plus three sides and three sauces. We couldn't decide between the duck fat fingerlings and the truffle fries, so we got both - and I'm glad we did, because the fries were good even when they were cold! We also ordered the carrots - highly recommend. Our server noted that the carrot puree was really the highlight, and he was right. We chose the peppercorn, red wine jus, and house steak sauce to accompany the dish, and WOW! I couldn't get enough of the peppercorn and my date couldn't get enough of the house steak sauce. The steak didn't need sauce, but the sauces were so good we could have drank them! I style food for a living, so I really enjoyed the floral garnish and thoughtful plating of the porterhouse platter. ALMOST too pretty to eat.

Toward the close of our visit, the bees came out. Being allergic, we opted to end our meal a little sooner than planned, but it was no bother. Our server sent us off with a complementary slice of Nutella pie, and once we got home, we dug in. We typically skip dessert, but I'm here to tell you - do not sleep on the Nutella pie! WOW! the salty ganache was the perfect touch.

Honestly, we can't wait to come back. It took me too long to return since the first time I visited, that's for sure. Thanks for a...

My husband and I went to Lucianos for a midweek dinner date after seeing them posted on social media. Overall, I give them 4/5 for everything.

For a Wednesday night the service was decently busy, I do reccomend using the simple reservation form via open table regardless of when you go. When we arrived at 7pm for our reservation it was fairly quiet, but by the end of our meal the place was mostly full including the bar.

The service was stellar, staff were friendly and quick to assist or jump in to ask if we needed anything even when it wasn't our server.

The atmosphere is also solid, feeling upbeat and modern enough for a casual dinner together or a date.

The warm bread with butter, oil, and vinegar was simple but a nice start to the meal.

The Ruby's Dream cocktail was delicious and strong enough that I sipped it for the entire meal.

We got the Charcuterie and Artichoke appetizers. The artichokes should not be skipped of you enjoy them, they were well made and delicious.

The risotto this visit was carrot and goat cheese, and was very well made.

For entrees we both selected pasta as all but the penne is made in house. My chicken Alfredo had a delicious sauce, and the grilled chicken was near perfect, though in larger pieces than I would have preferred given that the bowl it is served in is not ideal for cutting into smaller bites. The mushrooms were a nice addition in it as well, I just wish there had been more as a mushroom fan.

The spaghetti and meatballs was also delicious and the meatball was very well made.

The tiramisu is always a classic and was presented well.

Our only complaint about both pastas were that there were a couple of large chunks where the pasta stuck together in a ball to where it couldn't be broken apart, so we each had pieces where it was just a lump of cooked pasta with just a little sauce unless we swiped it through the rest of the pasta. A minor complaint, as I also make my own pasta and know it can happen easily. We still took leftovers home, and ate it happily today for lunch.

Overall very happy, and we...