Luca Cucina Italiana — Restaurant in Berkeley

I thought I'd try this place for a celebration because I love Italian food. I figured I'd get some pasta and wine and have a nice time. Ha! The restaurant is small, with about twelve tables. The management prioritizes preparation of takeout/doordash rather than then the patrons right in front of them. I decided to order lasagna for my meal, garlic bread as an appetizer, and an iced tea since they don't have any wine or beer. What kind of Italian place doesn't sell wine?? (Based on the commenters below, it's rumored they got caught serving underage). I can surmise this must also be the reason they prioritize their doordash but I don't understand why they even keep a sit down part of the restaurant. They should just become a take out place. The iced tea was bottled, so no refills. (The soda was also in cans, so no refills). Obviously this is fine for takeout - but is unusual for an American sit down restaurant. The lasagna was small and alright but the cheese was extremely rich. Wine would have been nice to cut through the cheese. The garlic bread was the best part of the meal. Think of it, 20 something dollars for lasagna, 6 dollars for a non refillable iced tea, 10 dollars or so for bread. They didn't ask if I wanted dessert but by the end of the meal, I really wanted to leave because it was such a disappointing experiencing. I can't believe that the best part of the meal was garlic bread. I'm not going back to this place. I'm not ordering them on doordash because of...

The food was great. The service was not great. It was freezing in there, as well, and there was a heater over the door but it was not running even though the room was full of patrons. They seemed to be so busy fulfilling take out orders that it took 45 minutes for the waiter to come to our table to take away the dishes from the last customers who sat at our table and take our drink order. It might not be bad if they served drinks or something but it was a cold wait with no acknowledgement from the staff. We had to stand up and wait in line with the take out delivery people to call attention to our table. No drinks came, not even water. The waiter seemed very inexperienced and it seemed like he was the only one working on Valentine’s Day. He took our order and we waited another 45 minutes for the food, which arrived half warm. The potatoes were cold but the chicken was fresh and warm. The chicken piccata and eggplant parmigiana were perfect aside from the cold potatoes. Sauces were great. Our waters arrived after our meal arrived, the appetizer never arrived so we tried ordering it again to eat with our meal. The appetizer salad arrived and it was quite big, but not very well dressed. It was a generous portion of arugula with some vinegar, beets, nuts and cheese but not quite enough oil to balance the acidity off the leaves. A new server arrived who served our meals and she was much better. Quick and friendly. Overall I enjoyed the food but was surprised by...

This place has potential.

The service is a little confusing; you first order and pay for your food at a cash register, grab your own beverage, and then seat yourself. But then after that they start waiting on you, bringing your food to the table and clearing courses as you finish. I was so confused when I walked in, that I had no idea how much to tip, at first confusing it for self-service when I paid. I ended up leaving a little more on the table as I left since the experience transitioned into full service partway through. While the woman who took my order and served me was friendly, the awkwardness of the service model made it a less pleasant experience.

The food is probably awesome, though I think I made a bad decision and ended up with mixed results. First, I had the burrata appetizer, which I really liked. It was very simple and just about perfect: burrata, a couple of good tomato slices, and olive oil. Then, I had the eggplant panini, which just wasn't for me. It might be good if you really like eggplant. It was a lot of eggplant. I usually expect paninis to be thin, but this was piled high with eggplant, plus some cheese and marinara sauce. It was first of all difficult to eat (fortunately they provided a serrated knife with the dish) due to its size, which is a pet peeve of mine. And then again, it was just a lot of eggplant. To drink, I had a Purity Organic Strawberry Paradise, which was tasty...