Zucca — Restaurant in Coral Gables

Party of 1 at the bar. 3/1/25. So disappointing because I wanted to like this place. My boss, who has lived in the gables for 50 years said I’d like it since I spend 9 weeks a year in Tuscany and was missing pasta. I’ve lived in the neighborhood a few years so decided to give it a try. Big mistake. Maybe this was just an off night food wise? Not sure what the excuse is for service. Not that it was horrible, just could’ve used managerial observation and interaction given a guest didn’t like nor touch their food and was still given a $200 check.

The positives first: Lovely, cozy interior. People seemed pleasant Nice energy Nice location(not too crowded tucked away on Ponce)

Unfortunate negatives: Zucchini flowers were decent enough. I was starving so I ate 2 before asking for it to go and ready for the main dish. Ufff, the sedanini pasta was inedible. It was barely al dente; just warmed up. When he sat down the plate I thought, why is he serving me plain pasta? Upon my first and only bite, I discovered it was just a horrible dish. No way a chef sent that out to a customer. If so, id be curious to know the reason. I can delve into that later. Anyway, the dish had maybe 6 tiny pieces of meat, looked like pieces of pancetta or roughly the size of bacon bits. So I told the bartender I didn’t like it one bite in and he took it away. That’s it. No question why or offering something else. Not quite fine dining service. So I reluctantly ordered dessert because I was still starving. I ordered a Black Forest chocolate cake. Omg, this is the kicker! It’s hilarious. It comes out and it’s literally like 2 thin slices of what looks from one of those grocery store bought cake dessert logs, like a pinwheel. I stared at it and he quickly removed it and ran back to kitchen. Somewhere around 10mins go by. Thinking he may have realized the dissatisfaction of a customer not eating their food, he’d return with a beautiful slice of cake. Hahahahhahahahahhahahahahahah NOPE! What I received was a ground up, yes I said ground up, like how a piece of cake would like like after a toddler got their hands on it. It was a mess of whatever chocolate cake-like ingredient they had. I really wish I had taken pictures but I was just so amused by the absurdity of how bad it all was. It’s really sad though because it seems like a nice place. I’m hoping it was just a bad night but I don’t see how there’s any excuse for the...

What a disappointment. As someone who works in the hospitality industry as a manager and someone who tried dozens of Italian restaurants (managed few as well) I can't tell you enough how disappointing my anniversary dinner tonight at Zucca was. First of all service was poor. Our server Norberto (name on check) managed to make me do something I believe I've never done in my life (tip only 18 percent) with his unprofessional approach and constant rushing. I am sorry Norberto but that's not how you do it, especially on a night when you're not even that busy. He also did not try to make any suggestions on food or help navigate through a very extensive wine list (wine list was pretty impressive with a great selection). We ordered appetizers and few minutes after they arrived we placed the orders for main course. Maybe 8-9 minutes later our main courses arrived while we were LITERALLY IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR APPETIZERS. Like come on, these are basics, how do you not course your food properly(we weren't advised if their concept is send as ready, but I highly doubt that's the case). My main course was bucatini cacio e pepe which is generally one of my favorite pastas but my God this was an insult for cacio e pepe especially for a place that claims to be AUTHENTIC ITALIAN. Sauce was just bland cream without any flavor. You couldn't taste any pecorino and there was literally no pepper. I love al dente pasta but this was way undercooked. It should have been cooked for at least another 90 seconds to two minutes. Whoever was the chef on duty should be embarrassed for sending out poorly executed pasta dish like that. Mind you price of their cacio e pepe is 25$ which is on par with some of the best Italian restaurants in Miami like phenomenal Pane & Vino. My wife's ravioli were just ok, nothing special. With all that being said we didn't even bother staying for dessert and just grabbed the check and left laughing. Huge disappointment guys, unacceptable especially for such a beautiful looking restaurant. Maybe I just caught you on a bad night but in all honesty I wish I didn't spend my...

I came here for lunch with a friend to try the Miami Spice deal. I hadn’t been here in decades- since it was just the Saint Michelle restaurant where my husband proposed to me.

It wasn’t too busy when we arrived and I was able to park right across the street in front of the restaurant. It was just a few dollars to park on the street. There’s also a parking garage across the street.

The restaurant is still beautiful and beautifully decorated. The ambiance is very relaxing. We were sat next to their huge walk-in wine cooler. Our waiter was very attentive and friendly. He had several other people helping him out. There was always someone ready to take our plates, or refill our drinks.

I ordered the Ruby Rosé Spritz. It was delicious and very refreshing. My friend ordered an iced tea. She didn’t like it. So she also ordered a Spritz.

For appetizers we both ordered the burrata salad. It was delicious. Very unique with sweet peaches, crunchy cabbage, and a elderflower dressing.

For our main entree we both ordered the red snapper. I loved mine and ate every bite! My friend said hers was a little fatty and tough, so she didn’t really like hers so much. It came with a little grape tomato salad on the side. I actually liked the salad more than the fish. It was really tasty!

For our desserts I ordered the Pecorino cheese with honey. My friend ordered the passion fruit cheesecake. The passion fruit cheesecake was delicious! It’s too bad we were so full from the rest of our meal. The cheesecake was light, fluffy and not too sweet. The passion fruit syrup around it was the perfect tartness and sweetness. It had a few crunchy seeds in the syrup that added a pleasant touch. Definitely one of the best desserts I’ve ever had.

Altogether our lunches were about $60-$65 each which included a 20%.

I’d definitely return. It’s a great place for couples. Very romantic. I’m glad they have the Miami Spice deal because it really encourages me to get out and try new places, or places I haven’t been to in...