Pizza Lucé Eden Prairie — Restaurant in Eden Prairie

Great Food, Great Service, Despite Adversity.

A good friend of mine, my fiancé and myself stopped in last Sunday for brunch. Inside seating and the patio were both busy, as should be expected on such a beautiful early summer afternoon. We had made a reservation so getting in was no trouble despite the brunch rush, though the sea of hungry people lining the halls and patio are not the adversity to which I refer in the title of this review. We had a wonderful server whose name was Anthony who had the misfortune of taking care of a group of hockey parents and players. There must have been 30 of them all together, soda refills and water carafe replenishes had to be brought to the table as if they had the insatiable thirst of a man who had been stranded in the Sahara for weeks. Yet Anthony did not flinch. Drink service was prompt and quick to our table as well as the hockey hooligans. As the drinks flowed like Niagara falls the puck dropped and it was time for food. Again, prompt and quick to both parties, not only that it was delicious! Keeping up with so many customers is quite the feat in itself but what came next was of biblical proportions in the service industry. Low and behold they all wanted separate checks.. It doesn't matter how good of a server you are. This takes time. Yet Anthony remained steadfast and cranked those puppies out like a man possessed, all the while making sure we had everything we needed. Soon the players and parents left, we asked for our check and a box for our remaining pizza and that is where the real icing on the cake came to light. As my friend struggled to box the remaining pizza, almost to catastrophic failure, Anthony swooped in like a guardian of the slice and in one smooth motion had the precious cargo boxed and ready for us to be on our way. Overall I was impressed with the food and décor but, hands down, the service is why we will be coming back. I hope this motivates those reading to come have your own experience and if ownership or management is reading, take pride in your staff, as it seems you've prepared them to do what I had only deemed...

We left after the bartender was rude. We asked to sit outside when we first arrived and the hostess said the tables were wet so we couldn’t sit there. There were two other groups outside sitting just getting their food so we were a bit put off by being told they couldn’t wipe them for us when they clearly did it for the others. We then said don’t worry we will sit inside. However, it was freezing inside so we asked to please move to the patio. She was a bit rude about moving us there, but then grabbed a towel and wiped down a table. Ok cool, thanks. After sitting and looking at the drink menu, the bartender came out to tell us we couldn’t move anything in the patio (we had moved a chair to make it 5) due to ADA compliance. Ok, no problem, we will move again. But then he had to say “for the future when the patio is closed it’s closed” as he was walking away. We called him back so we could explain the situation but he waved us off and said rudely that he couldn’t talk because he had to get a towel to wipe off our new table. He was really rude about it and you could tell he was mad during our entire interaction. We were never told that it was closed. Just that it was wet. The hostess was not even busy and she was just washing the windows so it’s not like we were putting pressure on a busy server. We were very polite about the entire thing until the bartender accused us of being in the wrong when he clearly didn’t understand the situation and what had come before. Then words were said that maybe shouldn’t have been said...

I’ve loved Pizza Luce for years. And even after our first visit to this location went pretty badly, I still love it and will toss them 5 stars. Because second chances are important.

Our night started simply: we ordered a diet cherry Coke and a soda water with a lime wedge. The rest of our 10 person party’s drinks showed up quickly. Ours took, well, a lot longer.

We ordered a 12” Athena with chicken and a slice of chocolate cake. The pizza was absolutely up to the exceedingly high pizza standard to which I am accustomed at any Pizza Luce; well done, pizza peeps. The cake, though, remains an enigma. It never made an appearance and by the time we got our check, we were neither hungry nor amused enough to care much for cake.

This is because our check came back to the table with someone else’s card in it and billed to them, no less. Some 15 minutes after notifying our server, who snatched the card and check and disappeared in cussing whirlwind, we were given a “So sorry!” But I was beyond that, so I sought out a manager.

I explained the nights strange course of events, how we had consistently drawn the short service straw at a crowded table of 5 couples, none of whom had any issues with their experience. I politely asked if he could send us off with a reason to give this new location a second chance by comping our meal. He didn’t even flinch and did so with a smile and an apology.

We will...