Lucia's Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in Effingham

We had never been to Lucia's in Effingham before. We were going to Effingham Performance Center sovwe decided to give it a try. We usually eat at Neimerg's or the Gabby Goat. The way the advertising we saw made it sound this was a somewhat "nicer" or possibly "fancy" place and reservations were recommended. So we made a reservation. They didn't even know we had one. I will list things as follows: 1) You placed your order at the counter and paid as you would at a fast food restaurant. There was a tip jar at the cash register where you could tip before ev and n a bite of food and touched your lips. 2) On the front door there is a sign stating you are welcome to BYOB, bring your own bottle. They don't say this on the door, but inside there is a sign stating to uncork your bottle of wine that you brought in, they will charge you $8.00. Seriously??? What if you brought your own cork screw? I sometimes buy cheaper wine with a screw off cap. $8 too? 3) They did bring a chilled bottle of water to the table and said if we wanted ice we could get it ourselves at the soda station. 4) Saved the best til last. There is a cooler/refrigerator with a glass door in plain customer sight loaded with several kinds of beer. Stella Artois, Bud Light, etc with.a few bottle of wine or other liquor on the middle shelf with the chilled water mentioned above on the bottom shelf. My husband asked about the beer and was told it was NOT for sale. Again in plain view of the customers. When the waiter brought our food I asked him "just to be clear, the beer, etc is not for sale?" He said no, the beer is just for us, we don't have a liquor license yet. We hoping to get one. With all that said tbe food was very good and the place smelled wonderful. ...

I noticed a new restaurant in town and I checked it online. I got intrigued by the picture of "Bucatini alla Carbonara" that looked very good. So I told my wife we should try it the first time we'd go out to eat. And a few days later we did. The place is informal and has a limited seating area. We had to wait before they could seat us, but not for long. While waiting to be seated we ordered. Unusual for an Italian restaurant but efficient. We had two options: at the table or take away. We definitely choose to eat at the table. We ordered "Bucatini alla Carbonara" and "Bucatini alla Amatriciana" which we were going to share half and half. The food was ready not too long after we got seated. The pasta was perfectly cooked "al dente" (not easy to find outside Italy) and the taste in my opinion were both excellent. My wife liked the Carbonara better, to her the Amatriciana was a little too spicy (she can't handle spicy food). We were about to leave when we had the chance to talk to the owner, he's half Italian by mother who was from Naples (Napoli). He told us for a long time he thought his mother was from Sicily (Sicilia) until he found out the truth. So that's why, he said, his food is inspired at the Sicilian tradition, which explains the spiciness. It was a wonderful experience, not just the food but also how welcomed they made us feel. We decided it's definitely a place worth going out to eat and we'll be back to try the other many...

We took my mom there for her birthday dinner Friday night and were extremely disappointed. We had 3 adults and 2 very small children. Our meal was about $100. This was for plain pasta with sauce (no meat or vegetables, can’t even add them for an extra charge if you want to) for all of us (2 of them kids size), except for one who got ribs that he couldn’t even eat, and the order is an appetizer that includes only 4 ribs anyway. And two of us added a side salad to our meal, and we each had a soft drink. They were out of tiramisu, which is one of the main things I expect to have if I go to an Italian restaurant, and my mom especially wanted to have on her birthday. Now I would have no problem with paying $100 for the meal, or even more for a good Italian meal, however…I do not expect to pay $100 for a meal where I have to: 1. Stand at a counter and order my food. , 2. Retrieve my food when my name is called out and carry it out plate by plate to the people at my table., 3. Go to a station where I have to get my own drinks, silverware, napkins, etc., 4. Bus my own table (full of real, heavy dishes) while trying to wrangle two small children after I’ve done all of the above. The only thing I can say positive about this place at this point is that the noodles and the bread tasted good. But to me it seems to be just an overpriced fast food restaurant, where the food isn’t very fast. I don’t see any of...