Lucco Cucina + Bar — Restaurant in Florham Park

Lucco Cucino & Bar is one of my favorite restaurants and it’s nearby in Florham Park, NJ. It’s got a lovely exterior, as well as interior. A huge fireplace anchors the dining room while a bar and additional tables are surrounded by lots of windows. When you arrive you’re welcomed by friendly hostesses who seat you promptly. You are then greeted by very competent servers who take your drink order while you peruse their extensive menu. Focaccia and Italian bread are brought to the table with olive oil for dipping. And they don’t mind when you inevitably ask for more. They do offer specials most nights and I’ve never been disappointed. But their regular menu has so many dishes that I LOVE. We never go without ordering their Crisp Zucchini appetizer! It comes with a yogurt dipping sauce which they’ll happily replenish! Also, the Burrato is so yummy! They have many Italian specialties including pizzas, pastas and killer meatballs. Honestly, order the meatballs with one of their yummy pastas and you won’t go wrong. They even sell jars of their homemade sauces. My husband is in love with their chicken parmigiana. It’s fabulous. The portion could feed two people! I am a huge fan of their salmon. More recently, it’s from the Faroe Islands and you truly taste it!! Scrumptious❤️ There are options for vegetarians/vegans too. I often get the Roast Vegetable and Farro which is a combination of butternut squash, mushrooms, carrots, Brussel sprouts in a lemon vinaigrette. I’ve ordered this many times and I’ll continue to do so! Yum! They’ve got an assortment of salads and all are delicious. And the side order of roasted Brussel Sprouts is so tasty. For dessert, if you have room for more, various flavors of gelato are a perfect ending to an incredible meal. Or if you are a fan of Nutella, order the confectioner’s sugar-dusted Frittelli! I dare you to try to just have one. Sometimes, we will eat at the bar and always get wonderful service there as well. The Moscow Mule is a favorite drink along with some lovely wine offerings. Lastly, the staff go out of their way to make you feel welcome and appreciated. Like I said at the beginning of my review, it’s one of my favorite restaurants! You won’t be...

Wonderful dining experience from our waitress to the food being exceptional, we will definitely be back.

I want to highlight our waitress, Cheryl - she was absolutely FABULOUS! She was personable, funny, and quick. She was very attentive with drinks (especially bringing water) but wasn’t overbearing at all. She gave her honest opinion when we asked what would be better, and did an excellent job of waiting on our table. Exemplary customer service!

As for the food, it was awesome! 5/5 for all of our dishes:

APPETIZERS: Crisp Zucchini | Rating: 5/5 - this was probably our favorite appetizer. It came out piping hot and fried to perfection. My brother kept raving about the basil-yogurt, it was out of this world and complimented the zucchini nicely. Lucco Meatballs | Rating: 5/5 - they were enough to feed 6 people, they were huge! The sauce on them was homemade and the meatballs were moist on the inside even though they were massive. Great appetizer for a larger party to split.

ENTREES: Orecchiette Pasta | Rating: 5/5 - the sauce was light and refreshing, and the dish came out piping hot. Even though it was hot weather wise the sauce was extremely light but full of flavor. Great portion size, enough for leftovers! & 3. Spicy Carbonara & Caico Pepe | Ratings: 5/5 for both - both pastas were rich and creamy and had a great flavor. The spicy carbonara definitely had a kick, but both had really, really good sauces on them. Also came out piping hot.

Overall the ambiance was wonderful (a bit loud) but the restaurant was beautiful inside. It was a little toasty sitting next to the windows but that’s to be expected in the summer. The high-top tables are huge and had wide chairs that were comfortable too.

The bar is massive and wraps around 3 sides.

One thing to keep in mind is that their parking lot is kind’ve tiny and tight - smaller cars are probably best to drive there, and recommend carpooling.

Overall, we had a great experience and really most of our compliments were to Cheryl, we haven’t had a wonderful waitress like that in a...

We went to Lucco for dinner last night with another couple and had one of the worst dinner experiences ever! From the personalty-less greeter, to the glaring sunlight, to the undersized parking lot, to the overly cold temperature and finally to the extremely loud atmosphere due to the concrete floor and very high vaulted ceilings, first impressions were not positive and things only went down hill from there!

While touting their bar service, we ordered four different mixed drinks each of which was among the worst we ever had. We ordered several appetizers which ranged from poor to bad - the excessively wet and leafy "Classic Caesar" Salad was served at room temperature, not chilled, the "Crispy Calamari" were tiny, chewy, over cooked and served cold, not hot; the Marinara Sauce served with it was mediocre; the other two appetizers were just so-so. The Italian bread was tasteless while the Focaccia Bread with a cheese bottom was cold, not warm.

As for the main entrées, we ordered two fish dishes and two steak dishes. While the fish dishes were OK, the meat dishes left much to be desired - one of which was ordered "medium" but served well-done and tasteless.

While the service was fine and the staff were very polite, including checking up periodically on how things were going (and no, we didn't tell them how bad everything was at the time as they were crazy busy) , the place is fairly new and they are still working out the wrinkles. Bottom line, first impression was very poor and they won't get a second chance from us - there are far too many really good restaurants in the area, including the Brick Oven and Nonnas. Very...