Luca's Ristorante — Restaurant in Franklin Township

Mother's Day 5/12 Dinner

Incredibly beautiful restaurant that can best be described as cozy and homey. This was a beautifully decorated restaurant and a gem in the rough in the middle of some random strip-mall in NJ.

Ambiance: 5/5 slightly cramped in the hallways and walkways but tables has great spacing between each other.

We knew the food was going to be amazing after the complimentary bread, of which we were given a delicious assortment of focaccia, garlic knots (i presume?) and some other freshly baked breads.

When it came to the dishes, our appetizers came out relatively quickly: we ordered the calamari, grilled octopus, bruschetta, and meatballs (all half portions) yet were perfectly enough for a party of 5. They were all incredibly delicious and made with the utmost attention to detail. If you love italian food, this will be pure heaven. Even if you aren't a fan of italian food, you can respect the quality of ingredients and the execution of each dish. My favorite were the meatballs; the pine nuts and raisins added such an interesting and delectable texture. tangy, slightly crunchy, with a hint of sweetness and tanginess made this a wonderful dish. The octopus was quite fantastic as well. After having a dinner at Smith and Wollensky's two weeks prior, the calamari absolutely put the S&W calamari to shame. I have yet to find an italian restaurant in NYC that is as authentic, and as delicious as Luca's.

Onto the entrees: I ordered the Luca's special, and the rest of my party ordered the Polypus, Scallop Risotto, Valentino, and Pappardelle respectively. This is where we ran into our issue with service. It was quite a busy night for mother's day and so our Papardelle dish got lost in translation and was never cooked. The wait time was a bit longer than we would have liked, approximatley 35-40 minutes after the appetizers were served. And I get it. If you want some formulaic italian food made from some google doc or note sheet, this place might not be for you. if you want to experience really authentic italian food made with the most attention to quality and detail, as if you were in some italian person's home and their grandma was cooking your food in the kitchen, then Luca's is the place for you.

while the wait time was slow and one dish was forgotten, the food made up for it and the portions were very generous. flavors were so amazing, and every dish was fantastic to say the least. its crazy to say the pappardelle was the weakest among the other dishes, even tho I still loved the pappardelle. everything tasted extremely fresh and the ingredients were all incredibly well made. the squid ink pasta wasn't some standard squid ink linguine that you'd order in NYC. this pasta was incredibly flavorful and so rich, it even rivaled the squid ink pasta that I had in italy... and i might say this one was better. this one blew out the water a squid ink pasta I had tried in boston's italian district as well (which i previously thought was well executed, this was in a different level).

to make up for the wait time and the dish that had been forgotten, the manager ended up including the deserts we ordered free, on the house which was a very kind gesture. i was really hoping in the back of my head this would happen, though I wasn't expecting it because I really was rooting for this restaurant and gestures like this really show the restaurant cares about its customers and their experiences.

food was a 6/5, and yes the service could have been better but I get it, we chose a very busy day to test out this place.

i will definitely be coming back and wanted to thank the restaurant and its owner for a fantastic night of italian food. this easily is in my top 3 for best italian restaurants I have ever been to and that includes restaurants in Italy as well.

Final Review:

Food: 6/5 Service: 4/5 Atmosphere: 5/5 Uniqueness:...

I’ve lived in North Brunswick for 17yrs and this is def a hidden gem. Really quaint BYOB restaurant with really good food. Great apps and dinner for sure. The genovese, the Luca, the eggplant app and tiramisu are my go to’s. I’ve been there numerous times over the years and recommended them to many. Unfortunately they’ve lost my business today and left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

I’d placed an order for tiramisu online and then realized perhaps I should order a second dessert and ordered the pompei. I screenshot the confirmation to my son and had him run in to get it. When he came out he had just the plastic container of tiramisu. No bag and no utensils, which I thought was odd. I sent him back in because I realized he’d only shown them one confirmation. This time he came back out with the second dessert in a bag.

Once home and ready for dessert I was concerned with what I saw. I called to express concern over one of the desserts(Pompei) I’d purchased to go. It kinda came slopped in an aluminum tray, which I semi get. If it comes in a skillet or something of the like, okay, but it just didn’t look pleasing to the eye and quite frankly, not what I expect of them. However, my main concern was the Madagascar Vanilla gelato. They put it in a to go ramekin that you would use for marinara dipping sauce which is bizarre. And I thought perhaps it was a mistake.

Once the manager was on the phone I expressed my concerns, to which end he replied with statements like “it’s dessert to go, what do you expect,” “we’ve been in business for 28yrs and serving gelato like that for 6 or 7yrs.” My husband got so annoyed with his lack for customer service he told him he didn’t want the dessert anymore and he’d like to bring it back for a refund. The manager said a refund would not be given, we already have the dessert. My husband said he was gonna come in and bring it anyway, the manager said you can try but the door would be locked. My husband the said “do you hear yourself… do you hear how you talking to a customer? The manager then disconnected the call. Very disgraceful.

Had this been an easy conversation, in which the manager actually problem solved instead of disparaging my concerns, I would still patron this restaurant. It makes me sad that I can’t eat there anymore, but there is a certain respect that you should speak to a customer.

Before writing this review I called back and asked the female host working tonight on 9/9/2021 for the male mangers name. She giggled, said hold on and disconnected the line.

So disappointing. They will never get the opportunity to disrespect me again. Hopefully someone above the male manager I spoke with tonight, will see this review and retrain that manager.

I honestly think I’m owed and an apology and then some.

All I wanted was some good dessert, from a town favorite to go with my champagne. Disgusted &...

Had dinner here for the first time (a Birthday celebration with 7 people). The service was very good, breads were warm (always a plus) and there was a great variety to choose from. The peach appetizer special (drunk peaches) was incredible and loved by everyone at our table. Menu was varied and all the food was amazing. However, FYI, they automatically add a 3.5% Service Charge to your bill if you pay with a credit card. And, there was no prior notice of this extra charge policy. Not by the server who took care of us, not anywhere on the menu before we ordered our food, or on any signage present when we entered the restaurant. I saw it on my charge slip, after they returned it with my credit card and asked me for my signature. (Our bill was over $500.00). I questioned the staff about the $18.00 "Service Charge" that was added to the bill. (To be fair, the extra service charge policy was printed on the bottom of the bill presented to me at the end of the meal. I didn't notice it. I glanced at the bill, like most people do to make sure it looked like it had the correct amount of entrees). I wouldn't have had a problem if the server told us up front (before we ordered), or it was printed clearly in the menu. I just feel that we should have known about this extra charge before we ordered and ate our dinner. At the time, it honestly felt like a scam. (Didn't you read the fine print on the bill After you ate?) Maybe if we knew up front we would have made sure we had enough cash, or might have decided to find another place for dinner. I have never before been to an establishment that penalizes patrons for using credit cards to pay. Perhaps it would sound better if they gave a discount for cash vs a "penalty" service charge for people using a credit card. I own a business and accept credit cards for payment and I understand that there is a bank charge related to accepting this convenient form of payment. But the vast majority off all payments, at all establishments, are done with a credit card. When was the last time you paid a large bill with cash or a brought a check to pay for a meal at a restaurant? Because of the food, I would return but will remember to bring enough cash with...