Zucca — Restaurant in Louisville

Sadly, I can only give this restaurant a 1 star....We ate at Zucca last night. We were lucky to have Rich as our waiter. He was very very good at recommending a wine that was so yummy, and telling us about the dishes that were his favorites. On his recommendation, we ordered the Mahi Mahi atop of polenta, and the lamb pasta dish. For starters, we had the calamari and caprese salad. The calamari was tasty, although a bit salty for our tastes. But the Caprese salad was a big disappointment. Now, if an Italian restaurant can't do a decent Caprese salad, something is wrong! The tomato was tasteless, and well, in January, one might dismiss that. But the mozzarella cheese was dry and chalky, there was no tasty balsalmic dressing, and they substituted dry basil for most of the basil! There was a leaf of fresh basil torn into six miniscule pieces scattered, but wow, dry and absolutely tasteless. The entrees were a further disappointment! In my mind, I pictured a Mahi steak or fillet, but instead there was a very meager 3 bite portion of fish. It tasted as though it was spoiled. The first bite I dismissed it, thinking it was an odd tasting tomato reduction sauce. But when I had my husband taste it, he thought it was awful too! Just then Rich, our waiter walked up and asked how things tasted, and I had to tell him that I thought the fish was a bit "off". He told me that the table next to us had sent back a dish , and that there was a substitute chef working. I was too shy to complain further and the wine made it better! I didn't taste my husband's lamb/pasta dish although he said it was just so-so. When one spends a lot of money on a dinner, it should be a pleasant experience to say the least, and other than having a good waiter, it was not a dining experience i'd...

It was our first time going, and we waited 3 minutes before the hostess even greet us. Then it took another 5-10 minutes to be seated. No bread (someone brought the bread after we received our dinner and brought it to their attention). Waiter seemed very busy with his other tables, but still didnt clear the plates. The gnocchi was lackluster. My family is Italian and that was not gnocchi. The polenta was good though. They gave us the gnocchi for free as well as a dessert (had to send the gnocchi back, and we don't send meals back). Ended up with the ravioli and it was decent enough. For the dessert, we chose the chocolate chip cannoli. My mother had a coffee (didnt bring out a spoon with the coffee for her milk, so she had to swish it around in her coffee mug because we couldn't get the waiter's attention), but they brought 2 spoons for the 2 cannoli. However, the cannoli was horrid. It tasted like it had been carbonized with berries and then tossed in with some ricotta just to call it a cannoli. It was inedible. I believe, and hope, it was because the chef's aerosol gun wasn't working properly. Overall, the service needs improvement. The staff was very apologetic for all the mishaps, but the mistakes seemed to be continual with no improvement throughout the evening. It was an expensive meal for...

We just had our entire wedding reception at Zucca, and it was simply fantastic! Matthew was wonderful to work with as we planned this event for 72 people. The big event went smoothly, even better we had hoped. We thought they really stepped up their game to make things even better than they normally are (and we eat there a lot because we think it's so good!). We had put together a schedule and they followed it to a tee. The staff was wonderfully pleasant and attentive. The food for 72 people was all delivered together, and it was well presented and delicious. A couple of folks changed their minds on what they wanted to eat (from the pre-orders) and staff graciously cooked brand new entrees for them at no additional cost to us. People were actually exclaiming how fantastic the food was, and we had a wide range of entrees. The steaks were huge and perfectly cooked, the cherry glazed salmon was delectible and perfectly cooked, and the other pasta and vegetarian dishes were flavorful and beautiful. The space itself worked well for the reception, with the bar for apps and drinks, then the main dining room for dinner and dancing after, plus the patio if people wanted to escape for a bit. We were thrilled with our reception and continue to love Zucca. We'll...