Lucille — Restaurant in Madison

How could you possibly top great pizza and service? Oh yeah - amazing beer! Lucille's is hands down one of Madison's best pizza places. It's not often that my wife and I can have a date out where it's just the two of us; so when we go downtown we'll often consider treating ourselves to a pizza date night at Lucille's - especially during the holidays when they do "Miracle on King Street" and transform into a Christmas-themed pop-up cocktail bar. However, even if it's not for a dinner date we'll more often than not make an effort to dine there with our little ones. Honestly for me it's one of the best places in Madison, and I love the ambiance in there. For starter's their gourmet pizzas are delicious. But what really separates Lucille's from most pizza places is their beer selection. I don't know who manages their beer selection, but they have a great rotating tap of around two dozen craft beers and you'll often be delighted to find awesome rare releases like Surly Darkness there as well - which if you don't know about... well then you're missing out.

Anyway, good beer plus delicious pizza is always a winning combination, but the real reason we come back to Lucille's time and time again is the outstanding service we always get there. I've been to a lot of restaurants, but Lucille's stands out in my mind as a cut above. I think the best example I can provide of this is once when we ordered a specialty pie and got half way through eating it when we realized it was missing one of the main toppings it was supposed to have. We politely mentioned this small oversight to our waiter and he promptly ordered us up a new pizza (which was more than satisfactory), but when we got our bill we saw that unbeknownst to us, he had comped us for the pizzas. I don't know if that's a restaurant policy of if Lucille's just empowers their staff to ensure their customers have great experiences, but it worked. I mean not only did we tip him as if the pizza had been on the bill, but we added a little extra; and it's certainly a story we've shared with numerous friends.

So in summary if you've got friends or family in town or are just looking for a great place to eat in Madison, I highly recommend Lucille's. You can't beat the level of service you'll get there; and the pizza and beer are like no pairing you'll find anywhere else...

First, Love this space!! Friendly and attentive staff!! Love their position on hospitality. Check their website.

Food was so good, my colleague and I came two nights in a row. (Visiting from out of town)

Now to the food. We came for the pizza but ordered other things.

Night one! Individual salad with Adobo Shrimp SOLID CHOICE!! Salad is a decent portion. Tongs to mix your salad with lemon vinegarette. Not super lemony. Balance perfectly. Adobe sauce on shrimp is TASTY. Got a tiny kick to it too!! Sensitive to a little spice?-- opt for chicken instead. Great starter if you are looking for a bit of fiber and healthy eating before the pizza

The Queen-- pedestrian at best. Weren't wowed. It has potential, but missed the mark with the sauce. Could be brighter a touch sweeter. Colleague didn't think fresh mozzarella was fresh--- was too waxy and chewy. Basil added before cooked. Should be added on at the end.

Umami Pie--- Just order it!! A Star! It Stole the Show!! So good!! Balanced. Could taste all the ingredients listed on menu!! It was Fire!!

Pineapple No-jito Loved it. Not juice. Seltzer water with mint, lime and a touch of pineapple juice. Vaguely sweet.

Night 2 Chips and Salsa Roja Basic. Was expecting a fresh Salsa, something a bit brighter. This reminded me of a roasted/cooked tomatoes onions garlic, soaked chiles, blended with oil. Yes it's Salsa, but just not what we expected. Needed more lime IMO. Chips were gooood. Light and crispy!! Ask for green aji sauce on the side :)

Plantain Bean Empanada It was good. Very little black bean. More Plantain. There is cheese too. Green aji sauce was goooood too!!. Deep Fried.

She's A Maize-ing Pizza It was good. Not as good as Umami but definitely better than pedestrian. Very cheddar and bacon forward. Didn't get much lime or basil habenero.

Suggestion: lighter on cheese, heavier on basil habenero sauce. Maybe more lime, or even better, light lime zest to bump it up some!!

Got same salads too. Added shredded chicken, which reminded me of pork floss the way it was shredded. Also the chicken is lightly seasoned, maybe just salt and pepper.

Five Stars Overall! In our late 40's 50's Foodies And we will...

I'm going to say that this bar/restaurant has a pretty good atmosphere/vibe and food. It started off rough, to be honest, because I didn't like one of their policies that threw me off and I hadn't experienced anywhere before.

I sat at the bar to order food, I didn't think I was going to drink at first, but changed my mind after ordering food. They had taken my food order but when I told them that I wanted a drink, I was told they needed my credit card to start a tab. I told the bartender that I just ordered food, why would I need to open a tab. She went on and tell me that's their policy, that if you order liquor at the bar they open a tab. I told her that was a weird policy, that I never experienced that before, as I'm on the road and eat at restaurants practically every day and never had such an experience. She explained further that just due the fact that people often will leave without paying when ordering from the bar, so they open tabs for any liquor ordered at the bar but not if you sit down at a table. This is an incongruent policy that really makes no sense, management should change them to be an alignment. It's not like as if someone can't order food from the table and walk out as well. I felt like I was being profiled due to my preceived ability to pay. After sitting there for a while, I will say they did apply this policy to everyone else who came to the bar as well. Still incongruent and in my opinion a stupid policy.

I was staying down the road at a hotel for several weeks and walked by this restaurant practically every day. It is practically full every evening, the cool thing is they do often have live jazz bands inside. I ordered the curry bowl, it was pretty good, I would recommend they serve it with some...