Luigi's Italian Grill — Restaurant in Madison

I have been wanting to visit here for FOREVER, but it's pretty far away from my usual haunts and my husband isn't big on Italian food. Finally got my chance when just my mom and I went out to Madison to get something we needed and realized we had an opportunity to give this place a try (as my dad doesn't like Italian food much either -- is it a man thing? lol).

The signage isn't great from the road or even from the parking lot, but Google Maps got us there reliably. Plenty of parking out front, even when they're busy.

We walked in to a maybe 40% full restaurant on a weekday -- might've been a Friday, but I can't remember. We were seated promptly; the booth we were given had kind of sunken seats but it wasn't worth the hassle to move. The interior was super dark / dimly lit, and not in a romantic vibes way, and so that was kind of weird. It felt sort of between kitschy Italian and fancy Italian. I wasn't too taken with the atmosphere but that's the least important thing to me so not a huge deal.

Service was very good; almost good enough for me to round up to a 4. Prompt, Johnny-on-the-spot, cheerful, and professional. We had some kind of fussy ladies behind us and I listened to one of the waiters handle them with grace and patience. We also thought the lunch special prices (weekdays only) were a pretty good deal.

That was, however, perhaps my downfall. I knew my mom was going to insist on paying since I drove us all over town, and so I wanted to keep it to the lunch specials to not burn too big of a hole in her pocket. That said, the lunch specials are almost exclusively pastas in tomato based sauces. And I like a tomato based sauce, but I much prefer a cream sauce...and I'm also much pickier about tomato sauce. Still, I bit the bullet and ordered the spaghetti with meat sauce, while my mom got the lasagna.

I will say we definitely enjoyed the bread everyone raves about! It was super warm and soft. And I'll also say my mom thought her lasagna was pretty good! This is high praise considering she's very picky about lasagna. This one doesn't have Italian sausage in it, which made her super happy.

My spaghetti was cooked to my liking, but the meat sauce just didn't impress me. My biggest problem with it was it was quite sweet. I do think a little sugar is nice to offset the acidity of the tomatoes, but this was really, really quite sweet. I kept looking for the rich, savoriness of the beef in the sauce and I just couldn't find it. It wasn't bad -- I still ate enough to get full -- but it just didn't quite meet my expectations after hearing rave reviews for literally a couple years.

I'd certainly return, though. I'd like to try a dish that's more to my preference for dinner or something (a carbonara or a chicken piccata would be great) and then reassess. Maybe someday I can get my husband to agree...

Great food, friendly staff, poor aesthetics.

Ate Saturday afternoon around 2:00. They were about 2/3's full, and no hostess although there is a sign to wait to be seated. Waited 5-6 minutes for a server to come front and seat me.

Had a small salad, and Shrimp Fradiavolo. Garlic rolls came with the entree. They were good, not great, and seemed like they may have been pre-made or frozen, but baked to order. It was generous-- three rolls for a single customer.

The pasta came after maybe 20 minutes, and was very good, the sauce being perfectly balances with light heat, fresh herbs, and spaghetti al dente. The shrimps were tail on, which was a problem since the table flatware only included a table knife with no edge. I managed to cut them off, but with some difficulty in a bowl with noodles and sauce.

The salad was forgotten, and the server brought it about six minutes or so after the entree was served. It was very good.

The dessert offerings were good, and I asked if they were made in house or even locally, and they were made locally, so I had the Italian Cream Cake. It was very good, and an appropriate slice instead of oversized like some restaurants do. There was a minor gaffe when they servied it with a spoon, but I managed to save my dinner fork before it was cleared.

The setting was a bit tatty, with upholstered bench directly in front of me with fabric glued to board that didn't reach the trim, and was in shreds. There was also unfinished lumber holding some of the fabric to the frame. Atmosphere in general felt undefunded, especially for an Italian restaurant, with plastic diner glasses and no pepper mill and with grated parmesan in shakers rather than served fresh by a server. There was also a bother when the owner/manager took an order by phone, and put her mobile on speaker phone and loud, so that the entire dining room was forced to hear it, so a bit thoughtless for a place that went to trouble to try to create a little atmosphere.

So, excellent food, weak service and appointments, but very kind and courteous staff. It will need to step up its game to compete with others in the long run, as it's priced more in the medium range, but isn't classy enough right now to make it a destination for...

My family decided to have a pre-Christmas dinner at Luigi's located at 7559 Hwy 72, Suite 112, Madison, Alabama 35758. We had dined there previously last year and were pleased enough with their atmosphere, food quality and service to eat there again. The inside of the restaurant is roomy and has a nice quiet ambiance. The staff is very friendly and attentive but not overbearing. During my previous visit I ordered the Lasagna and it was cooked to perfection, hot, golden browned cheese and perfectly layered pasta, sauce and cheese. This visit I ordered the sweet tea which was sweetened just right and was fresh. The waitress took our order for drinks and appetizers. Arriving soon after with a basket of freshly baked rolls that were hot and steaming a fresh sough dough aroma. The rolls were so good I ordered some fresh pesto and was in heaven dipping my rolls in the herb flavored olive oil. For appetizers we order the fried calamari and fried ravioli. Both appetizers we freshly prepared and hot when they arrived at our table. The portions of the calamari and fried ravioli was just the right size so we didn't get overfilled before our main entrees. They were hot, fresh and very appetizing. I decided to try something different and ordered the Spaghetti Works. The portion was the perfect size with fresh spaghetti smothered with Italian sausage, meatballs, mushrooms and marinara sauce. I could definitely tell this was freshly prepared. My wife ordered the Manicotti for her entree arrived just as we were finishing our appetizers. The Manicotti was steaming hot with ricotta cheese stuffed pasta sleeves covered with meaty marinara sauce and a crusty brined layer of cheese. My son ordered the Shrimp Scampi which has fresh linguine pasta sautéed in white wine and lemon sauce. Topped with fresh basil and fresh shrimp. The total cost of the meal, including appetizers, drinks and the tip was just over $100.00. But the quality and freshness of the meals, courteous staff, and the quiet and inviting atmosphere was a certainly worth the visit. We'll be...