Leuca — Restaurant in New York

The dining event Dining in the Dark experience was absolutely not worth it. And the food was not a highlight at all. They walked us through a beautiful, intimate and dimly lit dining area with soft music on our way to the back room…a much more brightly lit, small room with led lights that almost all either flicker or don’t work. Strange ambiance indeed…The event wasn’t good but this is about the food. The purpose of the event was to be able to taste the food using heightened senses. And it worked. Unfortunately for us. The appetizer, duck pate on house made crostini crackers was probably the best dish. The next course was the main. A short rib orrechiette pasta in a red sauce. Short rib was good. Pasta was fresh made. Sauce was dried out. This ruined the dish. Then dessert was a pistachio cake with some vanilla ice cream on the side. Cake was dry and lacked flavor. Ice cream was ok. Nothing special, could have been Mrs Meyers for all I know. But the reason I wrote this whole negative review. The reason I added my input, as if any one needed another “foodie” critiquing a restaurant, is that all this culminated in a very obvious scam that they run. Whether through Fever or the restaurant, it’s a scam. They brought us a bill which listed a drink (I ordered), an “open food” charge (???) and a gratuity charge. The open food charge was $44. What could this be? We prepaid for the food, that’s what the event was for. Then I noticed that the gratuity (not included in event fee) was $13. Weird, that’s too little to be for 2 $120 tickets for the event…and too much for the cost of my drink (which was $24). Long story short, two different women tried to convince me that 20% of my $24 drink = $13…Woops but it doesn’t though. Then they ran it back and explained that the open food charge was the gratuity since the tickets didn’t cover that. Hmm interesting. So what’s the second gratuity labeled “gratuity” for? The second woman comes by and tries to once again do new math on me and tell me that 20% of $24 is $13. Finally…they “fix” the charge to accurately reflect the drink gratuity (~$5). Now you would think that this was an innocent mistake. But in fact…it happened to two of our neighbors as well. This was no mistake. Another couple also paid because they didnt want to bother with getting it fixed. Sure, it’s only a few dollars. But why scam it out of us? And when our neighbors asked for clarification of their check, the woman had the audacity to literally repeat the lie, that she JUST admitted to to us a minute ago, to the neighboring couple. Literally right next to us. What?? If they’re brazenly lying about something like that, why would they stop there? Housemade red sauce or Ragu? Homemade crostini or a quick trip to Costco 15 minutes before the...

This was probably the worst service we ever had in our lives. First time my husband and I left no tip for the waiter and we are good tippers..we usually leave 20 Percent and 18 percent if the service is not as good. We walked in and the hostess was totally fine. She sat us.. The waiter came over. Middle age man, we didn't get a name. My husband wanted sparkling and I wanted tap water. He got me my tap water and then forgot once I drank It so he poured my husbands sparkling water into my tap (honest mistake but he didn't reimburse us for the loss of sparking he wasted). My husband finished his first drink during appetizers and the waiter came back to take away the appetizers . He ordered a second drink and didn't get it for 20 mins until his dinner was basically done. I also wanted to order another drink but he was nowhere to be found. It was loud but the waiter kept walking, about 4 times circling by but looking above us so we couldn't get his attention and I even waved. Nothing. It was not that busy either at this point. The last straw after constantly waiting was when we saw him arguing right behind us in the middle of the restaurant as if it was a show. We saw him argue with a very tall, young waiter who was super composed and took it like a champ but our waiter kept waving his arms and pointing at him in what looked to us to be very threatening and condescending as if we were in an run down bar and not a 5 star hotel restaurant in a hotel. If that waiter did something wrong, it should be discussed in the back, not the middle of the restaurant. Super unprofessional. We felt so uncomfortable we just wanted to leave. We considered leaving a 12 percent tip but that was still 20 dollars and he really made the atmosphere very awkward. Another female waitress saw us watching them argue and came up to us to take our check with the card. We put our coats on and stood up waiting to leave before our waiter returned with the check. Once we received it he wished us a good night which at that point was too late. He also rather aggressively plopped our food on the table hard. I wouldn't say he was technically rude to us but he was not friendly. He was not warm and honestly I felt like we were just watching him work a shift instead of feeling relaxed and the experience was just honestly ruined. We've been to thousands of restaurants and if this was a local pub or fast food place and he was new or something we would have understood and still left a decent tip but this is a high rated restaurant in a I believe 5 star hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. As far as the food, I really found the food and drinks to be great so it really was...

Located off the front entrance of The William Vale in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Leuca is a little gem that also provides the in-room dining services for the hotel. The hotel itself is stellar and one of the pluses is their room service. Enter Leuca! I've had their afternoon/evening menu in the room on numerous occasions and have been very happy every time. My most recent visit was as a patron of the restaurant specifically as I met a friend for lunch who was a guest at the Vale. We arrived intending to have breakfast but the kitchen was one minute from switching to the lunch menu. Our server said they could accommodate our breakfast orders but we were happy to shift gears and have lunch, instead. My friend was slightly under the weather and ordered only the potatoes as she'd had them the night before and loved them. The order was more than generous. Roasted to a lovely golden brown and well seasoned, the fingerlings were served in a small cast iron skillet. There were easily enough for two diners to have a hearty portion. I ordered the chicken cutlet sandwich. It was basically a chicken parmagiana but with mozzarella, instead. The cutlet was thinly sliced and well coated with a flavorful breading. It was cooked to crisp perfection. The bread was a soft toasted Italian baguette which enveloped the chicken, a flavorful marinara sauce and the perfectly melted mozzarella. I don't like hard rolls for sandwiches and ordered this one with some trepidation but it was lovely! It was a soft bread but not weak or soggy in any way. It was lightly toas0ted and didn't overwhelm the filling. It all worked together subtly and deliciously. The mixed greens on the side were tasty but underwhelming. Half the amount would have been perfect if served with a small order of French fries or something like that.

Our server was friendly and gracious, attentive without being annoying, and took excellent care of us. The restaurant was basically empty which was disappointing because if people working in nearby offices are looking for a delicious, hearty lunch that won't break the bank, won't kill their entire lunch hour, and won't leave them feeling so stuffed you need a nap, this is the place! Go to Leuca and see...