Luce — Restaurant in Norfolk

My girlfriend made reservations here for my birthday. When calling to adjust our reservation, we noticed the person on the phone was quite rude and curt but we ignored it. When arriving to the restaurant that evening for our reservation we were seated by Val. With NO other seats being taken in the restaurant, Val sat us all the way in the back of the restaurant near the kitchen and silverware. We asked if we could sit somewhere else since all the tables were clearly open and with an attitude she paused, looked at us and then pointed her hand and said, “pick where you want to sit.”

We ignored that too and sat towards the front of the restaurant where people were. I noticed she was not pleasant with my girlfriend. After asking about the wines available, she only asked for my girlfriend’s ID but not mine. We’re clearly of age, but we ignored that too. Finally the wine came to the table to sample before putting in our order. My girlfriend asked which wine was more oaky since both were white and unidentifiable. Val cut my girlfriend off and said the names of the wine, which clearly didn’t answer the question. My girlfriend then repeated her question and Val again stared like we had 5 heads but this time irritated and aggressively took her hand and directed it to the glasses REPEATING the names. Reminder, that wasn’t the question.

We asked if she was OK and she asked if we were lol. You can not make this up. We were in complete shock. After that she went behind the bar and EVERYONE who worked there was staring at us as if we done something wrong. Mike the manager came over but the interaction was all wrong. 1) he did NOT introduce himself. Walked over as if he was the principal trying to reprimand his students. 2) he initially was not pleasant. Clearly he sided with his waitress. Once we told him it was my birthday and another patron walked in and knew who I was and wished me a happy birthday, Mike started to show remorse and asked us to stay. At that point we were over it and felt extremely uncomfortable. As an interracial couple, we felt very uncomfortable and mistreated and wondered if we were of a different ethnicity would we have been treated differently.

If you read the majority of these reviews you will see similar stories. To sum it up, the staff is clearly rude, unprofessional and racist. After reading the reviews and seeing the replies that are left on dinner’s experiences, the staff replies in their tone (rude and unprofessional). They also constantly defend their actions like a child rather than diving into the root of the issue … their staff. We will never return back to this restaurant and advise you don’t either. (Take note of the response from the owner/staff after this is posted).

If you’re looking for other great, friendly and delicious establishments on Granby St, I highly recommend 456 Fish, Leones and The Glasslight Hotel. Thanks again Luce for ruining...

I visited Luce on a solo date while my husband was out of town. I’ve followed this restaurant for a while on social media and figured I’d finally pull the plug on it. It was pretty easy to find on Granby st, which is a plus for me because I get lost easily. There’s a lot of other popular restaurants around it.

Now for my review I HIGHLY recommend getting a reservation. I was able to book the bar seating for Friday evening around 6, but it was super packed. Reservations are pretty easy to book online, no need to call.

Seating: Request a table or bar seating away from the hostess stand. I was sat literally behind the stand, which is right next to the door so I was freezing my entire meal. There was a heater that the hostess had in the corner, but every time someone would open the door I’d have cold air shooting down my back. I’m glad my sweater was thick or I would have had to leave. Please learn from me, request specific seating. Have to knock off a star for this part.

Drinks: I only got 2. I started off with a cocktail, which was delicious. I believe it was called the Silver Sun. I’ve been on a mezcal kick lately so that drink was calling my name. Once my app came I switched over to a rosé. Due to where I was seated, I was unable to see the bar so I stuck with the wine and cocktail menu that was provided. The wine menu was extensive and the cocktail menu had a few interesting choices. I’d like to try more on my next visit.

Food: Wow. The star of the show was the appetizer, but I’ll start with the pasta. I ordered the Wild Boar Ragu. Delicious. Personally I would have loved a little heat added to it but I’m a spicy kind of girl lol. Beautiful homemade pasta. Lovely tender meat. Decent portion. Flavorful sauce, but could have used a dash of salt. Overall loved the pasta. The app! Clams in Brodo…I’ll be returning for that dish alone. I will say that I think my food had been sitting because the soup had developed a film on top when I received it. It took quite a while to come to so I was a little disappointed but also understanding because it was a Friday night. I was certainly surprised at how large of a serving there was! I can’t remember the amount of clams you got but it was over 10, plus more came in the topping. The soup had layers and layers of flavor and complemented the clams so well. I never finish meals at restaurants but I completely demolished this, bread and all. It filled me up before the pasta. 100% recommend trying the clams out if you’re a seafood lover.

Service: Great! My waitress, whose name I can’t remember, was attentive and very friendly.

Overall, I’d visit again but maybe on a weekday when it’s less crowded and I can sit...

Sit down children and let me tell you about Luce, a small hole in the wall joint in downtown Norfolk. I found this place when I was still running around with a different woman everyweek, hating myself everyday, and needing a place to drop in for a quick dessert; me being me I hoped onto the internet and asked some local message boards the all important question, "Where can I take a date for some good dessert downtown, while giving off the impression that I'm classier than I actually am?" And the internet answered back, not with a whimper, but a scream, "LUCE!"

Although it was almost half a decade ago, I still remember the first time I set foot into this amazing restaurant. As we walked through downtown, up Tazewell street, I set my sights on the charming building. It stood out on the block, it was warm and inviting, just like the first woman I thought I would marry, unlike her though the charming and inviting atmosphe continued throught our experience.

The waitresses potentiated our fantastic experience, she was very upbeat, swift, and percise. We were seated in a position where we could people watch, the light was fairly low from what I remember, and there seemed to be a chef that came out and conversed with some guests about their food. There was some soft music playing in the background, and I felt truly welcome.

I ended up ordering cheesecake, which according to the waitress was made fresh at a local bakery. My date at the time had a layered chocolate cake with raspberries. While we were waiting a few other guests struck up a conversation with us,we laughed and smiled and had a fantastic time.

Our food arrived and we dug in over conversation, the cheesecake was amazing, and I still haven't had anything that comes close to how delicious it was. The chocolate cake was equally on par.

I feel that I am missing out however, my only experiences at this establishment have been with dessert, though I have passed it several times during lunch and dinner hours. Just like myself, this restaurant has done a lot of growing up in the past few years, and I can tell that your experience will be on par with mine.

And that dear children is my small experience from a restaurant thats name I still can't pronounce years...