Lucca Ristorante — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

Update: I think this place is dumping MSG or something similar on their food in excessive amounts. Starting about 20 minutes after I ate there, I had to pee. It has now been almost 24 hours and I have had to pee excessively multiple times per hour through the night. I’m now googling to find out if I should go to the doctor or what… *Restaurant owner and chef if you read this, whatever you are sprinkling on that food… chill out. *

I had high expectations for this place and left entirely disappointed. The reviews are stellar. I don’t know if they have a new cook or what… but my experience definitely didn’t live up to the reviews by any stretch.

First, we were the only ones there, ordered simple meals, and yet the service was unbelievably slow, from start to check.

Second, the food was terrible.

We ordered two appetizers and two entrées- bruschetta, truffle fries, red pepper gnocchi, and a spinach salad with the $14 addition of scallops. The presentation of the food all looked nice, but the taste was bad. And the temperature of everything was the same… room temperature. Hot food was not hot; cold food was not cold.

The bread for the bruschetta was stale, not crunchy and yet not soft. It was like 3 day old junky bread that was left in a partly open bag. It was also soggy in the middle…. The tomato and cucumber mixture that they put on it was marinated overlong and lacked flavor and freshness. That marinade liquid was spooned on the bread and the bread in the center was left wet and soggy. I would expect at the price that they would use a decent crusty bread.

The truffle fries were cold and very oily. I suspect that they use truffle oil to toss the fries after cooking. They are a thin cut fry, and if they were hot, crispy, and had less oil they could have been good. But as they were, I’m still burping truffle oil the next day…

The salad was terrible. I don’t know how you mess up a salad, but they did. The sparse walnut, cheese, and cranberry mixture, as well as the scallops had some kind of strange, skunky, overly salty, and yet savory substance in/on them (there were crystals of it on things but the food also tasted marinated in it). I don’t know if they use MSG or what, but it’s awful. The salad itself was just spinach with a light sprinkle of the topping. The measly sized 4 scallops ($4.50+ a piece) were not cooked properly. They were not seared, gummy, and filled all the way through with that strange salty-savory-skunky flavor that was on everything else. They were not fresh tasting at all. It was truly gag worthy. I forced myself to eat it because of the money I was paying, but literally had to wash each bite down with water. I regret not having the guts to tell them that the food was bad. I fear being called a “Karen” and being filmed for social media more than I do food poisoning, apparently.

The gnocchi was the better of the food items, but still not very good. The gnocchi was very dense, drowned in sauce, and the piece of chicken on top was just pitiful in size and flavor. The gnocchi also had the same strange tasting savory salt on it, but nowhere near as much as was on the salad, so it wasn’t overpowering.

The building itself is nice, but they really need to clean the floor and the grout on the glass wall.

All in all, it was a pricey lunch that left me queasy. I am too easily embarrassed to tell people to their face that their food is bad. Add that to there being so many stories of people who pretend food is bad to try to get a free meal… I just keep it to myself until I get home to write an...

So let's start off with what was great about this place: Our server was lovely and went above and beyond in her hospitality. The bread and olive oil were fresh and great quality. The house salads were decent, but not worth $9 each. Everything went downhill from there.

We had reservations for our anniversary and were initially seated in cramped, awkward seats in an uncomfortable bar area. The best way to describe this setting was like a prison cell. Cold air blasting down on one of the seats, and the setting was so crammed together there was no possible way for us to sit be seated across from one another to enjoy a romantic meal; we both would have had to face out towards a view of the backs of bar stools. The hostess initially didn't want to accommodate a table change because of Mother's Day reservations, but it was still early and nearly half the tables were still empty. We thought about leaving, but nearly opted to just sit at the bar top instead knowing how difficult it would've been to find a table elsewhere due to the holiday. After another waiter for some reason figured it important to tell us that many guests actually ask for those awkward, cramped bar tables, they did at least find us a more comfortable table.

The bar drinks were quite disappointing. At $8 a pop, the Sangria tasted like it contained no wine and nothing but simple syrup. The Red Sangria was sent back for a White Sangria instead, and while not as sickeningly sweet, still was not worth finishing. The entrees were even more disappointing. The $22 Eggplant Parmesan was too tough to even cut with a knife, and the breading was not that good. The pasta is supposedly made fresh daily but was way overcooked in that dish. The $26 Filet Ragu was OK at best. The sauce was too sweet and too acidic. The pasta was properly cooked in that dish, and the meat was at least of good quality and texture. But the meal generally tasted like Chef Boyardee Beefaroni, something I could've made at home for $1. Both entree portions were excessively-sized servings as well.

For $50 a person after tax and tip, we expect far better. There was no love put into the food, and the ambiance/dining setting was tired, dated, and missed the mark: obvious maintenance issues with damaged walls and sagging ceilings, and decor that doesn't belong in an Italian restaurant (the beautiful picture of Santorini, Greece at the hostess stand is better suited for a Greek restaurant). Maybe this place used to be great, but it seems today they are taking shortcuts and tricking people into believing this is a great place by putting high prices on their menu. It is dishonest and the owners and kitchen staff...

Terrible experience. While the food was passable at best, it is not the focus of this review. It was the overall attitude of the waiter and vibe of the restaurant that places Lucca solidly in 1 star territory. Our waiter could only be characterized as - there to take our orders and inform us of the policies of the restaurant.

1. While someone in the party was deciding if they should have their cocktail on the rocks or not, our waiter said he would not serve it without ice, as they would not like it. This was not a drink from their menu, but rather a drink that this person always orders and was a simple combination of two ingredients. Seriously?? Seems as if the customer would know how they prefer their drink.

2. One of our guests asked to substitute the type of cheese on the arugula salad for a different cheese. NOPE. Can’t do that. Why? “The chef spends a lot of time creating perfect recipes and will not make substitutions if they are not for allergies” - Okay. I get it. Some places don’t allow substitutions - but this reason, at this restaurant is absurd. This was a salad with some dressing and cheese.

3. Are we able to split the check? NOPE. We don’t split checks.

4. I don’t care for melted cheese on the chicken parm, am I am to…. NOPE. We can’t do that, as I said, there are no substitutions.

5. Are we able to have another basket of bread? Yes, but there is a charge. Uhh, okay. Note: this basket of bread was not a made from scratch, warm, artisan loaf of bread that had been baked in a brick oven. It was essentially rather pedestrian, room temperature pieces of bread. I opted not to pay for additional bread.

6. Would you have a bag in which I can put my leftovers? We don’t give out bags, but let me see if I can find one (they did).

Needless to say, this is not a customer-centric restaurant, and as a result, it does not create an inviting atmosphere where one would want to spend a nice evening with friends enjoying food. It felt as if customers were getting in the way of their business. Ironic, right? And given the lack of response from the restaurant to any reviews, either positive or negative in the recent past, I imagine they might not really care what the customer experience is like.

7. Will I...