La Vera Cucina — Restaurant in Town of Monroe

I love this place so much. Just had dinner here last night. I never leave reviews but after going here as much as I have- and now planning my wedding rehearsal dinner here, it’s long overdue!

I just read through all of the reviews out of curiosity and the only bad ones were regarding wait time. DO NOT LET THAT DETER YOU PLEASE! This restaurant is absolutely out of this world. Old school Italian. The chicken isn’t heavily breaded and the pasta isn’t heavily sauced. Everything is portioned out perfectly. The flavor profiles on every dish are talented and superb. - I will walk you through my meal last night …..

1. the bread - soft, fresh, delicious. And don’t even get me started on the bread dip. It is by far the best bread dip I have ever had anywhere in my entire life. It is so so so so good.
2. SALAD INCLUDED IN MEAL- I had the house creamy Italian dressing. Salad was fresh refreshing crunchy perfect. Perfect dressing portions.
3. appetizers- we had the clams and the burratta. It was gone in 2 seconds. I have no words. Would order and eat every day. burratta was a special with roasted red peppers and prosciutto - you could tell it was all fresh and made in-house.
4. entrees- we went family style with the classics and shared Everything. Chicken picatta (I get this every time because it’s perfect) chicken scarpielli, and veal Sorrentino. I truly have no words. Just finished my leftovers (surprised there were any leftovers) and it was just as good today as it was last night. The chicken and veal aren’t heavily breaded, the seasoning and sauce are what add the flavors. You don’t feel sick and full after- it’s just a wonderful- straight out of Italy- comfort. I dreamed about it last night. 10/10 recommend each entree- only thing I will say is that the scarpiello has a little spice to it- my future husband loves spice so he ate the entire thing, I don’t really like spicy food so I probably wouldn’t order it for myself- but I still had some last night because it was delicious.
5. dessert- we shared the tiramisu. Perfect delicious fresh. Loved it.
6. cocktails- I drank aperol spritz, chris had dirty martini, and his mom had whisky sour. We all agreed they were the best cocktails we ever had. We had the house sambuca and espresso martinis with dessert. We also agree they were all the best we have ever had. Perfect!

The bill for all of this was just about 200 dollars. It’s a steal for top tier, 5 star, classy Italian perfection. Can’t wait for my rehearsal dinner. Becca is amazing. The waiters are amazing. Can’t say enough great things! Try it for yourself and I promise...

Been here before but only now writing a review of this place. Went here yesterday at around 6:30PM/7:00PM to celebrate my dad's birthday and mothers day. We were greeted accordingly at the front by a server. To get to the front, one has to climb stairs and open the somewhat heavy doors. Definetely not handicap accessible! Anyways, he took us to a table that was near the kitchen to the right of us. Little complaint is that he seated us sort of near other people. it's okay, but some people may want to sit away from others, especially on a slow night. Anyways, we were served accordingly with waters and bread. Next, we were told the specials and looked at the menu. Now, i have already looked at the menu online, so sort of knew what i wanted. They have lots of wine selections. Then, we ordered appetizers: we wanted the seafood casino, but they were all out. So we got the Fried Calamari, a side of brocolli rabe, and the special with the italian cheese. Food did take a while to come out, however when it did, the appetizers were really good! the Calamari was moist and not crunchy; the brocoli rabe was slightly bitter but whatever seasonings were on it made it delicous. The special we also enjoyed, and i tried the cheese for the 1st time and enjoyed it. The waiter refilled our waters several times, so water refills were not an issue. Next we ordered our entrees, i ordered the Mussels Maranara with Lingine pasta. My dad ordered Scallops with pasta, and my mom ordered a chicken dish. my dad also asked for a drink which was titos with 7-up/sprite. He waited a bit for that drink, but later when he wanted another one- it was refilled right away. Finally, the food came! I ate all the mussels, which all came out of their shell easily, and was really delicous. After scouring down the mussels, i went to my pasta. immedially asked for pepper- brought out red pepper but wanted the black pepper. The black pepper isn't on the table because they use grinded black pepper, which was good- except if one wants pepper one has to get the waiter. Anyways, got the black pepper from the waiter. Now, the pasta was a little hard (and my dad said the same thing!), but i feel like it was okay and didn't ruin the meal. My mom and i took home leftovers, as one of the waiters packed it for us. Next, we got our check and it was about $100.00! granted some of the stuff is a little expensive, but worth it i feel. We paid via credit card and was on our way home. we left a cash tip on the table for the waiter. probably will...

Just the worst restaurant experience I’ve ever had in my life at this place. Truly surprising, considering the glowing reviews we read. We had a 7pm reservation, and were set up at a table in the bar, next to an enormous party of 18 or so, with a couple of other parties of 10 or so. It was pretty obvious that the waitstaff were either completely overwhelmed or were so busy that our meager party of 5 was considered a write-off not worth worrying about. We ordered sparking water and were given a mixed array of glasses from the bar, some of which were still hot from the dishwasher. At least the server who gave them to us was genuinely apologetic. My husband asked another server for help getting a beer, only to have the waiter snap “I don’t do that!” and walk away. We had a lovely appetizer, but had to wait another 20-30 minutes to order. Our salads came 1.5 hours later. 30 minutes after that, we considered paying our bill and leaving , when the waitress came by and promised our entrees would be out in 5 minutes. They came out in four. I would have preferred they take the extra minute to cook the food. 3 of us at our table had undercooked pasta-NOT al dente-undercooked to the point of tasting flour. The coating on my shrimp francaise was 50 percent burned. My husband’s penne had vodka sauce that tasted undercooked-like cream and tomato paste not quite melded together. However, after over two hours, we feared that if we sent anything back we’d never eat. My aunt complained, and was told that if the food was that bad, we should have sent it back. Our waitress repeatedly apologized but it was clear she was too busy to give a damn. The worst part was seeing another table of 5 come in 1.5 hours later and be served everything promptly within 35 minutes. The service here was not only bad-it was insulting. Only come here if you know the owner/manager, you’re a frequent customer already, or you’re a big spender. Maybe then you’ll be considered worth serving. This establishment is apparently not seeking...