Luigi's Cocina Restaurant — Restaurant in Union Hill-Novelty Hill

A bit of history here...Luigi's opened a couple of years ago replacing a Mexican Restaurant. Oddly enough, Luigi's first menu iteration was mostly Mexican Cuisine... Fast Forward...Luigi's IS ITALIAN Cuisine!!! Yeay! The Ridge needed this!

Alfredo, Owner and chef came from Andiamo's in Bellevue. Andiamo's a long time favorite of Bellevue regulars!

The atmosphere has tinges from some of the Mexican past but they have done a good job of bringing in the Italian feel with white tablecloths and candle lighted tables (note to owners, candles should be lit at all tables throughout dinner to ensure the best ambiance).

We were served by Nancy who made us feel very welcome and work with us to navigate the menu. Our first time my wife had a lamb chops which were wonderfully prepared and very flavorful. I had a veal parmesan which lived up to my expectations of a genuine italian preparation. Luigi's has a very nice wine selection with some very recognizable regional wines. Overall we had a terrific experience and are thrilled to learn the Luigi's is really Italian food now!

I look forward to exploring the menu further and adding Luigi's to our circuit of local...

We waited a few minutes to be seated when there were only 2 other tables seated. The gentleman was nice (possibly the Owner) and he greeted us and sat us down in a booth. When it came time to order, my original choice (linguini with clams) was unavailable so I went with my second option which was pasta with fresh crab and shrimp. The serving was fairly small and I spent about 10 minutes de-tailing the shrimp and cracking the crab legs which has minimal meat inside. The pasta tasted OK, but could have used more flavor in my opinion. My partner had the chicken parmesan which was a very decent serving size and tasted great! We didn't order wine, as I am pregnant, so we went with fountain drinks, which they charged us to refill. The atmopshere was pleasant, there were candle lit tables, but the music cut out and we sat in silence listening to others conversations, which made it fairly awkward. I feel like this was overall an OK experience, but I think that this restaurant is geared more towards the older folks, seeing as there is a retirement center behind the complex. The food was OK, but I do not think that we will be coming back. It felt overpriced and...

This restaurant is trying to be a high end Italian place, judging by the prices on the menu. The food we had was mediocre at best, especially for the prices they are charging. I had the Eggplant, and while it was ok, there was a piece of PLASTIC (like for a bag of something) in the food. When I took the bite that in it, I first thought it was an especially tough piece of onion. I informed the server, and got a non-committal "oh sorry. I will tell the kitchen". That's it, no concession or even a visit by the manager. We had desert, and these were nothing to write home about. None of the deserts could have been made in the restaurant. They all had a factory kitchen feel about them. I had a tiramisu, which was dry and generally unappealing. My wife had a crème brule that was rubbery and was not fresh at all. My daughter had the chocolate mousse, that was supposed to come with a chocolate sponge. It had none and the mousse seemed to be whipped cream that they may have added cocoa too...

Overall, if you are trying to find a nice local Italian place, I would steer clear of Luigi's. Maybe it should have stayed an overpriced...