Lucia Ristorante

We walked through Hanover street on a busy Thursday evening and found seating at Lucia. Actually at St Stephen's church across the restaurant location, which I assumed is basically "holy" ground. The main restriction we were told was no hard liquor, only beer and wine :-) Beautiful September evening outside. Had the Carrozza - awesome cheese and Prosciutto starter.Ordered the Harpoon IPA beer and was given two half-warm bottles (not stored long enough in the fridge), but got two ice cold replacements. :-)

Yelp reviewFood: 5/5 | Service: 1/5 | Ambiance 4/5Such a strange experience. The food was excellent, but the service was nearly nonexistent. We were seated and served no bread, ordered our meals, and then had to flag someone down for drink refills--which still took a long time. Our server never checked in with us once. It wasn't just our table either; the group next to us couldn't get service and left out of frustration, though at least they got bread. After we finished eating, we had to ask for the check twice. This experience left a bad impression, especially since I was showing a friend around the city during their visit. Unfortunately, it was a disappointing way to end their trip. Would not go back to sit in. Take out only.

Lucia, come for the food but stay because you don't get waited on. Arrived for reservations and they did not greet me or even ask for my name. After standing in front of the table I heard them yell my name. That was very odd and honestly, how rude. They really do have such a great menu and good food. It is delicious and flavorful but GOSH, the service is always soooo slow and awful. Our server did not bring bread like all the other tables had, our waters were never refilled, never asked for another drink and it was a pain to get his attention to even order food. Once we got our food, it was delicious like always. I am always disappointed in how we are treated but the food is good. Maybe takeout in the future will become my thing.We would have ordered more drinks but that was not an option when you don't get asked or checked on. Had a friend visiting from Ireland and this is where I brought her, not the best example of the North End.I had the Scaloppine Abruzzese, it was a great portion and delicious. My friend got the vodka sauce and she said it was okay. Our drinks were delicious.

Rant: Some of the reviews for Lucia are mind-boggling to me. I get that service can really derail a meal, but the blatent blasting of the quality of the food makes me question what kind of food these people actually enjoy. The one thing that I was able to correlate was the complaints were primarily lumped in 2 major categories: service and lunch (sometimes BOTH). /rantLucia lived up to it's roots - a 1970s mafia-capo-approved restaurant. It blends traditional with modern touches in the space and makes you feel like you are in a true trattatoria in Rome, Florence, or even Venice (minus the smell) when they have the windows and doors open. The food is perfection: pasta with a firm texture, calamari dredged and fried to perfection, meatballs that my Italian wife approves (not many places get that approval), and the sauce that accompanied my buccatini and my wife's gnocci tasted as if it was simmered from the day before. The price is inline with the North End, but one of the few places I don't actually mind paying the price for this type of quality. The menu boasts house specialties FROM Italy, not bastardized American versions of Italian classics. We shared 6 different dishes that were paired with perfect Italian wine selections (super Tuscans and montepulciano wine d'abruzzo, which makes sense since the theme of the place is the d'abruzzo region). While the service was not necessarily superb, it didn't leave us walking away begrudging the experience like a lot of the lower ratings ranted about. Could it improve? Sure. Enough to draw away from the amazing food and ambiance? No, not at all. Lucia moves at the pace that things do in Italy, it's a bit slow and not overbearing. The entire feel of the place transported me from Boston to Italy in an instant. While it may not be for everyone, there is nothing negative I have to say about Lucia - but that's because Italy is one of, if not my favorite places in the world. It's not America, it's not rude and fast-paced, but that's WHAT I love about Italy AND Lucia.

It's rare that I leave a less than 5 star review, but occasionally it happens. This was one of the most disappointing lunches I've ever shared with my daughter. We were seated promptly and water was poured for us pretty fast while we looked over the menu. My daughter wanted to split the "Tricolore" dish, which on the menu says it's a portion for two, but I say "Nay, Nay!"It was $39 for the dish and the portion was barely enough for one person. It was so tiny!!! So, we decided to order some calamari when our waitress came back but she didn't show back up until we were completely done and sitting there staring at each other for a good 5 minutes, so opportunities were lost. We looked at the dessert menu but decided against it, since we were beginning to feel unwelcome. I just paid the bill and we left. Very disappointed and still hungry.I am sad...

We absolutely loved this place! Everything in the north end is expensive, but we had a great experience!!! It was very loud upstairs, but it was fine. We ordered the calamari to start with and the Carrozza! I loved the light breading on the calamari and the Carrozza is a must! My friend got the carbonara. Solid!!! Further away from the camera! My husband got the Pollo Francesco - that was my favorite, to the right. I got the Quattro Formaggi with chicken on the left! We split the cheapest bottle of red and it was great!

Grabbed a table in the courtyard which is off to the side of the restaurant.The service was initially very poor as while we waited more than fifteen minutes for someone to take a drink order (only after asking the hostess if we should move inside for better service), the two hostesses had time to dance on the front sidewalk and snap selfies while we waited.Our server (Maria, per our receipt) did a good job of picking up the pace and she provided excellent service after our initial complaint. Our first glasses of house Pinot Grigio (Montini Pinot Grigio) were undrinkable. Maria substituted these with a sparkling rose (Le Monde) which was very good.We had the Antipasto Nostrano which was a little light on substance but very good. We also had the Pollo Lucia, the Vitello Marsala, and the Saltimbocca. These were good, solid dishes, but nothing extraordinary. We also had the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo red which was good, but not terrific.This was a dining experience that started off with a very bad initial impressions due to the very slow service and the dancing and selfie-taking hostesses who were oblivious to customers receiving bad service. Our server turned out to be very good. The food was good but not great. I would go back but will probably try a different Italian restaurant before doing so.

My wife and I visited Lucia for a late lunch during a recent visit to Boston. The experience was awesome and the staff and management were so pleasant and welcoming. I will remember the experience as a highlight of our visit. The food was excellent and served quickly. Lucia is a great example of the wonderful beautiful Northern section of Boston. Frank, the general manager of the restaurant was so kind and gave us some great insights to the history of the area.

What a fantastic Italian restaurant. Very classy with reasonable pricing. Rare these days. Savoy, our server for the evening was just wonderful. Appetizer, entrees and dessert amazing. My husband thought his veal was the best he'd ever had. Thrilled to have had such a wonderful dining experience on our second visit to the area. Actually our experience was so fantastic two years ago we made it a plan to visit Foxboro just to dine at Luciano's!

Since 1979, I have come to Lucia whenever I travel to Boston. The scallopine abruzzese remains a favorite, that I have never been able to find much less match in the US or Italy. We delayed our flight out of Boston on our way back from the Cape so we would have enough time for a meal at Lucia. So pleased that the food and service are so good all these years.