luce cucina italiano

the service was nice but very slow to get food to the table. therestaurantwas very dirty (serioulsy, gross) and the pizza was horrible. the pizza had really good reviews on facebook. lies. all lies. it was absolutely awful. so were the garlic knots. not sure why so many people like it, but please take my word for it and do not go here for pizza.

depending on what your order food isn't too bad. don't go there for lunch because even though they are never busy it takes forever. i'm third generation italian so i'm a little biased but the only thing that we like there is the grilled chicken spaghetti. the first thing we always test at an "italian"restaurantis the meatballs- luce's are premade frozen from somewhere and super salty. the side salads are made in advance which you can tell by the fact that then onions inside have been in there long enough for the lettuce to become infused with the flavor. the wedding soup is the same as you would get at the grocery store in can from campbells or progresso - which isn't a compliment unless you like processed meat and soups. the reason for the 1 rating is mainly because a couple of weeks ago we ordered the usual chicken spaghetti and an appetizer of the spinach dip, the spinach dip wasn't really a dip at all- more if a can if opened cream of whatever soup with some thawed spinach in it- we couldn't eat it because it was super salty. i love salty stuff way more than my wife and if i can't eat it you better believe it's salty. i called therestaurantas soon as we tried this and was assured a credit for my next order. i attempted to order today and was told by the owner "tito" that my credit was only good for another super salty spinach dip- even though when i logged my initial complaint there was no stipulation. why would i want another disgusting appetizer that we can't eat? when we initially tried the meatballs in therestaurantand sent them back "tito" came out and "hand made" me some fresh ones which were just as salty and processed tasting as the first. so "tito" kudos to you for loosing a customer and his entire large family of $7- i've been in business for almost 20 years and we always stay true to our word and do our best to make things right. i'm about to spend almost $40 on pasta and some chicken and you can't honor what you said you would do? sad sad sad. lexington is lacking in the restaraunt category but no one i know will ever spend their hard earned money at your establishment again. 

i wish antonina's would come re-open.

eat before arriving!. the food here was okay, a little oily for my taste. the wait was extremely long. had a party of 4 and waited over an hour for our entrees and waiting thirty minutes for appetizers (which were actually better than the entrees). after i spoke with a few friends, i was told it's customary for "the wait" in an authentic italianrestaurantbecause you are suppose to enjoy family/friends and wine while waiting. italian restaurants are suppose to be more about enjoying the company of others.. i'm not exactly sure how true this is, but it's what i've been told. anyway, give it a try, the atmosphere is great for couples, but i advise, please eat before going because you're food won't come any time soon.

their food flat out sucks. every time i have given this joke of arestauranta chance, it's the same crap: mushy pasta and runny, tasteless sauce that somehow leaves the most atrocious after-taste in my mouth. not quality food at all. tastes like something a five year old made. if you like their food, you clearly have no tastebuds. nasty crap. very surprised this place hasn't gone out of business! po-dunk lexington needs to get a real italian restaurant.

marginal quality-try all star instead. i reviewed luce's back in may, and since then have found the wonderful all star italianrestaurantjust down the street which is an all time favorite. wound up at luce's on monday when all star is closed hoping the management fixed the issues reviewers on this site have listed. unfortunately, the place was empty, the service was still slow (but friendly), and the food was marginal at best. spaghetti sat in a plate of water and the garlic knots were raw in the middle. good iced tea is a staple in all southern restaurants and here it tasted as if it had sat in the dispenser for a week. iceberg lettuce salad doesn't work in a place wanting to be known for fine food. this place is a big disappointment yet again.


-----27 may, 2013-----

ok food, terrible service. been to luce's several times, usually am one of only a few in the place so don't know how it stays in business. the food is decent, not great, but the service is lousy. expect to sit for awhile to get your food and you will be lucky if your order is accurate. almost every time they are either out of something or it isn't as described. the portions are good size except for dessert and forget using coupons or deal savers. you will get a hassle trying to use them and all the exclusions are not disclosed until you order as they are not on the coupon. i won't be back as it is too much hassle to eat there and the food isn't worth the trip.

great restaurant. thisrestaurantis great , i have been going there for while had no problem with the food or the service , they have lunch special for 5.99 which you can not beat any where . i dont know why people keep saying bad things about thisrestaurant, anywhere you go you while find people are not happy , that is not mean therestaurantis bad, i love this place.

bad experience again. not sure what is going on here but always willing to give a second chance.
we used to be regulars here, not so much anymore. last time the stromboli was missing my requested ingredients. we took the family sunday evening and the garlic knots truly were not baked. they waitress took the knots back minus the 3 that some of us had taken to eat. they put them back in the oven & burnt them, returned the partial order to the table and didn't replace the under cooked knots ones that were on the table & remained uneaten.the alfredo sauce on the noodles was missing the cheese on one order, on another order the marina sauce on the pasta noodles had a vinegar taste (bad??) the owner / manager should have taken the price of the garlic knots off the order at a minimum, given a credit for the least expensive meal, offered dessert.....but nothing. we still have gift cards for therestaurantand i will most likely let them expire. i will spend my time and money right down the street at a good all star italian eatery.

romantic - no. was not very impressed. romantic? no. who ever heard of an italianrestaurantwithout wine? might be good for lunch

good choice. me, my wife, and 10 year old son ate at thisrestaurantthis evening for the first time. my wife got the spicy chicken bowtie and i ordered the eggplant parmigiana. my son ordered the alfredo on the children's menu which contained no meat. some chicken was added at our request for an additional charge. my son and wife ordered water and i had tea to drink. the total bill was $33.57 plus tip. (i think children's menu is usually cheaper on tuesday nights?)
all in all, we thought it was a good experience but a little on the expensive side. all of us including my son who is a finicky eater thought it was a very good meal and the waitress was calm and helpful w/o aggravating us. i would say all of the staff were noticeably polite, but not in a fake way.
therestaurantitself was very basic and clean with the exception of an adjacent kids game area which needed some attention.

quick update. still have the same old cash register! takes too long to decipher the bill. that being said....darn good food! best calzone ever! great pizza! i drive ten miles from west columbia to meet my in-laws here for lunch. well worth the drive. only other thing you might want to bring with you is crackers to eat with your salad. they run out a lot. just say'in.


-----09 apr, 2010-----

great pizza. my in-laws talked us into going here last night. i have been searching for a good pizza in the lexington/columbia area for years. well, finally found the place, luce cucina italiano. therestaurantis not fancy, but decorated in a very low key kind of way. the wait staff is very friendly. we ordered our 16 inch pizza with three different items and asked that each item be split into thirds. i like mushrooms, wife likes onions and oldest daughter likes pepperoni. the waitress said no problem and the pizza came out perfect.

the hand tossed pizza had the right amount of sauce, cheese, onions and pepperoni. (loved the onion slices) outside crust was just right, not too hard and not too soft. great flavor. we will be back!

only minus to the evening was trying to pay the bill. there were four folks in front of me when we went to check out. it took 15 minutes to process these four tickets. when it was my turn, it took another 10 minutes for the cashier to try and enter the info into the 1980 style ncr register. she could not come up with the correct total. at one point she started to dress down our waitress right in front of me on how not to write up a order ticket. sad. a $499 point of sale computer could solve this issue.

had the lunch baked ziti. wife had the meat lasagna and a salad. portions were huge. food was tasty but on the heavy side. salad was large but plain with a passable italian dressing.restauranthas no license to serve alcohol. better italian is available elsewhere.

terrible. i am still amazed at the way my daughter and i were just treated at luce cucina at lunch today. we both ordered their lunch specials which were cheese ravioli and spinach ravioli which came with garlic bread for $5.99. we decided to add a side salad to each order for an additional $2.99. mind you at dinner it includes a salad for $8.99. with that said, our meals arrived on plates covered with sauce and cheese...when we dug into them for the raviolis we found 3 each. you get more in a chef boyardee can...this was ridiculous. when i mentioned it to the waitress she did not care but rather laughed about it...like she had heard it before. she said well you did get the lunch portion. i have eaten at thisrestaurantbefore for lunch and there were at lease 6 raviolis on the plate. she told me she mentioned to the manager how upset we were and he didn't even come out. she asked if we wanted to speak with him and i refused as obviously he didn't care anyways. so sad. love thisrestaurantwhen it first opened. will no return again. left there paying $19.82 and was extremely hungry. the salads were terrible as well...you get better italian dressing out of a bottle. now i know why the place is empty whever we drive by. don't give it very long at all.