Nice, "newish" Italian restaurant in Doral, located in a typical corner shopping plaza…read more
The interior is architectural, modern, and fresh-looking. Simple, yet it creates a warm, high-energy ambiance.
The place is always packed. While reservations aren't mandatory, they're best, especially on weekends or for larger parties. Otherwise, you could face a 30-45-minute wait for a table for two, even on a night when they're not particularly busy.
The food is well-made and very tasty. Although I can't say they use the highest-quality ingredients, they certainly use quality ingredients, by all means.
I've been a couple of times, and both times I ordered the spaghetti Alfredo e prosciutto. A solid dish, with just the right balance between light and heavy.
My friend ordered the spaghetti alla Bolognese, which was also delicious. I'm generally not a fan of red sauce in the US because 90% of the time it tastes like tomato sauce without much flavor beyond tomato paste. This one was a pleasant exception.
Most entrées fall in the low-to-mid $20s, and both of our dishes were $23.
For dessert, we chose the pistachio cream-filled profiteroles. Definitely enjoyable, but at $17 in a restaurant where most entrées cost $20-25, I'm not sure it quite fits the bill, especially alongside an $8 lemonade.
The dessert was good, but it needed a little something extra to be $17-good. They finish it tableside by pouring pistachio sauce and sprinkling crushed pistachios over it, but the process feels forced and unnecessary rather than elegant enough to justify the theatrics. Personally, I would have liked it a little sweeter, although my friend thought the sweetness was just right.
We finished with two cortados, both very good and well-priced at $4 each, especially considering the presentation and included mini-biscotti.
The pricing inconsistency is hard to ignore. An $8 lemonade isn't unheard of in upscale restaurants, but those usually aren't located in corner shopping plazas. Not that Lucca couldn't be a fancy restaurant, but certain things would need an upgrade. They've worked magic making laminate and affordable materials look expensive, but, in the end, they're still what they are. Good design only goes so far in disguising the absence of the high-end finishes and ingredients that would justify $17 profiteroles and $8 lemonades.
The verdict: Lucca is a SOLID, BETTER-THAN-THE-MAJORITY-OF-ITALIAN-RESTAURANTS kind of place, offering great value overall.
In my opinion, it rivals 90% of Italian restaurants in Miami when it comes to ambiance and entrée pricing, and certainly ranks among the top three in Doral. There are other Italian restaurants offering higher-quality ingredients and more polished presentations, with tablecloths, proper cutlery, and cloth napkins. Lucca has none of that, yet the competition generally still struggles to deliver tastier dishes at similarly reasonable prices.
My only real gripe is that they should pick a lane: either embrace the great-value concept (good food, reasonable prices, no tablecloths and paper napkins) or charge premium prices while offering the elevated ingredients, finishes, and service to match.
Either way, you decide what to order. At least now, you won't experience the sticker shock we did the second time around.