Absolutely fantastic, not your traditional American Italian with smaller portions and only Italian wine. Such a lovely treat!!!

We were seated on the pasta room - what treat!!! Can I just say the service we have received in London has been top notch and Luca was excellent as well. Our server was attentive and service was at a good pace. We all ordered different items so we could taste it all and it was all excellent!!! read more

See all

Decided to find a spot to eat near our Airbnb and stumbled across Luca which had upscale date night vibes. We had just come back from a football game and did not go with the aesthetic at all (lol) but had a wonderful time. Our service was absolutely lovely and my friends and I decided to family style a variety of dishes. We got items from each course and here's our breakdown. Antipasti Parmesan fries 12/10 - melt in your mouth goodness. Yes, MELT! The inside was very well seasoned and gave a mashed potato consistency (best way I could describe it) Scallops - 10/10 excellent spicy flavor, perfectly cooked and presented Burrata - 8/10 good quality burrata, melted easily, paired well with the pear (they accompanied my allergy to beets by putting the purée on the side) British salumi- 9/10 probably the best cured meat selection I've had to date. Primi Mezzi - 10/10, the best way I can describe this is familiar and comforting done right Tortelli - 5/10, this one fell short in terms of flavor Agnolotti - 10/10, not an overpowering amount of truffle and had the balanced amount of creaminess Taglierini - 12/10, spicy and slightly sweet with the crab. Excellent combination of flavors Secondi Aynhoe deer - 9/10. I'm not a fan of deer and was not too thrilled we ordered this initially BUT I was proven wrong. There was no gaminess & it wasn't chewy. It was simple and complex with the flavors of the pumpkin & coffee Truly enjoyed my time here! read more

See all

Dined here one night for a client meeting. We sat in a private room with 10 people. The table was a bit small for the party size, but nice room we were in. Service was attentive & good. Ambiance of the restaurant is really nice. They have a cute patio that would be nice when the weather is warmer. The wine was great. Food was really good. We had a set menu & everything was good. The filet was a bit average but I hear most Americans say similar things about getting red meat in London. It was still good to me. I'd come back! read more

Luca - Filet - Italian Near Me - London, XGL

See all

Wanted to love this place, but the food wasn't worth the high bill. My fiancé and a friend also got extremely sick with food poisoning after dining here. Wouldn't return. read more

Luca, a modern Italian place with a British spin, exceeded my expectations. It will forever live in my memory, and not just because it was here that I discovered orange wine for the first time (a glass of Catarratto from Sicily. It's magically refreshing: a must-try). No, Luca was so wonderful because it was unexpected and innovative, though it somehow remained traditional with a Piemontaise influence. The atmosphere is chic and simple, with low lights, small wooden tables, white walls, and simple black-trimmed lamps. The four of us sat at the table by the window, which could have been chilly but wasn't. The restaurant looks small from the outside and from that front room, but it extends to the back, opposite the bar. We started with a few dishes to split: parmesan "fries" that turned out to be delightful cheese croquettes sprinkled with fresh parmesan, a too-firm burrata atop tomatoes with traces of black olive (the burrata was the only negative point), and an incredible hot and creamy anchovy "bagna cauda" in which to dip raw endive, fennel, carrots, radicchio, and cucumber. This came in a beige diffuser with a candle underneath, which kept the dip bubbling and frothing until the end. An ingenious and simple way to prevent the dip from getting cold and stale! It was funny to watch the veggies almost cook in the sauce: a perfectly raw carrot stick became bendy--yet still crunchy--en route to the mouth. Once we'd eaten through the vegetables, we started sopping up the dip with thick slices of bread from the basket, and eagerly awaited the second course. I was in the mood for vitello tonnato, which was a starter but could have passed for a main. Each dish was small, no bigger than a fist, and with both veal and tuna I figured this one would be filling. I was right. My sister ordered a kale pesto bucatini (not enough flavor for me, but she liked it), my friend a wild mushroom pasta (heavenly), and my fiancé the rigatoni with ragù (yum yum yum). Back to the veal. It came with chicory and the most incredible green peaches, which I had never heard of. They were tiny, full of seeds, and didn't look like peaches, but tasted like peaches, all right. The tuna part of the equation was velvety and bursting with flavor. I'm coming back here on my next London trip! read more

Tasting menu was amazing, but you should skip it if you have any allergies. We had good wine and some cocktails. The service was good in some ways and bad in others, particularly the allergy part. I'd still like to come back because the food was really good. I'm not the one with the allergy, so will give a second chance. read more

See all

Recently I had lunch with my colleagues at a new restaurant in Clerkenwell. 'Luca' is located on St John Street (where the restaurant Portal was previously) and serves Italian-British cuisine. It was opened in 2016 by the head chef Isaac McHale and his partners Johnny Smith and Daniel Willis, who have also opened the michelin star restaurant Clove Club in Shoreditch. From the outside the restaurant looks very small, but is pretty spacious in reality as there are several rooms at the back which are not visible from the street. The first room has some tables for 4 people, a bar and a reception with an hostess. This place is ideal to sip some cocktails and share antipasti. The second room has wooden tables with red leather seats and a view of the opened kitchen. Finally the last room where we had lunch was a huge veranda with large windows and brick walls. There is also an open kitchen at the back where you can see the team preparing dishes. Our lunch began with some bread served with olive oil. The olive oil was delicious and it reminded me the one I tried when I was younger in Tuscany near Pescia. Then we shared some antipasti: a salad of artichoke with celery and Pecorino (13 £), and two portions of scallops served on Jerusalem artichoke purée with nduja (13 £ each dish). The team arranged for us free of charge a plate with three scallops rather than 2, so we had one scallop per person. We appreciated the attention. The scallops were presented on salt. They were excellent and cooked to perfection with a smooth and delicious purée. On the other hand, I found that the salad of artichoke wasn't worth the price. It lacked seasoning and there was not a lot of artichoke. As a main course, my colleagues ordered the Rump of Hereford beef (£25), the rigatoni with pork sausage, tomato, anchovy & mint (£11), and warm salad of winter vegetables, goat's curd with black truffle (£21). I opted for the pheasant and mushrooms agnolotti, served in a broth with slices of truffle. The broth was good and the agnolotti were perfectly cooked. I couldn't taste any pheasant in the dish and the slices of truffles didn't bring any flavour. For dessert I had the apple crostata with custard (£8) while my colleagues tried the chocolate mousse (£9) and the pear and frangipane tart and rum custard (£8). This restaurant is certainly in the running for a Michelin star, just like the Clove Club. You can feel this by the way the plates are presented and the attention which is given to the service by the team. Some of the dishes were perfectly executed but it wasn't necessarily good value for money as the portions were a bit small. I will certainly come back to Luca for dinner to celebrate a special occasion as I think it will be totally suitable for this, but for a simple lunch it was a bit overrated and too formal. read more

See all

Slow, extremely inattentive service. Expensive, small portions. (Heck, J. Sheekey was a better value!) The only positive: The kitchen is open late in this neighborhood. I wish I had seen the yelp reviews first. What a waste of money. read more

Passed by this new neighborhood spot and was drawn in by the lovely decor. It was early on a Saturday evening but they seemed fully reserved and offered us seats at the bar. This was fine until we were informed the fantastic menu I had perused outside would not apply to bar service which seemed like an odd restriction. After some back and forth, the hostess relented and accommodated our request from the full service menu but I'm convinced the portions were reduced on account since the bar serves 'small plates' but retained the full menu price. Even so, the tasting we had was phenomenal - the linguine with clams, garlic, white wine and chilli was creamy and crisp with sharp notes, the chickpea pancake w kale and chilli was a standout and the rabbit, pork and green olive meatballs were innovative and flavorful. The beverage offering was also notable. Being pregnant, I don't often find a delicious, much less impressive, alternative but Luca produced a virgin espresso martini that really hit the spot. My husband enjoyed some red wine and a black vermouth. The bill appropriately reflected the refined food as much as the beautifully appointed space. We will be back and hope they've ironed out some of the quirks of the initial opening period. read more

Absolutely wonderful restaurant. Italian with a hint of Australian (fresh pressed olive oil and wine). We went on a date and had a leisurely and flavorful dinner. It was easy to make a reservation, the notes in which were well attended to, and while pricey, the food was delicious. Some of the highlights: The sommelier was approachable, friendly, and helpful The food was complex and delicious and never too heavy (shout out to the buratta) The staff was present but not intrusive The space is lovely read more