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Members' reviews on CANTINETTA LUCA
4/5
26 reviews
Value for money
Kitchen quality
Originality
Frame/Ambiance
Service
Visited in march 2024
Lady bartender not very professional
Visited in march 2024
Favorite restaurant in all of Carmel. The ambiance feels like a Roman restaurant in Trastevere. The food is just as delicious too and plenty of wine options! I recommend the octopus and pasta allá carbonara. The quality of the guanciale adds to the texture and flavor of the dish. A must visit if you’re in Carmel.
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Visited in february 2024
Pizza margherita was nice, but the mushroom pizza was not great. Tiramisu was good.
Visited in february 2024
Amazing food and amazing service by Melissa!!!
Visited in february 2024
Order octopus, broccolini, and pasta carbonara.
Visited in february 2024
Excellent food. I highly recommend the tiramisu. Special shout-out to our server Mr. Hamilton. We appreciate the patience and knowledge you possess of exquisite Italian food. Will definitely be back!
Visited in january 2024
Очень комфортная атмосфера и сервис. Блюда были очень вкусные.
Visited in december 2023
Amazing subtly decadent dining experience. A delicious collection of cured meats transitioning to a wonderful pasta course. Not crowded, not fussy, just good quality food and good service
Visited in november 2023
I ordered the focaccia and it was $3 extra for olive oil...which is pretty outrageous, esp with how small the amount of olive oil is you can see in the photo. I also ordered the Tagliatelle Bolognese, and I may be extremely biased about this because I've actually been to Bologna Italy and learned how to make bolognese, but it was pretty salty here and the depth of flavor wasnt as expected. And its a little disappointing as that is one of their most popular dishes. Everything is pretty overpriced, I asked for a sparkling water and got charged $7 for it. But the service was good and its a nice restaurant, I just dont think it was worth the $.
Visited in october 2023
Incredible restaurant! Our first time in Carmel and we happened to choose this place for dinner. We sat at the bar and both the food and service blew us away. The octopus appetizer and yellowfin tuna entree were exceptional. Julian and Timothy were also wonderful and helped guide our decisions with each course. We will be back here!! Loved every second.
Visited in october 2023
Horrible service on a night that was not very busy. Food was just average.
Considerably over priced. Will not return. Very disappointed.
Considerably over priced. Will not return. Very disappointed.
Visited in october 2023
Not worth the money. The special was written but not available and we were there at 5:30.
Visited in september 2023
We ordered a take away, very simple. Carbonara and garlic bread. We were told 25 minutes, was closer to 55. Seriously the worst Pasta and bread I have ever had. Inedible. I could pick the Pasta up with my fork in a one solid gluggy salty block. Bread was also inedible. Stars given for atmosphere as we actually discussed dining in this weekend as the atmosphere was good. Just terrible.
Visited in september 2023
Allie was a fabulous server-great recommendations and really friendly! The carbonara was delicious!! Loved the burrata and the fresh tomatoes! Don’t miss the pink Negroni! We will be back!
Visited in september 2023
Found it strange that we couldn't customize our pizza
Visited in september 2023
Nice food, and as about as reasonably priced as anything in Carmel
Visited in september 2023
We had a lovely experience last week at Cantinetta Luca. Our server (Ali) was friendly, knowledgeable and gracious. The caprese salad with burrata was delicious. We ordered the Bolognese pasta and the Carbonara pasta. Both were absolutely amazing. Perfectly cooked. The best ingredients. So flavorful.
Visited in september 2023
Great food, service and atmosphere. Bring friends to make memories
Visited in september 2023
Very very good
Visited in august 2023
I am a food crazy person (or a**hole), I’ve been lucky and eaten at the most celebrated places in existence. So here’s what I have to say:
Amazing…..
We had a pizza, salmon, shrimp, octopus, eggplant, house cured meats and pasta.
I can’t find a single flaw in any dish, it was perfect.
There was an amazing woman (be sure to call her Mam) that manages the bar area, she’s tony and will put a smile on your face.
The chef is great, humble and a master, in fact he was a little taken back by the compliments.
Carmel by the Sea is an amazing town and LUCA is the icing on the cake.
JonT
Amazing…..
We had a pizza, salmon, shrimp, octopus, eggplant, house cured meats and pasta.
I can’t find a single flaw in any dish, it was perfect.
There was an amazing woman (be sure to call her Mam) that manages the bar area, she’s tony and will put a smile on your face.
The chef is great, humble and a master, in fact he was a little taken back by the compliments.
Carmel by the Sea is an amazing town and LUCA is the icing on the cake.
JonT
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Visited in august 2023
Loved the place. We had the full service meats board with buratta, great drinks and wine selection. Even had a terrific espresso martini for dessert. 100% going again
Visited in august 2023
Please do yourself a favor and ignore all of the 4-5 star reviews. This was by far the worst dining experience I've ever had from start to finish. I never understood why anyone would ask to see a manager after a poor experience...until now.
We ordered two cocktails (the best part of the meal, and that's not saying much), 2 $34 (!!!) bolognese pastas, and a side of broccolini. One bite of each and we were ready to send our meals back. The meat in the bolognese tasted like hamburger helper - flavorless, dry, awful. The broccolini was severely undercooked - I can't imagine they cooked it for more than three minutes. Unfortunately, our waiter never made another appearance at our table to ask how our food was, if we needed anything else, etc. until it was time for the check, so we were forced to eat what was in front of us. If we weren't decent people, we would've walked out right then and there.
Typically after a mediocore meal, I take the loss and leave, however this time I felt like I needed to be honest. When our waiter finally came over to clear our plates (without even asking us how our food was), we told him how unsatisfied we were with the entire experience. After a moment of expressing his confusion and a less than empathetic apology, he cleared our plates and handed us the check...not once trying to make it right, asking to see what he could do, comping an item, NOTHING.
Luckily we're not locals and will never be coming back. I never write reviews, but if I can save someone from coming here and having the same experience I had, it's worth it.
We ordered two cocktails (the best part of the meal, and that's not saying much), 2 $34 (!!!) bolognese pastas, and a side of broccolini. One bite of each and we were ready to send our meals back. The meat in the bolognese tasted like hamburger helper - flavorless, dry, awful. The broccolini was severely undercooked - I can't imagine they cooked it for more than three minutes. Unfortunately, our waiter never made another appearance at our table to ask how our food was, if we needed anything else, etc. until it was time for the check, so we were forced to eat what was in front of us. If we weren't decent people, we would've walked out right then and there.
Typically after a mediocore meal, I take the loss and leave, however this time I felt like I needed to be honest. When our waiter finally came over to clear our plates (without even asking us how our food was), we told him how unsatisfied we were with the entire experience. After a moment of expressing his confusion and a less than empathetic apology, he cleared our plates and handed us the check...not once trying to make it right, asking to see what he could do, comping an item, NOTHING.
Luckily we're not locals and will never be coming back. I never write reviews, but if I can save someone from coming here and having the same experience I had, it's worth it.
Visited in august 2023
Bad service!
Visited in july 2023
This was a lovely find in Carmel by the sea. We arrived last minute and weren’t able to book some of the more popular restaurants so we expected very little. However our server was friendly, helpful and very available to assist us. We were also surprised by the quality of the food, my pork chop was cooked perfectly and the flavour combinations with it were surprisingly tasty (I’m talking grilled peaches, kale and mushrooms). I will say that the focaccia we ordered as a starter would have been nicer with some herb seasoning but otherwise dinner and dessert were fab. Our cannolis were the best we’ve had in America so far so I’d definitely recommend that one in particular. My boyfriend kept taking bites out of my tiramisu also! We were seated quite close to another couple but they turned out to be quite friendly too so that was okay. I can imagine some people preferring more privacy though. All in all I would come back.
Visited in december 2019
Les pizzas de la Cantinetta sont les meilleures à Carmel. Absolument délicieuses!
CANTINETTA LUCA
Open
- from 17h30 to 21h00
Go there and contact
+1 831 625 6500
I am the owner
•
Click here
Opening hours
Monday
Closed
Tuesday
Closed
The best at Carmel and around
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I want to give 1 star for the service. They took 1 hour and 15 minutes to bring our order, we had been waiting for soooooo long. They made up for the mistake for offering free desserts so that's fine.