Luciana's Ristorante
24312 Del Prado
Dana Point, CA 92629
(949) 661-6500
To celebrate Julie's birthday, I thought going on a whale watching "cruise" would be lovely. Little did I know that she gets seasickness, oops my bad girl! No better way to make it up than some Italian at Luciana's Ristorante, right? Hmmm...sort of.
Sadly, the night didn't start out right. When we arrived and told them of our reservations, they gave us this cramp, lounge table in their bar area as our dinner table knowing this is a special birthday dinner. Additionally, it's the only table in the bar and it's pretty loud and right next to the musician. They were trying to play it off as it being fantastic, but they didn't fool me with their sloppy way of making up for over booking their place.
They wouldn't let us sit there and move later when a decent table became available. It was either wait 45 minutes or sit in their patio. We ended up sitting in their outside patio, but honestly I wasn't really pleased how they handled the situation. I felt like I was discriminated because of our group's age. So if you go, beware of that!!
Okay, enough venting, now onto the food.
Sadly, the night didn't start out right. When we arrived and told them of our reservations, they gave us this cramp, lounge table in their bar area as our dinner table knowing this is a special birthday dinner. Additionally, it's the only table in the bar and it's pretty loud and right next to the musician. They were trying to play it off as it being fantastic, but they didn't fool me with their sloppy way of making up for over booking their place.
They wouldn't let us sit there and move later when a decent table became available. It was either wait 45 minutes or sit in their patio. We ended up sitting in their outside patio, but honestly I wasn't really pleased how they handled the situation. I felt like I was discriminated because of our group's age. So if you go, beware of that!!
Okay, enough venting, now onto the food.
Bread was pretty yum, but you have to request for olive oil and balsamic which I thought was weird. I thought that was pretty much a standard in Italian restaurants.
Calamari al Salto $10
Calamari sauteed with fresh tomatoes, red onions, kalamata olives, and capers in a lemon, white wine sauce, served with grilled ciabatta bread
This dish is a bit different. I didn't mind it, but Julie didn't think too highly of it. I think maybe because they over did it with the salt hah go figure
Fettuccine Boscaiola $18
Fettuccine pasta, sauteed prawns, scallops, shrimp, mushrooms, spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes, in a light, garlic white wine sauce
The seafood was cooked perfectly
Fettuccine Toscana $15
Fettuccine pasta with grilled chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, red onions, kalamata olives, and spinach in white wine and olive oil sauce
Nothing too special about this, something you can easily make at home.
Gnocchi Classico $13
Grandma's homemade potato dumplings with marinara sauce
I heard great reviews about this and had to get it. It was delicious. I like how there was more of a potato taste than at other places. Wish there was a bit more marinara sauce and mozzarella to make this dish taste even better.
Blowing out the candles - PRICELESS
Tiramisu
Of course, I need my tiramisu! As if it was my birthday, heh
Happy birthday, my Jewel!
1 comments:
spot on jenny!! spot on! i always love your reviews. and thanks for the great night! hope we have tons more to come when we do a 2010 reverse birthday celebration! haha you're next!
Post a Comment