Luca D'Italia: Don't bother...

Since mom was in town and this weekend was our 5th anniversary, we had the opportunity to go out for a nice evening out. Browsing for some of the nicer restaurants in our neighborhood, I decided to make a reservation for Luca d'Italia, a place that seemed to have a variety of good reviews and some suspiciously mixed reviews, as well. You've got to give a place a try, right?

We arrived at 8:15, on time for our reservation, and found that we and several other couples, some of whom had reservations after us, had to wait. We chose to wait in the freezing foyer because the bar was full and the only other option was to hover over other patrons' tables in one of the dining areas. A half hour later, after everyone else was seated, the hostess suggested that 'if we were ready' she could seat us. As my feet were frozen and I had held back on snacking expecting a great meal, I was more than ready.

We were seated at a small table near a very cold window. No help for my feet. J was getting cold, too, it seemed. A waiter eventually sauntered over and merely asked if we saw anything we liked and asked if we had any questions. The menu was pretty obvious, so there were no questions from us. We did manage to make a wine order for two glasses but... they never came! Mind you, we were about 10 feet from the bar.

During the next 10 to 15 minutes, J grew obviously annoyed and my feet were feeling like they were going to fall off. We had plenty of time to chill further and to look around at the plain room, simple bar, and generally uncreative ambiance. (The rooms are described as colorful online, but I must have been so cold that all I saw was plain, plain decor.) Hmm. J went to try to see if we could swap to another (open) table and was told essentially, "No, that's just how it's got to be, thanks." So that was about the end of it. We discussed our next move and when I mentioned the Barolo Grill, another neighborhood restaurant, she said "let's go." By that time, it was 9:03 and we didn't seem any nearer to drink, food, or warmth.

We got up and walked out, nearly running into the waiter and breadstick guy who were finally bringing a plain looking basket of breadsticks and crackers and our wine glasses. I simply said that we weren't staying. On our way out, the hostess said "Thanks for coming" and one of the owners said something like "Come back soon." My "Yeah, right" as the door closed must have been a trigger, because after we had made it around the block she ran up behind us and proceeded to cajole and badger us into attempting to return to Luca so that she could "make it worth our while." Sorry, no dice. The funniest offense was when she said that she could get us a table at Mizuna, the restaurant that we now stood in front of and which I believe they also own. I was incredulous and simply stated, "We don't want a table at Mizuna... we wanted a table at Luca!" When she continued to press (no joke), I finally said that we just wanted to get out of the cold. She left.

We proceeded on to Barolo Grill where we had an excellent meal. We'll certainly never return to Luca or Mizuna. Denver has enough variety that I believe we'll be able to die happy without sampling any more of that family's poor service.