Lucca

We walked in the front entrance only to stand there for at least five minutes before a hurried hostess spotted us. Even with reservations, arriving about ten minutes early, and plenty of empty tables, we were directed to the bar and sat for about twenty minutes before they found us again. Bartender was too busy socializing to tend to customers.
Once we got to a table it was right next to the kitchen in a high traffic lane. Even at that it took a while for the server to find us and was obviously rushed because she was very forgetful the whole evening.
For such a small place it was very loud. They had an enjoyable piano player, but was a little too loud for the room size. It was too much for me when the Clampets started clapping and stomping along with his music.
Even though the food was very good, the overall cost was more than the value. Mainly due to the service.
I had two draft beers and my wife had martini’s. Martini’s were very good. The beer lines were dirty and I had the worse headache later that night and following day. So much for a nice anniversary evening.
DON’T DRINK THE DRAFT BEER.
Disappointing overall, doubt we’ll go back.

This place continues to impress. Seasonal menu changes bring in new dishes, new ingredients and new innovations. Chef Josh is award-​winning and the place just won a Best Restaurant award from a local mag. Goat cheese agnolotti is a standout. And while burger joints get deserved fanfare for their creations, the Lucca Burger can stand tall against any of them. Plus over 50 craft beers on draft and in cans/​bottles. Great wine list too.

luccas is a nice little Italian restaurant. Limited menu, The strip was awesome, it was like 4 inches tall and covered in this sweet molasses sauce that I approve of.
The salad was aiight. The guy playing the piano didnt know Piano Man by Billy Joel, you kidding me? A piano man doesnt know Piano man? Can I get my 5 dollars back?
Id go back if dragged.

I would come back to Canton for the HOF and the strip steak! Did I mention the risotto… that is worth the trip as well!

I really wanted to love this place given the great Unilocal reviews. Out of the 6+ years of Unilocaling, I have to report that it finally steered me wrong. Here is the breakdown of my disappointment:
Service: We walked into the restaurant and not one person acknowledged us. We had to seek someone out and interrupt their conversation! When we were finally seated (we had a reservation), we had to wait 10 minutes to finally place our order. I tried to give them a pass since there were three larger groups despite it being a Tuesday evening (maybe they were short-​staffed??). However, later in the evening after two of the larger groups had already left and our waiter was chatting away with another table, sadly, our empty plates sat on our table for over 15 minutes awaiting to be taken away.
Food: The scallop appetizer was yummy — perfectly cooked and flavor was balanced.
Our entrees were «meh» at best. I decided on the strip steak based on the Unilocal reviews. The steak was cooked a perfect medium rare but was way over seasoned /​salty. I like to taste my meat and not fill up on water. I tried to salvage it by scraping off the seasoning but that didn’t help the rougher than normal texture. I know it’s no rib eye but my expectation was for it to be more buttery and tender than it was.
My DH got the Penne Pasta which he said was so spicy it overpowered the meal.
The dessert was our final disappointment of the evening. We ordered the German Chocolate dessert that came out hard and cold. It seemed they just pulled it out of the refrigerator and put it on our table.
We will not be back.

I make a very big deal out of birthday dinners, so I took my fiancé here for his. He had the strip steak and I had the duck breast. Both were great — I discovered that I don’t actually like duck very much, but it was very flavorful and well-​prepared. I had a bite of his steak, too, and it was incredible. I’m a huge fan of steak, and it takes a lot to impress me, but that did it.
The atmosphere in here is also just fantastic. It’s dimly lit and romantic, but not so dimly lit that you can’t see the person across the table from you. Everyone is friendly. The service is great — I even asked that they put a candle in the dessert when I made the reservation, and they remembered. The server was also kind enough to snap some photos for us.
All in all, this is such a great addition to downtown.

Lucca deserves it’s 5-​star rating. I came here with a co-​worker of mine while on a business trip on a Tuesday night (no live music, but not crowded at all either), and the service was friendly and attentive — but not overly so.
I ordered the pork chops and she ordered the gnocchi. Since I am not a big fan of horseradish, I requested the horseradish aioli on the side instead. I’m glad I requested it on the side because the pork chop itself was cooked to perfection. Later on the waiter told me that the aioli is really meant for the polenta. My co-​worker enjoyed her gnocchi thoroughly. The food was so good that the first 10 minutes after our food came out, it was pretty much silent as we were both thoroughly just savoring our meals. We ended the night by splitting a tiramisu for dessert — really light and quite delicious as well.

Extraordinary! There are several reasons why I give Lucca 5-​Stars. I will talk about the food last.
Firstly, when you walk in, you are greeted by the friendliest staff. From the bartender to the waiters to the owner/​chef to his parents, everyone there is excited to see you. And they greeted me by my first name! They had my name from the reservations, and they actually remembered and took the time to talk to me like I was an old friend. It made me feel really good, like I was someone they cared about.
The atmosphere. I love it. Just dark enough to be romantic and cozy, with seasonal decorations and twinkling «fairy lights» (Christmas lights). We went to the wine tasting dinner and they had an excellent piano player that added to the nice atmosphere.
The drinks. I imbibed on a Hendricks and tonic before being seated for the wine tasting dinner. My only disappointment was they had no cucumber to garnish the drink. And really, if a cucumber slice is your only disappointment, you had a great dinner! Cucumber aside, the drink was mixed well and strong, and it was a great way to relax and wet my palate before the dinner.
The wine. There were two levels to the wine dinner on 20 October 2014. We chose the higher level so that we could try better wines. And Lucca did not disappoint! One of the wines we tried was $ 300 per bottle! There was not a wine served that wasn’t amazing, and Chef Josh Schory paired them brilliantly with his food selections.
The food. I have one word for you: Heaven. Okay, I have another word for you: Divine. Chef Josh is absolutely gifted. It’s very hard to choose my favorite course. In fact, I simply cannot. They were all wonderful. I will tell you that simply thinking about the bleu cheese soufflé with spiced fruits (the dessert course) is making my mouth water.
I will be back, again and again. And no matter where you live and/​or are visiting in Northeastern Ohio, I implore you to visit Lucca.

Went there for a romantic evening & loved this restaurant! I had the scallops & they were cooked to perfection. Service was great & the décor of the restaurant was very nice. We will defiantly be returning!

This place has the best food in Canton. House salad, Rock shrimp aglio & Chicken cannelloni was very delicious. I wished they checked their Wine inventory before they started the Dinner service as they were out of Entrai Moscato. No one ever cared to light the candle on our table but they were lighting it up on others table. May be they do not welcome bi-​racial couples so I would like to see others experiences. Apart from that Mandy our hostess was very genuine, real and wonderful. + We had to request someone to light our candle after it got dark at our table.

Best restaurant in Canton! You just can’t go wrong with anything on the menu and the service is fantastic!

It took me a while to get to Lucca — for a few reasons. I often don’t think to go downtown and I feel like I need to dedicate a few hours to the experience if I am going to go down that way.
Lucca was so impressive that I am going to be thinking of going downtown a whole lot more. From the outside it looks quite large, but in reality it’s a quaint place. The first thing I noticed was the separation from the front dining area and back bar area by a large piano. I went on a Wednesday night and they had live piano music and it was completely full — awfully good sign. However it still had a casual feel. You could dress up for a special night or wear jeans here for just a evening out.
We started with the grilled octopus app. It was quite tasty and I loved the vinegarette that accompanied it. For dinner I had the strip steak. It was massive (14 oz), cooked perfectly (med rare), and incredibly flavorful. I have to say it was one of the best steaks I’ve had. I was able to try the farfalle pesto pasta and the scallops as well. Again perfectly cooked pasta and the pesto was mild and herby.
You can just tell the difference in quality that Lucca provides. It is not a large menu nor do they have many side options. But that’s a good thing — they find the locally sourced items and prepare them well. Lucca truly is one of the best restaurants in the area.

I went to Lucca’s for the first time 2 weeks ago, and I am still dreaming about the strip steak I ordered. I like my meat on the rarer side of medium rare, and that’s a HARD temp to achieve. To top it off, this steak was really thick. But it was perfectly cooked. It was tender, it was full of flavor, it was everything you want a good steak to be. Now Bender’s, where I have dined a couple of times, claims to have the best steak in Canton; although I have never had steak there, I can’t imagine they do it any better.
My dining companion had the Scottish salmon, which was the special that night, and it, too, was super good. The trick to really good salmon is not to overcook it. I think ONE other time, I had a perfectly cooked piece of salmon when dining out, but most of the time, it comes dry and over-​seasoned with salt. Although this piece was seasoned, it was perfectly so, and none of the flavor of the salmon was masked with too much salt. It was superb.
And our service? Equally as good as the food. The manager sat us and returned once during our meal to make sure we were content. The co-​manager cleared plates, delivered our meals, and chatted pleasantly with us several times during our meal. At no point was it overdone or intrusive, which was a HUGE plus. Our server was knowledgeable and followed up on our meals. In addition, the server working the other side of the floor came several times with water to fill our glasses after she had served her own customers. At no time were we without something we needed, and all our wants were anticipated.
It was an expensive dinner, not one we would repeat regularly (although we could do so if we did not order apps and drinks, as we did this night), but it IS one we will repeat. Canton’s food scene is growing rapidly, and it is growing in the right direction with small locally-​owned restaurants that locally source their foods, and serve fresh, upscale, consistently excellent food. Come to Canton and try some of these places!

We had the best meal we have had in Canton last night! The filets were perfect and then some. Basil Parmesan risotto on the side, by special request, was a highlight. Bread is always good – from Hazels Bakery. Appetizers were hard to choose between – the 3 way bruschetta was great as a winter offering. The salad with mozzarella and roasted tomato was great. We picked a pricey CA big red as our wine choice– the aroma alone was intoxicating. Kevin DeSimone and his wife Hillary performed wonderful love songs on Valentines day. Kevin is an extremely accomplished jazz pianist and makes this restaurant a real gem in Canton with his regular evenings. And, Jimmy is a knowledgable, friendly, pro wine advisor and waiter – he adds a touch of class to the whole process.

Have eaten here 30 plus times. The best food in Canton as of ⁰¹⁄₁₄. Great salads (amazing caprese), great pasta dishes (anything here with a cream sauce is to die for), great steaks. The pepper honey filet is killer and the way they season and roast the vegetables is perfection. The lobster aka vodka is the perfect creamy tomato sauce with delicate chunks of lobster. The rabbit appetizer is so tender. I mean, this guy, Josh, knows his stuff. I often leave here saying that is as good as a meal I would have on East 4^th St in Cleveland.
It seems their persistence in providing quality food is starting to pay off as this place is becoming busier and busier each month. There are 3 – 4 pretty great restaurants in Canton and this one is at the top in my opinion.
Some great house made desserts are the only missing element.

Lucca consistently delivers creative, locally sourced, high quality menu items.
I have been dining here since they opened on a regular basis. The Chef /​Owner Josh Schory strives to provide a contemporary menu with a slightly Italian flare. Food quality is consistently high quality using fresh local ingredients. Fresh fish is usually on the menu as a special and is always prepared exquisitely. Menu pricing is acceptable when compared to competitive restaurants in the area.
The wine list is fairly comprehensive for a restaurant of this size. Chances are that there will be a bottle to suit almost any taste and budget.
Every time I have recommended Lucca to someone they have always given me their most sincere thanks for the referral. Every time I have taken someone new to Lucca they have enjoyed it and returned. If you have never been to Lucca then it should be on your priority list.

Nice atmosphere, but the food was underwhelming considering the price. I had the chicken piccata. The chicken was good but the risotto tasted like mushy white rice with very little flavor. My wife had the Mahi special. The fish was prepared nicely, but there wasn’t much to the dish and the sides were lacking.
The bar area was nice and if I were in the area I might stop in for a drink and an appetizer.

So good! Great food, fair prices, family operated! Excellent atmosphere! Ordered the baked penne delicious. Jimmy was a great server.

Awesome calamari appetizer. Amazing entrees. Very cool space.

We have always loved eating at Lucca. Service is always excellent. Once seated we were greeted by the chef/​owners father (Bob)who was filling in as a substitute sommelier. What he lacked in wine knowledge he more than made up with hospitality. He even brought extra wine for us to try and topped off our evening with lemon cella.
Tonight we were greeted warmly and quickly seated. We opted for a petite syrah. Our server brought actual Syrah gladses, not just generic wine glasses. Btw they have a nice wine list and do not gouge you on price.
We had a great meal. I had polenta cake with sausage for an app and duck breast with figs and mushrooms. My wife had a roasted beet salad and a delicious Tuscan style ribeye. White chocolate cheesecake and crème brûlée for dessert.
We have come here as a couple and with a group. We have stopped here for late night drinks. We have always had an excellent experience.