Tony & Lucille’s Little Italy Restaurant

This was probably the worst meal I have ever had. The veal was tougher than shoe leather and the service was disinterested. The restaurant was almost empty when we went in. Bad sign. We should have known better.

Don’t let the older décor fool you! Tony and Lucille’s has the best Italian food in New Haven. Extremely authentic and delicious. You’ll love every bite! Portions are really good and prices match the quality of the food! Service it also good! It’s 5 stars for the food, not the décor, but when the food is absolutely amazing, does the décor matter?

We went there for an early dinner with a kid. The place was empty. However, despite the clear availability to seat us, we were declined service since they claimed to not have any tables and highchairs available. Which was a lie because we saw available highchairs in a closet. The hostess was rude. This place straight up didn’t want to serve us because we had a kid.

Don’t understand the positive reviews on here at all… especially regarding huge portions. Just had lunch for two here and neither of us are close to being full (and I’m a 125 lb girl). I’ve never have been in an Italian restaurant that serves string beans (tepid) with an entrée instead of a pasta or starch. Just odd.
$ 15 chicken dishes were not whole pieces or chicken, but scraps.
Really unpleasant experience overall.
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This place is my favorite!!! As someone who eats Italian food all the time I have to say this is my favorite in New Haven! The eggplant rollatini was by far the best I’ve ever had and the manicotti was fresh and amazing! I also had a meatball which was massive and full of flavor. The focaccia bread rocked my world! Staff is friendly and helpful.
If you are short on time there is a takeout place attached with the nicest old Italian lady working there!

So I’ll start off by saying I’m not from New Haven. When I told a few of my friends from Connecticut that I was moving to New Haven they told me I had to try Pepe’s. I’m sure it’s probably a tourist trap but I wanted to give it a try.
Walking up Wooster Street we saw the line for Pepe’s and our stomachs could not wait. We saw Tony & Lucille’s right across the street so we gave it a try. We opted for the patio rather than sitting inside the restaurant.
The pizza in the take-​out section looked like it had been sitting there for a while. However, once the really sweet woman at the counter heated it up for us it was pretty good. A plain slice was right around $ 3.

$ 80 for 7 slices of uncooked doughy pizza and 4 glorious glasses of $ 2 buck chuck «chianti» served with an attitude as if I was putting them out for their last order of the night.

My boyfriend and I came here at around 6pm on a Sunday and it was basically deserted except for one other table with a lone diner. Service was a bit slow but we eventually ordered an antipasto plate and a prosciutto calzone.
We thought we had ordered a modest amount of food but i was REALLY impressed by the feast that was laid out for us! We were given an assortment of olives, a basket of absolutely delicious and fresh dinner rolls, and a gigantic simple salad before our antipasto was even brought out. I seriously wanted to eat 23 823 of those rolls but as soon as we finished our basket, the antipasto arrived. The roasted red peppers were absolutely delicious and complemented the mellow mozzarella very well. I’d definitely order this app again.
I was already full when the calzone came out, so maybe my opinion of it is biased, but I thought it was mediocre. The cheese and the deep fried bread were way too heavy on me at that point, and the prosciutto was extremely salty. I ended up leaving more than half of my portion uneaten.
I think i’d give this place 4 stars for the food, but 2 stars for the service/​ambience. All the while we were eating, our waitress was making very loud conversation with the only other diner in the restaurant. She was bashing another Italian restaurant across the street, which shall remain unnamed. I thought it was tacky that we had to listen to this lady slander a rival restaurant the entire time we were dining and my boyfriend and I felt pretty uncomfortable.
I hope this place stops being so butthurt about its competition… I’d want to come back for those roasted red peppers for sure!

I remembered going here once years ago and liked it a lot but sadly we were disappointed on our recent visit. Although we were one of the 2 tables there it took forever to get pretty much anything. They use a cart to bring out each drink, plate, etc. Which seemed to take Extra time to load and unload. The entrees came out minus one… Which the server joked about. The food was just not worth the money, the salmon almost inedible. I was wishing we had stopped at a different spot on this street…

This was amazing food! Don’t forget to ask for pasta on the side. When my family came from Seattle we visited and it was so wonderful they were so great and nice. I love the feel and the family feel the restaurant.

Second trip here. Got a nasty show by the owner! Disgusted in the poor choice of words he used with his employee.
Second time around, I ordered the same thing and it tasted totally different.
Some consistency, updated décor and this place would be a huge success!!!
I complained to the waitress she offered to remove the dinner from the meal. Was so disgusted that I didn’t want to eat!!!

Great sweet spot in New Haven! Old school Italian feel with a very personable staff/​owner experience! Large portions and wonderful variety. Definitely will be coming back!

Just outstanding service and a wonderful meal. They made my dad’s birthday dinner a great experience. The food was fantastic including the eggplant, veal, manicotti and much more including the tripe. Yes tripe ! I would not hesitate to come back. Don’t worry about the décor. Come there to enjoy an old fashioned Italian meal.

The food was fresh and excellent tasting. We had friendly, courteous servers. I would highly recommend the pork shank special. The portions were generous. We did not feel rushed at all. Our whole party (my daughter and mom) thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

OK, enough negativity. I love the place. Criticize the décor for being dated? I cal it classic. Criticize the menu for being too standard? I call it sticking to what you do well.
It’s simply very good, unpretentious and very well made food. Not adventurous, but the basics done perfectly.
I loved the gnocchi, the meatballs were just as they should be, chicken Marsala was absolutely perfect.
If you go to the chain Italian restaurant and get microwaved factory food to get all you can eat breadsticks and salad; you’re a fool.

Like you stopped by your friends house and they were not home but your friends parents feed you!

I wasn’t overly excited about my meal here, BUT they had the best «oil and vinegar style» salad dressing and some of the freshest salad ingredients I have EVER tasted. I could have sat there for a week and eaten salad day and night. I think they should bottle the dressing and sell it. I would buy a case at a time!

I can — and have — made much better Italian food at home for a fraction of the price they charged here. Hell, I’ve had better at Olive Garden. And without the mauve upholstered, gold rimmed chairs and fake plants characteristic of 1980’s catering halls.
The first thing I noticed (aside from the outdated décor) was the pretty hefty price tag — the most modest entrée came in at $ 16. Appetizers run close to $ 10. Also, there was not a single entrée salad on the list, nor was there these sandwiches that people kept mentioning in the other glowing Unilocal reviews. Is that only a lunch thing? Anyway, we ordered a veal dish, pasta dish, and garlic bread. The bread came out first, what looked like cheese-​covered rolls with a side of olives and lots of grated garlic. The garlic was a nice touch, but as we were discussing how neither of us can stand black olives, our salads came out, ironically topped with black olives. Pushing those aside, the salad was pretty basic. Greens, grated carrots, and a nondescript but very sweet (perhaps too sweet) vinaigrette. I was definitely hoping for something a little less blah.
My fettuccine dish with cream sauce, peas, mushrooms, and prosciutto was not that great. Pasta was overcooked, and the «cream sauce» wasn’t a nice delicate bechamel but a thick, cheesy, alfredo-​like sauce that completely overpowered the mushrooms and little squares of meat. The peas were fresh, at least.
Fiancé’s veal dish came with wine sauce and artichoke hearts. No starch. The veal wasn’t especially tasty or tender, and the wine sauce tasted like they hadn’t put any effort into reducing it at all. Very disappointing. I let him help me with my heavy sauce monster to compensate.
Also, plastic pushcarts, no beer, and the server wasn’t that friendly.
So yeah, I was not a happy camper when the bill came in and I discovered the garlic bread was $ 6, on top of the ridiculously priced entrees. We were going to go to Libby’s and get some ice and cookies to make up for it, but for some unknown reason they’re closed on Tuesdays, so we headed back to the little shop next to Tony and Lucille’s. We got a cookie that looked and tasted like it came from the dollar store, and Italian ice in a tiny little cup for $ 2. They don’t even give you a spoon unless you ask.
I give it two stars instead of one because I haven’t tried these sandwiches, but we’re not going back for supper or dessert again. The search continues for a decent sit-​down restaurant with better food than we amateur cooks make in our own kitchen.

When I got too cold to wait for Frank Pepe’s pizza, my friend and I headed across the street to warm up and grab some pasta instead. I ordered the linguini with clams. The clams, mostly littleneck, were delicious and fresh tasting. The pasta was well made, with the traditional white wine/​butter sauce. The entrée comes with a starter salad and bread for the table– entrée portions were gigantic, enough for 2 meals.
Only hiccup was the service, which was friendly but a little slow for the weeknight… it seemed like only a couple of waitstaff were there to attend to the entire large dining room of patrons. Otherwise though, this place is a solid choice for italian dining.

Well, I’ve stopped by New Haven a few times and walked around the town. Everywhere I went, people said I needed to try the apizza. «It’s awesome! Best pizza ever!»
Feeling hungry and still not knowing what apizza was, I went on Unilocal on my phone and looked for a decent place. I stopped by a few places, but all they had were small personal pies (lesson 1: good apizza isn’t sold by the slice). Not feeling particularly hungry for a small pie for myself (and not looking to dish out $ 9 when a $ 2 or $ 3 slice would suffice), I kept looking.
I eventually made it to Tony & Lucille’s, a nice enough place with a friendly person behind the counter. I ordered 2 slices (a Prosciutto [i think] and a pepperoni slice) and a soda.
I was charged $ 9.25… almost 10 bucks for 2 slices and a soda. I quickly glanced around to make sure I wasn’t caught in a Times Square tourist trap. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case.
I paid up and hurriedly went to go eat my golden pizza. To be honest, I still to this day don’t know what apizza is, or if that was even it… but what I had was not particularly good… DEFINITELY not $ 10 worth of food good.
I’ve gone 0 for 2 on my last couple of New Haven trips in my search for decent pizza. Hopefully the next trip will bring forth a good contender.