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Lucca restaurants

Hello all. Wife and I will be in Lucca for a week mid May. We're looking for some restaurant recommendations, preferably small family run restaurants. Thanks in advance.

Posted by
190 posts

Hi David -- I'm also going to be in Lucca around the same time. Here is a list of recommendations from my AirBnB host. He put together a nice booklet of useful info on main sites and also the following restaurants. Maybe someone can chime in on if they have eaten at any of these. My host strikes me as someone with good taste!

Restaurants in the center of Lucca:
La Buca di santantonio (0039 0583 55881) https://www.bucadisantantonio.com/
Gli Orti di Via Elisa (0039 0583 491241) https://www.ristorantegliorti.it/
Surreale (0039 0583 1382422) https://www.surreale.it/
Giglio (0039 0583 494058) https://www.ristorantegiglio.com/
Ristorante All’Olivo (0039 0583 493129) https://www.ristoranteallolivo.it/
Mecenate (0039 0583 511861) https://www.ristorantemecenate.it/
Gigliola (0039 0583 392818) https://www.gigliolalucca.com/
Trattoria Canuleia (0039 0583 467470) http://www.canuleiatrattoria.it/

Restaurants Lucca’s Surroundings:
La piccola Enoteca (Montecarlo) – 0039 0583 229164
Osteria La Buca del Norcino (Montecarlo) – 0039 0583 228845
Osteria del Vecchio Olivo (Montecarlo) – 0039 0583 228847
Fattoria Borgo la Torre (Montecarlo) – 0039 0583 229495
Vecchia Osteria da Batano (S. Pietro a Marcigliano) – 0039 0583 928580
L’Altana (Barga) – 0039 0583 723192
Scacciaguati (Barga) – 0039 0583 711368
Caffè Ristorante Capretz (Barga) – 0039 0583 723001
Eno-Trattoria Da Beppino (Valdicastello Carducci – Pietrasanta) – 0039 0584 790400
Filippo (Pietrasanta) – 0039 0584 70010
Fisghing Lab (Pietrasanta) – 0039 0584 1540007

Posted by
38 posts

Will be in Lucca in July. Any reviews of the listed restaurants?

Posted by
1 posts

Checking to see if anyone had any reviews of any of these Lucca restaurants listed above? Looking particularly for one open for lunch near the center. TIA!

Posted by
305 posts

In Lucca center, we visited Gli Orti di Via Elisa, Mecante, Canulea and All’Olivo. They were all good, we liked All'Olivo best. We were least impressed with Gli Orti di Via Elisa, but still decent. The other two were very good as well. Would go back to the best three.

Would also recommend Osteria Pasqualino. We went there twice. It was our favorite place. The owner is very personable and generous.

Posted by
190 posts

I would STRONGLY second David's recommendation of Osteria Pasqualino. Make sure you make a reservation at least a week in advance and probably more if on the weekend.

This was our absolute favorite restaurant in terms of food, the wonderful host and the general vibe. I'm still thinking about the caponata appetizer we had. Also, the owner was so kind and generous in spirit and on-the-house tastings. The night we were there (mid week, 8:30 reservation) we were seated outside, per our request, and heard singing from indoors. I wasn't familiar with the actual songs but they had a european folk song quality. I headed inside to get a first hand look and ended up joining in - requesting the Mary Hopkin song "Those Were the Days" and before you knew it the entire restaurant was belting it out. So much fun. I felt like I was in a movie or something! We ended our night with another on-the-house drink -- a melonecello! Best night in Lucca ever didn't get back to our AirBnB until well after midnight!

Posted by
305 posts

We feel you JoeandRose. Our first visit included a additional wine and then a digestif on the house. 2nd visit included a free dessert.