Luciano’s Ristorante & Bar
Posted on 01. Apr, 2009 by Flicks and Food in Foods
Luciano’s Ristorante & Bar - Spaghetti & Meatballs
(18 votes, average: 2.44 out of 5)
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Total Grade: 72%
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Customer Service: 7
Food Quality: 7
Atmosphere: 7
Parking: 8
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Category: Italian Food
Price Range: $$ ($10-$20 = Average)
In My Opinion:
Luciano’s Ristorante & Bar has opened up a new location in San Antonio, TX. They opened up their Stone Oak location in late January 2009. Prior to doing a review about the place I went there to talk to the owners/managers of this location. I first went there on a Saturday and got to talk to Donnie Vasquez, Manager of the location. I went to introduce myself, also let him know what Flicks and Food was about. He was very courteous and interested in what we’re doing.
The following day, I went back there and spoke to Antonio Buzzotta the Regional Manager. Again, I explained what we’re about, how we could help promote his restaurant more, and if they’d be interested in sponsoring one of our contests. In my opinion it was a win, win situation for both business and the customer. I told him I was not there to sell him anything, nor sell him ad space on my site. As you guys all know, I am trying not to do that because it would be a conflict of interest. He seemed very agitated and defensive as I was talking to him. I am unsure why, maybe he was just having a bad day or something…I wasn’t sure. Needless to say, I was surprised by his response, “People know who we are and that’s all I need.” Thus by the tone of his message, I felt like it was time for me to leave. I left thinking wow! Here I am trying to help by offering up a solution to promote Luciano’s Ristorante & Bar and by having them sponsor a contest for the community.
Now on Monday, I came into the restaurant for a late lunch to do my review so it was not busy at all. Mind you, I’ve just talked to both managers the days before and they both happened to be in working that day. For me (a must try to test an Italian restaurant) you must try their spaghetti & meatballs, chicken alfredo, and/or their signature pizza. Today, I had the spaghetti & meat balls going in with such high expectations since you know, “people know who we are and that’s all I need.” I was ready to sit down and have an amazing experience right? Wrong! I paid for my meal and sat down. While waiting I got to check my phone and watch some TV which as good. Finally, the meal came and that would be the last point of contact I would have with anyone that works there. No one ever came by to see if everything was okay or if I needed anything else. Remember, I’ve been there for 3 days straight they knew who I was and if I got this kind of service, how would your service be?
Lets get to the food, shall we? Remember I was expecting one of the best dishes and my meal was decent. The flavor of the food was okay. I would have liked to seen either a thicker sauce or more of it on my plate rather than just covering the top of the mound of spaghetti. I did like the size of the meatballs it was a great portion size, but lacked a bit of spice or kick that I was anticipating. Thus, I only ate about half the dish, as I got bored eating it and left. I did really like their bread though, it was warm on the inside and a very nice soft, fluffy texture to it. The decor of the place was pretty nice seemed to have that home feel to it, warm and cozy. For my overall experience from the food, service, and decor of the place (especially spending about $15 for spaghetti & meatballs and a tea) I just felt like they could have done a better job on this dining experience.
I got to talk to Luciano himself on the phone and in the near future I will be doing a follow up at their main location. I plan to give them a chance to improve their grade. Even Luciano commented on the phone about the experience I had, stating “We really dropped the ball on this one.” I can’t wait to check on their other location and let you guys know how it went.
Location Visited:
18866 Stone Oak Pkwy.
San Antonio, TX 78258
Tel: (210) 545-1300
Google Map:
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Follow Up Visit:
I went to the Churchhill Estates location to do a follow up review for Luciano’s Ristorante & Bar. First and foremost I’ve got to say that the overall experience here was much better than the Stone Oak location. I ordered the spaghetti & meatballs again and the quality of the food was a little bit better. I finally got some flavor in the meat sauce, however the meatballs still seem kind of average. I would like to really know if they make their meatballs fresh everyday or if they buy them frozen? I’m guessing frozen as they taste like the HEB ones you can get. I hope to hear back from Luciano to find out for sure. The amount of the meat sauce is still the same. It seems very light vs. the amount of pasta given. We had an employee check up on us 2 times, filling up my drink and bringing the to go boxes. Thus the service was a step up, the managers didn’t come by the table, however as mentioned the overall experience was a bit better here.
Location Visited:
15614 Huebner Rd #100
San Antonio, TX 78248
Tel. (210) 493-5600
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19 Responses to “Luciano’s Ristorante & Bar”
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19
Ed Davis
08. Mar, 2010
I have gone to dinner at the Stone Oak location of Lucianos several times. There is a lot more to Italian food than spaghetti and meatballs or pizza. They have excellent entries such as their ribeye and tilapia. It is hard to understand the comments here about the table service. The table service is better than I have seen at some of the best restaurants. Both the owner, Luciano and his brother stop by the tables to see how things are going; the staff lavishes attention on customers. The prices for entrees are very reasonable. Probably the most service and food quality for the money I have seen in the city.
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18
Abel
23. Nov, 2009
I live in Stone Oak and I go there once in a while. The restaurant is very cozy and the people there are fairly friendly. The one who seems to be the owner or manager (short gray-haired man) seems like an unfriendly person, but thats just his appearance. He seems to be unfriendly at first, but after going for a while, it becomes apparent that thats just his nature. Stop complaining and enjoy the food Mama Mia.
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Brandon The Loyal Customer
06. Aug, 2009
Best friggin pizza i have had in forever. I order this pizza for my family every sunday night to watch the HBO shows and we cant stop talking about how good the dern pizza is. You people who are talking about customer service think about the culture behind the Italian’s rude is how it is supposed to be at this type of restaurant. You go to the one on Stone Oak you will never hear of service so good. The manager there is rediculously awesome, and gives you backround on the establishment. I say eat the pizza and shut up unless you make it better at your house which i highly doubt.
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Raul Solis
01. Aug, 2009
Luciano’s transports mall experience to the suburbs
Total Grade – 68%
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7 – Customer Service
5 – Food Quality
8 – Atmosphere
7 – Parking
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Luciano’s on Huebner Rd. warmly greets you as you enter with great atmosphere and decor, presentation behind the curved glass cases entices with variety and color. I chose the panini and Italian wedding soup while my business associate chose the soup and pasta.
The person attending us was friendly and cordial but failed to explain to us the process of toasting the Italian Panini and moved at a slow pace, lucky there were no other customers behind us.
The panini could have been toasted more resulting in a chewy luke warm sandwich. The soup lacked body and flavor. Suffice to say the mall eating experience regrettably was duplicated.
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altheatremaine
23. Apr, 2009
Valerie H-
I must say that I completely disagree with your comment. The fact that Robert had a bad experience at Luciano’s had nothing to do with the fact that I had a bad experience when I visited the restaurant, and I’m sure that was the case with everyone else. Moreover, I wrote a review on the Riverwalk location, which you have identified as a “table service” restaurant and I got nothing of the sort. I will not stoop so low as to recommend this restaurant to someone who will then also be treated with the disrespect that my husband, his family, and I were treated with when we went there during lunch.
Of course, like I said in my review of the restaurant, I did had a good experience the first time I went there, which was during dinner. However, I will not recommend the restaurant to anyone until I go back and make sure that they have stepped up because there is no excuse for bad service.
I also would like to say that I completely agree with Ana. This site is meant to give you the truth, and if the truth is that someone received less-than-adequate service, then that’s what should be reported.
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Anna Gonzalez
15. Apr, 2009
Hi Valerie, thank you for your comment but I have to disagree. I think this site is unbiased and gives readers, very honest reviews.
If you notice, we seem to hear the good, the bad and the ugly. Quite frankly, that’s why I like the site.
By all means, please comment or post positive or negative reviews on any restaurant. This is what its all about!
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Robert McGuire
13. Apr, 2009
★ @ Valerie H. – Thanks for your comments. Have you ever eaten at Luby’s or Whataburger? Even at those places someone does come by your table. The contests benefits the companies and the customers, which this site is built for. ★
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Valerie H.
13. Apr, 2009
Saw your clip on TV and thought I’d check out your site. You missed the boat on Luciano’s-I love the meat lasagna and the margarita pizza. Since I’ve been to several of the Luciano’s locations, I read your comments with dismay. I’ve always had an enjoyable experience at any of the Luciano Restaurant locations. If you are doing a review, you should know what type of restauarant you are in and what type of service is expected. A couple of the Luciano location’s are “Counter Service” style, like the Stone Oak location that you reviewed. If you go through a line to pick up your food, you do NOT get “Table Service” in a counter service restaurant! Have you ever been to La Madeline?-it’s the same! Don’t expect someone to come by your table-if they do, you are probably in a “table service” restaurant. This is where some of your reviewers are confused. Luciano’s has a “table service” restaurant on the Riverwalk and the food and service were excellent when I was there a month ago. I agree with Mike Martin that coming up to the manager and talking about a contest and then being upset that he did not jump up and down that you were there made me realize that you still need some experience or maturity if you are going to review a restaurant business on the internet. All your other “reviewers” seemed to just feed off your comments and I quickly realized that this is not a good place to get a restaurant review. I am a frequent diner (3 to 4 times a week) and have experience in the restaurant business.
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Robert McGuire
10. Apr, 2009
★ @Marz – I totally agree with you. And as I’ve talked to people before, I can handle average food, atmosphere, and parking situation. But I can not and will not accept bad customer service. No way! I did do the follow up as promised and things did improve, however I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement. That’s entirely up to the restaurant owners & managers. ★
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Marz
08. Apr, 2009
The worst thing about this whole review is the comment by the manager that everyone knows who they are. Huh? I’ve never heard of them. I live near Kirby and work off Huebner and IH-10. I moved back here in June of 2008. Soooo, if they were that well known, shouldn’t I have heard of them? Such arrogance.
I’m in the industry. And while I’d like to think everyone knows my place, they don’t. I’ve worked in the industry for 3 different concepts in four cities. There are always people who have never heard of you, even if the place has been around for years.
@ Robert McGuire, Keep up the good work, the review was well done.
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9
Althea Tremaine
04. Apr, 2009
I’ve been to Luciano’s Riverwalk location twice. The first time was a weekday evening, and not only was the food phenomenal, but the service was just as wonderful. The waiter was attentive, polite, and very charismatic.
The second time, however, I decided to go for lunch after my small wedding with five or six of my guests and my new husband. Expecting the same quality of service, my party ordered and we all talked until our food got there. Little did we know this was going to be about fourty minutes later. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the waiter was rude, forgetful, and ignored us for most of our meal. One of our guests wanted to order desert, but the waiter was nowhere to be found. He waited for about fifteen to twenty minutes for the waiter to take his order, and then about twenty more to receive it.
The food, in my case a “spicy” pasta, was bland, tasteless, and overcooked. The sauce was very light, which left me with most of my pasta bare. Moreover, it was cold by the time it was brought out to me.
Needless to say, I had a less-than-horrible experience with Luciano’s my second time around, not only having ruined my lunch, but the lunch after my wedding, which is that much worse. Unlike my husband, I’d like to go back sometime and see if there are any improvements, since my first experience was so wonderful. Perhaps they’ll win with two out of three.
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Robert McGuire
03. Apr, 2009
★ @ Mike Martin, thanks Mike for your wonderful comments. Let me see? Was I asking them to sponsor me? No. What I did was if you can read, that I went there to let them know what Flicks and Food.com is and what we’re doing. Did I ask them to give me a gift card or gift certificate at that sec? No. I mentioned that with the sponsored contests what I do is promote their business on my site and through social media networks for the duration of the contests, then pass the prizes to the community. So the way I see it is that the business and members of the community gains a win-win situation there.
Secondly, it doesn’t matter if they know me from Adam, Sam, Tim, Bobby Joe, or etc. Its even better they don’t know me since my “Reviews are from people just like you.” If you can understand that, meaning your Average Joe.
Lastly, you may need to get the order correct, its all about Service #1 (which they dropped the ball on and even Luciano said himself the thought they did) and Food #2 (it maybe better, at this time it was average).
Thanks again for your wonderful and insightful comments, as I have done reviews on many restaurants, good, average, or bad reviews. I also do follow ups especially on those that have average, bad, or incidents that may have happened. Did they all give me gift cards or gift certificates, ummm NO. Because the bottom line is that its about the service, food, and decor of the place.
Great example is Tiago’s Cabo Grille had a small incident happen there and I wrote about it, yet they were still interested in sponsoring a contest. This goes to show you that some people and businesses can really understand the bigger picture. If you can’t see that then I’m so sorry. ★
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Mike Martin
03. Apr, 2009
I really wouldn’t judge a restaurant just by the fact they didn’t want to sponsor your contest! Puh-lease!…do you have any idea how many requests businesses get for that kind of stuff??? They don’t know you from Adam, so why should they want to sponsor your contest? Work a little harder to build relationships with sponsors, and you might have better success. And NO, I don’t work for this restaurant or have anything to do with them…I just think your site could be better if you stick to #1 FOOD and #2 SERVICE…not “they refused to play with me
Waa-Waa!
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Robert McGuire
01. Apr, 2009
★ @ lavenderlizard, @ eddy was here, @ O.Robert, well its not so much about the “customer is always right” more about people should respect to whom they are talking to and at a restaurant there should be someone there to ask “is everything okay? can I get you anything else?” I’m asked at even places you wouldn’t think would do it that do: Whataburger, Luby’s, etc. that’s just to name a couple. As I said, I’ll follow up at a different location to see how it is or will send someone to go in undercover. You could say that I’m like the mystery shopper for Flicks and Food.
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5
O.Robert
01. Apr, 2009
@ lavenderlizard @ Robert McGuire you guys touch on a very important point, the concept of the “customer is always right” has taken a whole new level lately (and maybe for a good while).
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eddy was here
01. Apr, 2009
I see eye to eye with you on the review. Poor customer service at the riverwalk location. Decent food, long wait times, waiters I see once or twice,, and high prices
I’m not going back there even if they paid for my meal.
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3
Andy Thomas
01. Apr, 2009
I used to go fairly regularly to the Luciano’s Rivercenter food court place to pick up food to take back to work. They usually put my order in a bag and made certain that the spaghetti would sit level to minimize spills. I did have to remember to grab the napkins, etc. I would have liked to have grated cheese packets to go. Maybe they were there and I just never saw them.
Sometimes I would have the spaghetti and meat sauce, and sometimes added the meat balls. I always liked that. It would come with a piece of bread which was a little harder than I like.
Other times I would get the chicken alfredo pizza. Their slices are pretty large. One slice may be enough for some people, while others need two. They have a good variety of pizzas and they try to put a little label sign on each one, but sometimes it’s not there. I liked the pizza but it leaves a certain hard-to-describe taste lingering in my mouth for a couple hours.
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Robert McGuire
01. Apr, 2009
★ @ lavenderlizard, I know what you mean. Now more than ever customer service and attention to detail is so vital. I can handle average food and average atmosphere, but will not stand for poor customer service no way. It will just make me not go there. As I said, I’ll be doing a follow up at another location to see how the service is there and I will even try the same exact dish. ★
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lavenderlizard
01. Apr, 2009
How disappointing. You’d think that with people cutting back on dining out right now (I know I have) that any restaurant would be happy to have positive reviews.