Reviews La Cucina Ristorante Italiano

Restaurant Review: La Cucina ***** This is my favorite Italian restaurant and in my opinion (and many other foodies) is the best Italian restaurant in Hawaii. Every dish was sooooo good!!! Chef Don makes fresh noodles every day and his sauces are very delicious. Dara, Don’s wife & co-owner, provides excellent service and recommendations. Recommended Order: Midollo Osseo = A+ Roasted seasoned bone marrow topped with pesto and served with toast points Risotto Funghi e Tartufo = A+ Porcini mushrooms and whole mushrooms topped with sautéed foie gras, a touch of truffle oil and Parmesan Pappardelle Norcina = A Homemade Italian sausage sautéed with onions, garlic, porcini mushrooms, whole mushrooms, and topped with Pecorino Romano Fettuccine Aragosta = A garlic, and chopped Maine lobster tail in a pink sauce Ravioli Neri = A Squid ink ravioli filled with lobster in a saffron cream sauce Spaghetti Granchio e Vodka = A Dungeness crab meat and vodka sauce Osso Buco = B Braised veal shank with fresh herbs in a tomato sauce Tagliatelle Neri e frutti di Mare = B Squid ink pasta sautéed with chopped clams, shelled clams, mussels, tiger shrimp, calamari, fish, garlic, capers, and parsley in a light tomato sauce Insalata di Prosciutto = A Thinly sliced prosciutto over Romaine and fresh mixed organic greens, olive oil vinaigrette, fresh tomato Crostini al Porcini = B grilled bread topped with fresh mozzarella and porcini mushrooms 4 pieces Bruschetta = A grilled bread topped with fresh tomato, basil, garlic and olive oil (4 pieces)

Unassuming, nondescript venue, tucked away on the ground floor of an office building. It's barely visible from the street, and only from some angles. Drove by several times and couldn't find it, so I decided to park in the street and hunted around for it. Was starting to doubt Maps, but sure enough found it. You wouldn't guess from the location and ambience, but this is some of the best Italian food I've ever tasted! The salad, bruschetta, pastas and risotto were so delicious. Flavors were spot on. You will not be disappointed. The dishes were made from scratch, so expect serving to take a little extra time. Kudos to the server. She's a one woman force of nature that greeted and seated customers, took orders, served dishes, bar tended, bussed tables, and through it all kept a professional and friendly demeanor. Wow! Look forward to our next dining experience.

There are so many things to love about this place. It's cozy and very stylish. I absolutely loved all the food there. You don't really even need to read the menu, just point as something on it and I guarantee it'll be delicious. I loved the bone marrow the most. The fat just melts off your tongue.

They are reopened! Make sure you make reservation. Food was delicious and fresh you could tell everything made from scratch when you placed your order and that they used high quality ingredients. It’s BYOB if you want to pair your Italian dinner with some wine. Plenty of street parking on Cooke Street after 6pm.

This place is truly a hidden gem! My husband and I felt like we were transported back to Europe in both flavor and experience. The quality of the ingredients and the attention to detail was just superb. Everything is made fresh, so don’t expect this to be a quick meal. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the experience! Whatever you do, order the crème brûlée cheesecake. We hardly ever order dessert, but tonight everything else was just so amazing, we couldn’t pass it up! I’m so glad we did, because the cheesecake was incredible. Parking was a breeze. We parked in the plaza and the restaurant validated a portion of the parking fee. Bring cash though, because the parking attendant isn’t able to accept card.

Everything we've tried on our visits here has been excellent. The cioppino is great, and my wife loved both the bolognese and the gnocchi. The atmosphere is cozy and romantic. The service was prompt, attentive, and friendly. The food is made fresh when you order and thus takes awhile to arrive, and without reservations expect a wait to be seated.

The food here is truly excellent and the wait staff is kind. There are some issues with the overall experience though. The location is not the best, there's limited parking, it's sort of inside of a bigger building, etc. From where I was sitting... There was a very nice dinning room to my right and a grey parking lot style men's room clearly in view down the hall (not exactly what you want to see, but it's tolerable). The part that I really found frustrating though is that this place does not have paper menus. I see this trending in some places post-COVID and I don't love it but I tolerate it. In this particular circumstance, because of their location, my carrier Google Fi (T-Mobile) wasn't getting great reception inside of the building and I kept dropping my data connection. That elevates this from "inconvenience" to "frustration." I work in software for context and IMO anytime a dining experience turns into a tech support experience, something has gone wrong. The waitress told me to reboot my phone and that did work (for a while, long enough to get to the menu) but that's just not something that one should have to deal with while trying to have a nice meal. This is unnecessary friction, not technology improving the world. Have some backup paper menus (even if they're not "pretty" and just have some basic formatting, nice restaurants -- even ones that change their menu -- have done this for decades)... Have some free Wi-Fi... Just, at least have some contingencies "turning it off and back on again" or "I don't have service in this area, let me try over here" should not be part of a dining experience. The waitress offered at one point to let me use her phone... Which is extremely kind, but, it shouldn't get to that point. Thank you all for a lovely meal. Sorry to be a difficult customer. Please just print a couple menus for the next guy.

There is dining...and there is DINING!! La Cucina is not to be missed!!!! I can't believe I've waited so long to try this amazing place. Friends had mentioned it to me, but I'd always heard it was hard to get a reservation or table so I just didn't think about it. But on a lucky date night with my hubby, he asked me where I'd want to try but hadn't been able to. I, of course, said La Cucina but doubted we'd get a table. Well, to be honest...there are no reservations for parties of less than 4 & for a party of two, like us, in thought pickings were slim. That night when my hubby called, there were only 4 seats at the bar open. Imagine we are an hour away from there...I thought our chances were impossible. Lucky for me, a table opened up just a few minutes after our arrival! Can you say, lucky dance?!? Yup, I did it...in my mind. As soon as we were seated, we were given fair warning that everything is "Made from scratch and takes 45 minutes to make." To be honest, that stressed me out. But, just like the rest of the evening thus far, I rolled with it. Hubby and I ordered the Crostini Al Porcini appetizer to start...and we threw in our dinner order right away so we could get the waiting started. With my loyalty to awesome reviewers...I went with the Frutti di Mare and my hubby got the Pappardelle Agnello. (See menu pics for further descriptions.) Ok, so let's be real... It was already around 8:00, so I was starving for anything because I hadn't eaten much all day. We were brought 3 pieces of table bread to share between the two of us. Let me ask you this... Who gets the third piece and why do they do that to starving guests?? Before we could really answer that question, our appetizer came out!! Woohoo! It was so quick that I was literally shocked. The Crostini Al Porcini was so yummy and hit the spot. Thankfully there were 4 pieces so my hubby and I could share equally. Just as we finished our last bites of the appetizer, our dinner plates arrived!! Cue happy music in my ears!! I don't know if we waited 45 minutes, but it certainly did not feel that long. Both of our meals were so divine! Words just simply cannot describe the masterpiece, literally, made from scratch. And am I recommending my Frutti di Mare? Why yes, yes I am!! Possibly the best Italian dish this tummy has ever had? I'd say so. I highly recommend it if you're into seafood and you like flavor and a little kick. We had to order dessert...because I blame all of you who post about their desserts. I knew before we head stepped in that I wasn't leaving without having a slice of Creme-Brûlée cheesecake. It. Was. So. Good. that even my cheesecake hating hubby said he liked it. All in all, dining at La Cucina was beyond excellent. Their service is top notch... So much so that we adored our server, Mei, who was the sweetest. She recommends parking on the street after 6. Also, they validate for two hours but you just might end up staying longer than that so consider the street parking option. They do offer BYOB...we could tell because the table next to us was going to town. Good on them! Hopefully, you will make it to La Cucina because it is a food experience not to be missed!