Food is good overall. I tried one of their king crab pasta dishes and I didn't like it, the first time I went there. But the second time around, that seafood salad was 🤤. Highly recommend. The service is slower but they make everything fresh and it is just a two person team. So expect to wait awhile for your meal. Creme brulee cheesecake for dessert was fantastic. Parking is also validated.
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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)
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I went there with a group of people, and we all thought the same thing of this nice restaurant. The best thing about this place is the food, every bite of every dish was amazing. Our favorite foods were the black, squid ink pasta with seafood, and the Burrata cheese appetizer. The food is absolutely amazing and taste fresh. There is lots of thought into the recipes of all these dishes.
There was a few problems though about this restaurant. It is understaffed by one or two people. the one waitress that we had was handling all the tables, and I think preparing dishes in the back as she was in the kitchen a lot. she was a very hard worker, and did what she could by herself. She was awesome. But because of missing some help, she wasn’t there when we needed her for certain things.
Because the restaurant was understaffed, we also had the problem of long wait times on the food. We would get one dish, and wait another 20 minutes to get the next dish. It took about a total of an hour and 40minutes to get our full meal.
The next problem I had was the sound in that room. When people talks it bounces all over the walls. On our night, we had 50 people talking at the same time, we couldn’t hear ourselves at all. The sound carries really well, and you can hear other peoples conversations. So I didn’t feel like I had much privacy and my head was going to explode from the sound. They could probably use some partitions in between the tables.
Lastly, There’s no street parking, because all the metered parking was taken. And we didn’t know we can park inside the back parking lot behind the building.
Besides these other problems, I would highly recommend this restaurant. The taste and quality of their food cancels out all these other issues. Probably the best Italian food on the island.
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.
We read the reviews and heard voice-mail regarding the wait, so we were prepared for the wait. It was an amazing experience! Every single dish we had was beautiful and delicious!!!!!! I am definitely going back. For appetizers, we had the bone marrow and bruschetta. For entrees, we had the risotto funghi, and the pasta with lobster meat. It was soooooo good
Will be going back!!!!!
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.
It’s a long wait for the entrees but it’s worth the food because the food is delicious. Just order appetizers so you have something to nibble on while the main dish is being cooked.
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.
Went to this place first day of our visit in Hawaii. The waitress was really nice. The food took a while to come because everything made from scratch. Really delicious and they opened pretty late compare to all the restaurants around the area.
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.
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