Cucina D

As someone who was in the business, I do not derive pleasure from saying that a restaurant is not going to make it, but Cucina D doesn’t stand a chance. Plopped in the middle of nowhere, the street is a tangled mess currently with construction going on. The venue is too large to maintain utility costs over the long haul.
I went in on a Thursday night for a small private party it was pretty much deserted, (4 – 6) people in there.
The bruschetta and ceasar salad I had were quite good. Then it went down hill FAST. Then we waited and WAITED. Hello, I am talking a real small private party. Finally I got up to see if they needed any assistance. I peeked behind there and what did I see? No effing organization-​walking one entrée at a time over to another area-​WTF –NO WONDER EVERYTHING WAS ICE COLD. I have had better eggplant in subshops. Cold, improperly sauced, and of extremely poor quality. Kitchen –D Waitstaff-​C
Many, many better option out in the Burlington/​Bedford area.

Heard of this place on Phantom Gourmet during an episode that showcased meatballs. Since I love meatballs, my boyfriend and I decided to meet some friends here for dinner. It didn’t live up to my expectations at all. The place was dead for a Thursday night and the service was lackluster at most. We ordered the featured meatballs and they were just okay. Overall everyone’s meal was just sub-​par, Italian you can find anywhere. The waitress, who badly smelled of cigarette smoke, never offer drink refills during the meal. I’m embarrassed I recommended the place to friends! It’s not someplace I’ll return to and I honestly can’t see it lasting very long.

Best pizza in town! We’ve struggled to find a favorite, but now have happily settled into Cucina D take out. The crust is really the best — chewy while still crispy. The toppings also stand out. We liked the surprise of the ricotta on the pepperoni pizza, and the sausage on the frittata pizza is perfect.
I dropped a star for a couple ‘less than 5 star’ experiences. It was disappointing when they were closed (I guess?) July 2 and 3 but didn’t update the web site or answering machine. And last week, one of the 3 pizzas in my order was burned. Hard to chew, but not worth bringing back.

Came here with the crew (4 kids, 2 under 3 yrs) and it was a pleasant experience!
Garlic bread appetizer was good, kids loved it.
Atmosphere was fun, loud, just like my family.
Décor was lacking, felt like they could spend a little to spruce up the place.
But they are up for it big time with their food. Now my favorite Italian place within 15 mins of my house. I know, maybe not a big criteria but choices are lacking in Wilmington/​Burlington area.
I enjoyed the meal entirely and can’t wait to go back!

Get this place the five star ranking it deserves.
I heard of this place through Phantom Gourmet, and decided to give it a shot.
Breadsticks here were unexpectedly good. It was doughey, but I liked that better!
The bruschetta, a dish I normally do not like, was phenomenal.
I was enjoying every last bit of the linguine baciola (I can’t remember how it’s spelled!)
Great drinks too, well mixed. Decent canoli, I’ve definitely had better ones.
I’d say my only main gripe (and this is sort of a compliment if anything, and not in any way the fault of the restaurant) is the atmosphere. I feel a restaurant of this caliber of excellence deserves to have the atmosphere of an authentic italian restaurant. Instead it comes off as more of a «corporate hangout».
Lastly, I’d like to point out that the reviewer Jace that wasted three hours of his life writing an unfair scathing review is a piece of shit, and his opinion should not be taken to account. I truly hope this place sticks around for the long run, the staff work their asses off in promoting and whipping up fine dishes, and deserve all the credit for doing so.

I’ve gotten take out twice.
First time I had a side of Broccoli Rabe that was very nicely cooked.
Unfortunately, another time I took out the Risotto Carciofe — w prosciutto, artichokes & sun dried tomatoes, and it was really awful. Too much juice and way too salty, but the main problem was that it lacking in freshness. They have 3 different risottos on the menu, and in retrospect, they probably don’t do enough business to be able to make all 3 fresh every day. Perhaps they should just make one every day, and make sure that it’s good. I do hope they succeed.

I’m really surprised at some of the negative reviews for this restaurant because 5 of us had reservations Saturday night and the whole experience was very enjoyable. Got seated on time by a friendly hostess, the waitstaff were also very courteous, good drinks, and my carbonara was excellent as were the entrees the others had and the prices were very reasonable. The owner came over to introduce himself and to see if we were satisfied or had any complaints. All in all, a very pleasant evening and not doubt will come back again. Well worth the visit.

1^st & last time. I expected for $ 15.00 to have gotten a great meal… BOY WAS I WRONG
Went for lunch, not the greatest choice… I should of walked out when I waited 5 mins & no one took notice of me standing waiting to be seated, so I walked over to take out. Ordered the chicken parmigiano, didn’t wait to long… Didn’t look at the meal til I got back to work. There was no garlic bread or even just plain bread to go along with the meal, or a simple garden salad… Sauce had kind of a bitter taste to it & the chicken was a bit hard to cut thru… poor serving!!! For 15.00 no bread or salad to accompany it the portion should have been bigger!!!

So this is my second update to my original review of Cucina D. Gave them four stars the first time, five stars the second, and will knock it back down to four for this update.
The food continues to be outstanding. Way, way, way better than the «other» Italian place in Bedford (which is still decent, by the way). Everything I and my dinner mates have ever gotten has been great.
Where they lose a star is on service. Their servers are definitely a little rough around the edges. Not big on the social graces. I haven’t experienced any of the really bad behavior that some recent reviewers have written about, but it’s not a huge stretch to see it happening (the belching story is classic).
But I am very surprised by the bad reviews for the food — it really has been phenomenal every time I’ve visited. I won’t lose sleep if others feel differently — after all, feelings are feelings because you feel them. But to me the food is top notch.

I want to say this may’ve been the second worst dining experience of my life. (If you’re looking for the first, check my initial Bön Chon review. Luckily, they turned it around 180 degrees since.)
After seeing the riveting spot on Phantom Gourmet (yes, I know it’s mostly paid PR, alas…) I was pretty stoked to try Cucina D for myself. As a frequent diner (4 – 5 times/​week), I was excited about finding a new Italian restaurant in my rotation. It goes without saying, I will never go back.
Firstly, if you’re looking for the place, just close your eyes, lick your finger and stick it out the window, and pray you find it. My GPS might have well been speaking German, because this place had me circling around some residential neighborhood for about 20 minutes. Look kids… Big Ben… Parliament. WE KNOW DAD. Anywhoo, it definitely is in a weird location laden with industrial parks and complexes. I can see this being an enticing lunch spot for those privy to a longer lunch, but if their experience was anything like mine, I’m not so sure.
We arrived on a weeknight around 7:30 to only about 2 other tables dining… OK, it’s a weeknight, fine. It’s pitch-​ass quiet in here, too. No music. No TVs… just…the deaf whisper of a few nearby tables. Awk-​waaarrrd. We look over, and 2 waitresses come in tandem, to what I thought was sure to be a blood bath for «the big table.» Come to find out, our incumbent waitress «hates waiting on this table» as she so politely greeted us with this information. Also to find out, her tag team partner is her trainee. Let me preface… this woman should not have been training anyone in the customer service field.
Alas, we ordered some apps and some wine. A few minutes after our ordering, we were met with some complimentary breadsticks. OK, not bad. Small, thin… slightly crunchy, slightly chewy… alright, I can get into this. We did have to ask for a side of marinara however — something I thought so fundamentally necessary for these little guys. Apps came — the arancini was good, the sausage and rabe was not and lacked flavor and seasoning big time. Note, that our ever so accommodating waitress was ninja serving us from all angles of the table. A bit off-​putting when you can’t see her coming and she’s go-​go-​gadget arming across the table of 6.
Oh well, at least here come the entrees — -ooooohhh fuuuuuuuuddddddgggeee—
…like the slo-​motion tire changing scene in A Christmas Story, our graceful waitress takes a header over our table and miscalculates the landing, breaking my girlfriend’s glass of wine and spilling it over half the table. Yes… shards of glass and wine everywhere. The waitresses first reaction? «Oh, I think I stepped on his foot. This is why I hate waiting on this table.» –_​_​– Tell me more about your affinity for the table as I apply this tourniquet to my girlfriend’s open flesh wounds. (OK, I may be exaggerating there.)
But…mistakes happen, it is what it is. The trainee (not the one that spilled the wine) was actually very remorseful and was doing her very best to clean up this embarrassing mishap. As my girlfriend wrings out her nice wool coat, now drenching with Cabernet Sauvignon and her iPhone face down in a puddle of it, she scurries off to the bathroom in an attempt to dry everything off and mitigate the inevitable Oxyclean appliqué later when we get home. The waitress does replace the glass of wine with a new one. Thank you.
Ultimately, the food was served without abject disaster striking again, and we ate. The food was hit and miss. Some dishes were pretty good (especially the chicken dish), some not so good — most of the pastas were mushy and bland (which if you’re an Italian joint, KINDA should be your specialty.) One of our friends orders dessert and enjoys the tiramisu. If I had to score Cucina D based off food alone, it’d probably be a 2.5 out of 5. Not awful, but definitely needs a lot of refinement.
Here comes the check… try not to set my clothes ablaze or stab me in the thigh with a knife on the way by please. I wouldn’t have been surprised if an anvil fell out of the sky. So… service recovery time, right? This is what companies in the customer service industry do, right? What would Cucina D do to try and make these first-​time diners want to come back? Free dessert? Maybe comp my girlfriends meal for ruining her coat, pants, and iPhone? Maybe knock the wine off the bill? Ha ha. No. Not one red cent taken off the bill or even a sincere apology from the waitress or management staff. Un-​friggin-​believable.
We called the next day to see what we could do about the damage to the clothing and iPhone, and to his credit — Damian, the owner (while defensive and hesitant at first) did say he would help take care of it. We have subsequently been in touch as it’s evident he is passionate about bettering the experience. Perhaps I will take him up on it, we will see.
Just goes to show you… first impressions do matter.

We went to Cucina D for the first time last Friday night — the other Italian place in town had a line with an hour wait. Perhaps the ability to get a table at Cucina should have been an indication of how things would go, however they are not on the main drag so probably don’t get a lot of drop-​in diners.
The arancini were a gummy mess. The rice was clumped together almost in a paste.
My penne with vodka sauce was nicely sized but I thought the sauce was rather heavy.
My friend doesn’t remember what he had other than it was some sort of long pasta (linguine?) with too much oregano.
I think that says it all.

Good food. However, off-​tasting mussels in my wife’s pasta were enough to ensure we wouldn’t give this joint a second try.
Edit: In response to the manager’s comment: I actually did bring it to the waitress’ attention, who said she’d be happy to fix the situation. It was actually quite rank-​smelling. However my spouse was strongly urging me not to complain about it, so I mentioned it to the waitress while I was paying and asked her to check with the chef so that no one would become ill. Sometimes patrons wish to comment on-​the-​spot but can’t. I have edited my review and added a star.

I am hoping that we caught Cucina D at a wrong time, because my overall experience here was some of the worst service I have ever had at a restaurant.
3 others, a I wanted to try Cucina D, after hearing good things about the restaurant on Phantom Gourmet. We came into the restaurant around 8:30 on Saturday March 14 and waited 3 minutes to even be acknowledged by any staff. There were 4 tables seated, with around 8 tables dirty and yet to be clean. The server asked if we were here for dinner, and said «Do you want to just sit at the bar?.» Seemed like he was urging us not to sit in the dining room and didn’t want to be bothered. We got a table after he went over and cleaned off one of the dirty tables. We sat, and waited a few minutes for our server, Katelyn. She greeted us and took our drink order. She did not mention any specials to us.
Ice waters to start, and there was a dead fruit fly floating in my friends glass. We waited a good 7 – 8 minutes for alcohol drinks, and she delivered our specialty martinis, a Cucumber Martini made with Hendricks gin and St Jermain. The martini tasted like it was simply loaded with Gin and a TON of dry vermouth. Tasted way off, almost salty. My friend noticed a very apparent blotch of lipstick on the edge of his martini glass. (I’ve tended bar for years, and know this can be an issue, and sometimes hard to see, so we weren’t upset, we simply asked for another martini.) The server didn’t really seem to phased by this situation. A simple sorry was given. A «new» martini came back, this time in less than 2 minutes, with the garnish of a cucumber dropped right in the drink instead of on the edge like the last one… odd. He said the martini was not cold at all… This clearly indicates that they simply dumped the old martini from the dirty glass to a new one. Not professional, or hygienic in any way. He asked if they made a new martini or if this is the same one dumped in the a new glass. She responded that she didn’t know, she didn’t make it. Time for bottled beer! There was no manager presence at all at Cucina D. Typically, especially for a small restaurant, you want to see 100% table visits from the manager, to see how the customer’s experience is going, etc. There was no one expo’ing the food, and there was only 2 servers present, and both seemed stressed. A manager never came over to us to apologize.
The food here was decent. My friend I was with looked up the menu beforehand and was very excited to try the stuffed pork chop. When we went to order, the server informed us that the were all out of that particular dish. When a main menu item is 86’ed, the server should mention this while offering any specials so the customer knows what is not available. The Parmesan dishes were mostly good, but not outstanding. Had to search out grated cheese off another table as there was none and it was not offered to us when the food was delivered. The appetizers were very bland (Cozze en Bianco Mussels, and Calamari (soggy and very small portion).
I can’t even believe I have to type this, but the sole male server there let out a loud burp after picking up the check from the table behind us… seriously?
I am not sure what was going on there that night, but it wasn’t good. They didn’t seem to have it down at all. The waitstaff is non-​existent and very disorganized, and proved to be extremely unprofessional. Assuming from the other reviews, it must not normally be like the experience we had.

We saw this place on Phantom Gourmet today and decided to give it a try. I’m giving 3 stars primarily for the service. The food itself is fantastic! 5 stars plus for the food. But the service is horrendous. The waitstaff is almost non-​existent and very disorganized. I’d love to say I’ll be back, because the food is so worth it. But service is important too. It took the kitchen over an hour to get our entrees to the table and to me that is completely ridiculous. Sad to say but it’s one and done for me. Good service is just as important as good food and there are plenty of other places in the area with both.

My colleagues and I ordered lunch take-​out from here. Not sure how there experience is but as I look at my salad, there is no amount of Caesar dressing that will cover up browning lettuce.

Honestly best Cesar salad I have ever had! The food here was really fantastic, I loved the Penne alla Vodka, I am a vegetarian and they were more than accommodating and made it without the chicken for me!
The atmosphere was great for my kids and I felt very comfortable having them there, unlike a lot of other Italian restaurants that frown upon the noise that kids bring! They devoured their meals, which is a rarity! and even had the tiramisu! They loved it so much that we had to take one to go too! They have asked many times since when we can go back!
My husband who is a pretty tough food critic, and comes from a very Italian family, loved his Veal and raved about how good the meatballs were! We will definitely be back again! Thanks Cucina Ds!

This review is for take out. We have had take out from Cucina twice in the last month and it’s not been that great compared to take out at the other Italian place in town. We usually order the Chicken Parm anywhere like this since if that dish is good, chances are everything else will be as well. Unfortunately the two times I’ve had this dish it’s been over cooked, no flavor, and given to us in plastic bags. The chicken was difficult to eat. The sauce tasted like it came out of a tin can and served as is. Aluminum carry out dishes in thin plastic bags does not cut it as far as transporting a ton of food from car to home. I might be willing to try this place again if nothing else was open. The people here are friendly and I am sure they would go out of their way to make things right. Problem is I rarely have time for that.

Excellent Italian food for lunch. Traditional favorites prepared a cut above other eateries. I enjoyed some appetizers, a chicken cutlet sandwich and cheese ravioli in a garlic sauce. All exquisite. Comfortable ambiance and friendly staff. Will be back often.

Excellent food, great people, and a laid back atmosphere make Cucina D worth a visit. I love the chicken cutlet sandwich but everything I’ve had is good.

We liked the food. However, the only vegetables that my wife’s expensive lunch entrée came with were about 20 peas in her side of risotto. C’mon guys, how hard is it to cook some carrots or onions to go on the side?
I think they need some more decorations. Perhaps flowers on the tables or by the window? Feels almost like a cafeteria as it is.
I was shocked when I saw the bill that a mug of hot water and a Lipton tea bag was $ 3.75! It was particularly surprising since my side salad was only $ 2.
The staff were nice.
[I know this doesn’t read like a 4 star review. I think I’d give Cucina D 3.5 stars. The food really was pretty good…]