La Cucina Italiana

I’m glad I decided to stop in to grab lunch. I ordered an Italian grinder and a soda. Service was very friendly and welcoming. Price was great (under $ 10). Food was outstanding.
I’ll be a regular here.

Spongy pizza doesn’t cut it on a Saturday night. Asked for cheese pizza. If there’s such a thing as too much cheese… this was it. Too much cheese melted into a congealed disgusting plop of yuckiness. We eat there a lot and haven’t had any complaints. We will chalk it up to a busy night and a new cook. Less is more people.

Solid little joint ! Great meatballs and tasty gravy! Pleasant staff and very reasonably priced. Good stop !

4 star meal with 5 star service! Our food came quickly and was hot and delicious. We both ordered eggplant parm and got an appetizer of garlic bread to come with the meal. The bread was super garlicky (I love it like this) and when dipped in the sauce was absolutely delightful. Our waitress was extremely polite and attentive. The staff are extremely friendly and nice– it makes you feel very comfortable and glad to eat there!

Two weeks ago we found this GEM!!! We just came home from our second feast, nap time. The food is over the top awesome! !! The staff are very inviting and instantly make you feel comfortable and appreciated. My girlfriend grew up in a 100% Italian household and is a great cook in her own right and she’s very picky about Italian food. In the last two weeks we’ve tried the chicken parm, cheese pizza, stuffed shells, meatballs, cavatelli, shrimp cocktail, lemon blueberry cheese cake, and hands down the best clamp chowder I’ve had in my 50+ years. I can’t wait till next weekend to try more from this amazingly affordable restaurant. Oh and it’s byob! !!! Try and you won’t be disappointed and you won’t leave hungry.

Fantastic local Italian restaurant. My wife and I just went for our 4^th time. Wife had the Chicken Parm and I had the Pasta in Clam sauce. Meals have been wonderful each time. Prices are very reasonable and portions are big enough that you will have a dogie bag! And they are BYOB. If there is one thing that could use help it would be the service. It can be slow when they are busy. Thats the only reason I’m not giving them 5 stars.

I had lunch at La Cuchina with 6 friends celebrating 2 of our upcoming Birthdays. Atmosphere is charming, food was delicious and the service was second to none. Everyone of us where thrilled with our meal. I will definitely return. Friendly, accommodating staff — which is rare today!

Great local Italian place. Prices are very reasonable. I had the veal parmesan which was great! We also got the pasta and sausage which was simple and delicious. Wish I knew it was BYOB, next time. Enjoyed the local feel and the servers were very nice.
*updated*
Added another star because it is just want you want in a local family Italian place. Remembered our wine this time. The staff is so friendly and easy to chat with. Had the the calamari, stuffed shells and a meatball and the lasagna and sausage. Everything was just what we wanted. Love the tomato sauce and meatball. Lovely simple delicious dinner.

Oh wow! Small casual place with excellent food, great prices and byob. The pork parmigiana, meatballs and sausages were all outstanding, complimented by a tasty tomato sauce. Simply delicious! Also tried the cannoli for dessert which once again was a tasty treat. No doubt we will be back again and again… Yum!

Food is excellent!!! Small atmosphere with a great wait staff. BYOB is a plus. Come early as it was jamming! Thanks for a great dinner

La Cucina Italiana is a very popular local spot that does a bustling business. Even early on this Friday evening (we arrived shortly after 5 p.m.), the main dining area of the restaurant was about two-​thirds full. The other, more casual dining area (actually, both rooms are pretty casual), had only a handful of patrons at the time, but that changed quickly. The wait staff is very friendly, attentive and accommodating. Our waitress, Casey (sp.?), along with busboy/​waiter Gage took good care of us. As we read that their policy is B.Y.O.B., my dining companion came with a bottle of her preferred red, and Gage quickly produced a wine glass for it. I had a bottle of Polar diet ginger ale (only Polar beverages are sold), which was served with a tall glass of ice. I wanted iced tea, but settled for the ginger ale as only hot tea is available. The dining room’s noise level was loud, but, I guess, the acoustics in this room are such that our conversation was not hindered and we could still hear the background music playing.
While the Italian bread slices served to us were room temperature, not warmed (a problem I’ve been seeing again and again at many local restaurants recently), the dipping oil served with them was disappointing as it didn’t seem to be seasoned or enhanced with anything at all. Since we wanted to try the pizza but did not want to order a large one as our entrée, we decided to order a slice for each of us, as an appetizer (love this option). We chose the night’s special: sausage and pepperoni ($ 2.50/slice). While the slices were barely warm upon arrival at our table, we enjoyed them nonetheless, noting the pizza’s delightful lightly-​charred thin crust (we’ll come back another time just for pizza). For our entrees we each had «pasta with 1 and 1» (pasta of your choice with marinara sauce, served with one meatball and one sausage). The sauce over our plates of fettuccine was laden with tomato chunks and tasted freshly made. The similarities of the meatballs and sausage to those of the now-​closed Carmella’s in Brookfield were well noted (we were regular customers at the aforementioned until its closing over a year ago). While the meatballs are large with a perfect texture, it’s the sausage that really shines: The 4-​or 5-​inch length of sausage was fork tender, with just the right amount of seasonings and heat. We’d go back just for that as well (perhaps in the cacciatore?). Although we were quite full after our entrees (I decided to take half of mine home for the next day’s meal), we ordered an order of plain cannoli to split. I’m glad we did because they were absolutely delicious. You could tell they were freshly filled with the yummy ricotta mixture because of crispness of the shells. While we’d order these again, I’d like to see tiramisu added to their menu (gelato has recently been added to their dessert repertoire, along with the specialty coffees cappuccino and espresso).
With the very good service by the attentive staff, what seemed to be a leisurely dinner for us ended shortly after 6 p.m. Our bill, including tax and tip, came to all of $ 35 (we recently spent more than double this at a more upscale restaurant in the area, but honestly, the food and the atmosphere were not nearly as enjoyable). At this time, the place was packed and people were milling around, waiting for available seating. I must note that despite the crowds here, parking is a nonissue. There is ample room in both the lot on the side of the building, and on the street in front of the restaurant. We’ll be back for sure.

Best pizza I’ve had since the Wonder Bar
Nice atmosphere and homemade dessert. Would def go again.

Great to have down the street! Have only gotten take out there so can’t speak for dining in. I love their chicken broccoli Alfredo and my husband loved his chicken broccoli in garlic and oil. People are very friendly and I have great things about the pizza so I need to try it myself! The prices are great.

my husband had raved about this place (I think the cheap prices got into his head), there was a half hour wait (not much of a waiting area), when we were seated the table was tilted (our byob wine bottle was sliding off the table), it took a while for them to bring water glasses, they brought bread and EVOO, but the bread tasted stale. We had to ask for our salads after we asked for them before the meal. When the food came, we only received 3 out of the 4 meals. they said the bolognese was ready and disappeared — it came about 7 min later than the rest of our food (when you have to ask twice where a meal is that’s not good). they mixed up the pasta on the veal and chicken parm (one with penne and one with spaghetti). The food was decent, the sauce didn’t taste like anything special, serving size was good. Opted out of dessert (which is very rare). Would I try them again? sure. Would I make a special trip? nope

The best escarole & bean soup anywhere. At least in my opinion. I had the stuffed squid tonight and loved the squid and its toothpick secured stuffing but the sauce was just okay. (Sauce on Parkway’s stuffed squid is my favorite.) My wife had the stuffed shells and said they were very good.

Excellent food and ambience! Pork cutlet parmesan was delicious and service was great! Good for the Grafton Hill area to have this place. This is already a hidden jewel and recommend it highly!

Went for lunch. Based on fact La Cucina is owned by former owners of the Italian Kitchen I was expecting delish!
You enter into an area that is very open and bright, to the left is a dining room with several booths and many tables. We seated ourselves. The only menu available was on the chalkboard on the wall… so we got up and read the board… there were 2 other parties — one booth of 3 and one booth of 2. Very limited menu. Heavy on red sauce dishes… specials board had steak and fish. After about 10 minutes we received bread and EVOO. Delish… it is BYOB so we opted for water with lemon. That took a bit of time — only one server who wasn’t serving anything… just kept disappearing. Finally server appeared and took all 3 booth orders at the same time. When asked about the antipasti, the server described cucumbers, olives and tuna… we asked if it was on lettuce and if it has Italian meat… Oh ya… it does have meat salami and ham. Really… opted out fo the salad!
Not fan of red sauce and alfredo a little to heavy for lunch so opted for Italian sandwich. Ordered it toasted. My companion order turkey and bacon sandwich. Orders arrived 15 minutes later… my sandwich was not toasted. Bread was stale and tasteless. Little or no dressing on the sandwich. Ended up eating just the cold cuts… along with the lettuce core! Really… the lettuce core!
Will not return… disappointed.

La Cucina has been very busy since opening; we were excited to try it. Yesterday, we placed a take out order for antipasto, chicken parmigiana, sausage cacciatore, and half sausage pizza.
Positives:
The young man answering the phone was very friendly, eager, and welcoming.
The provolone on the antipasto was the most delicious provolone I’ve ever eaten.
The prices are very reasonable
They seem to use bread supplied by Gentile’s in Northboro (they also supply Belsito’s and Napoli) Great bread!
Negatives:
Price impacts serving size, portions did not fill a round tin container. Sausage cacciatore had about 6 chunks of one inch or less sausage pieces.
Chicken parmigiana was the worst I have ever had. The chicken may have been poached then breaded, then fried and it had a horrible, old taste. If it wasn’t cooked this way, then the small breast was days old. The texture was beyond rubbery. An Italian restaurant has to nail chicken parm, this chicken should’ve been thrown out upon the first bite. It went in the trash after my spouse confirmed what I was tasting/​feeling.
The pizza smelled delicious, but was sub par even compared to local chains. The outer ¼ inch edge of the crust was delicious, but the rest was bready and bland. The pizza cheese was bland. Forgettable.
The antipasto was average with a serving of light to dark tuna, with all average deli toppings. Nothing exceptional that could not be made at home. It was definitely pre-​prepared and sat for a while.
This restaurant consistently has a crowd on Saturday nights, I am happy a neighborhood restaurant is successful and wish them well. I cannot go back, nor could I recommend this place.

They have great bread. I got an Italian sandwich. It was really good. On par with Belsitos and Dinos. I’ll be back.

While in town visiting from CA my favorite son and I wanted to go out for a nice lunch with my Mom and Aunt. We had heard that the former Italian Kitchen family had opened up again on Hamilton St so we went searching for their restaurant.
Do not judge the place by the bread (a little boring!) we hope they will improve on it. We all ordered a dfferant meal so we could try a variety. The red sauce is amazing! Just a hint of spice, perfect!
Eggplant parm just like «Nonna makes»!! Mom got the Pasta Primavera, we had spaghetti & meatballs and the chicken parm. We also shared a salad. Everthing was fantastic! We were all very impressed!
Prices were excellent, for a good meal, we all took enough home for a snack later.
We will deffinately return!!!
Tell all your friends!
PS He’s my only son!