Leuca

"Leuca is a big Italian restaurant, run by a famous chef, located on the ground floor of a very modern Williamsburg hotel that looks a bit like a space station, and you can think about this restaurant in one of two ways. The first way is to think of it as just that: a big Italian restaurant, run by a guy who has a bunch of popular places in Manhattan, in a building that looks like it belongs in Midtown or Chelsea. If you come into Leuca this way, you’ll end up disappointed. You’ll be disappointed that the food isn’t as good as some of Andrew Carmellini’s other restaurants like Locanda Verde or Lafayette. You might be disappointed to see that this particular strip of Williamsburg is starting to look like a little bit like some grayer version of Miami Beach or Dubai, and that the people who move here after college now are investment bankers who like EDM festivals. Or, you can look at Leuca a different way: as a totally fine hotel restaurant. The pizzas and salads here are solid, there are big comfortable booths, the servers are nice, the wine list is great, and you can probably get a table for eight later this week. The food won’t blow you away, but it also won’t make you go home angry. If we got invited to a big group dinner here and didn’t come in with any expectations, we’d probably go home not-upset. Of course, we do come in with expectations and the knowledge of so many other good restaurants in the area, so it’s hard to get too excited about Leuca. But it’s hard to get too mad about it either. If you are one of those young investment bankers who likes EDM festivals and lives in a big building on Kent, you can bring your parents here when you can’t get into Lilia. If your boss nicely suggests doing the next team dinner in Brooklyn since the whole team lives there, but you suspect she actually would rather do it on the Upper East Side, you could do worse than Leuca. It all depends on how you look at it. Food Rundown Sheep’s Milk Ricotta This comes with hot honey and garlic and some bread to dip with. A bit sweet, but also a crowd-pleaser. Tuna Crudo Undoubtedly someone at your table will say, “Hmm... should we get the tuna crudo?” And it will taste like every other tuna crudo you’ve ever eaten. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just a fact. Mafaldini Mafaldini is like a thin ravioli sheet, but cooked as if it were papardelle, and it seems to be very popular in Williamsburg right now. This one can’t come close to competing to the one at Lilia, but it’s a good plate of carbs covered in pesto and peppers. Bucatini Calabrese with Clams and Oregano Sounds good on paper, didn’t do it for us in execution. Skip this one. Classic Pizza Chewy and crispy, and one of the better things here. Uncle Gus Pizza Another pizza, topped with prosciutto and artichokes. This one’s solid too, but we’re partial to keeping it simple with the classic margherita." - Hillary Reinsberg

"The William Vale, a massive hotel in Williamsburg, has a restaurant on the ground floor where you can pretty much always get a table and eat a solid meal. That restaurant is called Leuca, and it's a useful place to know about. With its leather booths and big marble bar, Leuca feels fancy enough for a big night out, but it's no longer the hottest or newest, so you won't have to compete for a table here." - Team Infatuation

"Leuca is big and impressive, and you can bring just about anyone here. If you spend time in Williamsburg, it’s a useful place to know about, and it works perfectly as a last-minute date-night option when you need something that feels like it’s hard to get into. The food is slightly-fancy Italian, with things like pizza, pasta, chicken and tuna crudo, but it’s casual enough that you can wear jeans and sneakers." - bryan kim

"The space features a bright and lovely dining room with yellow leather chairs and marble-topped tables, as well as a second elegant nook fitted out with wood paneling and oversized black-and-white photographs." - Aaron Hutcherson