Lucia's Berkeley
Italian restaurant · Downtown ·
Wood-fired pizzas, gluten-free options, pastas & sides
Wood-fired pizzas, gluten-free options, pastas & sides
"Opened in late 2016, Lucia’s kicked off what the East Bay Express called “Brooklyn-style” Neapolitan pizza in downtown Berkeley, positioning itself close in spirit to East Coast favorites like Roberta’s and Paulie Gee’s according to the owners." - Dianne de Guzman
"After years of the restaurant trying to secure a visa, I’m relieved that award-winning Neapolitan chef Ernesto Palmieri has finally taken the top slot in the kitchen at Lucia’s, a Neapolitan pizza restaurant in downtown Berkeley; the restaurant had been working since 2018 to properly hire a real-deal Neapolitan pizza chef, and Palmieri—who has won a slew of Italian cooking awards—has prompted menu updates that include fried mini pizzas like the kind sold on the streets of Naples." - Eve Batey
"A major East Bay destination for lovingly blistered, chewy neo-Neapolitan pies, Lucia’s also makes delicious pastas, brunch fare, and surprisingly good gluten-free crusts in a cute, laid-back setting. Don’t miss the Sprouty Scamorza, a white pizza loaded with Brussel sprouts, lemon slices, hazelnuts, and smoked mozzarella." - Janelle Bitker
"In Berkeley I learned that Lucia’s, a leading Brooklyn-style Neapolitan pizza restaurant, has been hard at work on its first mobile pizza oven: a vintage three-wheeled 1981 Ape Piaggio reconstructed and built in Italy, then remodeled to host a custom brick wood-fired oven that reaches 900 degrees. The new Lucia’s pizza truck will sling 10-inch pies at the Grand Lake Farmers Market in Oakland every Saturday, will likely regularly make its way to Fieldwork Brewing in Berkeley, and is also available for private events." - Janelle Bitker
"Lucia’s co-owner Steven Dumain has celiac, so the restaurant put far more effort into its gluten-free pizza dough than most places. The team uses an unusual Swiss washing process to remove the gluten from a special wheat flour, and the resulting high-hydration dough gets blistered and chewy in the 900-degree wood oven. It looks positively glutinous." - Eater Staff