Josh T.
Yelp
I wouldn't describe Luke's as a family place.
Nor would I describe it as a place most people would be able to go to regularly.
The food though, is almost always top notch, though there are certain things I'd give a miss because they're so much more mediocre than everything else on the menu.
The lobster roll, available during lunch, is delicious. Marinated lobster meat in a buttery roll, it feels sinfully indulgent and is absolutely yummy. The burger, with bacon of course, is also very good.
During dinner, I'd recommend the Lobster Pot Pie to anyone who likes lobster, or pot pies. BUT. At $99++ a pop (or pot for that matter), it's painfully expensive.
And that's really my biggest dissatisfaction with Luke's. The place is prohibitively expensive! Sure the list of must-orders goes on with the clam chowder, the oysters, the clams, the shrimp cocktail, the cold lobster, the lobster sliders, the veal, the pork chops (I find that their steaks, whether at lunch or dinner, are spectacularly mediocre and not worth the money), but the prices!
As someone who thinks that $450 a head at Shinji is worth it if you go every 6-9 months, and that $300 for dinner at Andre is, by comparison, a steal, it should say a lot that I think Luke's is prohibitively expensive. It's not an 8 course set menu, or a sushi omakase experience. It's an a la carte experience that can come out to more than $100 a head, depending on what you order, and while the portions aren't stingy, they aren't overwhelming.
I'm regularly bewildered then, that Luke's is always so full that can't take reservations even when I'm calling a week in advance. Maybe they don't like me. Maybe they really are that busy. I don't know. All I do know is that damn some people earn a lot of money, and that the food at Luke's is undeniably delicious.
And also (to me, at least) excruciatingly expensive.