David Z.
Yelp
This was both a reunion and a farewell dinner. A reunion because we finally were able to go out to dinner as a normal couple with some friends and have a delightful meal, a parting because that very couple was moving permanently out of state. So picking Luna's as the place for our last encounter in MA turned out to be an excellent choice. Between the four of us we had two appetizers, three separate entrees (two people got the same meal) and one bottle of wine.
The appetizers were the Calamari (with optional pepper rings) - perfectly cooked, tender, not greasy, with the banana peppers offering just the right amount of zing! We had this along with our favorite, the Eggplant Rollatini - a magnificent mouthful of eggplant, asparagus and ricotta.
For the entree I had the Chicken Francese - I know, a bold move to order chicken at an Italian restaurant known for its pasta dishes. But it didn't disappoint. Three chicken cutlets lightly battered in a simply delectable lemon caper white wine sauce, mmm. With a scanty side of 4 small (yes four) sliced rosemary potatoes (very good though), and sautéed escarole. To. Die. For. This is how we usually make spinach at home, none of that boiling nonsense. But I could have had a bowl of this as my meal and been very, very happy.
I know we can't give Luna Rossa credit for the wine, other than the fact that they had it, they suggested it and it was a very nice compliment to the meal. It was the Katherine Goldschmidt Cabernet Sauvignon from Crazy Creek Vineyard, 2018 I think.
Our waitress, I am sorry to have forgotten her name, was wonderful and attentive, though there were a couple of times she seemed to drop out of sight for a little too long. I had dropped my napkin and she said she would be right back with one, it never appeared, but hey, it looked like the restaurant was actually busy on a Wednesday night, so that was ok. The killer thing was that she went to one of the other people in our party and asked about dessert and she said no - but she didn't ask the rest of us! I was fantasizing about a cappuccino and a cannoli but I probably didn't need it. But she should have asked the entire table.
Lastly, the social distancing. Customers seemed genuinely respectful, and all wore their masks when not at the table, as did the staff, but we couldn't help but notice that some of the tables were not quite a minimum of six feet apart in the function area. They had QR codes for you to call up the menu on your phone, but also had paper menus for the asking. Very nice.
All in all, it was a very good first outing. Kudos to Luna Rossa for getting back into the swing of things.