Brian S.
Yelp
"Pizza Lucé" is my new favorite Italian restaurant in the Twin Cities! I have an allergy to dairy, so it's often difficult to find Italian restaurants that I can safely eat at without having to leave off half of the ingredients or take a bunch of pills (and often still having some sort of issues). However, Pizza Lucé can make most of their dishes with dairy substitutes (either completely vegan or with dairy-free cheese and meat that doesn't contain any dairy). Not only that, but the dishes are really, really good, even with "fake" cheese. I, of course, loved every bit of it, but so did the people I came with (who could have eaten dairy if they chose to). Here's why this place is so good:
The food: very, very fresh and super tasty. We ordered the bruschetta (dairy free option), a garden salad, and an "Original" pizza with dairy-free cheese (but sausage and pepperoni still on it). The bruschetta was absolutely phenomenal: not only was the "cheese bread" (again, with dairy-free cheese) super yummy, but the dish came with a huge mound of freshly made tomato-garlic topping on the side (there was more than enough to top every piece of bread with a giant portion of it!). The salad, while pretty standard, was also very fresh and came with lots of different veggies on it. The pizza was one of the best dairy-free pizzas I have ever had. The "cheese" melted really well (not quite as well as real cheese, but pretty close) and the rest of the toppings were generous and yummy.
The drinks: they have a really good happy hour for drinks, including beer and wine for just $3.50 per glass (it's also real, local beer, not cheap beer from one of the big chains!). On Tuesday, happy hour lasts all night!
The service: our server took great care of us, and not only was he efficient, but he made doubly sure that there was no dairy in my meal. He also made sure our drinks were kept full but wasn't too pushy about it (none of us like it when a server starts asking if we want another drink and we haven't even finished half of the one in front of us!)
The prices: great for the quality, the dairy-free options, and table service. Our meal came to around $60 before tip for 3 people including multiple (happy hour) drinks, two appetizers, and a pizza (with leftovers for another meal!).
In summary, Pizza Lucé is a great restaurant to enjoy a real Italian dinner, and is especially good if you are dairy-free or vegan. They have quite few restaurants around the Cities, and I will be sure to try the others after our great experience with this location!