Mamma Lucia

I can't remember which of my Yelp friends tipped me off to this place and it's kid friendly environment. It sure is but make sure to bring cash. It's cash only.

We got food to-go before we bid our farewell to Shakespeare Santa Cruz's final season (tears). But we took the food up to the UCSC campus and hand a magnificent picnic.

I had ordered an item off of the kid's menu that was not enough food for my daughter but I had ordered a regular food item for me and it was too much so she ate what I couldn't, so it all evened out.

The best part of the meal was the marinara sauce. Is this the same recipe that Lucio use to whip up at his Al Dente restaurant when it was in Capitola Village and Seabright? If not, it's super close and brought back a flood of fond memories for me.

I can't vouch for the service and dining in it's atmosphere (other than seeing a kid's corner and having a kid's menu) but the food is delicious.

Tip: If your kid is a big eater or super hungry, you might consider ordering off of the regular menu unless you are willing to share.

Honestly, I feel like this restaurant could have a bigger crowd if their prices were $ instead of $$. The place has family style seating, so it makes me wonder how any family could afford to eat with $$ prices!

When I came in here with my boyfriend, we were greeted by a friendly worker and to our surprise, one of the cooks--or maybe the owner, im truly uncertain--came to us with a leg of some sort of animal and asked up to guess where it came from. I shouted my answer "frog!" and was confirmed with a big smile. He looked like he could have been Albert Einstein in another life.

Anyhow, I ordered the Half Grilled Chicken and Salad which looked and smelled delicious. However, to my dismay, the chicken tasted dry. I think I downed at least 3 cups of water to accompany my meal. Despite my experience here at Mamma Lucia, I honestly think this place has a lot of potential because of the unique items they have on the menu. Although most of their unique items steer towards the pizza side of the menu, I still think their business could lift off if their prices weren't so high. I mean $25-30 for an 18" pizza? That's a little too much, especially since they operate in a town filled with college students.

If I were to come back, it would probably be before I leave the area permanently to try one of their unique pizzas. Sorry, Mamma, but you just don't cut it for me.

Being in the location that it is, (an old KFC) I am surprised to say that the food there was great! My housemates and I wanted to have a relaxing night at home, so we decided to order food.

We got:
-Margherita Pizza
-Manicotti Shell Pasta
-Truffle Fries
-Bruschetta

It was all really good, but I think the pizza was the best! The cheese, sauce, crust all of it was really good. And cheap! We got a meal for just $10 each.

I've heard they do brunch, I've gotta try that sometime too.

Nice warm atmosphere, cool setting, the organic burger was great!
They have illy Italian coffee, and imported Italian cakes....
I do not like the Cash Only Policy, it makes me Think of Old china town policies....
The cook does not know the difference between a well done cooked burger from medium rare.

Awful. My lasagna was worse than a frozen Stouffers. Just sauce and noodles. The kids meal was rubbery chicken and a side of vegetables so overcooked the broccoli was gray. Salad dressing was meh. And the soup was watery.

My Italian grandmother would put a curse on this place if she was still alive. It was really, really terrible.

Me and the rest of my coworkers had high hopes for Mamma Lucia, replacing the old KFC that essentially served as a lunch spot when we feel masochist. If our first experience with the food is any indication, I'll be avoiding this restaurant.

I got the pollo panini with fries. For all the fancy presentation, both tasted worse than your average frozen food. The fries were not crispy or salty, instead being essentially rosemary-hinted potato strips. The panini was 80% heavy bread, 10% dry chicken and 10% pesto (which was good).

My coworkers fared no better. One described the chicken alfredo as "an insult" and mentioned a place where he could have gotten better pasta at less than half the price. They struggled to bite into the bread, which would have been better as a weapon than as foodstuff.

Furthermore, when a coworker got there with the corporate card, she found out it was cash only, something they neglected to mention over the phone. I hope this, along with the food, is remedied as things progress.

I really wanted to like this place, but it just doesn't quite work. It is very overpriced for the format: wait in line, order, get a number, pick up your food and take it to your table (which still look like KFC tables), and then bussing your own table. It makes it hard to forget that it was a KFC. On top of that only taking cash when the cheapest meal is going to cost you over $10 is just... weird. And irritating.

They also make themselves out to be a pizza place, but you may be disappointed. They only serve a few specific specialty pizzas, half of which have no red sauce and all only come in one size. i'm sure some of them are great, but it's not "a pizza place." I had fettuccine Alfredo, which wasn't bad. I think there is some format the food they are selling might work out, but this just wasn't it.

The owner claims that I was there prior to their business being open, however, I was there at 1pm. They claim that during business hours their food is quick, but I was there during business hours and it certainly was not. They claim that the reason for the delay was that their oven had to warm up, but as I was there 2 hours after they opened, I would think that their ovens would be warm.

After reading the comment from the owner, I will not be going there again. I don't appreciate being blamed for their incompetence.

I stopped by while aimlessly driving along the coast... It is truly a family restaurant (hence, CASH ONLY policy can be forgiven). The staff were super friendly, casual, and a little chic. The arugula salad was great, as was the super thin crust margherita pizza - it was good hot in the restaurant and good cold the next day. Vanilla and strawberry gelato scoops were great. The only thing I did not like was the chocolate gelato.

Patrons were also relaxed and lively, some engaged in chit chat and others people watching (as I was). A very nice atmosphere.

I will definitely come back next time I am in the area.

I just had the best bruschetta ever! The tomato mix was perfect; ripe tomatoes, enough garlic that I could taste it but not overwheming, and just the right amount of basil. Plus the bread was toasted just right; not so hard that it chews up your mouth, but crunchy toasted. Man, I'm so happy there's a quality food restaurant on the Westside again!

Oh yeah, and the salad and wine I paired with it were scrumptious too! Yay for the Westside!