Salumeria Luca - Carmel-by-the-Sea

I have seen some less than stellar reviews posted, but all I can say is that from the beginning to the end, food in Cantinetta Luca provided a beautiful culinary experience. The personalized service and excellent authentic Italian cuisine are unequal. Great restaurant.

We had such a good dinner here! We first learned about this place when doing a Carmel food tour (which I also highly recommend). We got to try the tiramisu, and my husband loved it so much, he said we had to come back. We finally made it back, and it was worth every penny. There was a line before they opened, and they stayed packed the whole time we were there. I ordered the Margerhita pizza and my husband ordered their porterhouse. My pizza was amazing, but the porterhouse was one of the best we've ever had. They brush it with balsamic and olive oil, which gives it such an umami twist. Our server, Mario, was beyond amazing. We ordered our steak blue, but it came out medium. When we told Mario, he looked at it and immediately took it away. We got another that was cooked perfectly. He also made wonderful wine recommendations. The tiramisu was even better than last time. They do specials as well, and have different flavors to entice anyone. They also do in house meats, like salami and coppa, which change regularly. If you get the chance, you should absolutely try this place after some fun wine tasting or shopping.

Red flag number one should have been when the hostess forgot to come outside to get us in there waiting area. As soon as we were seated, the red flag number two was when we were told we had to use a QR scanner in order to scan the wine menu yet the food menu was on an actual menu for us to view. Red flag number three was when what we thought was going to be a charcuterie board and it only came out with meats and a pickle sauce... I'm just going to get straight to the point... by the time we were served the wrong dish to the time that we were served a meatless, plain dough pizza, our hopes dwindled dramatically and we opted out from dessert. As locals, we were extremely disappointed but it was with a decent bottle of wine that helped my husband and I get through the disastrous meal. The only bonus was our waiter, he was very pleasant and very nice, he did his best to be attentive and you can tell it was not his first time hearing how disappointed the customers were in the food. He still got a decent tip because it was not his fault for the bad food, he still performed decent service so we thank him for being the most pleasant part of our evening.

Phenomenal dining experience. Food was delicious and Mario was a great server. The wine list is also expansive and there?s good wine by the glass as well. Make a reservation if you want a table, and this especially applies on the weekends.

Great small place with fantastic food and wonderful service!!! Menu was small as it should be, the food was carefully designed and the presentation was fantastic. Attention to insurgent service and cannelloni for desert. Wonderful place and will visit again!