Luma

The food? Wow. SO good. The ambiance? Very, very nice! The prices? Holy over-​budget!!! WAY over-​priced. My chicken breast with fingerling potatoes and a few green beans was a whopping $ 23! My husband’s barely-​there flat-​iron steak? $ 25! The service? Meh. Our gal was fake and snooty and was mostly absent. The 4 of us agreed we can get a meal that tastes just as good here in Petaluma for ½ the price and much better service. Sorry, Luma… Disappointed…

This would have been 4 stars however, the quality of the Reuben sandwich in particular has gone dismally awry. I work just down the street and Luma was in the regular lunch rotation. Due to repeated let downs this is no longer the case. Bummer.

One of the very best restaurants I have ever been to.
The finest quality ingredients and the creativity of the chefs is of the highest level.
Brian took me to dinner for Mother’s Day and I couldn’t have eaten better food anywhere.

We stopped here on the way back to SF. What a great find! Pleasant, friendly service that was attentive but not too attentive (I always wonder when people say they «waited and waited» for a server to check on them, why they don’t just raise a hand to signal a server…). All the food we had was fresh and tasty. This will be a go to stop whenever we are on this stretch of road!

For ambience, there is nowhere in Petaluma I like better. The mellow lighting, coziness and comfort are topnotch. I had seared ono and some spicy green beans that were utterly delicious, together with a great pinot grigio. Memorable meal. I had an unplanned guest with me, my three year old grandson needed childcare (dad’s car broke down). Given Luma’s quiet ambience, I hadn’t really thought of it as a child-​friendly restaurant, but it is! I was surprised to find a basket of well-​selected toys next to our table. He’s been trained to behave in restaurants but those toys really helped him play quietly. There is even a kids’ menu here, too and he liked his pasta dish.

Luma is located on one of the most gourmet blocks around. We spotted a warehouse for Three Twins ice cream, and one for Cowgirl Creamery cheeses. With such delicious neighbors, we figured that Luma would make its real estate proud and also serve excellent food.
We were graciously welcomed without a reservation, and enjoyed the hospitable and warm service throughout the night. The food was all excellent, from the soup du jour (or zuppa del giorno), a generous serving of a tomato ginger soup. We loved the pear and arugula salad with blue cheese and were impressed with how perfectly diced the little cubes of pear were. The pizza with sausage and calabrian chili and mozzarella was full of flavor and actually quite spicy. We (mostly I) insisted on the key lime pie, which I thought would be a dainty little sliver. Much to our surprise, it was a monster of a slice, with an oreo bottom. It tasted like pure sugar, and less like the punchy lime I was hoping for. Also, as I’m not fond of oreos, the novelty of the crust was wasted on me. I thought it was cute to see an older couple get passed a take out box with a slice of the key lime pie when we were leaving. I see that some people make a special trip for it, and that made me smile.
Luma was a perfect setting for an impromptu date night with my husband while in the area, but I think it would be an ideal setting for almost any type of meal, from solo to a large group. Extra friendly service and delicious, simple food make for a victorious combination.

Sadly this place isn’t the same as when we started going years ago. The service is usually odd, bordering on poor and the food has gone downhill. Meat is over cooked at dinner with little flavor, poached eggs were hard cooked at brunch. We’ve had four mediocre meals in a row and I think we have now given up as sadly this is no longer the shining star it was.

The best margherita pizza in Sonoma county… hands down, and I’ve sampled them from all over, they have a pizza chef, who has been studying pizza for years!

We came here for brunch and were very disappointed with the service we received. We arrived at the restaurant around 11am on a Sunday. It wasn’t insanely busy but it was busy enough for the server who greeted us to mention she wasn’t sure how long the food wait would be as we asked for a table. No biggie as we weren’t in a hurry so we grabbed a table outside.
We ordered a bottle of champagne for the table and breakfast and proceeded to wait an hour and 15 minutes for our food. I will mention the table next to us who had ordered right before us had received their food, finished it, and left a full 30 minutes before we even got our food.
Not once did our waitress check on our table to apologize for the wait or ask if we needed anything. Had she have done this the wait wouldn’t have seemed so bad. After an hour I was finally able to flag down another employee and asked if she could check on our food. I also told her we would like some more drinks. She said she would let our server know.
Our server eventually came to the table completely unaware and unapologetic and told us our food was almost up and asked if we wanted anything to drink. I was so put off by her overly relaxed/​unaware attitude and the situation that I told her no thank you. There was no point in spending any more money there.
She made a comment/​joke that a bottle of champagne doesn’t go that far for a group of 4. It took everything I had not to say, «You’re right. I had every intention of ordering more champagne but unfortunately you have been M.I.A and we never had the opportunity to.»
Food was good but not worth the wait or the sub par service. I am glad we tried it but will never go back. There are too many good restaurants in Petaluma with better service to support.

We came here as part of a progressive dinner night — this was our soup and salad stop.
We had the grilled shrimp salad which tastes as good as the photos in the pictures make it look. The Tomato soup was incredible also.
So why 3 stars? We ordered our soup, salad, and two glasses of wine. The red that came out was fine, my white came out with probably ¼ to ¹⁄₃ of the cork ground and floating in my glass, I’m not talking about maybe a couple floaters, this looked like cork pepper, it was awful, and the server tried to excuse it with — um, your wine is corked, but it’s like not really corked, it’s just got a little cork floating in it… gee thanks. There was no offer to exchage it or fix it, it was just dropped on our table like it was a normal occurance… um… for $ 9 a glass you better rethink this before any other client gets a glass full of cork. As someone who spent the majority of my career in the wine industry, I understand that it doesn’t affect the wine, however as a restaurant, it’s really unprofessional, and I would be very very hesitant to return here with any serious wine geeks that I dine out with… but I would come back for the soup and skip the unprofessional ‘corked’ wine.

We have had great brunches at Luma, but unfortunately we were super underwhelmed at dinner on Friday! We ordered two $ 17+ pizzas and they were both completely dry. The pizzas tasted like breadsticks and cut the roofs of our mouth. We will not be returning for that quality at such high price. Also, the waitress continued to walk away before we were completed ordering and we had to ask the runner for most of our water and pepper flakes etc because she wasn’t stopping by. I have waitressed for years and I could tell her station was not big or that busy and yet we did not get the attention we deserved as customers.

Went here on a Friday night with a large party and sat on the cute outdoor patio. Due to the size of our party we were offered a preset menu which was pre-​arranged weeks before our reservation. Everyone was so happy with their selections and everyone loved the food. Some favorites were the roasted pear with fig and blue cheese, brussels sprouts with pancetta, steak with chimichurri, quinoa and vegie stir fry, and the turkish bread pudding. They have a great wine and beer selection. we had the house wines both the white and red were very good.
The staff was attentive and the timing of all the dishes was perfect. We did not feel rushed or like we were sitting around waiting for the next dish. The prices are very reasonable, I definitely feel like we got our moneys worth for the quality of food, portion sizes, and amount of wine we consumed. So happy we chose this lovely restaurant!

I came here for the second time for a baby shower brunch. It was hot outside… but inside was even more so, given the lack of any kind of air cooling/​circulation system in the nook where we were seated. Other than that, it was a pleasant eating experience. I got the French toast with berries, topped with powdered sugar and (only) strawberries. It was a plentiful portion, and they seem to have infused water, because I detected a hint of flavor. What was strange was that a) it was hot, and b) we were a large table, and we only got one carafe of water to share amongst 10+ people. The server kept having to refill the carafe. A second one would have solved that problem.
All my friends seemed to like their food — pancakes with peaches and blueberries, steak Benedict, granola yogurt, the protein plate with chicken and quinoa, heirloom tomato and avocado toast, cinnamon toast (for the two young ones who came along), and hash browns. We had quite a few Benedict lovers at the table.
The first time I went it was for dinner with some of these same friends, years ago. I’m still craving the baked pear with cheese and nuts I had that night. One day I’ll go back, and fulfill my craving.

Luma’s strength is providing a sweet neighborhood-​industrial-​quiet-​hipster-​relaxed-​kinda vibe in a pretty little restaurant down by the water & tracks …4+ stars. I love going there for the atmosphere. But… we’ve eaten here at least 5 times, mostly lunches but two dinners as well and each time I have to say, unfortunately, that I leave somewhat underwhelmed.
Dinner the other night consisted of the evening special Heirloom Caprese salad, as well as the Shrimp Linguini entrée and a Sausage Pizza. When the caprese salad was placed before us, I was pretty surprised at how unappealing the general presentation was and how small the portion was but worse, upon tasting it, how terrible the tomato was… it certainly wasn’t like any heirloom tomato i’ve ever had… this was tasteless, hard, not ripe and exactly like a bland hot-​house conventional tom. There was barely any mozzarella as well. It was very disappointing and certainly not worth the price of $ 10 (0 stars). The pesto pasta with shrimp was very tasty… yet again, a too-​small portion for $ 24 (3+ stars); the sausage pizza was very good (4 stars). With 2 beers our dinner came to nearly $ 80 (w/​tip)…sigh… Service was sweet and attentive (4+ stars). Every time we go, we’re pleased to be sitting there but end up feeling it in our wallet and not in our tummies… so my overall 4 star rating has reservations.

Delicious! Great, fresh food — everything seems literally farm to table. The quinoa entrée is to die for if you love veggies!
My husband ordered the steak both times we have been here and loved it as well!
I wish there was more seating, as it does get crowded on weekend evenings but not a deal breaker by any means. Just a tip, call for a reso before you go! :)

Tonight I ordered Moules Frites. The mussels where amazingly tender and the stock was insanely good — so good I ordered some wood-​fired toast to sop up more of it (then shamelessly sipped the rest).
I write this after a solid year of frequenting this restaurant and being nearly always more than satisfied. The wood-​fired pizza is spot on, as are all of their signature dishes. The wine selection is also very strong.
Equally as important, the kitchen (visible from the dining room) and staff exude a love of their craft.
Luma is a gem!

very cool place. Wife and I went on a Friday afternoon for lunch. Great salads — lots of sandwich choices — nice looking place — reminded me of a neighborhood restaurant you’d find in the Marina in the City. They had some nice local Petaluma beers on tap and lots of wine.
Luma is right in the funky part of Petaluma — it’s hipster looking and artsy. Great place for a relaxing lunch. Check it out for sure!

Really good sandwiches for lunch here. Strange service towards the end of the meal. Fresh and quality ingredients so lunch prices were worth it to me. Our waitress checked on us and refilled water. The pork was delicious on both sandwiches. This is an intimate place so I would not come here with a big group of people.
Service was good until the very end when we waited for change. We paid cash, and the young waitress yelled across the dining room to me (not acceptable to me) asking if I wanted my 60 cents in change (perhaps she thought I wasn’t leaving her a tip?). I turned around and she came over, and said loudly «I mean it’s just 60 cents, do you want it?», and then she saw her cash tip on the table. I replied that yes I would like my 60 cents as I wanted to add it to her tip. I could tell she was embarrassed, she apologized and said she didn’t deal with cash very often. I appreciated the apology, but it was still very uncomfortable. So while I liked the food a lot, the service regarding the bill was tactless. Since this was my first time here, I may give it another try with another server.

Nice little place with some good food.
Pizza, nicely done with a wood fire oven. The Satan’s kiss (Roasted cherry peppers, sausage, ricotta) was really nice. Touch of heat, but really good flavors.
Roasted veggies were tasty, nicely charred and seasoned.
Arugula and endive salad was very nice. Light, fresh, balanced ingredients.
Back for Brunch —
Croque Madame was good. Would have been better if it were on brioche, and had a better quality ham, but it was still tasty.
Steak and eggs benedict was nicely done. Perfectly poached eggs and medium rare steak. Really good.
Breakfast burrito was good, kind of the kitchen sink wrapped up in a tortilla, not a bad thing.
Took a little while to get our food at brunch, but was worth it. The service was very good as well.
Off the beaten path, but worth seeking out.

I’ve visited Luma twice now — its off the beaten path but definitely worth a visit.
If you’re going in for lunch, their Bahn Mi is amazing.
For dinner we’ve tried their Satan’s kiss pizza, their house mad Italian sausage really compliments everything else on the dish. If they have their Devil on a Horseback dates available, get those for sure, you’ll thank me for it when you’ve gotten a taste of them.
Then of course I had to top off my fantastic meal with desserts, the beignets with caramel do the trick — especially if you add a scoop of ice cream.
Its definitely a nicer restaurant with nicer prices so be ready to splurge. The staff is great, we’ve had the same waitress both times and she’s extremely knowledgeable and patient.