Lugäno

I Love Italian food and I done out a lot, almost all popular, new and established places.
As for food, I like many offered here, such as Grilled Asparagus, Torched Peaches, Mussels, Smoked Salmon, Ravioli … I will give 4 star for food alone.
But as for the atmosphere and eating environment, I will just give it 2– star. Too many flys, dead on the window sills and flying all over the plates… Killing all appetite and making me concern about the hygiene in the kitchen.
The management needs to do sth to improve it. No wonder it’s always quiet and not so busy.

Order the same salmon! Flavor explosion in your mouth. Yum! The staff and chef are extremely friendly and courteous. Luganos is a great little weeknight dinner.

So yummy! It didn’t take some time to get our food but I will say it was well worth the wait. Even my old school grandpa enjoyed it! (That’s really saying something)

We came here after a long day. They were able to take our 10 person group which was nice. Unfortunately everything just kept going down hill. They took a good half an hour between giving us our drinks and taking our dinner order. The bottle of wine we ordered and the one they brought out was the wrong year. They charged us the same price for a 2012 when the one on the menu was 2009. They decided an acceptable meeting point was to offer us $ 20 off a $ 100 of wine, when the one we wanted in the first place was $ 50… what? When we asked what kind of oysters they had, they simply listed off what kind of toppings it came with and didn’t even know what kind they were, just where they came from.
Besides the slow service and interesting bartering for the wrong wine, the food was decent, I had the ravioli which was pretty flavorful. The crème brûlée desert was so burnt we had to scrape off the top. The décor was a bit drab and I had to sit on my jacket because the seat was super uncomfortable. I’m not very knowledgeable of SLC restaurants but I definitely would not recommend as I’m sure there is something better out there.

Love the food… tonight’s spaghetti with seafood was reminiscent of cioppino. Wonderful. The lamb shank is a great option for carnivores.
The pear/​prosciutto appetizer was a marvelous blending of tastes and textures. But the noise level is often distracting… sometimes annoying. This will always keep a good dining experience from moving up a notch.
Visit on ²⁄₁₄ was excellent. Seven courses, Very good wine pairings. Well presented. Nice variety.

Portion sizes were good. Entrée flavor was not amazing. Got the mussels for an app which were pretty good.
Our waiter told us they recently got a new executive chef along with an owner.
Overall, we’ll probably be back

Best birthday dinner ever and it was not my birthday. I took my husband to Lugano last Friday for his birthday. We are both gourmands and so we are always seeking a fantastic meal and we found it.
We started our meal with two appetizers since we were going big. We had bruled pears wrapped in procuitto. We loved them! The crunchy sugar, combined with the tender pear and rich proscuitto were very well balanced, and made every bite a study of texture. I plan to go back, just for this appetizer.
I had the pumpkin ravioli with sage and brown butter as an entrée. It had a homemade yet sophisticated flavor and the pasta was perfect.
The wine list was approachable, with a wide variety of imported and domestic wines.
I’ve struggled with Lugano in the past. In its early days it was amazing, but I feel like it had gone down hill in recent visits. However, I understand the restaurant recently had a change of ownership, and the attention to detail is reminiscent of its earlier days. We cant wait to go back.

This was our first time to eat at Lugano will not be our last. We went with a group of eight and had a couple of special requests (gluten free and vegan). The staff were friendly and the atmosphere was fabulous. Then came the food everything was exceptional. As I said there were eight of us so we had several different dishes.
Appetizers were awesome our favorites were the pears wrapped in prosciutto, the crudo was a table favorite as well. The main courses were also fantastic we enjoyed everything rib eye, pumpkin ravioli, seafood pasta, and chicken were all perfect.

Was less impressed with the menu this time. They claim seasonal and locally sourced, and true, there was some of that on the menu. But plenty of ingredients that are definitely not in season right now. When we asked the server about the asparagus on the menu (early October), she said she wasn’t sure, but maybe they sourced it from California. And didn’t bother to find out for us. Bottom line, the meal was good, but not great, and we weren’t especially impressed with the menu.

The appetizers were wonderful… prosciutto with pear — superb. Heirloom tomato salad — very good (but hard to mess up). Bruschetta was ok — not memorable — but ok.
The biggest disappointments were the main courses. The mussels were not de-​bearded so I was dealing with gritty, beards… gross and completely unacceptable for a restaurant. The mussels were a standard item on their menu so they should know how to prepare them. There were also numerous closed mussels and some of the open ones tasted a little sketchy. A kitchen should never send any closed mussels out to a customer.
The house fettuchini was so overlooked… a bowl of bland mush. I’ve had better pasta on Delta.
Our waiter was attentive. The other staff, including the chef? in the white smock standing around in the dining room as we entered should have at least said hello as we were the first customers for the evening.
I’ve wanted to dine here for the past year since moving to the area but I was disappointed and I will not be back.

Check your bill carefully. We came with a party of 17 and apparently the waiter tried to maximize his mandatory 18% gratuity. He quoted $ 26 for the fish of the day, then billed $ 32. Also he asked each one of us, «soup or salad?» as we ordered, not specifying that they were $ 7 and $ 10 surcharges. His tone made it sound like one or the other came with dinner, and didn’t mention any other sides, just the two that most commonly come with entrees– elsewhere. After our sticker shock and asking for the manager regarding the bill that was $ 150 higher than expected, he said «everything is a la carte. Sorry about that.» After again asking for the manager, he agreed to remove the soups and salads, but removed only 5 of them. After asking for the manager a third time, he again didn’t grab the manager but finally got the bill right.
Why only 1 star? By that point none of us remembered how the food was. If 17 people choose to patronize your restaurant, giving you a good $ 400+ worth of business, and your hired employee takes advantage to rip them off, then you actually deserve 0 stars.

I recently dined at Lugano after a long hiatus from the establishment. I am happy to say that it was a pleasant surprise! On previous visits, it had been disappointing on the flavor front. However, this occasion was fabulous. We didn’t sample much but had a lovely bottle of red that was priced appropriately! Amen! I chose the special of the evening and it was amazing. Truly fabulous flavors going on. The dish was comprised of agnolotti filled with chard and ricotta topped with a lamb ragu. It hit all the right notes! My pal had the spaghetti alla vongole. Really rich in flavor and delicious! Insert much bread mopping here.
I found the service to be adequate and the price point/​portion ratio to be excellent.
I look forward to returning in hopes of being wowed by another special. Lugano, please consider the agnolotti, lamb special to become a permanent menu item!

I was so disappointed in Lugano. Maybe my expectations were too high after hearing great reviews from various websites. We had a group of 10 people. To start, the restaurant was out of every drink our group tried to order from the menu. Yes, from the beer, to the various bottles of wine, to tequila. Nada. This was on a Saturday night. Seriously, if you are going to have a printed beverage menu you ought to have the items in stock or make it clear that you are out. The other downside to this was the waitress brought alternative bottles of wine that ended up being a lot more expensive than what was ordered, and she charged the higher price. Her excuse was that the owner was out of town and wasn’t able to go to the liquor store to restock their supply. Honestly, no one wants to hear that.
We ordered a variety of food and it was hit and miss. I had the special of the night which was delightful vegetarian ravioli. It was delicious. My husband had the ribeye which was grossly over cooked and tough. The waitress did not check on our table at all to see if the food was good or up to par. I could see if she was running around like crazy, but the restaurant was quite empty.
Lastly when our bill came the waitress would not split the bill. We were seated as five distinct couples. It would have been very easy. She told us we would have to figure it out ourselves. Now, if our bill is close to $ 500, my expectation is that you do what you need to do to take care of your guests.
I do not recommend Lugano. It is overpriced, the service is terrible and the ambiance is not anything memorable.

Went there when parents came visited SLC. Nice ambiance, food was good overall, but not all that memorable. We had mussels, which was delish! and the alfredo was good also. other than those items, nothing made me really want to go back there any time soon. Still in search for a really good italian place in SLC

Lugano has such terrific food, but what a horrible dining experience! We had a reservation for dinner, but upon arrival, our table was not ready. We had to wait for 20 minutes in a cramped, cold corner next to the front-​door (the bar was also full). When we were finally seated in the dining room and starting to enjoy our meal, the entire restaurant began to fill up with smoke. Our server explained that their kitchen fans were broken, so when guests ordered a certain meal (a steak of some sort, I believe) the entire place fills with smoke. We ended up leaving with full bellies, but our clothes and my hair stinking of food.

I was in Salt Lake this past weekend visiting family, and we tried out Lugano for the first time. I was very, very impressed– some of the best Italian I’ve had in Salt Lake, or anywhere else for that manner.
The building itself manages to be both classy and cozy. It’s on the loud side, but it was never too hard to have a conversation. Our server was obviously very busy but did a great job of keeping track of our table and making sure we weren’t rushed. The menu is small but varied, with lots of interesting options– I had a hard time deciding what to order. They also had a great wine menu, with a good selection of wines by the glass, as well as an interesting beer menu that someone obviously put some thought into.
But, the food is the star here. We had:
–foccaccia: usually free bread isn’t exciting, but this is.
–the arugula salad: a nice crisp dressing with obviously fresh greens. The apples were a good mix with the arugula and there were plenty of them.
–grilled pear appetizer: this was a little odd, but I was pleasantly surprised: the salty prosiutto, sweet pear and mascarpone really balanced each other out, and the basil leaf was a nice touch.
–mussels appetizer: made in the wood burning oven, and the smokiness definitely adds a great flavor. I did have a problem with a lot of the shells cracking– maybe because of the oven– but the sauce was delicious and the mussels were cooked perfectly.
–daily risotto: my mom ordered this– a mushroom risotto with pork loin. She said the risotto was cooked perfectly, and even liked the pork which she’s not usually a fan of.
–fish of the day: my dad have the fish of the day, which was a sea bass with greens and lentils. The fish was perfectly cooked, and obviously fresh with no fish-​y flavor, and he really liked the lentils.
–house tagliatelle: one of the best pastas I’ve ever had. It had porcini mushrooms, spinach, peas, prosciutto, and a delicious porcini cream sauce. It was too rich to finish, but I’m still thinking about it.
–chocolate torte: served with ice cream on top, and perfect rich but not too sweet dark chocolate. Even more perfect with port.
I would go back in a heartbeat if I lived in the area!

Ok, so my initial review (which was my 2^nd visit to Lugano) wasn’t so positive. My most recent visit at the beginning of this month (January), convinced me that the visit was a fluke, OR the place has improved quite a bit since then. I’m going with the first assumption.
We ordered:
Prosciutto w/​pears, mascarpone and balsamic
Well balanced flavor. Asked for balsamic on the side so we could just enjoy the lighter flavors before we added any acidity. One thing that kind of struck me as odd: the dish came out very cold, and the prosciutto was semi-​frozen. I asked the server about the issue, and he indicated that the prosciutto may have been sliced frozen. We didn’t it back because
Mussels in pesto broth
Perfect for a cold day. It hit the spot as the temperature outside was hovering around 7 °F.
Beet Salad
Delicious, light and refreshing.
House Tagliatelle (3 – 1 vote for best dish of the night)
Nicely made pasta. Decent sauce. My dining companions loved this dish. I liked it a lot, but it wasn’t my favorite dish of the evening.
Pizza Margherita
Decent. Delicious. Wouldn’t order it again, though.
Grilled 22 oz Ribeye
HUGE! It was tasty, but there are better ribeyes out there.
Spaghetti Napa Cabbage
The sauce! The sauce! My favorite entrée of the evening. It may be a bit on the salty side, however, the sauce! The pool of sauce at the bottom of the plate was SO good.
Apple Crisp
Earthy, nutty, and just better than any other apple crisp I’ve had, as of late.
Overall, I just really enjoyed this meal, and it inspired me to return.

Good food… Meh service.
I came to Lugano with a group of friends before an 80’s concert… so that may be why our service was just so/​so… so I’ll cut them some slack. But my biggest issue is how long it took for us to order our drinks and food.
Aside from that, when the food came out, it was good. I won’t say amazing, blow you out of your socks great… but good. I know this place gets a lot of hype, so I’m hoping I just came on an off night. I’ll give it another try one day… but not any time soon.

Yep. A rare 5 star review for a neighborhood restaurant.
The wife and I had a little hungry spot last night after the Unilocal event a couple blocks down the road. As we waited a minute to be seated, Greg Neville was looking very serious as he checked plates at the pass. Over the time we were there, he was back and forth checking quality at the pass and checking on diners. That’s one the reasons that this is the best neighborhood restaurant in the city.
We were not that hungry after the event so we ordered the mussels as an appetizer and shared the lamb osso bucco. We ordered two glasses of wine. One for each course. We intended to share them. When our server brought them, he had already split them into 4 glasses and was generous in the pour. About this time Greg stopped by to see how we were doing. We had a great dinner. That’s when I reflected back on our previous dining experiences and knew this was 5 star.
I’ve been to private events in the the Loggia. I’ve been to small group get togethers in the main room. The food is consistently good in every situation. It’s not inexpensive, but it’s in line for the food quality.

On Easter, our plans changed last minute, and we were hoping to do a late brunch /​early dinner somewhere.
We called Lugano, as my better half remembered a nice holiday meal there a few years back with his brother’s family. They were happy to seat us at three, and we decided to head over.
I was impressed by the greeting and the setting when we walked in. Unlike so many places on a holiday, it was calm and relaxing. We were greeted and watered and left with menus.
I know it’s a good place when I see so many things I want to try that I commit to a second visit right away. We decided to order the mussels and think over our dinner choices just a bit longer.
Eating the bread and olives, we finally passed on the holiday special of lamb t-​bones with an egg and ordered. He the rib eye and I had the short rib dinner.
He opted for risotto over roasted potatoes and it was a seasonal asparagus version, very mild but delicious. The rib eye was cooked perfectly. My short rib was delectable, falling off the bone. The sauce that accompanied it was rich and the salad interesting, though missing the pancetta.
Everything was wonderful, but those mussels were the star of the show. They were beautiful and the broth that they cooked in was good enough to drink straight out of the bowl, though we refrained for fear we’d frighten the busser, who already seemed intimidated by our gregarious nature.
I can’t wait to go back to try one of the pastas or a dish of risotto.