Was recommended by a coworker, and wow this place did not dissapoint. Probably one of my top places in Portland to eat, everything we ordered here was absolutely delicious. Loved the mussel appetizer, and the pate wowowow Even the bread was super high quality It's really loud in here, and the tables are bit packed together. read more

We've been to Navarre, and La Buca, and I think they are owned by the same person. I think this is my favorite of the three. It is a very intimate place with big windows. Kind of like a fish bowl. The tables are small so not much room to put your stuff down. A coat rack would help but where would one go? Lol. So choose a seat near a bench. The menu is a la carte. We had some bread and olive oil which was delicious, a yummy greens salad, delicious wine, and snapper. My boyfriend had the steak. I was feeling like I'd have liked mashed potatoes with it or something of the like, but that was ok. Minimalist meal, which I actually liked. Didn't overeat. Great service. We also had the chocolate hazelnut cake and some vermouth. Different aperitif. I liked it. We'd definitely go there again! Great find! read more

Had high hopes for this place and have to say it fell a little short. The wine list looked incredibly impressive but the choice that we made was not very good, maybe we made a poor pick but it really was one of the worst wines I've ever had. The food was tasty enough but the price was not equivalent to the portion size. The best thing we had during our dinner as well was probably the focaccia bread (which just feels wrong saying but it is what it is...). I would say if you want good Italian food in Portland there are many other options that will be a better choice. read more

A decent Italian spot. This spot has a nice feel to it when you walk in. Service was decent at 4/5 however we came in on Labor Day at 4pm and it was just us and two other parties. In regards to entrees, we ordered half size entrees which was a bit overpriced as they were not filling at all. Ordered the tagliatelle with beef and pork ragu. Wasn't a fan of this plate as it had a strong ragu taste to it. The spaghetti with garlic and hot clams was a bit too salty along with heavy butter. read more

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I was trying to find a good spot with a chefs menu while in Portland for work and I couldn't find one. Instead I decided to try out Luce and just asked my server to select a salad, pasta, entree, and dessert for me and it did not disappoint. What was selected for me were dishes I wouldn't have selected myself but they were shockingly great and I could tell the server made deliberate choices that worked well together. Can't miss the pasta or the buttermilk panda cotta! read more

Service was great and menu had a nice variety in spite of it being quite small. The food was simply ok in my opinion. Nice noodles and fresh ingredients, it just didn't live up to the hype to me. Would consider going back if I saw something on their online menu that really made my mouth water. Seating area was small but in a good way. read more

I was born and raised in Italy, my fiancé and I always go here when I feel nostalgic and I love it. They are doing a great job with COVID measures, cleaning chairs and tables at all times. They provide covered and heated outdoor sitting, which is great if you suffer the cold and hate rain like I do! I really recommend this place. Cheese and salumi boards are heavenly read more

Rude staff, especially the tall white guy with blonde hair. My wife asked what something was marinated in, our waiter didn't know, then this a hole comes over after we have been served to condescendingly point out very obvious things on the table. Food was okay, wasn't anything to write home about. read more

Excellent spot especially for the price. A romantic little Italian spot on a corner in Portland with delightful antipasti, mains, and pasta dishes. Long wine list and specialty food items for sale. Great date spot. read more

It must be us. We were sat outside on stained covered tables that wobbled. It must be us. When we didnt see the wine recommended by the waiter on the menu,he grabbed the menu out of our hand and underlined it with his pen. It must be us. We ordered bread which had an additional cost. The waiter asked if we wanted olive oil with it. We were also charged for the oil. It felt like we were nickled and dimed. Its too bad because its such a sweet simple restaurant. And we will not be returning anytime again. read more

The food was good, but the portions are super small. I ordered the ravioli in a vegetable broth. It came in a small bowl, with 5. Yes 5, small ravioli. For $10 I expected a meal. read more

Luce - Italian Near Me - Portland, Oregon

Piccolo meraviglia! Luce is a true Italian pastaria on the Eastside worth visiting. The house made pastas are fresh, light and delicious. The variety of pastas and side dishes are superbly executed and presented in true trattoria fashion. Look up the Italian if you are confused...and in the meantime, get there and eat lots! read more

Luce - Italian Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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We all know Luce was on Bon Appétit's list of the 10 best new restaurants in America in 2012. We do know that right? If not, now you do. The great thing is aside from the fact that Luce is well deserving of this list is that this restaurant is in my neighborhood. Walking distance baby!!! Well, that is good for me at least. Not sure if you feel the same. Sue's birthday weekend continued into this past weekend. We had been talking about going to Luce for a while and we finally were able to do it on Saturday night. Yes, the place is small and you will most likely wait to get a table, but we showed up at 5:30 and there were two tables open. We chose the table away from the front door and were seated immediately. I really didn't know what to expect from this place. I read the article in Bon Appétit and knew that this was Italian food at its most basic. Sometimes simple is the best. Actually I pretty much always agree with that. It is the way I cook too. The food here is quite affordable. That needs to be said right off the bat. We ate a ton of food and the bill before tip was $55. True, we didn't drink. That will add money to your bill obviously, but you can still eat and drink well here and probably get out the door with tip for under $30. Who says you need to spend hundreds of dollars to get a very good meal? I don't have that kind of money and I'm happy that Luce caters to those of us who like to eat, but can't always spend a ton of money on food. This is what we ordered. We started out with a few of their Antipasti (all $2 each). The fresh mozzarella with anchovy is exactly how it sounds. Good, but I can make this at home so I will pass on it the next time. Crostini with fig and goat cheese mousse. A bit sweet, a bit tart and very good. Farro and Parmesan pie which I believe was similar to a frittata. A nice slice of that was presented. We also had the salt focaccia ($3) which was very pillowy and warm. Finally for starters we split a whole portion of the escarole salad with warm bagna cauda ($12). We both agreed that the salad dressing was subtle, but with a nice saltiness to it. This is how salads should always be. For main dishes Sue had the Baked Stuffed Trout ($12). This is a whole trout so if you are squeamish about seeing a fish head on your food you probably want to avoid this dish. We weren't sure what it was stuffed with, but it was very simple. Probably cooked in some oil with salt and pepper. Nothing fancy here. I had the Seafood Stew ($15) with grilled bread. Squid, clams, mussels, shrimp and a few other things in a tomato based broth. Very fresh and also very simple. Stew always tastes better on a cold and rainy night. For dessert we had the Luce cake ($7). It had promise as it was stuffed with pistachio cream, but they soaked it a bit too much in an orange liqueur which was a bit overpowering. Overall not the best way to finish this meal, but we will know that for the next time we come back. The service was very friendly. Our server did forget to bring our focaccia out with our salad (she actually forgot we ordered it), but that was a minor blip in what was a very good experience. It is worthy of this list. How they picked Luce out of all of the good food was have here in Portland is anyone's guess, but they still should be on this list. I can't get over how affordable this place is. There is no doubt that I will be back here again very soon. read more

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On a coworkers recommendation I had dinner with my aunt tonight. The vibe is small space and somewhat intimate (but not necessarily romantic). We started with focaccia bread which was very tasty. It had a much softer crumb than I've ever had in this style of bread (which I actually preferred) and the flavor was incredible. We got the rosemary gnocchi and another pasta I can't remember. Both pasta dishes were home runs. My gnocchi had ground walnuts in the sauce - MARVELOUS. For desert we got the ricotta cheesecake and the olive oil cake. The deserts were simply flavored and a perfect after dinner sweet. A few TINY downsides: our waiter had the personality of a piece of plywood, the menu wasn't incredibly descriptive of the dishes, and the "full order" of pasta (vs half order) was just average in size. read more

Luce has been a hit in the local food press and we were fortunate to make it there before all the crowds started coming. Our dining experience was laid back and comfortable inside the small, corner diner on East Burnside, though the traffic noise from outside occasionally interrupted our bliss. They make all their pastas in house and the Tagliatelle with Pork/Beef Ragu I tried was sublime. The pasta was cooked perfectly and the ragu sauce was rich and savory. The Pinot Nero Italian table wine was a decent accompaniment with the pasta. Luce's Antipasti selection is interesting and varied. We tried the Onion Focaccia, Marinated Mushrooms and Fig/Goat Cheese Mousse Crostini. The Focaccia was tasty, but we all had a hard time finishing it, probably due to the onions. The Mushrooms were very good, but I was not a fan of the Crostini. I think that one was a miss. Luce is a wonderful Italian restaurant in a town that struggles to serve the genre well. The food is very good and the service is pleasant and above average. I am looking forward to my next visit. read more

Luce - Tagliatelle with Pork & Beef Ragu - Italian Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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What a nice surprise to find this 10 year old restaurant by accident! The stuffed trout was amazing, as was the cauliflower and cabbage sides. The Hen was also very good. Great wine list, cool atmosphere and excellent service. Only wuss would be more beer options. We'll be back for sure! read more

Cute and yummy Italian bistro. I got a glass of the house red, the rabbit pasta and the fig/goat crostini. I like that there were smaller portion options, especially when dining for one. read more

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I was so happy to be able to check out Luce on my weeklong trip to Portland. I'm sure it has become much busier since being named one of the top ten new restaurants in the country by Bon Appétit so I was happy to not have a wait to be seated when I went at lunch on a Friday. They have a number of great prix fixe options at lunch, so I tried one of them: 3 antipasti, half tagliatelle and a glass of wine for $15. I got the arancino, crostini with fig goat cheese spread, and the gratinated clams. All were very good, though I think I liked the unusual flavor of the fig goat cheese crostini the best. The tagliatelle noodles were very good and tasted homemade, the ragu was a little boring. Service was extremely pleasant and it was a perfect day so eating outside was nice. Overall, it was a lovely dining experience and hopefully next time I'm back in town I can try it out for dinner. read more

This was our first time at this restaurant. We had heard good things about it, but I must disagree. After a two hour wait in the rain, we were grateful to have a seat by the drafty front door. Our food server did not introduce themselves. We had been seated with the menu for 5 minutes when she approached us and seemed frustrated that we were not ready to order. The server did not offer to explain any of the dishes and was impatient to answer any questions. We received our appetizers: some stale bread and a few fried olives rolling around on a plate (poor presentation). A while later, we received a bowl of lukewarm soup and other entrees. As they reached across the table to set down one of the plates, some olives came toppling off and rolled away. She did not bat an eye. All of the surfaces in the dining room were hard which made for a loud clangy ambience. Because the servers were lounging around and chatting, we had to get up from the table to bring our empty carafe to them for a refill. I have to say it was not an enjoyable experience. Having waited two hours, our expectations were pretty high. That being said, the service was lousy and the food was subpar. read more

Quaint & rustic. These two words sum up what I enjoyed about this tiny restaurant and what I relish about being in Italy. They have simplicity nailed. Initially I felt like some nibbling forest critter when presented with a pile of spring greens and fennel. The foccacia was monstrous, but I was happy to take it home. That was quickly swept aside when the carnivore came out upon the arrival of lovingly displayed cuts of the Hanger Steak. Yes, Bon Appetit probably imposed some unrealistic expectations too early on, but that shouldn't stop you from trying this place! On a quiet afternoon, I loved using this space to concentrate and study. The waitress was lovely and they had both WiFi and a power outlet. Thank You, Luce! read more

Luce - Hanger Steak is pretty dang fantastic. Perfect medium-rare marinated cut. - Italian Near Me - Portland, Oregon

I fell in love with this simple, dim lighted intimate restaurant right when I walked in and got wafts of fresh bread and pasta. The meatballs, carrots and beets were a great start to the meal. We ordered 1/2 orders of 3 different pastas to get a good sampling. My favorite by far was the ricotta lemon ravioli, soo good! The ragu and tagliatelle with duck were good but lacking in sauce and parmesan. Definitely not the best pasta, but the ravioli was amazing, atmosphere very intimate and excellent service. Overall great service good food and cozy intimate atmosphere. read more

We've been very pleased by two visits. The arancini is just right, not too hush puppy-like. I suggest using a knife and fork and getting four or five bites out of it, rather than plopping the entire thing in. Sensory satisfaction is so much more heightened since I've focused on small bites and eating slow. Anyway, the Roasted Beets, Cauliflower in Vinegar, and Polpettes were also very tasty. For cold weather, the Cappelletti in Brood Soup is very comforting. In regard to entrees, the Tagliatelli Pork Ragu was very good, but I much prefer this dish at Mucca in Downtown. Luce seems to continue the trend of Italian venues that offer small, light dishes, rather than heavy gut bomb pasta bowls. And it's a far, far cry from places with "all you can eat" breadsticks and where the eating experience is loud and fun, fun, fun. The one downer is that it's brrrr cold at Luce, which complements the metallic and non-cozy feel of the place. Probably ideal for the summer though. Both times, there was one - but very friendly - server for an almost full restaurant, so I hope they beef-up staffing. Parking is easy. read more

Had a really great evening here! A friend and I stopped on a whim and it was a great decision. I loved the small cozy atmosphere and our waiter was very helpful when I asked which wine would pair well with the lamb dish I wanted to get and my friend asked for a good rosé. He brought samples for both of us to try before making a decision and was willing to being us more if we werent satisfied with the ones he brought out initially. As for food we got the salumi ppl plate for an appetizer, the garganelli and lamb with saffron, and the spaghetti with garlic, pepper and clam. We were both immensely satisfied not too spicy not too salty everything was perfect! The price is more on the expensive side but that tends to be a non issue for me when it comes to pasta, I'll pay what I need to get good food! read more

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My friend and I were visiting Portland and kind of stumbled upon this place. And we absolutely fell in love with it. The food is delicious and a flavorful experience. Our waiter was very kind, charming and extremely knowledgeable about the menu for all the questions we had. Either of us drank wine but we're very impressed with there selection. The restaurant is also very cute and cozy. Felt like we were transport to some little Italian Nonna's home. Or tucked away in some Tuscany restaurants. The price for portions was incredibly on the nose. It was reasonable and we weren't hungry after, which is always a good sign. Our only issue and this isn't something that can be controlled all the time was the wait time. My friend and I had a feeling people would put their name on the list and leave. There also isn't anywhere to wait but outside, so keep that in mind if you go. But I get it, the restaurant is small so I suggest going really early or later in the evening. read more

I love this little place in Portland, my favorite restaurant that we tried out of 4-5 restaurants in portland. Simple decor, attention to ingredients. Reminds of the food that I had in Italy. go and you will not be disappointed. the pastas were especially delicious. I also love the fact that they have a huge bowl of walnut for anyone to crack and eat freely. fun! read more

I wish the tagliatelle was more al dente but loved the super small European-style portion sizes! I had the tagliatelle ($8 half lunch portion) chicken liver mousse ($2 for 2), and red leaf with anchovy. All very simple and very good. This is def not your heavy Olive Garden pasta joint. Will def be back! read more

After arriving at Screen Door too late for a late lunch, they recommended Luce just down the block as one of the best restaurants in the city. I agree and appreciate the referral. My rigatoni was delish; fresh noodles, homemade sausage and wild local chanterelles, topped with shavings of cheese that we're light as feathers. The half portion was plenty and well priced for such a tasty homemade meal. We shared desserts: hazelnut cake and panna cotta with pine sauce, which I will dream of tonight. Mos def recommend this place and look forward to the next time. read more

My husband & I are in Portland for a few days on vacation & came to this restaurant on the recommendation of someone who has lived here for 20+ years. This is a small, pretty spot with truly great food. The farro & parmesan pie was really exceptional, as was the kale with olives. The olive focaccia bread was the perfect amount of salty & not at all dry, really good. We both got small size pastas, which I would recommend if you are getting appetizers, etc. We got two desserts & the better of the two was the buttermilk panna cotta with pine bud syrup. So delicious! Our waiter, Andrew, was delightful. We had a very relaxed meal, with no feeling of being rushed. Each dish came to the table in a well-timed way. If we lived here, I know we would be regulars at Luce! read more

We had a wonderful experience here at Luce. Andrew was our server and he was so knowledgeable about the wine and food selection and made our dining experience amazing. our food was delicious and very shareable. We will be coming back again! read more

Great atmosphere, staff was so kind, the food was incredible. It had all the flare with none of the ego.

A good surprise. The place looks awful. It really looks bad, don't go for a special night. No comfort of any type. I was about to leave before entering. But, their food was really good! Drink selection was limited. Service is polite and gentle. Menu selection is decent, you'll find something for your palate. Food is well done and good balanced. Recommended if you are in the area or if you want to experience something unusual. A No-go for a romantic night read more

We ate at Luce tonight in their outdoor heated space. It was so great to have a fine dining experience! The dining space was comfortable and COVID safe. Excellent menu as always. We ordered the pork chop and the cod, with grilled cabbage and leeks as sides. All delicious. read more

Service was superb, the space is small and romantic! The food was delicious, and the chef and server made sure to be very careful about my dietary restrictions as well read more

Luce has been my favorite go to mid week in need of a guaranteed excellent meal. The lentil soup and of course the delicate and bursting with flavor pasta dishes are excellent! So good it reminds me of dining in Italy!!!!! I love the small converted space with the minimalist approach. I am glad they focus more on the food and service. read more

Luce - Greens and herbs salad - Italian Near Me - Portland, Oregon

I had an amazing experience at Luce. I didn't have a wait, the server was really nice and helpful. We got the olive focaccia, and the smaller rigatoni and the smaller taglioini and some wine. All was outstanding and supper yummy. The restaurant itself is so beautiful. The walls are all windows so the natural light in there is beautiful. read more

Luce - Italian Near Me - Portland, Oregon

Truth be told, this should be a five given the meals I've had the privilege of experiencing by way of generous friends who are valued patrons. The reason this gets four stars from me is because my personal dining experiences are usually beset by either inconsistent quality, a lack of informed wine service that defies credulity or an ambience that only works if your party constitutes at least a fifth of the restaurant. read more

I wanted so badly to love this place but unfortunately that was not the case. I had no idea hat Luce had been listed on Bon Appetite's top restaurants list until after we had eaten there and I checked Yelp, hoping I was not alone in my disappointing experience. Honestly I was shocked and really confused as to how and why this restaurant made the list. For a Friday night I was pleasantly surprised that there was no wait at all for us to be seated. Even though it was just my fiancé and I, it's a small space and I had read other reviews that some parties as small as 2-4 people waited hours to be seated and hours to eat. So yay, seated quickly, so far so good! The ambiance is super cozy and the place has a certain mom and pop storefront charm about it. Love the flowers and candles on the tables as well as the canned and dried goods on the shelves. Seating is a bit uncomfortable and even rickety, I overheard the women at the next table over mention it as well. Menu and Meal: My fiancé and I were celebrating and wanted to order prosecco or champagne but luckily I noticed that no one else had a wine glasses at their tables and that everyone was using these sort of tumbler juice cups for wine.. literally, they reminded me of a toddler juice cup. Not a big deal, but I am glad I double checked with our waitress because I would not want to drink champagne out of those cups because they would lose their fizz so quickly! I'm sure other people or big wine lovers may feel the same way so I wanted to mention it. We decided to go with 1 glass each of the house white wine instead and it was good! Light and crisp but honestly the cup just threw me off, I felt like I was drinking grape juice. For food, we ordered olives and the house bread to start, I ordered the full size fettuccine with caramelized onions and asparagus for my entree and my fiancé ordered the full size spaghetti with clams and a garlic red pepper sauce. The olives where dripping in olive oil, in my opinion way too much and they were overly slimy, but then again I'm not a huge olive person. My fiancé on the other hand loves olives and he was really bummed, he literally ate 3 and the rest went untouched. The bread may have been the most disappointing of all, it came out cold, not soft, no butter no olive oil no anything but again, I was starving and trying to embrace the simplistic touches that Luce seemed to be laying on so thick, so I had a couple slices. It reminded me of subway sub bread and looked like it too! (See photo) only this was this bread was drier. It would make great crustini bread or croutons though. So the bread and olives basically sat untouched after we tried them, Then the food came. Overall, the fettuccine with asparagus and onions was ok. I expected it to have more of a sauce because our waitress literally said "that dish has the most sauce", and that's why I chose it, but that was not the case at all. Maybe I'm alone on this, but I don't consider pasta dripping with olive oil and chicken broth to be considered sauce, broth maybe, but not sauce. Similar to the olives, the noodles actually had an over slimy texture to them which made the noodles impossible to eat with solely a fork. There was no spoon included in my place setting so I got up and went to the counter to ask for a spoon and the woman behind the counter looked over my shoulder back at my dish almost like "why do you need a spoon for what you ordered?" then she just pointed to a bucket full of spoons behind the counter. I did not ask for salt, pepper or butter for our dry bread, I asked for a spoon. It just seemed very pretentious and unfriendly. The dish had a strong chicken broth flavor to it with hints of sweetness from the caramelized onions, the asparagus was really good too and tender. My fiancé's spicy clam spaghetti dish looked like something out of a magazine. His noodles were the most unusual "spaghetti" I had ever seen or tasted. He said that if he had been blindfolded he would have sworn we were eating ramen noodles bowls from the food carts on Division Street. Overall he said the clams were good, pasta unusual, and he wished the "sauce" had a little bit of thickness to it so it stuck to the noodles and clams more because he was also not given a spoon. It was just an odd and sad meal start to finish. The cherry on top was that it took them 15 minutes to wrap up my leftovers at the end of the meal which we could see just sat on the side counter forgotten about. Just an overall lack luster, disappointing and expensive $80 experience. Never again read more

Luce - Italian Near Me - Portland, Oregon

This is a great place but unique in the standard it can be held against. The environment is very Portland with graffiti and a little grime, and if you have to wait the best place is across the street with $2 Hamms (cool place, go). The staff are real low key, good people. Ask for something they can't immediately give you and it's "let me ask Mike" or whatever his name is, not "manager". It's great, they just talk to you like you're part of the normal crew and they are themselves very generous in spirit. The prices are just a bit high but quality is there so it's worth it. The wine menu is a bit much but the food menu is flexible and robust. The cream sauce with Fava stalks they had tonight was really special. Go. read more

Excellent food, exceptional service, and extensive wine list. We ate outside and the heaters name the enclosure quite warm. Focaccia could have been better, but can overlook it on account of the rest of the food. Honestly quite surprised at the reviews here given how much we enjoyed our meal. Don't miss the brodo soup (ricotta lemon dumplings in broth)--phenomenal! read more

If you value good pasta cooked properly and served as it is in Italy then this is an excellent place for you. If as some of the other "reviewers", you expect a huge plate of cheap pasta drowning in red sauce for 10 bucks or feel things like room temperature water are cardinal sin to you then it's not the place for you. We had the antipasta of crostini with chicken liver and costini with fig and cheese each 2 dollars for 2 pieces (in NYC or SF it would have cost 2-4 times as much and cauliflower popettes also 2. We then had a cheese course which a buffalo milk cheese, a sheep's milk, and a parmigano. This was a miss for us but we are highly biased towards French and Spanish cheeses and prefer more pungent cheeses. Next was the octopus salad. I am loving how many North American restaurants are serving octopus, yes it isn't local with most being imported frozen but it still takes some cooking skill to prepare properly and this was done excellently. For our pastas we had the half portions ($12) of cauliflower cheese ravioli and pasta with ground lamb. Note the "half portions" are sized like NORMAL portions in Europe because insanely huge portions of pasta are not normal in Italy. The pasta wasn't overdressed or drowning in some Americanize sauce. We were too stuffed to eat dessert but we are definitely coming back. read more