Went to Lucia's in Ayer last night. It was probably our fourth visit there. The food and service have always been terrific, until this time. I had the Terra di Mare. The scallops, garlic mashed and Brussel sprouts were great, but where did they get that beef? In fact, may have been the best Brussel sprouts I ever ate. The sirloin tips were probably the toughest I have ever experienced. Way below the quality I expected. Don't order this entree! I mentioned it to our waiter and the response was "Oh?" read more

We had reservations for 4 at 7:30 on a Saturday. We arrived a little early and the place was packed. We were told that there were "3 or 4 tables ahead of us" and we would have a short wait. An HOUR LATER we were finally seated. Dinner took another 30 minutes to arrive. The hostess admitted that the restaurant had "booked too many 7:30 reservations!" How does that happen? The manager can't count on one hand? An unpleasant experience for all in our party. read more

Food is good, fresh, great specials and lots of treasures tucked in the menu. I was going a few times a week but have found the service at the bar subpar to similar establishments. The Wi-Fi is not consistent and you can find yourself waiting for long periods of time while the bartenders focus on the drinks for the 'seated' restaurant patrons. I've been exploring for fine dining with the attention to detail that you find in the city and don't think that this place can hold it's ground when it gets busy. read more

Nice small place with a good atmosphere, generally quiet but sometimes busy and loud if you get a crowd. Excellent wine selection and a knowledgeable and courteous staff. The Calamari Fritti was light and sweet, better than I've had at most places. The Filetto con gorgonzola was one of the best steaks I've had in my life. Tender and smooth but charred just enough to give it a smokey, woody flavor which blended perfectly with the the soft, salty gorgonzola. To have added salt, pepper, or anything to it would have been an insult to its perfect balance. Fresh string beans tender and sweet and not over cooked. All on a bed of creamy delicious risotto. Excellent meal all around and one worth eating very slowly and savoring. read more

I have been to many restaurants in my day and this by far is one of the top five. The service was excellent and the staff was very friendly and attentive. The food was delightful and I will surely return. The only downfall this place is so small. Would highly recommend if anyone is in the area, be sure to make reservations for holidays and weekends, it seems to always be busy! read more

Went to Lucia's on a Friday night for the first time - it was completely empty when we first entered just after 5, but by 7 pm it was completely full. Good atmosphere, and the food was excellent for a local restaurant. I had the "crazy-water" de marre loaded with lobster, scallops, shrimp & mussels - very fresh - over linguine. My wife had the Pollo del Murattore - very tasty. Both entrees were excellent. Salads (Caesar, "Mother Earth - warm spinach & mushrooms) and desserts (Creme Brulee & another selection) were nice but not memorable. We would recommend this restaurant and we definitely plan on returning to try other dishes. read more

Very good food, very good service. BUT they have no wines by the glass cheaper than $9! (When they first opened I suggested this to one of the owners and she seemed to agree, but it never happened). The wine glasses have lines to guide bartenders, and they are careful not to over-fill - so it's $9 for a half-glass of wine and that gets expensive! To Lucia's management: You're doing a good job, but Ayer is a blue collar town. Give us some $6-per-glass wines please! read more

Lucia's is on the verge of either greatness or mediocrity, I'm not sure which. I am not a snooty foodie nor do I want to punish Lucia's for a couple of foibles. Anyone who can afford to go to such a nice restaurant has nothing to complain about compared to the millions of people in the world who would consider a meal there to be heavenly. Foibles Calling ahead for reservations at a small restaurant and the hostess not finding our names until I told her who took our call? Awkward, but not a huge problem. No towels in the men's rest room? A sloppy oversight. A waiter who seemed weirdly detached from his job & us? Odd, but I don't need a relationship with the person who takes our order and delivers our food -- which he did. Prices? Fair and reasonable, imho. Forget that I ordered an extra meatball? Quickly corrected after I mentioned it. An inattentive waiter? No worries. I was on a date with a beautiful woman and didn't want to be interrupted -- too much. The pitch for specials and dessert? Zero passion, which is better than dealing with a goofy waiter with 538 buttons on his/her outfit hyper-spewing about their world famous chocolate ice cream. The food? Absolutely delicious. The ambiance? A meticulous blend of college football on two screens, interesting people-watching and romantic personal space in a crowded almost-loud room. To Achieve Excellence? A warm friendly "We're glad you're here!" greeting. Towels in the bathrooms. A waiter that does more than emotionless order taking. A bit more attention to water, etc. But not too much more. More smiles and wider aisles. Sorry, but if you love being served and coddled, you won't like Lucia's. If you and your companions are self-sufficient, don't mind wiping your hands on your pants, don't need to be treated like somebody special and you like Italian food? You will love Lucia's. I look forward to returning ... with my own towel. RJS read more

Warm, Italian-themed atmosphere, with dishes that showed originality and passion, but our waiter exhibited so little enthusiasm or warmth that we actually came to dread his visits to our table. Each dish had a small but identifiable off note. The napoleon would benefit from a blast of high heat under the broiler prior to serving to make it more melty. Each bite of the endive and radicchio salad needed a morsel of the pecorino providing a full flavor in order to work as a minimally dressed chopped salad, but there wasn't quite enough cheese to avoid periodic bland mouthfuls. A touch more honey chili sauce on the fried olives would have allowed the bed of lettuce below to become a feature of the dish. The zabaglione, although a delicious custard, was absent the character of the Marsala-infused creamy froth of the traditional dessert cooked to order in a round copper bowl. Identified local ingredients, humanely raised meat, and craft cider substituted for the mass produced Angry Orchard would be much appreciated by this customer. read more

Food is so delicious maybe you wouldn't mind the incredible wait. 1 hour for the apps, second hour for the entre. It scared us a bit when the waitress came over and offered us to drink my re as it may be quite a while. But if you the time it's worth the visit. read more

I seldom will give a place 5 stars, and even less frequently if everything wasn't perfect. Our dining experience at Lucias started out with a minor issue, but the dining experience afterward more than made up for it. As I usually do with a place I have not been to before, I look over the reviews here at Yelp. At the time there were only 19, largely favorable. But I always look at the things the people who didn't rate high complained about, and here it was all about service/waiting, etc. So of course as soon as we were seated I had the radar on. On this Friday, the restaurant was very busy. My beef, in any mid-high end restaurant, if not being acknowledged by the server with 3 or so minutes of being seated. I think there is no reason ever for this, just swing by say, "I'll be right over" if you are busy. We waited maybe 5+ before our server came over. I was hardly fuming, but it was noted. But everything after that was phenomenal, and trust me, I am a tough critic. Service, food, beverages, seating, lighting, noise level, etc are all watched. My wife noted that our server Beth was very friendly and personable, but not overly so. She was knowledgeable about their fare and very attentive. My wife, a picky martini drinker, ordered a lemon drop martini. I asked about spiced rums and was VERY surprised to hear Beth say (without consulting with the bar) that they had Sailor Jerry (one of my favorites) and Kraken. While these are hardly exotic, it showed me that management was serious about a good liquor selection. My wife's martini came and after she tasted it she said it tasted watery and was not that good (she makes a really good one at home and measures everything against that). Beth came over and asked how the drinks were. My wife said she was not really impressed with the martini and Beth said "well you have to be happy with your drink, so let me get you something else". My wife chose a wine that she was happy with. The menu is very broad, and I struggled to choose between 3-4 entrees that looked excellent. I settled on the crusted seared tuna, and was not swayed off of that with the specials that Beth later offered. We shared a salad that was brought to us in 2 plates. The entrees came out well times and were just fabulous. Well presented, warm and generous portions. Later we each had a dessert including a lemon cake special that was out of this world (we almost never order dessert). A salad, 2 entrees, 4 bar drinks and two desserts came to $103. We were not charged for the martini. I have spent $200+ in Boston for meals that don't even come close to this. Just before typing this review, I called the restaurant and made reservations for us and our daughter tonight. A bit of a drive for us, but definitely a new favorite. read more

Entrees and dessert were excellent. Atmosphere was pleasant. Service was good, if a tad slow. I wish I could give a higher rating, but several things keep me from doing that. This restaurant tries really hard to be chi-chi: dark lighting, pricey menu, and most annoying, specials and desserts that the server recites to you, and doesn't mention the price. In this day and age there is no excuse for not printing out the day's specials and desserts and allowing the guests to consider the offerings at their convenience. I'm sure there are many customers like me: by the time the server has gone through the list, you've forgotten most of them, and on top of that, you're made to feel cheap if you have to ask for the price. read more

I will develop this review pending the response we receive from the restaurant. Suffice it to say at present that we could not have been any more disappointed in our meals. We can only understand the situation if we consider that three of our meals were prepared only to discover the fourth had not been done, and they were put on hold while the seafood pasta was prepared. In the end, even the coffee which we were served, with dessert which was complimentary because of kitchen problems, was not even luke warm and most likely had to be the left overs of the first pot which was brewed in the evening. After taking more than 15 minutes to brew fresh, only to find that they did not brew decaf as requested. We were told they would have to brew another pot, which would have taken another 15-20 minutes. My typical rule for a meal prepared and served this badly would be to have the manager buy the meal, and we would be invited back another evening on the chef's tab. As it was, we were left still paying a tab and tip of over $150.00. read more

What a wonderful evening.... filet mignons perfectly cooked, olive fritte as wonderful as I remembered, and our waitress, Deanna L was wonderful . A perfect 10. read more

I visited Lucia's last night with a group of four and everything was wonderful. I was surprised to find the place completely full on a Tuesday night but we were seated right away. They have a good wine list and we ordered a nice bottle of red wine which was pretty reasonably priced. Then we got the fried goat cheese and stuffed dates as appetizers, both were excellent. The server was on the ball and kept our water and wine glasses full all night, but he did not rush us, which I really appreciated. For an entree I had the "Three Sisters" on fresh fettuccine and others ordered the bolognese and raved about it. My dish was huge, full of fresh vegetables (not mushy!) and chicken and shrimp. The fresh pasta was outstanding. Despite the fact that we were all starving when we arrived, we all ate our fill and took home doggy bags. We didn't have room for dessert, but I'll try to save more room next time because they looked delicious! The location is super cute and they have a parking lot in back, which was nice to find in a downtown area. The restaurant itself is beautifully decorated, with a nice long bar and a few tables in little window alcoves. We were lucky to get one of those! As I mentioned before, the place was totally packed, and there was one large party of ten or twelve. At most brand new restaurants that probably would have meant some lapses in food or service, but the staff at Lucia's handled the busy night very well. Our server was wonderful and the chef even stopped by our table to say hello and ask about our meal. Obviously we had nothing but compliments for him - we'll definitely be back soon! read more

Wonderful meal. Great service. Best food experience we have enjoyed in the Shirley/Ayer area. Nice wine list, salads, appetizers, and entrees. Oh, the after dinner options were great too. We are looking forward to coming back on our next visit to the area. read more

Good Service, mediocre atmosphere, overpriced, small portions. Whatever you order you will get a handful of the vegetable of the day on top of your entree. For me it was brussel sprouts- yuck. It didn't mix well with my order, it wasn't what I ordered. Thank God it wasn't okra! Never going back again to eat. read more

I recently visited Lucia's and i had the seafood risotto. I think I had a bit of a mouth-gasm! It was the best risotto I have ever had. The seafood was cooked to perfection and the service was outstanding. The bartenders were funny and engaging! I love this place. read more

Good food, terrible service. Also the price range shown on Yelp is not accurate. A quoted entree "special", $36. If you don't mind bad service, the food is good. read more

The atmosphere is really nice, but it was more expensive than I think it was worth. The endive and radicchio salad was good but the leaves were very bitter. The main course I got, chicken Marsala, was really good, and I enjoyed the broccoli rabe on top. My drink was pretty well made but not as interesting as I hoped for. Overall I have this three stars because although the food and drinks were reasonably good, I feel it cost way more money than it was worth. For the money I paid for these three items ($50) I would have expected a higher quality overall. I may go back, but I'll probably order less next time. read more

Been a few times and have always enjoyed it. Good wine selection, menu rotates so there's usually something new. Atmosphere is nice as well.

Very disappointing experience last evening. We've dined at Lucia's numerous times over the past several years and have usually loved it; the food has always been good and the service attentive and friendly. The service was fine last night, but the food was mediocre to poor. If it were the first time I was there I would never go back. The Greek style salad was so cold it almost tasted as if it had been frozen and didn't taste fresh. The chicken parmigiana was overcooked and the sauce mediocre at best. And the cappucini we had with dessert were luke warm, but since we had complained about the salads we didn't want to seem like awful guests so we didn't say anything. We've always gone to Lucia's for special dinners--birthdays, anniversaries, etc.,--but this experience really soured us on the place. We'll probably give it another try at some point, but we'll look elsewhere as well. read more

What a hidden gem! we found this place a few months ago on Open Table and tried it. we loved it. It is like being in the North End. Authentic Italian, cozy atmosphere. Great spot! read more

So happy there is finally a great Italian restaurant in this area. Definitely make reservations if you can. Wonderful service with a very attentive bartender! My husband and I weren't sure which wine to order and the bartender gave us both a generous sample of wine. The main entrees were excellent and generous portions. We can't wait to return! Bravo read more

Outstanding! Definitely going back again. Had the seafood risotto which was perfectly cooked. No rubbery scallops here! Risotto was fabulous and had hints of smokiness from the prosciutto. Shared calamari app with party which was great. read more

Table cloth service. Food is decent. Place is overpriced for the area. I've had better Italian for a better price in a more casual atmosphere. Fun for a date night, but too stuffy to just want to hang out there a couple days a week. read more

Amazing restaurant. Have been there six times and always had fabulous food and wonderful service. Now we always make reservations as the seating is limited. read more

Great place, Chef owned food fantastic ! Bartenders Mike and Jim very knowledgable ! Wonderful service ! Can't wait to go back!

Their Alfredo is to die for! The food is a little bit on the pricey side, especially for Ayer, but they do not lack on quality. They serve complimentary bread before the meal which is also very good! You definitely need to make a reservation for weekends because they get fully booked. Definitely recommend Lucias! Fresh, delicious Italian food is a win for me! read more

I can't imagine that there is a better restaurant in the area. This is sophisticated Italian cooking. The skate/lobster special was delicate and flavorful, while the chicken murratore(?) had a sauce that made me want to lick the plate. The wine list is solid with several reasonable choices. Service was attentive and everyone in our party seemed very comfortable. We were there for my mothers birthday, the whole staff sang to her. We had a great evening and can't wait to go back. read more

This was our 2nd visit to Lucia's. The first went well but can't say that for the 2nd. We arrived at the time of our reservation and were seated right away. We were a party of four. When seating us the hostess left menus at that time and then the service went down hill. After a good 10 minutes or so one of us had to go to the hostess ask if someone was going to bring water and take a drink order. Shortly the waitress arrived and apoligized for the delay. She said they were debating on who was going to wait on us. Strange remark. I guess if we didn't say anything the debate would still be going on. We got our water and ordered two bottles of wine. She arrived with two bottles of wine but neither label was what we had ordered They were out of both wines we ordered and made the change without letting us know or asking us what other selection we would like.Just to keep things moving we took what she brought. At that time we had to ask if we could have some bread. After some good conversation and a couple of glasses of wine we ordered dinner. After almost an hour later and two empty bottles of wine the waitress apeared with no dinner and apologized for the delay. The excuse was the kitchen was jamed because they share the kitchen with their other restuarant next door. Duh! Great planning. Anyways not a good experience and limited consideration from the management. read more

great restaurant, very good food. only comment i would mention is that i wish it opened at 4pm instead of 5pm a lot of us get out of work at 4pm and would love to go after work.. read more

Christmas eve dinner at Lucias. My wife, son and myself. Our table was not ready so we had a drink at the bar with the friendly and attentive bartender. They have a limited set of brews on tap, none to my taste. Because our table was late we were offered a complimentary appetizer at the bar and selected calamari which was very tasty and plentiful. Three of us did not finish it. For dinner, they split, finished and enjoyed the steak and scallop entree with garlic mashed. Completely adequate for two. I had the excellent puttanesca over capellini with a meatball. The meatballs are huge, careful about ordering multiple. I had a very nice Montepulciano rosso; an excellent pour for $8. It was a very nice evening. Lucia's and the excellent Markoh's a few doors down share a kitchen. The quality of both restaurants shows through. Friendly and prompt service, reasonable prices, great food. We enjoyed and will return soon. read more