Nice location. Staff is friendly and efficient, not intrusive.
December 2023
The food was excellent.The server was friendly and welcoming...The place was a bit cramped, and the tables were small. It's not really noisy.It's worth returning.
October 2023
My friend took me here and he is first generation Italian-American. If he loves it, it must be good, eh? I am in total agreement. Excellent food in a cool atmosphere. I will come back when I am in town on business again.
Luci Ancora is a small family-owned and locally sourced Italian restaurant in the Saint Paul Highland Park neighborhood. We focus on housemade pastas and serving high-quality dishes. Our housemade pasta is made with a special Heritage Wheat that is superior to other common stone-ground flours in that it does not cause issues for people who experience gluten-sensitivities. Our heritage wheat is supplied locally from Sunrise Flour Mill in North Branch, MN.
More innovative than nearby sister Ristorante Luci, this family-run restaurant also could be described as the prettier child---with a postcard view of the rolling hills of St. Catherine's campus and golden walls accented by soft candlelight. Like its sib, the kitchen delivers straightforward Italian cuisine, but here the fare emphasizes organic ingredients that are simply prepared. For first-timers, we recommend the prezzo fiso, a four-course tasting of the night's antipasto, soup or salad, pasta and fish, but à la carte selections are equally topnotch. We favor the homemade pasta, especially the linguine with shrimp in a white wine, tomato and saffron broth, a dish that proves that simplicity doesn't have to forgo complexity. Second courses include a hearty, grilled pork loin, sweetly hot with a brown sugar and cayenne rub, served with roasted butternut squash. The only regret we have about Luci Ancora is the noise, which tends to build as the dining room fills up. But that is the price of quality: sometimes you have to share.
