La Cucina Ristorante Italiano

Wow, so much to unpack. So before arriving we tried to call to make a reservation and received no answer. Once we arrived we asked for directions to the restroom and we were given bathroom keys like the ones you get at gas stations... The positive was the presentation of the food was nice, the flavor was good, and the environment was clean. My order was actually wrong, I received spaghetti noodles instead of fettuccini which was a simple mistake to get past. The real issue occurred at checkout when I was told my card declined when I was actually charged. I had to contact my bank who confirmed the charge had gone through and gave an alternative which was an offline checkout which would of allowed them to receive the original charge. After twenty minutes the host came back and I was told “sorry for the inconvenience thanks,” my card was handed back to me along with the ticket. My instincts told me to check my account and sure enough I was charged a second time. I had to contact my bank again and I was told I have to now wait 3 business days to see if one of the transactions is refunded back... Never have I been so humiliated and disrespected. I’m extremely disappointed by the entire experience.

I had dinner there and it was pretty good like a few years ago but for some reason they have no price on the menu and I was really surprise when I saw my bill! $34 for bone marrow more expensive than all the entrees we had. That for baked marrow which is the cheapest you can get on the meat market! For that price I can get a nice steak. Definitely not ordering them again. I thought it was a mistake but nope....

They are reopened! Make sure you make reservation. Food was delicious and fresh you could tell everything made from scratch when you placed your order and that they used high quality ingredients. It’s BYOB if you want to pair your Italian dinner with some wine. Plenty of street parking on Cooke Street after 6pm.

Excellent food and service, so happy they're open again. Finally, finally!

I have heard a lot about this place over the few years but never made it before the shut down foe covid. This place is tucked away in the galleria of the imperial plaza on kapiolani st. They validate parking in the back.nnCovid related - they make you submit an electronic survey answering a few covid related questions 24 hours prior to the dinner. It seemed like they only take dine-in guests if they had a rsvp. Others were mostly take out orders. They also checked my temperature before letting us in.nnFood - we ordered 3 main pasta dishes, a salad (not pictured), and bone marrow.nnThe bone marrow was seasoned and topped w pesto. Very flavorful and perfect paired w the toasted points.nnThe pappardelle is homemade and you can taste the freshness, except I still find the pasta a tad harder than I thought it would be. Perhaps it's the wide width of the pappardelle? Portions were definitely generous. Bigger than Meditterraeno on king st. I thought all the pasta were slightly on the saltier end so it's best if you paired it with some beverage.nnThe agnello is the braised leg of lamb w ricotta cheese. The cheese was definitely very nice and light contrary to lots of other very strong ricotta's I have had. Paired really well with the juicy and tender lamb. Not gamy at all.nnThe norcina is homemade Italian sausage without the casing paired with garlic, mushroom, Romano cheese. I sausage actually had a tint of spicy-ness in it which wasn't too overpowering but definitely leaves you tongue spiked. (Hence a beverage would come in handy)nnThe bolognese is homemade ground veal topped with Romano cheese as well. The grounded veal is a slightly easier entry to the mouth since pieces are smaller and smoother w the tomato sauce. If I were to come back I would probably ordered this again. The least salty of the 3 pastas but still left my mouth in need of a palette cleanser after the meal.nnI would have wanted to try the tiramisu but Bc the portions were so generous I did not have room for anything else. I even took some leftovers pasta home for lunch the next daynnAccording to my friend, he said the salad di casa was the best salad he's had. Dressing was great and the fresh tomatoes on top was the magical touch.