Public Health Hazard & Lying Staff\r
We were excited to try Luca’s – it had been highly recommended to us. I’m 6 months pregnant and our little family of 3 (husband, me, and 2-year old son) went for a bite. We ordered the calamari for an appetizer and here’s where it went south.\r
1. On my second bite of calamari, I noticed something cold in my mouth. I started “digging” through the appetizer and found two HUGE globs of completely raw calamari. (The full small squid, not the rings). They were cold, slimy, transparent, and quite obviously NOT cooked.\r
2. We talked to the waiter and he nonchalantly said, “Oh, I’ll have them heat it up.” I declined and said we weren’t really in the mood for the calamari anymore. Not impressed with such a lackluster response and no apology.\r
3. A few minutes later, they offered to bring us a substitute appetizer. We said thank you and accepted. The rest of the dinner was good – until the bill came.\r
4. They CHARGED us $2 more for our substitute appetizer than we would have been charged for the calamari. I was shocked, considering I was served raw squid as a pregnant lady. I talked to the server, and told him I wanted to discuss with a manager. \r
5. The manager came out and explained to me how the squid was “fully cooked” and there was nothing wrong with our appetizer. The chef and her had looked at it. UM – liars! It was raw, 100%, most definitely raw! After talking to her, she finally agreed to remove the substitute appetizer. While preparing the bill, I remark to my husband (which the server overhead), “They’re not getting one penny for a tip!”\r
6. The new bill comes back, but now, magically, instead of a table of 3, we are a table of 8, and they have added gratuity. We ask the server if it’s standard practice. He says “yes”. LIE #2!! I ask him to get me a copy of the menu that shows that a party of 3 will be automatically charged. I add that if I get food poisoning, they will have a much bigger problem on their hands.\r
7. A new manager comes over. We ask him why it shows we are a table of 8, since the first bill did not. He said it’s not based on number of people, but on number of items. YES – that bad of a LIE. Lie #3. (Oh, by the way, even with the appetizer, there were only 7 items, not 8 – count before you start lying and digging yourself a worst hole). \r
8. After we caught the new manager in this third lie, he just said we could leave. And, we did. And, we will NEVER, ever be back. And, I’m contacting the public health department. I wouldn’t be so upset if it weren’t for the lying and manipulative behavior of at least three of the staff members. Truly the worst dining experience I’ve ever had.\r
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