Luigia – The Best of Italy is a fully licensed Italian restaurant and pizzeria at the Rixos Premium in JBR. In a city littered with Italian restaurants, particularly pizzerias, I walked in thinking, what could this new kid on the block possibly have to make a difference? It has a modern, cinematic themed interior, highlighted by one of the tallest ceilings I have seen since Tong Thai for starters. It has a bar with one of the coolest female bartenders I have met. And? And that’s it…till the food and service kick in.
Luigia’s menu and staff swear everything they serve is authentic Italian and that all ingredients, particularly their tomatoes, are sourced from Italy. In today’s ‘whatever, so long as it tastes good’ society I wonder how much that counts for. Stand-outs of the meal my family and I had there was a delightful Quattro Formaggio (four cheese) pizza, one of the best I have had in Dubai, and the prime Angus ribeye which came hiding under a rocket salad – superb. I say this, yet the kitchen got the doneness of my niece’s steak all wrong – twice, undercooking it both times. But this is a restaurant which takes these things very, very seriously and soon everyone from our waiter all the way up to the restaurant manager was involved. And yes, my niece left Luigia smiling…and happily stuffed with an assortment of complimentary desserts.
Service at Luigia’s is excellent. Almost all the staff are Italians and believe me, this makes a huge difference…to the ambience, to the experience, even to the taste of the food. Although I am not a big fan of the interior, it’s still undoubtedly a fun environment to enjoy a meal. The doneness of my niece’s steak nearly turned our meal into a fiasco, but the restaurant manager was amazing in turning the situation around. Even if he hadn’t I would have still rated Luigia’s as an above average Italian restaurant. But now it’s most definitely on my must visit/return to list.
Waste NOT. Want NOT.
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