Luciano's in West Dorset

Been to Lucianos (Luccios? Carluccios??) a couple of times in the last year and it's a decent place for Italian. The food has been great, with a decent pizza, fantastic beef ragu, and the best carbonara I've graced my tastebuds with the second time. I cannot stress enough, the food is FANTASTIC. Portions could do with a little more, but what I've got thus far has tasted lovely. Both times I've come in the place has been eerily quiet, so either something's up with my timing or the place is just... quiet? Regardless, the service has been timely, albeit mild-mannered, both times which isn't an issue at all. There is a 12.5% service charge stuck on as a heads-up, which you'll find in tiny text at the bottom of the menu. Not a fan of that trend as a whole, as I'd much rather tip good service and good food where it's due. My only complaints are the pricing (which is *STEEP*, especially for Dorset at £50+ for dinner for two) and the fact they took beef ragu off the menu - it was a fantastic dish and taking it off the menu is a crime against humanity. Bring it back! Either way, Luciano's food is fantastic, on the proviso that you aren't the person paying for it... But I don't know if that says more about myself or the restaurant. If the staff were a bit chattier and the British economy wasn't doing an impression of the Titanic (or things were a bit cheaper), I'd give five stars.

My visit on this occasion was fab. A meal with friends in a warm and friendly atmosphere. A semi formal restaurant experience followed by dancing to a live band. These type of evenings are programmed regularly through the year. 4 of us had two courses, 2 bottles of red, pre drinks and a post drink for £215, a little over 50 quid each.

I dont even want to put 1 star this place is Awful with a big A, waited for a generation for our starter packed up and paid what we owed after an hour never to return dont waist your money

This is a juicy restaurant. Staff are attentive and are well presented. Service is quick, drinks arrived quickly and food arrived in good time. The chicken was deliciously moist and the steaks the had the perfect sear to them leaving them plump and tender .

First time here with my family and my god was the food under par. My meatballs for starter were swimming in grease and my mums zucchini fries were soft and soggy. Team were fantastic after complaining about blandness within the dishes we got a it all on the house and a offer to come for a Sunday lunch the following week. For anyone wanting to come here I wouldn’t recommend. After posting this review we received a call from Kyle. Asking us to take the review down. Unfortunately for him and the restaurant in this world I have freedom of speech. Happy valentine’s

Oh dear where do I start the food is not plentiful the cost is astronomical and the manager is a nasty piece of work : he hires musicians then takes 10 days to pay even though signing a contract to pay a deposit before the performance and the balance immediately afterwards. He complains about the sound level but look at the video of previous bands and that sound level . Hypocrisy if the highest level and a heavy touch of Dorset and South African racism . SAD but Dorset is the most raciest county I have lived for nearly 53 years and it all comes down to living in this nowadays racism !

Great little find, lovely atmosphere in an old building, great service very attentive, the bruschetta as a starter is one of the tastiest I have ever had. Great place.

I have never experienced such rudeness! I ordered a roast gammon pie, I waited ages for this to be made fresh, when it arrived it had a huge gammon bone poking out of the pie pastry. As you can imagine I was shocked to find a bone in a pie. Inside the pie was lots of watery gravy and boiled potatoes and horrid meat. I politely told the manager I would be unable to eat the meal, he was dismissive and rude. He then proceeded to march the dinner back to the kitchen, then threw the plate on a surface, which echoed around the restaurant. I challenged him on his behaviour and he literally just left the venue.

Run and Reggae night was fab. Not big on both but was a great night. Singer, amazing, food, amazing, Service amazing and a little gem in Dorchester. Something for all on the menu

Had Sunday lunch yesterday which was excellent. Food was well prepared and presented and despite the ratio of customers to the limited number of staff, the service was timed perfectly. Menu choice and prices are appreciated and we look forward to our next meal in this great restaurant. It is also so refreshing to be welcomed by the manager who also takes the time and trouble to ask for feedback on the quality of the food.

Absolutely fabulous meal this weekend -the haddock was divine and the belly pork my partner had made me envious . I have eaten here since their opening but Im really enjoying the new chefs menu -I must admit I have a penchant for the duck ,the service was attentive and the portions generous and we experienced a relaxing scrumptious meal, cant wait for my next visit .

Absolutely stunning food…..fabulous service and a great atmosphere. Will definitely be going again when in Dorchester.

The haddock and potatoe was the best I’ve ever had

Dining at Luciano's Brewery Square in Dorchester proved to be a delightful culinary adventure. The evening was marked by a reunion with a long-time business acquaintance, making the experience not just about food, but also about rekindling connections. The star of the meal was undoubtedly the Porchetta. Expertly cooked, it struck the perfect balance between tenderness and flavor, showcasing the chef's skill in handling classic Italian cuisine. Accompanying this dish was the Roast Garlic and Basil Mash. This side dish was a revelation – the garlic's robustness perfectly complemented by the freshness of basil, all brought together in a creamy, smooth texture that elevated the entire dish. But the true showstopper of the evening was the Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert. It was a masterpiece of sweetness and texture. Each spoonful of this unbelievably moist pudding felt like a celebration of traditional British desserts, making it a memorable end to an already impressive meal. Overall, Luciano's Brewery Square stands out not only for its exceptional culinary offerings but also for its ability to create an atmosphere that's perfect for both casual dining and special reunions. A gem in Dorchester's dining scene, it's a place that beckons for repeated visits

Overpriced for what it is. £7.50 a pint of beer. £8 for thinly sliced cuts of beef on a bed of mustard and rock hard brownies with cold ice cream. 2 of us comes too £115. It was empty. And the food really isn't worth the price

Great service and outstanding food

Walked on in to an empty gaff apart from one table. Weren’t too bad apart from the 4 uncooked camemberts also having a chefs hair in the food weren’t ideal but the service was spot on

TL;DR Please, don't. It is a great shame that this restaurant, with its location and decor, has such potential but falls a long way short of any reasonable expectation for quality and enjoyment. The front of house team are friendly and tried their very best to save our evening, but as a fellow diner said 'they'd been thrown under a bus'. I visited for an evening meal with two families as our pre-Christmas celebration. We pre-ordered from the set Christmas menu but left very disappointed and with a deep sense of pity for the young and inexperienced team trying to get things right. I'm not quick to complain and wouldn't usually bother with reviews, but the stakeholders of this restaurant need to step up and help their team do much, much better if they hope to keep any semblance of satisfaction for its customers, staff, and hope for a future. I have never before eaten in a restaurant that I have ranked so poorly (did you know it's not possible to leave a zero star review?). There were so many things that went wrong and the restaurant being empty, save for one other table of four, for the entire evening from our arrival at 7.30pm on the Friday before Christmas, hinted at the experience that was to come. We had to return five baked camembert starters that were each only baked on the surface. These were part eaten, fingered for testing, returned to the kitchen, and delivered back to the guests at random. We failed to identify whose fingers had been dipped into which cheese. The mains came complete with hair but devoid of flavour. Lasagne ranked 6, gammon meat a 7, but all other meals (8 in total) and accompanying vegetables could not be eaten. Deserts were not so bad. The Affogato, Panna Cotta, and brownie were eaten. The tiramisu servings could not be, they had turned sour. The toilets are not clean but I'll leave that description lacking. Dining out these days is expensive but not unnecessarily so. Ingredients, rent, rates, wages, and energy are all at an all time high. We expect to spend a lot to dine out on special occasions, to make them just that, special, but this occasion failed.l in many respects. We did not save our feedback for this review but were constructive with it for the young team doing their best with what they are given, but we shall not be returning and we would not recommend a visit to this restaurant until significant interest and remedial action is taken by its owners and management team. More than our disappointment at a bad experience is our despair for this establishment. Very simply, is not fair nor reasonable to put staff and customers through this and if must do better if it is to survive.

Absolutely amazing food and amazing staff. We were well looked after.

Sunday lunch for 3, good value main, dessert & drink for about £20 ea? Roast pork tasty, veg selection only tepid, roast potatoes hard - possibly overcooked. Worse still, roast lamb was fatty, gristly and inedible. Usually roast lamb is from loin or leg, this was an odd cut with very little meat on it. All 3 main courses not hot enough. The best part of this meal were the desserts, which were good and apparently made on premises. Front of house service was good but overall food offering was under par. Last Sunday had excellent carvery, served hot, in a local hotel for similar cost. Not sure that we will be going back to Lucianos unless they can raise their food service standards.

A flavour of Fawlty Towers without the humour! We are not complainers but reading the Manager’s responses to other poor reviews says it all. Rather than trying to deny there is a problem, use these as constructive criticism to sort the problem out and avoid...

Absolutely fantastic. Hosted our Christmas Party last night and everybody loved their meals and felt really well looked after. Great range of starters, mains and puddings, all cooked brilliantly whilst making adjustments based on requirements of the guests. I personally had the baked Camembert starter,...

Had a lovely meal last night which was served in good time with very good service. Waitress was very efficient but also friendly.

Spent 3 Days in Dorchester. Wish we has gone to Luciano's earlier. Great food and service. Well done to those in Luciano's from chef to waiters.

We booked Lucianos for 12.30 Sunday lunch. When we arrived there was no record of the booking. We were given the Sunday roast menu, but then told there was no lamb. I chose the gammon, which turned out to be a large bone with uncuttable,...

Ordered 2 pannacotta deserts wasn’t as good as I had last time purée was raspberry/blueberry was very grainy not pleasant to eat and panacotta wasn’t fresh soft at top but curdled at the bottom usually my favourite dessert so I ordered two but landed up being a waste overall the service was great had Legoman playing lovely atmosphere but waste of money :(

Visited during a quiet evening recently, firstly we now know why it there were very few guests,the chicken meal was average, expensive, not seasoned well and the service was discourteous,did not seem well managed and would not recommend.

Sunday lunch, having nut roast was very tasty, veg plentiful and a wonderful pana cotta desert. Delicious.

Had an amazing meal, the truffle chips are my all time favourite and I recommend to anyone I meet who wants to go to this restaurant, staff were very friendly and helpful, starter followed by wonderful Sunday roast!!! The beef was fantastic, will definitely be coming again and will bring the whole family

Be very mindful of good reviews at this restaurant!! Should have realised my mistake when arriving at 1pm and it was empty!! Started with carpaccio when it arrived it was beef cut to about 10mm thick and so chewy absolute rubbish. Then the carbonara arrive...

First time trying this restaurant since it was Carluccios. Nice pizzas but puddings almost £7 and service charge automatically added onto bill (and service wasn’t outstanding).

A bit cols with the door opening with new customer's. My gripe I don't like paying service charge.i like paying my own tip.

Very poor service, food wasn't what we ordered, the waiting staff just said sorry problem with the kitchen, wasn't offered any alternative, paid and left in a hurry. Never to return.

A decent cup of coffee and a pleasant waiter

Great food and service, with a good choice for vegetarians which makes a refreshing change from many high street chains. Nice to see that they also provide many 'event' nights, so more than just food. I would definitely recommend and will return.

£9.50 for a glass of house white? Only two other diners on a Sunday evening should have told us all we needed to know but we were offered the Sunday Roast as "they had some left". Fell into the trap as the expected bill of £19.95 each came to over £65. We only ate desserts at £6.50 thinking they were part of the deal but sadly we had the "wrong drinks" so deal was void. Not explained when we ordered drinks. The "roast" was adequate but the potatoes were not roasted and hard chunks. Would also like to add that I didn't get an answer to the question of, is the gravy vegetarian to go with nut roast. "With "house white " at £9.50 I will not be recommending nor will I go again.

We’d booked a meal for the two of us on a Friday Evening. When we arrived we were impressed with how attentive the staff were, greeted quickly and taken to our tables. We were offered our menus and the special sounded so nice my wife...

Lovely place to come for a romantic meal or to bring friends. My meal was delicious . Staff are very friendly and music events often happen here too .

Great food, romantic atmosphere and some great offers available. The chips are amazing, would love to be able to make them at home. Such an awesome selection of drinks for such a small bar. Highly recommended.

Booked here after seeing recent flurry of good reviews and we were in Dorchester. On quick inspection you see these reviews arent what they seem. All either brand new or the two that aren't only have a few reviews which are all 5 stars and...

First time here as we always used to go when it was previosly owned by Carluccio's. The place was very quiet, although it was a Tuesday night and the cinema only had 4 people in for the film. Staff were friendly and attentive. The menu...

Loved this place. The manager is incredible, and so onto it. We were so impressed. He was honestly born for this. They are dog friendly, food and wine fab, and venue is stunning.

Fab evening, excellent food, great staff, been several times on theme nights and usual dining. Always leave very happy 😃

I had carbonara for dinner, it was excellent. Thank you chef Charlie for the food. The service was also outstanding. The place is deserving Michelin star. Thank you for the wonderful experience.

Really enjoyed last night with team Lucianos. Great food in the new menu. Really enjoyed chicken burger and chips. Thanks very much. Cheers 🥰

Great service. Nice tasty warm food. Lovely atmosphere , loads of parking over the road was good too. Thanks to the lovely team here! The manager clearly knows how to run a good ship here.

Great menu. Really love Rib eye steaks and cocktails. Thanks Kyle for your great service with your team.🤗 thanks very much indeed.

Inexperienced and uninformed staff, food dry and left the whole party still feeling hungry. Manager not really interested in helping the “new” member of staff leaving her exposed to the customers by getting food orders wrong. When confronting the manager I feel he was insincere...

Lots of the menu wasn’t available, for starters we had the tiny portion of calamari with a flavourless dip and a rosemary bread saturated in balsamic vinegar. No side plate provided. We were not offered any additional drinks at any point or asked how any...

Great restaurant, great service, great food

We popped into this charming place for coffee and ended up having a delicious sandwich and chips served by Kyle would have returned but unfortunately our holiday was over

We had high hopes but the food was not up to scratch more than once, with mains on the sweet side, how, we dont know, as he should know how to cook very wellf. You can see the chef cooking away in the open kitchen...

We had dinner as a family of 5 (2 children 3 adults). We placed our order then were advised no chicken (1 kids and 1 adult meal was chicken). Child did not want anything else on the menu therefore asked about a kids burger. Advised...

Had a great evening at Luciano’s last night, we went in during happy hour and so had cheap cocktails before our meal. The drinks were really good and when we ate we were all delighted with our food. The service was brilliant, really attentive and helpful and also really knew their menu when we had questions. It was pretty quiet while we were there but still had a great atmosphere. We’ll definitely be back.

Could do with a wider food choice. Not all the dishes ordered came together & 1 forgotten, si service was patchy. Noisy.

Truffle pasta and ribeye was beautiful Desserts was amazing tiramisu and panna cotta front of house are friendly and helpful will be back

Woof! Like the pilgrim in Vittore Carpaccio's Ordination of St. Stephen, the dog in Saint Augustine in His Study (1502-08) leads our gaze to the painting's protagonist; More attention to detail needed ! Would your dad be happy ?

Good strong hot cappuccino and lovely toast & marmite!

I am not sure why the owner has replied saying something about a busy dinner time? When I attended it was for lunch and the entire place was empty, we were the only table. Food was OK, a bit overpriced but OK.

Nice but poorly trained staff. We made a reservation and when we turned up they hadn't actually reserved the table for us. Overpriced food was only brought an hour after we ordered and a couple of the dishes were wrong. The owner was extremely rude and disrespectful to us and to his staff. Server told us she was quitting because of how awful it was working there and said other staff had done the same. Do yourself a favour and spend your money elsewhere!

We booked in with menu choices already selected and on arrival the staff seemed to have no clue that we had already preordered. We then weren't told some dishes were not available 😑. LACK OF COMMUNICATION AND LACK OF ATMOSPHERE. Will NOT be back again...

The food is simple but extremely good, the drinks are limited but what they have is worth having, the atmosphere is, well it may have been a quiet night. If you go you can make it better!

I never leave reviews and I never go by others reviews but in this case I thought I would. Went here for our anniversary meal Soggy bruschetta to start with. I had the beef Lasagne, it was literally just that. No side salad etc. Completely nuked in the microwave. My wife had Prawn Arrabiata. Tasted like cheap pasta and prawns were like rubber. Unfortunately won’t be going again.

Booked because I had been given a voucher. Having perused the menu in advance, expectations were muted. However, everything was excellent. Welcoming and efficient staff. Pleasant location and ambience. Above all great food. Lesson learnt, highly recommended.

Food is excellent, cooked to order. Don't be surprised if you have to wait but it is worth it. Would recommend and we will be back

Great tasting beer, good service. Lovely menu.

Had a really nice meal here. If you want to get away from pizza and enjoy good pasta then this is the place to visit. The bruschetta was properly made with tomato flesh and the pasta cooked perfectly. Nice choice of wine too.

I can understand why it wasn't too busy an we could get a seat. Don't get me wrong what very little we had tasted nice. You have to pay extra for extra sides. Salad is a small bowl of nettles. I have paid £21 for fish and chips at a restaurant before but you had a good meal. I left this restaurant still hungry. I know they had people not happy due to waiting to be served we didn't mind waiting to eventually get the drink if the food was all worth waiting for.

As a large group of 14, Luciano's looked after us well. The roast dinner deal (main, dessert, and drink) for £19.95 was brilliant value for money. The beef was cooked very well, and the crispy potatoes were delicious. At the moment, kids eat for free!! The kids all had pasta dishes, and the plates were cleared! From the experience we had today, we are likely to visit again.

Such a disappointing experience. The staff were nice and the food came out in a timely manner and was hot but that is the best I can say. My friend and I ordered an Alfredo dish with an aged parmesan sauce. The pasta was overcooked. The sauce thin, watery and tasteless. We had to add salt and pepper just to taste the food. The added chicken was gnarly and chewy, tiny little pieces rather than nice succulent strips which I would have expected. Even the parmesan sprinkled on top had no flavour. Another friend had the lasagne which tasted ok but was really watery. No, we didn't complain. We just ate up because we were very hungry and had been looking forward to meeting up for dinner and cinema. I would not recommend 😐

Having had a wonderful evening meal here in the past, we decided to take visiting relatives, (daughter, son in law and two young granddaughters ) for Sunday lunch . The adults chose the Sunday lunch roast, which was £19.95 including drink and dessert and it...

Left feeling dissatisfied and hungry. My starter failed to arrive at the table but typically arrived on the expensive bill, pig chop for main was a very small portion with no acompaniments other than a smear of mash. Nothing offered in way of apology. Wouldn't...

Enjoyable early evening meal - all clean plates. Lovely ambiance and friendly staff. Varied menu and not overwhelming. Kids loved it too

The staff are really rude and abrupt with you, I will never go there again, I only wanted to change my table because I didn’t want it next to bar, it would be terrible all the people using the bar right next to where your...

Very welcoming great food well cooked informal atmosphere but well run

Birthday for family treat. Feel for the servers on a busy-ish night but it was hopeless. Mains and primo all delivered together except one which chef had forgotten to cook. Focaccia was odd, not served with a plate and dripping with balsamic. Meatballs pomodoro had...

Another enjoyable evening whereby all of the team went the extra mile to accommodate us despite how busy they were. Out of all of the eateries in Brewery Square this is always our go to place due to the welcome, food, drink, cleanliness and frequent...

We've been going a few times already. Love it there. Kyle is fabulous, and of course Jodie. Super awesome to be able to chat with a fellow South African. Loving the events too. Dog friendly. Easy/convenient parking, or a short walk from where we live...

This restaurant seemed very quiet and we like to support businesses that are quieter than the chains like zizi or nandos. Sadly we were greeted with a waitress who was very rude. We were taken to our outside seating and we explained that one of us smoked to a different waitress who said it was fine and would get un an ash tray. There was another couple sat outside and we made sure we were far away from them. Suddenly the initial waitress was stood over us demanding very rudely that we move to the 'other side' because this was NOT the smoking area. We challenged it and explained this was where we were told to sit and wanted to be away from the other couple so we did not smoke near them. Rather than apologising to us and asking us to move due to regulations, she was extremely rude and angry towards us. She then insisted we pay for our meal before we had the food. She had also told her manager that we had walked away several times which was not true. We were offered our drink for free but the restaurant still insisted we had a pay as you go bill for the food- which is completely unheard of in a restaurant of this kind. Unfortunately we will not be returning to this restaurant and hopefully waitresses like this, in future can learn to just be kind and polite to others.

Dreadful!! 6 of us went for lunch and wish we hadn't. There were only 7 other people in the restaurant, but it took 15 minutes for a member of staff to take our drink order and almost 50 minutes for our food to come out...

Absolutely disgraceful. Drinks took 15 minutes to arrive. Food took 50 minutes to arrive (there were two other tables outside and one table inside so not busy!) - we had ordered a kids chicken burger, an adult chicken burger (which was EXACTLY the same size...

Music and dinner were excellent. A fun evening with family and friends . We all enjoyed our food and the service was great . Food was delicious and it was a fantastic way to celebrate my 70th birthday. Luciano was extremely accommodating and anxious to...

Went along last night to see Antigua Joe perform his Reggae act and partake of some rum. Joe was superb, as was the meal that my wife and I had. To top it all off, Kyle and his team were absolutely fantastic. The service was...

We booked to listen to the Rum &Reggae event. We were met by an off hand, rude, abrupt manager, told no seats inside. When the great singer started the rude manager closed the door so no one outside could hear. We opened it, he closed...

A friend and I came in for a cup of tea, a pot each. The bill came to £8, outrageous, after all its only 2 bags and hot water. I recently had a breakfast in Wimborne for £7.95 which included a cup of tea. Certainly won't be coming back, this is Dorchester not a fancy hotel!

A friend and I decided to have a cup of tea today on the outside terrace. Unfortunately, the traffic fumes from the adjacent main road seemed to get trapped under the terrace canopy, which slightly spoiled the experience. Nothing wrong with the pots of tea,...

My partners Mother, my partner and I came to celebrate my Partners birthday. We got the ragu pizza, ragu pasta and the spicy meatballs, cooked perfectly with flavours. We all enjoyed our food and had a great time.

Have organised a couple large group functions for events here. Manager Kyle goes above and beyond to deliver a great service even when things don’t go quite to plan. He is happy to listen and act on constructive feedback. Food always been good, the only...

Have organised a couple large group functions for events here. Manager Kyle goes above and beyond to deliver a great service even when things don’t go quite to plan. He is happy to listen and act on constructive feedback. Food always been good, the only reason one star off is due to my disappointment of my pudding not being unavailable, but I have been assured next time I visit this won’t be a problem. Atmosphere great. Service always as helpful as can be.

I have visited Luccianos for a couple of events. The food and atmosphere is always great and nothing is too much trouble for the manager Kyle.

We come here regularly in large groups and always have the best time. The food and cocktails are superb. Recently we have attended the bingo and a murder mystery evening both we very well ran and the whole night smoothly managed by manager Kyle! Thank...

Went as a thank you to a friend who had done me a favour. Overwhelmed kitchen produced indifferent food ( overcooked chicken and over salted lasagne, uninspiring pasta with sauce) Brave, busy and cheerful waiting staff offered free desserts but they were terrible ( Knickerbocker...

Visited here for a Coffee whilst at the Wednesday market, the waiter told us there was a special offer on market days of a Coffee and a Bacon Bap, so we ordered 3 of these, I was with my two adult daughters. My youngest daughter...

We were the other hen party mentioned in a previous review.We had a truly fabulous evening although there was a small issue with the table decorations that was rapidly dealt with and in no way affected our fantastic evening the food was delicious and the...

Booked in advance for 3.30pm on the burger and cocktail day. When we arrived the only burgers left were beef. As I am vegetarian the only alternative offered was a cheese and tomato sandwich (that they couldn't do without the tomato). I asked if I...

This table was booked by me for my wife and her daughter. Which was a table of 6 for my wife's daughters hen night. Just a small family get together. Previous to the booking we took in some decorations and balloons to put on the...

Great night out at the monthly bingo evening, good tasty and reasonable priced food with a light-hearted game of bingo,what more could you ask for on a Tuesday evening

I stumbled into the restaurant for the first time last night. I have serious digestive issues as a result of pelvic radiation and had as good as given on finding a place for dinner that would not result in me spending the remainder of my...

Although I had missed the Cocktail day offer I still decided that the chicken burger and chips on the main menu would be perfect before a trip to the cinema. Both the grilled chicken and chips were cooked to perfection and the service from the...

Came to Luciano's with my husband for a rare childfree lunch & cocktails. We both had the Halloumi Burger which was cooked to perfection. I'm not a huge fan of cocktails, but given Luciano's cocktail offer thought I'd give the sour cherry cocktail a try,...