Luciano Ristorante Italiano

We fell in love with this restaurant the first time we discovered it along the Riverwalk in 2003. We make a point to go back every time we visit San Antonio, though we prefer to sit outside even on cold days so our children don't cause as much of a disturbance. It has high chairs and a children's menu, but I still wouldn't call it particularly child friendly. The best service we had there was from the owner himself on our first visit. Since then, the staff has been adequate, but not exceptional. The food, however, is always exceptional.

The Gamberi Luciano (large, delicious shrimp in a lemon butter sauce) is not to be missed. The curious ball on the side of your plate is a mashed potato ball rolled in cornflakes and fried. Curious, but tasty. We also love the crab cakes and the calamari. We've been there several times and would get one order of the Gamberi Luciano and one order of something new to try, and split the two between us. We've finally learned that nothing compares to the shrimp in our book, so we just order that now.

We always order cheese ravioli and/or cheese pizza for the children, but they usually fill up on too much bread and butter before their dinner arrives. The cheese pizza isn't to my liking because they use some kind of cheese that isn't usually found on pizzas in my part of the world, but K and Layth seem to like it well enough.

Definitely a "don't miss" restaurant!