Luigi’s gets moderately favorable reviews

E Street in downtown Davis boasts some impressive restaurants: De’Vere’s, Chipotle, and Uncle Vito’s, just to name a few. Now Luigi’s can be added to the list of excellent places to dine.

Luigi’s is an order-at-the-counter type of Italian restaurant with a menu consisting of pizza, pasta, salad and sandwiches.

Even though the menu sounds like any other menu in your typical Italian restaurant, Luigi’s makes up for its average menu with good-quality food that is made fresh in front of you.

I was in the mood for pizza when I arrived, and I was expecting the usual options of cheese, pepperoni and veggie. Instead, I was amazed to see there were eight different choices ranging from your typical cheese to Canadian bacon and pineapple. Luigi’s also offers a pesto pizza special on Fridays and Saturdays.

The pizza slice was large, but the restaurant staff did not compensate size for flavor. The slice was well-seasoned and bubbly warm. One slice was very filling and cost $4.65.

Luigi’s has a spacious two-story dining area with more than a dozen tables near the kitchen and another twenty in the basement. The basement eating area also has a stage that can be used for parties.

The one main problem with Luigi’s was their inexperienced employees.  However, I came to the restaurant when it had just opened three days before, so every kitchen mishap was understandable.

A pastrami sandwich that I ordered took 20 minutes to come out and it seemed that the staff had forgotten that I ordered it. Even though the sandwich was late in coming, it proved flavorful. The waitress was kind and apologetic about the lateness of the sandwich, which earned bonus points in my book.

The icing on the cake for me about the restaurant was that the kitchen was completely wide open like Chipotle, so the customers could see their food made in front of them. Every salad, sandwich and pasta was made under the watchful eye of the customer which I quite enjoyed.

Luigi’s was a great moderately priced restaurant and, given time so the employees can cut down on their mistakes, Luigi’s will be even better.

Luigi’s is located at 213 E St. and is open every night of the week until at least 11:00 pm.