Description: After reading up tons of reviews for GBI restaurants, we chose Luciano's for our Christmas dinner (one of the few on the island that was open). Many people spoke highly of the food and the atmosphere, but we were not impressed.
First impressions: The restaurant is located on the second floor of one of the corner buildings in the Port Lucaya Marketplace. A zesty Italian guy statue greets you at the top. There is outside seating overlooking the Marketplace, and indoor seating. It appears as if the decor attempts to look fancy, but for some reason came off looking like a cheesy cruise ship interior. The colors and designs were early-'90s looking, and it wasn't quite as formal as we had first expected. Despite early reservations, there was a waiting period of 5-10 minutes.
Food: Extremely disappointing. We had expected great food based on others' recommendations, but were not impressed but what we ended up with. Meat played very heavily on the menu (Frommer's considers the cuisine Continental, some say Italian, I'd go with plain old American). Each of us ordered a variety a meat - one tried the filet mignon, another the duck, and yet another beef medallions. The filet mignon was the best choice since it wasn't overdone, but since it was flavorless, we had to ask for sauce to pour over it (it was not offered, we had to specifically request it). The food on plates, poorly presented, simply meat and sides of veggies and potatoes. Nothing fancy, nothing pretty. The other meats were overdone and dry. There was little flavor in the meat, and less so in the sides of veggies and potatoes. We ended asking for extra sauce for everything and salted everything on our own accord (and we don't like food too salty!). Dessert was tolerable - the crème brûlée top was too burnt, and the inside still cold. It tasted like everything we ate that night had been pre-frozen, much to our dismay. Needless to say, we do not recommend the place.
Service: The waiters were not bad. Not very attentive, since they were quite busy. But once you finally got their attention, they were willing to respond to requests (from taking photos to providing sauce off the menu). It still took us a while to get our food, and everything seemed cold once we got it. We weren't quite as generous with our tip as we normally are.
Clientele: People came in various states of dress - from shorts and flip flops, to more elegant dresses. It was mostly small groups, or couples. There was a family or two around, but the children were over 10 years of age. Not recommended for general family dining.
Price: rather expensive. I believe at least $30-$40 per person. So not cheap for very average food. Definitely not worth the price tag.
Overall: We won't return. If we ever did go back to GBI, I think we'd eat at the Ferry House every night.
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