Luke Palladino Seasonal Italian Cooking

My new favorite place! I often eat alone and everyone on the staff goes out of their way to be friendly and make me feel at home. They have been happy to squeeze me in several times without a reservation. Everything i have tried so far has been absolutely perfect and delicious. I love the tasting menu, so much fun and it makes me feel like I’m a judge on Top Chef when they present each dish. It’s a lot to eat, the portions are not small even for a tasting. So I gotta be hungry to take it on! Loved sitting at the bar pm Saturday night with my oxtail ragu and chatting with the staff as they came in and out, and with the folks next to me. I have to agree with the complaints about the plastic chairs, they look pretty but not comfortable. Had a great lunch yesterday! Will be back soon!

Four of us went this past New Years Eve for dinner, meal was outstanding ! Everything was cooked perfectly. Service was great.

By far the best meal I’ve ever had! The veal chop was absolutely wonderful and we were very happy with the portion size. Service was great and food came out in a timely fashion. The house made ice cream was the perfect way to end the meal and they even put a candle in it for my friends birthday — how sweet. All in all, awesome experience. We will be back!

Excellent place for a wonderful Lunch (Tuesday-​Friday) or Dinner. Wife and I have never had a bad meal here. Read some reviews, yes the plastic chairs need to go, but other than that, no complaints. Food is wonderful, people are used to large portions, they serve REALISTIC portions, especially when it comes to Pasta. Steaks are fantastic.
Beautiful little Gem in Linwood, NJ is how we have begun to describe it.

Four retirees went for lunch on a Tuesday. Slow service and less than imaginative food. Music too loud and air conditioning too cold. Took an hour for our starters to come and another hour between soup and dessert. No wonder we were the only people in the place. No working people would have had time to lunch here. Buzzing fly was more attentive than the server.

Was so looking forward to this meal as we have heard nothing but good things about it. Unfortunately our meal was anything but great. The service was absolutely terrible
Many other tables were seated after us And served way before us
. Things got so bad that we had our meal packaged to go rather than endure a further delay. In truth we should have just cancelled the entrée. There was no telling how the food was since it was reheated the following day. All in all it is certainly not a place I would recommend to any future diners.

Wired place, leather sofa’s and plastic chairs, few salads, and not a good fish selection, its a meat place, if you like meat come here, the food is great, had the pork ribs, ½ a rack for $ 29, not the best deal, a bit dry, he should really take them of the menu, my wife had the Bronzino fish and liked it, a bit loud, but you should enjoy your dinner here, we come here all the time, it’s a byob, can’t beat that.

Our first visit was for lunch during Restaurant Week several months ago. We were so impressed we brought out out-​of-​town guests here a couple of weeks ago for the Chef’s Tasting Menu. It turned out not to be unique creations of the chef, but rather the diner’s options selected from the regular menu (plus the specials of the day). It still was a fabulous five-​course meal. Our table of four selected (1) four appetizers served family style (salumi, truffled grissini, crespelle, and stuffed squash blossoms); (2) the two pasta specials of the day; (3) the sicilian mixed grill with halibut and head-​on shrimp; and (4) Veal Saltimbocca. (For descriptions/​definitions check out their menu on-​line). (5) Dessert consisted of chocolate-​based wafer thin cookies and a mixed-​berry crêpe with ice-​cream served family style with four spoons for sharing. We also ordered an extra side, the corngasm, which turned out to be the most average dish of the evening, and also an over-​the-​top addition of food that just plain wasn’t needed — you will leave stuffed, but happy. Extra points for BYOB. Our waiter, Jesus, was very patient in explaining the dishes and making suggestions for selections that would pair well together, then explained every dish again when we asked questions about what we just ate! Very attentive service without being intrusive. Overall a very nice evening!

First and probably the last time we will dine there.
Very over priced (–1 Star). Skimpy portion size (–1 Star). Limited selections on menu (–1 Star). Good service. Nice atmosphere. No liquor license but you can bring your own.
Vegetarian special: $ 24 for 2 slices of egg plant, 1 sliver of Zucchini, 2 asparagus over polenta. Good thing my wife is not a big eater. $ 29 for 5 pork spare ribs! $ 30 for a small piece of tile fish! $ 39 for the veal. This was a nice bone in 16oz portion but not worth the price. Appetizers were exceptionally skimpy and over priced.
There are better places to eat for a fraction of the price.

My husband and I decided to give this location a try because we loved the Steak location so much. Very disappointed. The cheap chairs was not the problem. We ordered two appetizers, calamari and side Caesar salad, I ordered the salmon special and my husband got the veal… My Caesar salad was the only good dish. We didn’t even bother with dessert.

My first time at Luke’s was during restaurant week. The grilled fish of the day, which was a branzino with scallops, shrimp, and cauliflower, were seasoned and cooked nicely. For my fellow chocolate lovers, try the flourless chocolate torte. Every bite is sinful and worth every calorie!
Since I enjoyed my first experience there, I returned another day and sampled the chef’s tasting. I thoroughly enjoyed each dish. It was a nice touch when the chef personally came to explain one of his main dishes to my friend and me. Everything was perfectly portioned so I left satisfied and full and the serving time for each plate allowed us to enjoy our food without feeling rushed.
The servers were very attentive, the ambiance is very intimate, and the food is consistently great. The only thing I would change would be the plastic chairs that they use there.

Very disappointing the last two times I visited. Last evening, for restaurant week, they did not honor our reservation that was made and confirmed via Open Table. To add insult to injury, when the hostess could not find our reservation, they sent us to their other restaurant which was closed!
I will never go to one of Luke Paladino’s restaurants again.

I have always been a fan of Luke palladino and even though I always enjoyed the intimacy of the old location where you could see into the kitchen, i was excited about the expanded restaurant in the new place. Ive been here for lunch and dinner now and the food was delicious though still as expensive as always ;-). service is great-​very attentive. My only real complaint is the godawful seating. I dont know if this is some restaurant trick to get the tables to turn over faster but these are some of the most uncomfortable seats ive ever sat in. Honestly distracts from the dining experience.

Popped in for lunch after my husband saw it featured in a magazine as one of the 30 best restaurants in NJ while waiting at my ob’s office, haha. It was the only one in south jersey and happened to be right around the corner.
The food itself was great — freshly prepared from scratch. Hot dish arrived hot on a warmed dish. The service was quick too. It’s lighter than other Italian food you’d find in south jersey, more akin to the fare in Italy. Ooh and for once, not salty! I’m always surprised to find good food in South Jersey.
Only negative was the cleanliness and upkeep. The booths and tables had visible food grime and even a long gash where the stuffing was popping out of the cushion. It seemed to need some deep cleaning and attention to details. We chalked that up to just being Jersey though and will definitely return for the food.

We like this place a lot. It is great for people who want well prepared non-​traditional Italian cooking. Since the menu changes seasonally, it is like most of the dishes are what you would find as Specials in most other good Italian restuarants. That said, I like the food preparation at the old restaurant in Northfield better before it became a steakhouse, probably because Luke was doing more of the cooking. It was five star. Here, there is a tendency to use a bit more butter and cream, unecessarily, in my opinion. At the old restaurant, there was a greater tendency to bring out flavors more through sauce reductions, but the food is still very good here, probably because Luke creates the recipes, which are innovative, well thought out and nicely balanced preparations. The fish is outstanding.
The setting has a nice, modern look, yes, the chairs are poor, and considering the renovation they did before they opened, I cannot figure out why there is only one bathroom in a place with this much seating capacity, and I don’t mean one for men and one for women, but one unisex bathroom, so there is often a wait on Friday and Saturday nights. That needs to be addressed.

Great, authentic Italian food. BYO makes it even better. Menu changes all the time with the seasons and Luke makes it a point to really showcase that seasons offerings.

How this place stays open is beyond me. One of the worst meals I’ve had in a very long time. To begin with, the bread they serve is a disgrace. Tasteless and cold. The cheese platter was a joke, especially for the price we were charged. From the Caesar salad to the entrees, we all agreed this is not a place we’d ever return to. BTW, the service was mediocre at best. Do your self a favor and skip this place next time you’re in the mood for an Italian meal.

Dined here for the first time and enjoyed the experience. The décor is modern and the staff is very pleasant. The menu was very diverse with very unique choices. The waitress explained the menu very well. It is BYOB so that was great! The portions are sized perfectly. The desserts were also very tasty. Make sure you drive behind the first part of the shopping center because its a hard time seeing it when first enter the parking lot. I look forward to trying their steakhouse down the street.

Have come here for both lunch and dinner and have had mixed results with every visit.
Location wise, this venue is convenient for a meal in Linwood. The ambiance is intimate and expertly decorated. I love the swordfish over the fireplace.
I would say that my experience for lunch here had been the best. It features a tasty menu (in particular I love the soups). Service during this time is usually quick and efficient.
In general, I don’t love this place for dinner. While some of these dishes are good, the selection is a bit overly «authentic» and limited for many of the folks I have been here with. During dinner I have also run into varying attitudes with the wait staff. Some are incredibly friendly but some are also very snotty.
The chairs here are horrific! The cheapo black plastic chairs at the tables are incredibly uncomfortable. When you sit at the bar, the stools are more uncomfortable than eating on the floor.
While I think that this is certainly an interesting concept for a restaurant, I think it has a very narrow appeal and is very hit or miss.

I am glad to see Unilocal finally allowed a proper listing for this location, although a bunch of reviews meant for it are still stuck in the «old» Luke Palladino listing.
Oh well, I certainly tried to help.
Anyway, Luke had the small Italian place in Northfield. We went there several times through the years and thought it was a neat place where he could apparently try stuff on a small scale before he introduced it at his casino location. The small spot was a bit rough from a seating and noise perspective, but it was cool to see everything prepared and also, if you selected any of the meat or cheese antipastis, you could choose from their collection right at the edge of the kitchen. The other bummer was the fact that he couldn’t do lunch there. I’m not entirely sure why, but I suspect it had something to do with parking and the businesses around it that were open during the day.
So that small Northfield location is now a BYOB steakhouse. I haven’t been there since the change but the fact that it’s a BYOB steakhouse makes it somewhat unique.
The Italian place is now in the back portion of Central Square — 199 New Road, Linwood, NJ. This spot is, in my opinion, exponentially better from almost all perspectives than the previous place. Nice ambiance, fireplace, ample seating/​table spacing between parties, etc. The menu is similar, which is a good thing.
On our first visit to the new location we got three salumi and three formaggi antipastis. As usual, the cheese was excellent with a nice mix of textures and strengths. The honey to accompany the strong stuff is a nice touch. The meats were of high quality but based on the info from our server, it seemed there were only three choices, even though there is a five salumi choice on the menu. So we ended up with mortadella as one of the three and I do not like mortadella. I’ll eat it, but it’s at the bottom of my list in terms of Italian meats.
Oh, and the bread brought out is amazing. It works so well with the relish concoction they serve with it. So good. I had to ask for additional bread to aid with the mortadella (I made sandwiches, haha). I also used some bread to take care of any remaining sugo from my entrée, which I’ll get to in a minute.
We both got caesars. Nice size. The lettuce was not nearly as crisp as I would have expected it to be but the dressing had a nice proper hint of anchovy as it should, the croûton was very crisp, etc.
We split an order of arancini and it was delicious as always.
For entrees, my wife got the gnocchi which that night happened to be served with tomatoes and roasted butternut squash mixed in. She loved it and the portion was HUGE. I sampled some; typically I do not like gnocchi and Luke Palladino is why — his rendition is absolutely perfect and most others completely pale in comparison. NOT doughy but little delicious «airy» puffs of tender pasta. He does it perfectly.
My entrée was the inviluppo ravioli which was delicious. I would have preferred another couple ravioli but that’s fine. The flavor was extremely rich and the flavorful sugo broth complimented it perfectly. With my entrée I had the polpette (complex meatball appetizer) — I threw everything in the bowl with the ravioli, polenta and all. It worked out very well, haha. I loved it.
For dessert we had pear and also the limoncello sorbet. Watch yourself with the lemon — it’s incredibly strong. AMAZINGLY strong.
I want to add that Luke came out and mingled with the patrons. It’s nice that he makes the time to shuttle himself around to the satellite locations and makes himself available for a chat. He’s VERY pleasant.
There are a few reasons I can’t give it a higher rating.
1. the lack of being able to pick out the antipasti by sight
2. the chairs. THE CHAIRS, YIKES. The shiny plastic chair I had was ABSOLUTELY the most uncomfortable chair I’ve ever sat in. Wow — by the end of the meal I was actually in literal pain and had to prop myself up from side to side to spare my upper hamstring/​lower glute area from the trauma. I told my wife that if there was a chair in the world made to be exactly what doesn’t work for my body, it would be that one. Next visit I will have a pillow just in case I can’t get a seat on the white cushioned benches along the wall.
3. LUNCH — My wife got the burger and was impressed with the flavors, especially the sauce, but was not at all pleased with the small size. The roll dwarfed the burger so much that she stopped eating the roll and went at the burger with a fork and knife. Also, it came with nothing except a couple pickle slices, not even some sort of homemade potato chips. It’s hard to compete for a lunch crowd in this area when you are charging another 30%+ of the burger cost to get something on the side with it, esp. when the burger is small in the first place. Bummer.