Luciana

About

Hours: Sunday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 11 or 12 midnight; Friday 8:30 a.m. until 2 hours before Shabbat; Saturday evening, one and a half hours after Shabbatends until last customer 8 Mamilla Avenue Phone 02-502-1000 Kosher--rabbanut Jerusalem Stroll through Mamilla Mall to the Fox security area, take the escalator up one flight, turn right and walk into an Italian city square. Through the mirrored doors, walk under a sukkah effect with vine leaves overhead, past a show case with delectable desserts, and gaze around. Up a few steps on the right is a tile floor section which seats 33 at small black tables or a round table in the center. Clever black lattice work covers the pipes on the ceiling. The L-shaped main dining room, lit by wall sconces, boasts a fountain with running water in the center, tables for 69, and natural stone walls with colored tiles on the lower half. Trees with red leaves also add to the piazza effect. A bar at the back has sparkling bottles and drinking glasses on glass shelves. Up a few steps past the bar, you can walk on a marble floor through stone arches to a two-tone stone-walled room with more stone arches, seats for 48 and then arches to walk through to the large kitchen beyond. In 2007, chef/owner Aviram Dotan and his partners opened kosher Luciana (pronounced Luchana, meaning "light") on Emek Refaim. In May 2012, the chef and his partners took the opportunity and opened this larger kosher, specially designed Luciana, in an Ottoman building attached to the Mamilla Mall. The atmosphere is warm and family like and the staff treat the different customers from all over the world, people who live all over Israel and Jerusalem people like family. Our hostess was Maayan Yechiel, shift manager for the past year and a half. She started us off with the house bread, a delicious, crusty bread served with butter, olives and Parmesan cheese. On the menu, there is one soup plus 13 appetizers ranging from 30-69 NIS and six salads (65-67 NIS). The che