Lucina Eatery & Bar

Start with the Pan De Casa with chimichurri butter. Gluten free corn tortillas (as an alternative) available upon request. The Ropa Vieja was as good as what I had in Cuba. You can't go wrong with the Mofongo with pork belly. The ceviche is fresh with Mahi Mahi and the Yuca Tostones are a great compliment to the dish. I liked the Pastel de Horchata better than the Flan de Nata.

Accidentally stumbled on Lucina when they were still in their soft opening. And have been back A LOT. Top 10 restaurant in Denver area. Their happy hour is so good! Also went for their Sap Sua collab and always take visitors for paella when we can get a reservation. The staff is absolutely the stars of the show - the talent, the hospitality - they are just so amazing. We are lifers. Could not recommend a dinner at Lucina more.

What did I just eat...this place is hands down one of the best restaurants I've been to in Denver. I went with a few friends and we ordered about five different dishes including the Ceviche, Mofongo, Paella, the Mojo Pork Chop, and the potato balls. Everything was fantastic! Our server was great and took the time to explain the concept of the restaurant and how they came up with the recipes. I really appreciated the love they put into the recipes and the combination of different Latin dishes. Definitely a must try.

I had one of the best culinary experiences of my life at Lucina! The craft cocktail list was amazing. We were lucky enough to be personally welcomed by one of the owners, Ras. We let him guide our dinner as he chose recommended plates for us. It was phenomenal. We were worried we wouldn’t be able to have the paella because of a shellfish allergy. He assured us all dishes are made to order and he was able to substitute shellfish with chorizo, pork belly and summer squash. I will be forever dreaming of their house bread, the Tlacoyo Cochinita and every bite at this dinner. Come for the amazing food and enjoy the cozy atmosphere and hospitality. Sad they are not in NYC, I’ll have to return next time we are in Denver!

This is a great date night place. Limited menu and a little pricey, but everything was amazing. We got 5 different appetizer plates. Keep in mind they're small, so for 3 people 5 was a good amount and we went out for dessert after. The Amor margarita was amazing with just the right amount of kick. Our favorite app was the papusa, but for $15 we thought we would get more than one.

Hubs & I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at a lil pre-birthday dinner with our friend at Lucina Eatery & Bar. We can’t say enough about this incredible place. Welcoming, feels like family with traditional Latin dishes, beautifully presented. There’s so much love, passion, history, & respect in every dish. This isn’t some chain restaurant serving dishes with a hint of plastic, oh no! At Lucina, everything is fresh, aromatic, bursting with life & flavor. Hubs and I even joked that after eating such magnificent dishes, nothing else compares! That we’d have to come back a few times / month😋 If you’re in the mood for muy auténtico Latín cuisine, check out this place - make a reservation for indoor dining, or enjoy the fresh evening air on the patio with the flowers like we did!

I found the menu here very intriguing as I had never heard of several of the dishes. I spent some time researching before I could decide what I might want to order. That's usually not the case with my jaded palate, so it was fun to try something completely new. I enjoyed a great, properly-composed mojito which is not easy to find in Denver. We started with the empanadas, two very large pastries stuffed with shredded chicken braised in sherry with an herb remoulade. The pastry was perfectly crispy and the chicken was tender and delicious. I did find the portion of remoulade stingy and would have preferred twice as much. We continued with the tlacoyo cochinita, a native dish from Mexico that probably dates back to the Aztecs. This was a boat-shaped corn cake with slow roasted pork, refried beans, salsa macha (a native chile paste from Veracruz), pickled onions, and garlic sour cream. This was also a great mix of flavors with a perfect corn cake and tender meat. Most of the menu is appetizers and "small" plates. Our server proudly explained that the portions were very large. This left us confused and disappointed. We would have very much liked to try two more dishes, but one appetizer and one small plate filled us up. I don't understand the large portions with such an interesting, sharable menu. Other items on the menu wander from Spain to traditional dishes with Mayan and Aztec roots to Puerto Rico and El Salvador. Most of this is street food that has been tweaked and elevated to fine dining. We're eager to go back to try some of the other items. Service was great. Our server was very helpful and had many suggestions. The space is long and very narrow, especially the front with a row of tables very close to the bar. My handicapped friend had difficulty navigating and we had to ask several people to move. The sound level is stupefying. We could barely hear the server and carrying on a conversation was almost impossible. We'd still like to return, although probably right at opening time.

If there ever was a restaurant that deserves a perfect 5.0 rating, this is it. The way they blend flavors in the drinks and the food is absolutely incredible. The Tiki drink I had excited the sense of taste as much as smell. The burning embers, mint, and rum made for a combo like nothing I've ever had before. The burger may be the best burger I have ever had. And I seek out the best burgers, but I can't think of one that compares to this. The wagyu was perfectly cooked and the aioli made the perfect accent. The steak with chimichurri was perfect. The salad had a unique taste that was incredible. The Banana con Dulce de Leche topped off the evening. I really can't get over how well they blend flavors for a taste that is out of this world!

Incredible dining experience. From walking into this space, to receiving our cocktails, to loving our coursed dinner. This was as close to a NYC dining experience that I have been to in the Mile High City. Kudos to the chefs that delivered the plates and explained the dishes. Big Props to the bartenders that took such great care of us. Highly recommended and ask for Henry or Derrick if you sit at the bar. You won't be disappointed.

Excellent meal at a very trendy yet super friendly spot. Loved all the dishes especially the mussels, steak chimichurri, and flan. Skye was our server, knowledgeable, friendly and attentive. Cheers to all the auxiliary staff who helped Bring out our dishes with flair. We will return! Thanks!

This place is incredible. The flavors are absolute magic! You can taste the passion in every dish. I would recommend sharing several dishes because you'll want to taste everything! The service is outstanding and the atmosphere is cozy & welcoming. Worth every penny and every minute/hour spent. A must try - you will want to return!

A great addition to the Park Hill neighborhood. Accommodating on the reservations. The food packed a lot of punch with great acid and savory bites. Moderate wine and beer list. Service was excellent. Enjoyed pork, ceviche, salad, potato’s and the cinnamon cake. Only feedback is that the bench seating could be improved, benches are not connected so be careful if you sit on a seam you could be pinched. It’s worth the hype!

Such a great experience at Lucina. Chris, our server, was lovely. Vibe is fantastic — recommend sitting at the bar if you can. Food was so delicious! Ceviche, paella, and tlacoyo all out of this world. And cocktails were awesome too.

I wish I can give more then 5 stars! Big shout out to everyone who works at Lucina! Great food and ambiance! Every dish we had was AMAZING, I can not tell you what was my favorite dish all was perfect ! I got arroz con leche for dessert and that was the big surprise of the night for me… it has the traditional flavor it took me back to my childhood and brought some good memories! but they added some layers of new ingredients!! I had never had such an amazing arroz con leche so tradicional yet so new !!!! I recommend Lucina 100%

Amazing drinks! Amazing food! A beautiful space in Park Hill. Great for families too! Can wait to eat everything on this menu, we were here the soft opening and will be back often! The Uva Sour (pink drink was perfect for spring/summer

Our first experience at Lucina will not be our last. I was immediately swept in by the coastal decor and light-filled atmosphere. Our server guided us through the menu, no matter how many questions we had, and shared knowledge about the cuisine, dishes and drink selection. Each dish presented new, fresh flavors that took us on a journey with the chef and his travels. Highlights included trying tinned fish for the first time, mixing egg yolk into our buttery choclo, and filling up on empanadillas. The pacing was leisurely, the atmosphere welcoming and we left looking forward to our next voyage.

What a lovely cultural flavor addition to Kearny Street in Park Hill! Cute, chill with great service, delicious cocktails and fun, upbeat ambience. We enjoyed the paella, my co-diner is South American and we both had a great time with extra food to take home from a fun night. Would recommend as a cute neighborhood spot not to be missed. Thank you to our guide Sky, she was incredible and took exceptional care of us.

Local spot that does an amazing Latin Caribbean shareable style meal! They have happy hour and I love the authentic vibes throughout the decor, cocktail selection and food. My favorite is the TLACOYO COCHINITA which is a blue corn ‘boat’ filled with pork shoulder and dollops of garlic crema. Their cheesecake is mentionable too because it’s deconstructed, visually artistic and light

Lucina Amazing as always! Great dinning experience for a birthday get together. Lucina have always Amazing food, great drinks and great service. With a different new menu options for the season. Thanks to owners Chef Diego, Chef Ras and all the team for an amazing experience.

If you need a great place with amazing Latin food, superb service, and just decadent flavors please come to Lucina. Coming from Miami it was so hard to find something that tasted like home. The dishes not only reflect the Latin flavors and Hispanic heritage, but definitely transport you to what would be a nice home cooked meal made by grandma on a Sunday for lunch. Henry made us the most delicious mojitos, Derek was the best host ever, and Michelle, Chef Diego, and chef Erasmo definitely made us feel home. Will definitely be back and will bring all of our friends.

This restaurant is fantastic. Everything we had, food and drinks, were wonderfully crafted and had so much flavor. New favorite place!

An absolute must try if you’re in Denver, even for one night. The menu is spectacular and we had a hard time narrowing down what we wanted to order, and when we did each dish was more delicious than the last! The waitress was very helpful in both food and wine recommendations and the atmosphere was absolutely perfect.

Food, drinks and service that keeps you coming back! Been here 4x and there's still more to try! Everything I've tried so far has been great but my favorites are the paella, mussels y chorizo and the amazing arroz con leche! The chimichurri is also one of the best I've had! Amazing team that takes care of you like family! Can't wait to dine again!

So many spectacular things I could say. 3 appetizers & 4 Entrees was 1 too many for our party of 6, but no one could pick one to leave off. Execution on everything was perfect. Thank you to the entire kitchen staff, you clearly love what you do. FOH staff was also top notch. Love everything about this place!

We had the pleasure of stopping in for the soft opening and was totally blown away. The incredible decor and ambience was equally matched by the service and food. They offer a great selection of classic Latin food (paella, plantains with rice and beans, Chimichurri steak), plus a selection of traditional cuisines with their own creative take. The pork chop and house salad were the stuff of dreams, and even our 5 and 9 year olds gave the menu two thumbs up. The staff worked well as a team to handle the large opening night crowd, and the cocktail menu was giving me a serious case of FOMO because I could only pick a couple. So glad this neighborhood gem is open and we look forward to returning for many years to come.

Amazing! I’ve been here a few times and am always amazed with how good the food is, rich in flavors and varieties of Spanish cuisine. Our only issue is that it’s hard to talk/hear in this restaurant. I’m not sure if it’s the acoustics or table set up, but the food makes it worthwhile. (Plus Scoops next door for a sweet post dinner treat, is the perfect combo).

Last night we visited for the third time. Fabulous as always! Nice, down to earth eatery with excellent cocktails and cuisine. The service is always top notch and the staff is super friendly. Happy hour is where it's at! I tried paella for the first time here and loved it! Lucia has become one of our go to places!

My partner has celiac and their menu is labeled and about 80% gluten free. They even have GF desserts. We tried 4 cocktails and 3 dishes, the beets, and both small pork plates. Everything was incredible. It’s basically South American tapas - plan on 1-2 dishes per person. The ambiance is really nice and my partner and I will definitely be adding this place to the regular rotation.

I've been here a few times now and it's always AMAZING. The staff is knowledgeable, kind, and the service is perfectly timed. I highly recommend the muscles and the lamb risotto! The bread and butter is a must have to start.

The food was phenomenal. Standouts were the bread, Wagyu burger, and chicken skewers. I went on a date and it was a great, intimate little spot. Definitely worth checking out.

Food was absolutely AMAZING! The atmosphere of this place when you first walk is really such a vibe and the staff there are very helpful when suggesting menu items. The owner is very kind and made sure we were well taken care of. The head chef was also very kind, making sure everything was to our liking (no complaints, she’s a pro at what she makes🙌🏼). Overall, this place was outstanding and we will definitely be coming back!

Mostly enjoyed the experience and plan to return for sure. Cute spot with a good ambience. We really enjoyed the paella, which was nice and full, and also the gansito. desert. The moqueca was also pretty good; had a Thai feel to it. But for us the black ceviche was a bit of a bust. Flavor just a bit too flat and bland. Overall enjoyable and we will eventually return to try other things, in addition to the paella again. Good place for gluten free dining as well, for those interested in that.

A bit overrated. I started with the Sikil Pak with the Camazotz cocktail. The sikil was very spicy, too much for me but it was also very enjoyable. The cocktail was fine. Next was Albondigas with El Mono Mantequilla to drink. The bread with the entrée is purposefully hard yet chewy, works as a good accompaniment but the meatballs aren't very tasty until you get enough sauce with them and the meat was rank in a few bites but I know that can be the luck of the draw with ground beef. El Mono I enjoyed more than the first cocktail. Lastly I ordered Congri y Maduros which isn't a success for a higher end cocktail restaurant. The Maduros were heavily caramelized which sounds great but they severely lacked flavor. The rice and beans served as a base for a decent meld of flavor and texture but only the salt salvaged the dish somewhat. The Cafe con Leche served as my dessert which I would get again but there's better espresso martinis out there. The very last thing I ordered was a Sazerac which is a good test of the bar staff anywhere as this drink varies widely in quality from bar to bar and no one does it worse than Lucina. Unnoticeable nose, terribly flat and dreadful lack of the signature flavor. I give Lucina 3.5 stars but rounded up because the service is on point. It's definitely out of the way for me but otherwise I would be back and I might be anyway to give it another shot.

Best part: all the tapas ! Super flavorful and reasonably priced and filling ! The carrots, empanadas, and the pulled pork dish were all excellent! Not the best part: the main dish of the snapper was $70 and the least flavorful - kind of boring and way overpriced ! The atmosphere itself is fun and vibrant but was very loud. Would definitely come back again but would just stick to the tapas and share !

Really cute, high quality dining with neighborhood feel. The paella was totally worth it (the carrots not so much). The cocktails tend a little too far to the sweet side for me. But good beer and wine selection.

What a super yummy meal! The cevice in particular was extra yummy... and something about the tostadas that accompanied it... delicious!! The paella had a superb variety of ingredients, though by the last few bites it did become rather salty. To my surprise, the arroz con leche was even better than the horchata cake, which mostly tasted like corn bread. Our server Bryan was a little all over the place, but he was really super friendly and personable!

The cod in the moqueca de peixe was overcooked and tough. The Paella del momento was smokey and the shrimp were good. Overall the flavors didn't hit as much as the price point. The bread was amazing and the butter that came with if was amazing

Found this during a trip. Very intrigued by the empanadas and mofongo. Very happy with the decor. Nice feel and while a little small it feels open and homey. The selection of beverages was not the best but passable. The main issue was the food. Empanadas were, while not traditional a good spin. The skewers were not seasoned enough. The salad was light and a nice break from the other dishes. The most anticipated and unfortunately disappointing was the mofongo. I have had this not only at home but in many latin restaurants and this one did not hit the spot. This version was let's say deconstructed. The pork belly held up well but the mofongo was a paste. The usual versions are dumplings, balls or cups but this was similar to a loaded mash potatoes version. Just to far away from the original to be considered mofongo to me. A lot of potential but execution was not the best on many dishes. Please give if a try and post if you have a different experience.

For a post-SAD celebration dinner, I decided to go to Lucina. Someone here recommended this place on one of my other posts. Overall, I was pretty whelmed. The concept is interesting, unique, and sorely needed for the Denver food scene and the atmosphere was lively and everyone’s seemed to be enjoying themselves. I just wish the food matched it. The Peruvian (-esque) ceviche was good but it was made with salmon despite the menu saying it’s pescado mixto which was a bit disappointing. Still good. It supposedly came with leche on Tigre but it was all already pretty mixed in with the fish, which was also a bit disappointing. The flavor overall was actually kinda lacking? Or maybe it’s just really subtle. Regardless it needed a lot more seasoning. Finally, it was served with mashed yellow potato, which I’m guessing is a sub for the sweet potato that’s usually served. Idk, for me, a self-proclaimed ceviche slut, mashed potato and ceviche don’t really go well together. It was also strangely covered in a forest of mint Then I got the mussels and iberico chorizo, which featured the smallest mussels that my eyes ever did see! The broth I think made the dish, which had the punch that I was craving from all the dishes. The grilled bread was tasty. But the mussels tho… Finally, ended with the chicken ropa vieja empanadas and again, I was whelmed. The pastry was nice but the filling was quite unexpectedly bland. I’m kinda glad I didn’t get the paella cuz it probably would’ve disappointed too. I wanted to order the dessert but I wasn’t sure if it was worth spending more money. The service was almost nonexistent. Sitting at the bar by yourself was not the tea. The bartender lady was awkward as hell and hard to order from. Lol they didn’t even give me utensils before the meal :( Idk maybe I went on an “off night”? But I also kinda don’t want to go back again.

We were very excited to dine here. The atmosphere is robust and lively, creating a very noisy dining room— which made it very hard to hear each other. The music is blasting, and even louder in the bathrooms. One of the key reasons people go out to eat together is so they can catch up and talk. Most of us were shouting to try to converse. Our server was very friendly, but disappeared during key moments. We shared most of the menu, The cod, the plantains, empanadas, the Romain salad, and more. The biggest disappointment was the seafood paella— It was completely burnt on the bottom. And not just scorched, but seriously burnt. Unfortunately, our server never came back to check on us once the food was delivered. Everyone was hungry and just being polite so we ate the seafood and the top part of the rice and left the black pan of burnt rice on the table. One of the food runners knocked over a beer. She apologized and said she would replace it, but she never came back. The empanadas had a nice crust and a good filling. The Romaine salad could’ve used more pumpkin seeds or something crunchy and a little salt to make it shine. The cod was spicy, and it needed some lime or acid to brighten the sauce— A side of rice would have been a great addition to this dish. Most of the sauce remained at the bottom of the dish. The prices are a bit high for the inconsistency of the food quality. Service could be more polished and on point.