We booked in by email to have lunch on Mothers Day and received a reply advising no problems – they were open 11.30 till 3pm for Lunch. We drove up from Auckland looking forward to a nice lunch and arrived in Kaiwaka just before 2pm to find the place closed. The only sign on the door was the Opening Hours sign and it said open Sunday from 11am. We emailed Santa Lucia on Sunday to find out what is happening and today is Wednesday and we have heard nothing. With the upcoming Rugby World Cup Kaiwaka is going to be the gateway to Northland so I hope something gets sorted.

We stopped here on the way back from Northland at Easter weekend and really wished we hadn’t, it was by far the worst restaurant experience ever.
When we came in the owner told us there would be a wait as it was busy, but with only 4 tables seated it didn’t look that busy to us. We got the menus then waited quite a while for our orders to be taken, when the waitress came over we ordered pizzas, she said they were out of pizza dough so we had to choose again. My second choice was also unavailable, but not told to us until about 10 minutes later. My partner was served a long time before me, without any cutlery, she had to go and ask for the cutlery as no one came over to check if all was good. The food was pretty basic, pasta sauce seemed to be the type from a can (Dolmio!) We were seated near the kitchen and spent the meal listening to the chefs and waitresses screaming at each other. Our meal came to $77, for 2 glasses of wine and 2 pasta mains, a complete rip off. When my partner (who is in the restaurant industry) commented to the owner that the chefs and waitresses should communicate with each other so that diners can be told straight away which menu items are unavailable she was argued with by the owner and, after paying the owner said “you must be a Jew”. Unfortunately we were too shocked by the anti-Semitic comment to have a go at him. Needless to say we will never be back.

It was our Saturday trip to Cap-Rang, and just had a chill break on drive, its good that we stopped at Santa lucia… good place, with typical set up, but food was pleasing, we oredered few differ pizzas, and was good, well place like highway, I think its worth it to visit atleast while traveling that way.. yea good. cheers

Very poor. The lovely old Italian proprietor was adorable (even though Basil Faulty-esque at times)
Bruscheta-poor, diced tomato on sliced baguette-zero seasoning, herbs, oil or garlic.
Spaghetti pescatore-sent it back to the chinese chef as the seafood was very off. We could smell it immediately. Even my brother who ate his way thru Mumbai streets would not touch it. If he doesn’t eat it you know you should not. We later spotted the very same dish being recycled to the only other customer on the restaurant.
Lasagna-was ham & cheese?? WTF? Maybe it should have been called hawaiian lasagna. Absolutely horrible. To make matters worse it was the small square diced ham you would find on a dominos pizza. $45.80 for 2 lasagna – absolutely absurd.
Our bill came to $250 for 3 adults & 4 children under 10. Left feeling slightly queezy and a bit anxious about the possibility if a night looking down the toilet.. $250 poorer for it.
I wish for the lovely Italian to do well, he looks tired but this restaurant will be lucky to survive another week. A shame.

We travel between Auckland and Northland about 40 times per year and the first time we stopped at Santa Lucia we enjoyed our meal. However when we stopped for a Pizza Sunday 26/09/10 we found the $22 pizza very bland and absolutely not value for money. I would have classed it slightly below a frozen Foodtown pizza.
We pointed this out to what appeared to be the owner and the reply we got was that we should have told him at the beginning of the meal. We wont be back.

If you like a quiet restaurant with efficient and friendly service also exquisite food this is a perfect choice.We found the atmosphere relaxing and romantic, the bistecca ai funghi medium rear was perfectly cooked & the pollo funghi moist and delicious. Thanks so much for a wonderful night.

We had a meal at this place on the main road at Kaiwaka.
The food was very “yummy”, the service was great, the surroundings were clean and very pleasant.
We are going to stop there again, well worth a visit.

Thank you very much for a such lovely night you made for my birthday.It was great food,I had the chefs special ossobuca and for desert tiramisu was the best I ever had.Outstanding service and ambiance.Well done.

Kristina