This post reviews our dinner at Osteria Miranda in Lucca, Tuscany in September 2024. We highly recommend this tasty restaurant!

OSTERIA MIRANDA

I found Osteria Miranda when trying to make a dinner reservation at Osteria Cantine Bernardini in Lucca – a restaurant that we dined at and looooved in 2015. Osteria Cantine Bernardini remains open but was temporarily closed during our visit due to a “water issue” according to staff (and I hope that is all it was!). Osteria Cantine Bernardini suggested its sister restaurant, Osteria Miranda, instead and made us a reservation. Done.

THE RESTAURANT SPACE

Osteria Miranda is an “osteria”, a/k/a a casual sit down restaurant serving food and wine, on the edge of Lucca’s old town. You can see it walking the walls (a la the above picture).  Osteria Miranda’s decor gives a vintage vibe, with many classic advertisements from decades past. The food, however, is not stuck in the past, and this honestly may have been the best meal that we ate on this trip to Italy. It definitely was just as good as I recall Osteria Cantine Bernardini in 2015 (where we ate twice it was so good!).

In terms of a menu, Osteria Miranda offers both a prix fixe tasting menu of around 7 courses or an a la carte menu. I would have usually been very into the tasting menu but as we had already eaten some on our walking tour, we went a la carte. Everything was excellent – and Dan’s uncle and aunt agreed! I would also point out that we made a reservation in advance, and I strongly recommend that. Osteria Miranda is not too large of a restaurant and its popular with locals and tourists.  I would also mention that there was no pressure to do the tasting menu, and both the tasting menu and a la carte menu were reasonably priced, especially for an upscale restaurant with high quality local ingredients.

THE DRINKS AT OSTERIA MIRANDA

Osteria Miranda has a pretty decent wine selection, both by the bottle and glass, in addition to cocktails, beer, etc. As Lucca is in Tuscany, the wine list is Tuscan-heavy, as would be expected. We selected a red from Podere Poggio Bestiale, which is located in Southern Tuscany, about 2 hours south of Lucca and near the Lazio (where Rome is located) border. It was very tasty.

OSTERIA MIRANDA’S AMUSE BOUCHE

While we did not opt for the tasting menu, our meal began with complimentary bread paired with very tasty butter and local olive oil and an amuse bouche. How exciting! The amuse bouche du jour was a spin on tomato soup; basically a gel of tomato soup served over olive oil topped with a single piece of basil. It was incredibly good and really nailed the tomato soup taste (in a good way!). I also love when a good restaurants brings out an amuse bouche to all tables – indicative of good things to come.

PRIMI AT OSTERIA MIRANDA

We visited Lucca at the end of September, catching the tail end of summer foods and the beginning of fall goodness. I luckily saw a few fried zucchini blossoms on menus, Osteria Miranda’s menu being one of them. Fried zucchini blossoms are delicious, but hard to find as they are definitely seasonal. The ones as Osteria Miranda were fantastic. My zucchini blossom dish consisted of three lightly fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with mozzarella cheese and nothing else (my favorite way!). In haute cuisine fashion, the zucchini blossom was served over a green soup scattered with seasonal vegetables and topped with, of course, local olive oil.

SECONDI AT OSTERIA MIRANDA

For my main course, or “secondi” in Italian (which is honestly not supposed to be a pasta…), I ordered a gorgeous plate of cheese stuffed tortellini that was mixed with a cheese sauce, pancetta and peas. This dish was so simple, yet SO good. Also: shout out to the gorgeous plate. I would absolutely ordered this dish again and again.

Dan opted for the fried sweetbreads served over greens with a garlic aioli. I did not try his dish, but he assured me that the sweetbreads were excellent and just what he wanted… He did seem happy, and he does enjoy offal dishes. I have nothing more to say on this, LOL.

THE PALETTE CLEANSER AT OSTERIA MIRANDA

The next dish was a palette cleanser, which is always a lovely and unexpected touch at a restaurant. This particular palette cleanser was an orange jelly topped with a small piece of mint. Very good; very cleansing in advance of dessert!

DOLCE AT OSTERIA MIRANDA

We ended our meal with a simple Panna Cotta served on yet another very pretty plate that I would love in my home. The Panna Cotta was creamy and surrounded by fresh cut strawberries (again, catching the tail end of summer!). It was delicious and gluten free (one of our travel mates was GF).

All in, our meal at Osteria Miranda was excellent. Osteria Miranda is a high quality restaurant with a casual vibe that remains accessible to everybody without a crazy wait. I highly recommend a visit to Osteria Miranda if you find yourself in or near Lucca. I have to imagine that Osteria Miranda will only become more popular in the future.

STEAL OUR CENA

Osteria Miranda: Via dei Carrozzieri, 27, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy. Open 12:30 – 14:30, 19:30 – 22:30. Closed Wednesday and Thursday. Reservation highly recommended

Osteria Cantine Bernardini: Via del Suffragio, 7, 55100 Lucca LU, Italy. Online claims Osteria Cantine Bernardini is temporarily closed but when I called in September, staff promised it would reopen. TBD.  You can read about our prior dinners at Osteria Cantine Bernardini here.