Little Lucca's

So I've heard Little Lucca sandwich shop and deli is better than Ike's.  Its pretty big talk so I had to check it out for myself.

Even arriving close to open, the line was already out the door.  It probably took about 40 minutes to get a sandwich in hand.  If you do get a sandwich here, I recommend calling an order in.  It will still take around an hour for pickup though.

The modest shop has about 4 people making sandwiches, but they take their time here and each sandwich is made with care.

The sandwiches are huge here.  They are probably the largest sandwiches I've seen in the Bay Area.  Much bigger than Ike's so one sandwich is more than enough for two people to share.  At around $8 dollars a sandwich, it's a good deal.

The two things they are known for here are the dutch crunch and the garlic spread.  Each of the sandwiches comes with both the garlic spread and hot pepper sauce.  You'll find that most of the customers will ask for extra garlic sauce.  Both can be purchased in the store.

The fire roasted steak sandwich seems to be the most popular sandwich here.  Between two slices of bread are fire roasted New York sirloin, carmelized onions, melted cheese of your choice (this one has pepperjack), and a GENEROUS squirt of caesar dressing.  Originally I wasn't going to ask for extra garlic sauce, but everyone seemed to be doing that so I went for it on this sandwich.  First of all, this sandwich is nothing like Ike's sandwich.  Its more a hearty deli sandwich than a monstrous creation that Ike produces.  The dutch crunch is nothing out of the ordinary and I think Roxie's dutch crunch bread is MUCH better (see post HERE).  The sirloin is thinly sliced and it has way too much sauce so that you don't get to taste much of the actual sandwich.  The sandwiches here don't come toasted, but they do microwave the meat before putting it on the sandwich.  There is so much sauce lathered on the sandwich that it soaks into the bottom layer of the bread creating a soggy platform for the ingredients.  Not really impressed much with the sandwich or the pesto looking garlic sauce.  If you do take one of these hefty sandwiches home, I recommend toasting it at home.

The Luccas's Spicy Buffalo was another disappointment.  The buffalo chicken strips were already precooked and cold before being popped into the microwave.   Again, more sauces (Ranch, buffalo sauce, garlic sauce, hot pepper sauce) were generously spread.  The chicken lacked any type of crunchy batter since it was microwaved.  I actually ate half one day and then toasted the other half the day after.  10x better toasted, but still not enough for me to rave about.

Address:                  Little Lucca Sandwich Shop & Deli
                                 724 El Camino Real
                                 South San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                        Italian/sandwich

Popular chomps:      fire roasted steak sandwich
                                  buffalo chicken sandwich
                                  garlic sauce
                                  dutch crunch bread
                                  

Chomp worthy:         nothing