Pizza Luce

Best pizza I've ever had (including before I was Vegan). I go to Pizza Luce whenever I am in the cities or Duluth. Rinotta (Pizza Luce's nut-based cheese substitute) is great, much better than any Vegan cheese you can find at a store, and their soy cheese is good too. Rinotta is mildly spicy, which tastes great. Sauce and crust are excellent as well. They also have Vegan peanut butter/chocolate bars, which are also very good. They will make some of their non-Vegan dishes Vegan on request. Their service is almost always excellent. I have nothing bad to say.

I love Pizza Luce in general. They're open late, the service is friendly, there's plenty of space, and they have a ton of quality, thoughtful vegan options. Make sure to try their garlic cheese bread with their own proprietary "rinotta" vegan cheese---it'll blow your mind.

This particular downtown branch now offers brunch options from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. I tried their vegan biscuits and gravy ($8.49) which comes with a side of tofu scramble. I liked the tofu scramble quite a bit---it was fresh, light and colorful, with an array of bell peppers and tasty broccoli. The seasoning was also good, though it could have been spicier. This is probably the best tofu scramble in the Twin Cities, in my opinion, easily beating the scrambles at Hard Times, Seward Cafe, Triple Rock and French Meadow.

The biscuits and gravy was okay, but not great; the biscuits were too doughy and small (I prefer crispy/flaky biscuits) and they floated in a huge sea of gravy; the gravy was way too sweet and should have been savory. I think it could have used some fresher touches, like chopped green onion and tomatoes in the mix.

The portabella florentine is also okay, though I wasn't a fan of the overly-salty red sauce that came with it. This dish is highly unusual, though, and not the sort of thing you'd see elsewhere, so I appreciate Pizza Luce for flexing their culinary chops.

I love the vegan breakfast burrito. I normally don't like burritos of any kind, but this one is loaded with seitan, fake sausage, rice, peppers and more. It's super flavorful and covered in a nice pico de gallo and herbs and comes with hash browns. It's also quite filling.

As it stands, the brunch menu at this location is an intriguing addition to Pizza Luce's already-great vegan choices.

tried the weekend brunch recently. was pretty tasty. nice to have more vegan breakfast options. for vegans they have tofu scramble, a portobello florentine, biscuits and gravy and i think a breakfast burrito? would be nice to have a sweet option too, but still anything more is nice.

This location of Pizza Luce has been the most consistent for me. The spicy mock duck is always juicy and spicy and flavorful. The rinotta is tasty, but suffers the same fate as other locations: sometimes it is spread on thick and evenly, other times there just isn't enough.

The soy cheese is pretty great, too. Again, a little hit and miss as far as getting it to melt just right, but this is a difficult task anyway.

Overall, this location beats out the others in my opinion. The atmosphere wins, hands down. Uptown feels too much like an unwelcoming cafeteria (get in and get out) and Seward's design just seems "off" to me. Saint Paul has the 2nd best atmosphere.

I have fun every time that I go here. Pizza and beer... who can ask for anything more? Service is prompt and attentive without being pukey and cheerful. The place has attitude, and I like it! It's lively and relaxing at the same time. I feel almost enlightened when I eat there.

I tried their soy cheese for the first time, and I prefer it to the animal-based dairy cheeses, because the soy cheese is lighter. I recommend it! I haven't tried their rinotta yet, so I can't comment on that... that will be my next adventure and next visit. The other toppings and the crisp crust make a perfect match.

I like their pizza so much that I haven't ventured into the many other offerings. I haven't had a good enough excuse to do otherwise.

Update: Since the original review, I've tried their vegan spaghetti & "meatballs" and I like it-- tangy tomato sauce. Some people might find the "meatballs" on the dry side (but I'd prefer dry to soggy or greasy).

Also, the rinotta vegan cheese tastes good. It's a second to Galactic Pizza's version, but it holds its own. I'd order it again anytime.

I love Pizza Luce, the food is similar at each of it's minneapolis locations, but the downtown Pizza Luce has had this wierd tendancy to be out of the topping I want or deliver a pizza with different (yet still vegan) toppings than what I ordered.

what can you really say when it's pizza luce? not only do they make the best pizza anywhere in the twin cities -- it's not even close -- pretty much everything else they make, from hoagies to pasta to salads to desserts, just excels. they do pay close attention to the vegan diet, and come up with some delicious and creative results -- the spicy mock sausage hoagie, for example. just a few of the many, many vegetarian items i'd recommend are: garlic mashed potato pizza; chickless dijon hoagie; focaccia katerina; spinach salad; carrot cake. or, create your own pizza from the selection of 52 toppings. my current favorite is broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, fire roasted corn, and smoked gouda cheese. on top of all this, it's a fun place to go and hang out downtown, before or after a show, or simply for its own sake. viva luce!