Restaurants near Basilica of Saint Lawrence

Luminosa is one of the latest crown jewels of the already stellar Asheville fine dining scene. This was our fourth time in and the experience just gets better every time we go. Tonight we were a table of three, dining with two of being local and our third being an Asheville ex-pat who put down roots in Montreal a decade ago. Though the signature bread service (which is heavenly) was sold out, the garlic knots we got instead were super delicious and filled that void servicably. The meat and cheese board, as usual, was just enough in terms of quantity and more than enough in terms of quality, and was a perfect set up alongside the beef carpaccio and its crispy capers. We also partook in the embered carrots and rutabaga which were delightful. Our final selection from the Contorni menu was the polenta which is simply one of the best I've ever had, just mind melting. For entrees we went with the carbonara, the malfedine and the Copa steak--which was the clear winner of the evening. While the other two were rich and and wonderful in their own right, the Copa steak with its sweet habanada jelly was stunning, not what I expected at all, but absolutely delicious. Luminosa fills a very specific niche of slightly fancier, slightly dressier and slightly more formal than some of the other luminaries of the Asheville scene and we are glad to have her.

Fantastic food and service! Felt well taken care of. Had a great time :) Cocktails and steak were amazing.

Waitress Karra was great! All good was perfectly done and tasted so good. 10 out of 10, is my score.

My third time here in a month! Great menu, delicious food, perfect portions and pricing is very good for where we are downtown Asheville!

We had the Tostones appetizer platter, which was plenty to split four ways before our dinner, and was very unique and tasty. The Cubano sandwich was fantastic. My husband enjoyed the ceviche and a friend enjoyed the Arroz con Pollo (huge portion). I had the Garden Grove cocktail, which was good, but mostly I just tasted cucumber. My friends had the Hemingway Sunset, which unfortunately neither one of them loved. We’ve been here previously when it was quite crowded and loud, but on a Monday evening, it was almost empty. Because it had just rained, we opted to sit inside and ended up at a booth. The one downside to our experiences was that the overall temperature in the restaurant was quite warm and sitting in that elevated booth directly under the bright lights made it uncomfortably hot and bright. I wish there had been away to turn the lights down or off. I actually had to get up from the table and go outside to cool off at one point.