Preston Center's Cucina Neighborhood Italian Bites the Dust

The short-lived Cucina Neighborhood Italian in Preston Center is closed, Teresa Gubbins reports. It replaced the equally short-lived Mi Piaci, which filled the space vacated by the failed Ocho Kitchen & Cocktails. See a pattern here?

Cucina Italiana got completely skewered in a recent review by Dallas Observer critic Scott Reitz, who proclaimed the restaurant "cavernous and lonely," staffed by "checked out and undertrained" servers. Culinary offenses included "dry arancini, rubbery calamari," underseasoned pasta, tough meatballs, and icy gelato. A Yelp review from December offered a similar, if more pointed, evaluation: "Do not eat here. You have been warned. I've had better food from the back of my freezer."

It certainly doesn't seem like the location is to blame; the space is located at the very busy corner of Preston Road and Northwest Highway and has decent enough parking, as well as valet. Does the space have some sort of bad juju, or has it simply suffered from a string of poorly thought-out and badly managed concepts? Stay tuned to see which brave soul — if any — decides to test their luck with a new restaurant at 8411 Preston Road.