Buca di Beppo
| Address: | 643 Emerson St, Palo Alto, CA 94301, USA |
| Phone: | +1 650-329-0665 |
| Site: | bucadibeppo.com |
| Rating: | 3.4 |
| Working: | 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 6
A
A Private User
My wife and I took our two 12 y/o kids last weekend to the Palo Alto location. We thought it was strange that you enter through the kitchen but think we may have figured out why they can do this. Given the family-style orientation of the menu, the kids both ate the same thing (spaghetti) and my wife and I both ate the same thing (chicken cannelloni). We had garlic bread and a salad before the entree. There were not a lot of items we wanted to order. Would have LOVED to see a veal picatta or other veal-type dish beyond the breaded option. The cannelloni was marginal. So heres the deal with this place: most of the food is not made at the actual restaurant. Its distributed into the place frozen, canned, etc. from a commissary location. Makes sense given all the restaurants they have. Also makes sense if you look at the menu and NOTHING is fresh except the pantry / salad items. Also explains how they can let you come in through the kitchen - nothing is happening in there. We saw marinara being heated on an otherwise empty stovetop. All the entree items were in the oven. Its not expensive, but nothing is included with the entree, so any add-ons can get to your final bill in a hurry. Service was attentive. Dont think wed go back as adults - maybe do a kids party there.
AR
Ariful Haque
I dined in Buca Di Beppo 5-6 times before, every time I had great experience - as I found the food really awesome and tasty. That is one of the reasons I picked Buca Di Beppo for my anniversary dinner (July 27th). On that day we were fasting - it was a religious fasting. Our reservation was at 8 pm. We did not eat all day and we could only break my fast after sunset which was 8:25 pm. We ordered our food (2 buca small pasta orders) at 8:12 pm. We did not receive our food till 9:15 pm. We told our server several times to get our food fast as we were fasting and it was our anniversary dinner. We complained to the restaurant manager twice - they told us it was a very busy day. The food was also not of good quality and I got stomach upset.We ordered Spicy Chicken Rigatoni & Shrimp Fra Diavolo. After we complained for the last time (when it was already 55 minutes), they just got the food right away. Seemed like they made the food in a hurry. It tasted like just boiled pasta in sauce and boiled chicken/shrimp. They tasted really horrible. And we found different types of pasta in our food. We tried Spicy Chicken Rigatoni before; but this time it looked and tasted different - bad. They made my anniversary dinner experience horrible.
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J Monti
I called in to order food to go for a party i was going to today at 1:15, spoke with an "Octavio" who took the order and told him i would have it picked up at 2:30. My children get to the restaurant, waited another 15 minutes to be told there was no order put in. I called at 2:55 and asked for that Octavio, who i finally got on the line, and claimed he had put the order in and put me on hold and purposely disconnected the call. I call back to be told that he went out to his car ?????????? Manager, Lissette, gets on the phone and tells me my kids just left and since they paid in cash, she was going to offer to give them a refund, but of course, they were gone. She expected me to come over to get my refund. In this holiday rush, with no parking, she expected me to drive up there to get my refund? No thanks! So before you call in an order with Buca di Beppo in Palo Alto, make sure you get the names of all you talk to over the phone, as they tend to pass the blame on whoever answers the phone. Talk about service. I have caller ID and everything and the managers excuse was she has no record of my order because i had it paid in cash.....................
A
A Private User
The Buca Di Beppo is located not too far from the Stanford University campus near downtown Palo Alto. I was impressed by this restaurant the first time I visited it for a office get together. The menu is simple and so is the concept. Food is served in family size platters and everyone shares the food. However this is not a rule. There are two serving sizes large and small. Like I said simple is the key word here. Two small size dishes can easily feed four and there will be leftovers. So, if you are not a family that likes to share and eat together, may be consider something else. The restaurant decor is a bit flashy with a lots of B&W pictures on the wall. Note: Some of the pictures are quite out there if you know what I mean. Not necessarily good for young eyes (e.g. Men’s Bathroom). The servers are cheerful and the service is great and the food is, let’s say, one of the better Italian restaurants that I have been too. If you are looking for a evening place to enjoy with a medium to large group of people, I would recommend this place. Two most important things: Find a parking spot nearby and do not forget to CALL IN A RESERVATION IN ADVANCE.
NI
Nicholas Tang
Its a chain, which I didnt realize until going there. Not bad, considering. They try hard to replicate the feel of an old school red sauce joint, and while they dont entirely succeed, it does have more personality than most chains. You enter through the kitchen (not sure if thats intentional/ standard or just a quirk of this one) and into a series of medium dining rooms. The speakers for the background music in our room were messed up - the volume had two choices, loud or off, which apparently theyve never bothered to fix. I do like the fact that breaking the dining spaces up into smaller rooms gives more of a sense of privacy and allows less sound to carry from table to table. The food is decent, and affordable considering the family-style portions. For our table of 7 we went with three apps and three small entrees and it was just about the right amount of food - so the 3-5 each entrée serves is really only true if you also order apps. If not, its probably more like 2 for a small, 3-4 for a large. Definitely not my favorite place, but for a large group, Ill probably go back again.
AN
Anonymous User
We have always had great experiences at Buca, except for the one in Palo Alto. Once we were seated, we noticed the tablecloths were greasy and had crumbs scattered over them. We were about to request the waiter to change it - and also to order our food - but the waiter never came. After 20 minutes of waiting, we had to walk into the kitchen to find a waiter. Very unprofessionally, the waiter told us that we should leave as the wait just to order our food would not be worth it. We argued that we had made a reservation, and the waiter then told us somebody would come shortly to serve us. Two waiters entered the room and one pointed at our table; then, both left. After 10 minutes of additional waiting and no waiter around to take our order, we left the place without eating anything. Our birthday dinner was ruined.
