Buca di Beppo

Reviews 4

BR

Bruce

"Bucca De Peppo" "Our family tradition" To say that we have tried just about "all" of their restaurants in Northern & Southern California is an understatement!  This restaurant chain "specializes in Southern Italian food" and the quality of the food has stayed the same.   "We have dined at this particular restaurant on numerous occasions whenever we are in the Sacramento area and have even driven up just to come here and eat.   When we travel to Anaheim for Disneyland, we usually stay at the "Embassy Suites South" and in their parking lot, theres a "Bucca," so we can walk over after a long day in the park, sit down and enjoy a great meal. Our family loves Italian food, which comes in a close second to my favorite, "sushi."  It seems that all their restaurants look the same from the outside which makes them pretty distinctive in their own unique way.   The restaurant is also famous for its old-fashioned photographs hung all over the inside of the restaurant with more than 2,000 photographs of former actors and people dining inside.  The one picture that I have always seen, no matter where we have gone, is the large black and white photo of "a group of women, sitting at a table, giggling, and eating spaghetti." Not sure if they knew their photo would be hanging at most of their restaurants! After we place our order, which is usually for the same thing, every time we have come to this restaurant (Salad, Bread, Egg Parmesan, spaghetti with meat sauce, Fudge Brownie, and washed down with coffee and other assorted beverages), we usually occupy ourselves by looking at the pictures and reading some of the signs posted while waiting for our food.   One of our favorites is seeing the "Popes table," which accommodates large groups.  We will never get to dine with the "Pope" because we have a small family.  We love the ambiance inside with all the pictures of old Italy and actors who have dined at Italian restaurants. "On one occasion (came early)," we were offered a chance to sit in the kitchen.  Yaa, I know there are those of you out there thinking, "why the hell do you want to sit in the kitchen and watch some "old fat slob cooking your meals!?"   My answer to that is simple, the cooks here arent obese and the kitchen is kept quite spotless, undoubtedly for this specific purpose, where customers have that "kitchen dining experience."   Ill try anything once and on this occasion it was unforgettable.  The benefit of sitting in the kitchen, "you didnt have to wait for your order, and the cook is there for anything special on the side.   All the restaurants that we have dined at have "a table in the kitchen," that I recall.  Anyway we sat directly across from the main kitchen and watched as the waiters and chefs went about their business. Each one of the dining rooms at this restaurant has a theme with the "Pope Table" being the most popular of them all as well as also being the largest.  The table is round with a bust of the Pope as a centerpiece. We have never left here hungry....We also, always have leftovers for later in the evening. We love this place for its family style meals.   This place gets really crowded, especially for "Mothers Day" with the lines stretching out into the parking lot as we found out last year after "dining here early in the afternoon!"  We came in at 3:30 and by 4:30 the lines were out the door with people complaining!   Hellooo, next time "git yo mama here pronto and quit "diddly daddling" around!" Another little known fact: During the dinner hour, Buca di Beppo serves its food "family style" in that it comes in a large order that feeds anywhere from three to six people.  They dont do à la carte, however, during the lunch hour, "some locations as we have discovered for ourselves" feature individual-sized portions.

PE

Peter Barosso

as an italian american 2nd gen, i was impressed as i rolled up to the location. the idea of large servings family style intrigued me and was looking forward to a delicioso feast. everything was nice inside, the atmosphere was like my grandmothers house and the guests were all families upstairs where we were sitting. thats where the goodness ends: the waiter brought us bread. tasteless, soft crusted french bread (or milk bread possibly) they gave us some olive oil and balsamic and had too much oil (waiter staff, I know) i had to ask for butter, AND i like to eat bread so i asked for butter from the kitchen...she brought me unsalted butter! YUCK. the bread was so bland that even the challenge dairy butter packets didnt help. then we looked at the prices. $29 for a large bowl of ZITI, the cheapest pasta to make. trust me, if they charge 29 bucks, their cost to make it is about $5. the ZITI didnt even come with sausage or meat. TOTAL RIPOFF, sure it feeds like 6 people, but COME ON ITS ONLY ZITI WITH NO MEAT!! was it good? it was standard. two cheeses, tomato and pepper sauce, nothing great. then we had the small chicken parmigiana, and it was $20 for the small. it consisted of three flayed breasts of chicken breaded and smothered in sauce. IT WAS GOOD but overpriced. I think i would have been happier if the table hadnt had such picky eaters. the other familys kids we went with were picky and their kids wouldnt eat an alfredo sauce!!!!???? I would have loved to have the carbonara. This place is seriously overpriced for what you get. and its not even italian, its more like italian in an americana/chicago/new york subculture....which is fine. but the soda was good.

AM

Amiella Jahzara

--FOOD=Tastes good, huge portions! --DECOR= Cozy Narcissistic Mafia Family type of decor & ambience. Has the vibe that Joe Pesci & his mafia minions would dine in. --SERVICE= However in actuality: 1. We waited 10 minutes before waiter came to give us bread & water. 2. We had 5 rotating waiters & waitress for the duration of our meal 3. Bread basket had stale cold bread served with packets of frozen butter!!! We asked for them to heat up bread & they were insulted, took it back like an angry boy stomping to his bedroom for timeouty. 4. We had to ask twice for red pepper flake shaker. 5. We were on the 2nd level, staff upstairs were insanely immature, yelling, laughing so loud, pretend crying like:waaaaaa waaaa. Even other diners looked around in awkwardness with a silent WTF look. They purposely were singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a customer in such a sloppy rude mocking way: like: happy birthday HAHAHA CHA CHA CHA happy burrrrday to youuuuuu haha haha. My question is WTFFFF is CHA CHA CHA???? Merengue or Lambada birthday song rendition??? Ugh left that place highly irritable that my dining experience was ruined, I really wanted to dine in & feel like Im starring in a Mafia movie dinner scene & feel the ambience & culture of Italia. Nevermind!!! Disgusted at the female staff upstairs, they had the behavior of 6 grade girls @ recess!!!

CA

Casey Rafter

My wife & I ate late lunch here recently and had excellent service. I was even able to order off menu with ease & the meal was overall very reminiscent of so many family meals had at my grandparents growing up. The walls are covered with wonderful pictures of famous italians and captured moments of italian history & culture. Bring your appetite & plan on leaving stuffed. I havent tried it yet, but i hear the chocolate lasagna is delicious. I dont know how anyone could survive the main course with room for dessert, though. Prices are fair, and they have a lunch menu for the controlled budget/diet. You definately get what you pay for. Each entree feeds 3+ easily and thats the smaller portion, wheras there is a large available for larger parties. The manager stopped by to make sure we were enjoying ourselves & the server was very friendly and helped with any questions we had on the food. It was a great experience & I will be going back for more as often as I can.