Buca di Beppo

Reviews 3

JO

Joey Barreras

All in all I was very disappointed with the experience. 1) RESERVATIONS I called at 3:30pm on a Friday to see if I can make a reservation for that night. To no surprise, I am told that they are booked solid from 5:30-8:30 and that I can walk in at 5 or earlier or 9 or later and just wait for a table but it would be too busy for walk ins during prime dinner hours. I knew it was short notice so I wasnt upset. Except that my mother went online and made a reservation for 6:45 and had no problems. When we arrived at the restaurant the woman who walked in just before us did not have a reservation and they said it would be a 5-10 minute wait. So much for no walk ins! 2) ATMOSPHERE It was ungodly hot inside. We also passed many empty tables and were sat next to a large table with a many young children celebrating a 9 year olds birthday. This made for a very loud and cramped experience that could have been avoided. 3) SERVICE This is the poorest part of our experience. Our server was one of the most charismatic servers we have met but he is also, easily, the most scatterbrained. He visited our table 4 times before bringing our drinks and we had to ask for him to bring them out. It was incredibly hot and I was getting very irritable having to wait so long for a glass of water.At one point he asked if we wanted an appetizer and we declined so he took my menu, but not my wifes or my mothers and then began to walk away. Then he said "oh oops" turned around and then left again in an effort not to confront his mistake. I did not get my menu back. He would often ramble about other things and say things that were not professional or satisfying to hear as a customer. When we asked what options he would recommend, he replied "Well Im a Vegetarian so I dont really know much about whats good." When we got our food, the chicken parmesan looked dry; almost like the bread crumbs didnt submerge in the oil (assuming it was fried in oil). He then said, "yeah I saw that too when I was bringing it." My mother replied, "You were wondering that and you still served it to us?" He then went back to the kitchen and found out it was baked and relayed the info to us before we asked for extra marinara sauce because we got so little on the dish. He also did not offer dessert to us when my wife was looking forward to trying their cannoli. Shes over 38 weeks pregnant and no one gets between her and her sweets. He asked if we had any coupons and we gave him one for a free small Baked ziti. He then brought out our bill and didnt include the coupon that we had just given him so he had to rewrite the bill. He was a very likeable person but he needs training in etiquette, the menu, and professionalism. 4) FOOD I would have given 3 stars if the food was as good as I expected. We ordered a small Chicken Parmesan, small Chicken Marsala, small Spicy Chicken Rigatoni, and the small Baked Ziti. The Chicken Parmesan was good but we had to ask for extra Marinara (which they then drowned it in, that was good). The Baked Ziti was good, exactly as expected. The Spicy Rigatoni was not spicy and was mediocre. The Chicken Marsala was not Chicken Marsala. The chicken was and odd texture similar to steamed chicken from a Chinese restaurant. The funny thing is that the Marsala flavor was so non-existent in the sauce that it actually tasted like Chinese food. The sauce was so sweet and tangy it almost reminded me of bourbon chicken. Tasty but not as tasty as Chicken Marsala. I was very disappointed by this.

JA

James Ziegler

$500.00 Waste of Money... We dined at this Buca di Beppo Friday night, February 7th. It was a family gathering following my mothers funeral. We rarely get together so wanted a great experience. There were nine of us in our party including one child. We are great fans of Buca di Beppo and have enjoyed this restaurant in other cities. This experience was so short of the company standard they should be embarrassed. First of all, we booked on Open Table BUT we still physically went to the restaurant ahead of time and they promised us a specific seating area and table. When we got there they tried to stuff all nine of us into a tiny booth. We complained and they changed that and seated us correctly. The food was far below Buca di Beppo standards we have experienced everywhere else. The seafood dishes it was difficult to find the seafood hidden amongst the pasta. We ordered generous appetizers for the table and Buco Chianti wine... The second bottle of wine came as we were ready to leave because we couldnt find our waitress who was a master at pulling a disappearing act. That was okay because, get this, the Childs meal didnt show up until AFTER the adults had finished and the table was being cleared. SO the one child at the table shared adult entrees with us because he was hungry and the Childs meal was a waste. The people were friendly enough despite the fact they were inept at customer service. The appearance of the restaurant was exactly what we expected and clean. I tipped the waitress generously anyway because I respect people have to make a living but she did not deserve it. In spite of the restaurant we had an excellent time because it was a family together that rarely visits face to face. I have more than 100,000 friends and followers on the social media and will be sure this restaurant gets my opinion at any opportunity. I rarely comment or review any business and am not in the habit of "Trashing" everybody online BUT this place needs new staff and management and better food preparation and better quality ingredients in the food. We did not complain while we were there, felt it wouldnt have any meaning BUT knew this review would be written later.

CH

Chris Beattie

We had an issue with our reservation, which was initially made through the Buca website and handled by a regional sales representative, who insisted that we use a group menu for our dinner, rather than order off the menu a la carte. I tweeted to Buca about the issue and was overwhelmed by the response from their team, who had multiple representatives from the regional and corporate level reach out to me to apologize and correct the situation. We wound up with our reservation made by the regional director out of Orlando and confirmed by the manager of the Jacksonville Restaurant. My advice would be to call the restaurant directly for making large reservations, rather than going through the national website contact information. Manny (the manager) and Dolphy (the Executive Chef) went out of their way to make sure we had a positive experience at their restaurant. Everyone on my team, parents and players, were very happy with the quality of the food, as well as the quantity and value. Several players and parents raved about the Eggplant Parmesan, the flatbreads were crispy and loaded with quality toppings, and the pasta dishes were tasty and could feed an army (even a small could probably feed two adults and a child). Oh, and make sure to get a meatball. They were enormous and absolutely delicious. Great selection of wine at fair prices, and a full bar for the parents as well. If youre looking for a great place for a sports team dinner, I can definitely recommend Buca. Lots of choices on the menu, and very affordable for parents and players to split entrees.