Buca di Beppo

Reviews 3

KA

Karen Stimler

Our much anticipated family holiday celebration was fraught with peril as Buca dropped the ball. Of all restaurants I thought for sure that theyd best be able to handle our party of 9. I made reservations 3 weeks in advance making it abundantly clear that we had two people in wheelchairs. It was beyond comprehension that Buca would be so unorganized and inept at their customer service. When we arrived the restaurant was attempting to deal with a party of 63 people that originally was around 80. The hostess was rude and condescending to myself and another person in our party and talking about the restaurant being short of help. I responded "NOT MY PROBLEM!" This party of 63 along with us and others were jammed into a small lobby like sardines. The 2 wheel chair people had to wait out in the van because there was no room for them in the lobby. After waiting about 30 minutes we were finally told they would seat us. When we got back to our room they were going to try and seat all of us at one long table in the very back of the room. It was just impossible for the wheelchairs to maneuver into that tight space and one of the staff finally recognized this fact. A gracious party at the best table in that room were just about done and as we awkwardly stood around waiting for them to leave and for the staff to clear the table, the table behind ours collapsed with dishes and glasses still on it. It was like an uncontrollable force had taken over the room as these patrons scrambled to try and support the table and save everything from falling to the floor as Buca staff did not really react. To say the least, once we were all seated we were exhausted. At one point I found the manager and expressed my outrage at this whole mess and his response was only to say that "we are doing the best we can to get your party seated" as though we were just walk-ins. To be fair, they comped approximately $100 worth of food getting us apps pretty quickly. Main courses came out in a reasonable time but the desserts were quite slow. The food in general was okay. They present it in dramatic serving vessels which are awkward to move around. I had never been to a Buca and had envisioned that their tables would be round which would best accommodate their model of sharing dishes rather than long beer hall tables in over-crowded small rooms. I had read luke-warm reviews about Buca and hoped that our experience would be different. Their handicap parking is not adjacent to the front door which was an issue with the weather being frigid that night. Our server did work very hard to make our experience better. Maybe Buca is like this all the time but management should be compelled to examine how they service their customers and their organizational methods. I was told by my partner that a woman witnessing their shabby customer service and treatment of our party that she was appalled.

MA

matt r

food was good service was outstanding....until the end of the meal... there were 13 ppl at our table as this was a birthday for a friend. some of us knew each other and some of us did not so at the end of the meal our tab was broken up into several checks. as some of us are rather frugal some of us had coupons some were for 15$ off and some were for 15% off...ok i will give this one we did not read the fine print on the coupon that said only one coupon per table and when we were told this by the wait staff (outstanding ppl btw) we asked for the manager (patrick). this guy is dangerous both to the future of the restaurant and to the ppl who come here. he was belligerent threatening and standoffish from the start as he approached and became instantly condescending. telling us that this is just the way it is. i did inform him that almost every other chain honors coupons per check. Olive garden does it red lobster does it even fogo de chao and they eve let you use 2 per check, he then started waving his hands around raising his voice with check holders in his hands and managing to drop one of our parties credit cards on the floor and leaving it there. and the reason he left so fast was to get even more condescending and threatening as he came back and stood very close to me with a raised voice and presenting one of their coupons and saying "here let me read this coupon for you people". at this point he is very close to me standing over me yelling the coupons words. at this point another in our group told him to stop and he completely ignored him. i then told him to step back and he completely ignored me i again told him to step back raising my tone and volume as i was begining to feel very threatened by him. at this request he stopped talking and just looked down at me with a very threatening stance and again the other male in our party told him to stop again and was ignored and at this point i was very threatened by him and told him to step back before i stepped him back. this was a very bad experience and and a very traumatic experience for the whole group. this man needs to be removed from your restaurant especially after reviewing the other complaints on here about him. the kicker and the reason i decided to write this instead of just letting it go as we were leaving he was behind the restaurant talking very badly about our whole group and how he was going to assault me if i had said one more word....as it stands im considering contacting the police about this incident as there are many witnesses to this and this is not acceptable or professional behavior

AD

Adam Rosenberg

Everything was how I remembered it.... Ok, so I used to go to this restaurant back in the years 2001-2004 and I believe back then there were only two locations which was the one my family and I went to in Des Moines, IA and I think another down in Dallas or Houston... Anyway, it was the best experience and one of my families favorite restaurants until it closed sometime in 2004. I was here in Maple Grove this week for business training classes (Im 24 and all grown up now) and was shocked to see they had a Buca Di Beppo Here! I was able to talk the others on our trip into going to eat here and take a trip down memory lane with me. I was skeptical, but apparently the name was bought by Planet Hollywood several years ago but they have kept all the same recipes and the menu the same. I ordered a large bowl of Muscles for myself and we all shared several other dishes as well and everything was absolutely delicious and just how I remembered it from over 10 years ago. The service was fantastic and the place still has a nice warm (non-chain like) at home feel to it. I dont know why anyone would ever want to go to Olive Garden when they can eat here instead.. Props to our waitress Edy who is "like the ice cream but much sweeter" she was fantastic and very friendly. Same goes to the rest of the Buca staff as everyone was very friendly and made us all feel welcome and at home. Lastly, if you want the REAL Buca experience go ahead and book the table in the kitchen, we did this several times back when I was younger and this is still available today at this location. It makes for an even more enjoyable experience. Thanks Buca Di Beppo! I will be back again the next time Im up north again! -Adam Rosenberg / Cedar Rapids, IA