Buca di Beppo

Reviews 3

RA

rainey dollarhide

Is there a negative amount of stars to give? Id like to give that! From the moment we walked in the door this was a less-than-wonderful experience. When you walk into a place and are stared down by the hostess in a "whos gonna talk first" stalemate, that should be a sign to turn tail and run. Well, we won the stalemate and were asked with raised brow, "can I help you?" Uh, yeah, were here to eat since, ya know, youre a restaurant and all. I didnt say that though and was very polite. "Just the three of us tonight." The hostess went to "look at tables" and came back about 5 minutes later. "Follow me." K. We are seated in the butthole of the restaurant where the atmosphere and view are all but non-existent. The waitress took our drink orders right away. Good sign! However, we then waited about 15 minutes for our drinks. Whatever, thats happened before and is pretty common (I guess). The waitress comes to get our order and we got two entrees and an appetizer. The $17 calamari was the most unappetizing appetizer Ive ever ingested. It was likely cooked in last weeks oil and was so overdone that I thought maybe wed ordered leather straps on accident. Anyway, I was still looking forward to the Fettuccine Supremo we ordered. Then we waited. And waited. And waited. For an HOUR. By the time our entrees came, we had pretty much lost our appetite. I took a small helping of the fettuccine and was disgusted. The chicken tasted like something theyd taken out of the garbage and heated up. The noodles were limp pieces of shoestrings absolutely drenched in alfredo. Instead of being a sideshow of the dish, the sauce overwhelmed it completely in a "quick! Hide the evidence of our inability to serve fresh food" sort of way. Our friends spicy ziti dish reeked of rotten tomatoes. Have you ever smelled that? No? Its the most acrid, stomach churning smell. The taste of the dish was reminiscent of how gasoline smells. Awful. I didnt really get frustrated, though, until I realized that the two large groups who came in long after us only waited about 20 minutes for their entrees. What the frick?! We were nothing but polite the entire time! What did we do? Maybe the waitress forgot to put our order in? The last straw was when I went to the restroom and noticed a refill pitcher of tea being stored on a ledge with fake, dusty, nasty flowers hovering over it. Ew! I dont care how busy you are, you dont store a food-service product in that manner. Long story short, we were robbed of almost 2 hours of our precious time and $55 of our hard-earned money. Please, save yourself the trouble and frustration and go to another place for Italian food.

JM

jm

UPDATE: Corporate emailed me and said a manager will be in contact with me. A guy manager called and apologized and said the restaurant was bad because he wasnt there, so he offered me $50 gift card for my troubles, which i thanked him for. A week passed and nothing. I called to see if everything was okay, spoke with another manager who knew nothing of this, so I had to explain again and she said she would get back to me. Again, nothing. Wrote corporate to express my disappointment. If you promise something, do it. If you dont want to give me the gift card, then I dont care, but dont say it and not deliver. Anyways, corporate got my email again and they took care of the situation. Honestly, the more i think about it, as a minority in the restaurant, and me complaining, it feels like a little bit of bad management and maybe some RACISM. Yup, i said it. RACISM. Beware minorities. Let me know if this has happened to you too! ORINGIAL: We were seated in the bar with the only other MINORITY family. Thought that was odd since there were plenty of seats throughout the place. Our server, the bartender, was busy with drinks and took a while to get to us for our drink order. We ordered our food and the appetizer was not cooked thoroughly, which is not good since it was fried calamari. I had to send it back, and when it came back it was EXACTLY the same. Feels like they were making french fries and just threw the old one away and grabbed another spoonful and brought that to us. They also left the tongs on the plate, so im guessing they were mass produced like french fries and just gave us the same COLD calamari we just sent back. We also had no silverware, so I had to walk table to table to find enough for my table. Our drinks were not refilled, so I had to go ask to get them refilled. My sons mac and cheese was brought to our table by another server, who placed it on the edge of the table and he proceeded to drop it and turn and run away without asking anything or who it was for. Again no one came by to check on us. Our entree never came out after 1 hour, so i asked if our food was coming or not, and our waiter/bartender went to check and told me they havent even started on the meal, which i told him to immediately cancel. We sat in the restaurant for 1 and 1/2 hours for 2 cups of ice tea, 1 cup of lemonade, bad calamari and mac and cheese for $30. Will not come again. Willing to drive to Frisco for Buca. Very disappointed and felt completely ripped off.

A

A Private User

This place gives "Supposedly Homey Italian Restaurants" a very bad name. The wait staff makes rude seem like a compliment. Were not averse to 40 minute waits--but were not used to getting yelled at by hostesses and night managers. Silly me--they told us we would have a 40 minute wait. ---So after 38 minutes, I didnt think that inquiring about the ETA would be a big deall.---"Were doing the best we can!" was the loud, hot, and nasty response the Hostess shouted at me---before I could even ask the question." The Co-Hostess was as shocked as I by her cohorts reaction, and reassured me that there were only 3 more parties in front of us. After the 5th party had been seated I was stupid enough to re-inquire. Low and behold--they took us to the bar where a bus boy took out a rather grimy rag and theoretically wiped off the table. Though it was obviously still 1/2 way filthy the hostess said--"Thisll have to do since you folks are in such a hurry." We shouldve left right then and there, but the promise of good Italian Food was still enough to keep us there. The Garlic Bread is quite good, but it darned sure better be. One might be tempted to be impressed by the fresh garlic buds etc., but sadly we were served 6 little triangles for $10. Garlic Bread?--This looked more like the little french fry basket at your local Dairy Queen--you know--the one that comes with a Belt Buster. Maybe it was the grimy table that brought about this comparison--but that may very well be an insult to Dairy Queens everywhere. The Spaghetti and meat balls were Okay at best. The Marinara was made from top notch tomatoes and had top notch sweet onions in it. What it did not have was the Basil, Pinch of Rosemary, Bite of Garlic, or any of the other little nuances that make a Marinara the real deal and not just another jar of Prego. Worse yet, it was obviously made by some Nudnik fresh out of cooking school, as there was too much Oregano tossed into the mix in a rather lame attempt to cover up the lack of Spices and Knowledge. Worse yet--there wasnt even enough of this put onto the overcooked pasta to keep it moist and prevent it from drying out. I felt badly for my wife, but said grace over the fact that my East Coast Relatives werent there. Theydve laughed me out of this poor cliche of an Italian restaurant, and given me the old line about --"Good luck finding good Italian food in The Land of Cattle." We do have good Italian restaurants here in Texas. This just isnt one of them.