Tucci Benucch

Had a 7:00 reservation and was seated on time. First person to speak to us after being seated was at 7:08pm. We ordered drinks and at 7:20 only my wife’s wine has come; the three sodas had not come. We left. Service was worse then pathetic.

Exceptional Italian cuisine for Minneapolis. They are a bit slow to clear tables and get customers in, but the service itself was very good. We had the red sangria, which is classic Italian style. Followed with mini meatballs, which were made with beef and pork. The baked goat cheese in marinara was excellent. The beet salad is made with dandelion leaves, pickled onions, and sour cream. The minestrone is authentic, but the tomato basil soup had too much basil for my liking — it overwhelmed the tomato. We ordered tiramisu, and I would have expected the waiter to offer coffee, but no. We tried to get the managers attention, but he kept diverting his eyes, and flirting with a waitress and hostess. We did order coffee and cappuccino, and it was good. The coffee was nothing special — tasted like Farmers Bros. The cappuccino was good, and served with chocolate biscotti. The cappuccino, however, was delivered with no spoon and no sugar. The tiramisu was mostly whipped cream. There was a little taste of alcohol, but no real amount of chocolate or cookie. The overall food scored 4+, but the tiramisu, coffee faux pas, and service lowered the score.

My company party was held in their back room this afternoon. The food was great, gnocchi definitely worth the calories and their chop salad was full of yummy vegetables. Cheesecake and chocolate cake for dessert along with a glass of oaky Chardonnay. There were several great servers but the server of my table Jane really did a fantastic job. She gets extra points for her upwelling efforts. Great event, food, and service. Fun place to have a small company function.

Huh? Really? Really? Really (high pitched voice)? Yeah, I gave it 5 stars. Lay off.
I’ve usually thought the MOA to be filled will over commercialized bland fests, chains, and crappy places just trying to get their names out there to the masses. Well, that’s pretty much spot on, except for «The Tooch.» I was so pleasantly surprised I could hardly believe it. Staff were friendly and very knowledgable and they interacted with my kids just perfectly. Granted, it helps that they are cute kids.
The food I was quite blown away with. I ordered the «famous» baked spaghetti. You can choose your sauce on top and I went with the bolognese. I can assure you these dishes are sinfully bad for you but the flavors were so big and bold and rich. Held together with a baffling array of cheese and butter but absolutely delicious. The pasta with the Chick Parm was so perfectly al dente it made me weep. It’s become so rare to find that these days. Most places will cook the hell out of the pasta. This pasta was still snappy and taken out at the perfect time. Bolognese was so powerful. The chick Parm was still crispy around the edges.
The kicker for me was the kids meals. I’m really tired of getting screwed on kids meals. 7−8−9 bucks for a mini meal. Not here at all. 5 – 6 bucks including a drink. We had the kids pizza and Fett Alf with chicken and broccoli. The portion was huge! The chicken was hand shredded. The pasta was perfectly cooked and the Alfredo was just awesome. The pizza was also a nice size and just plain good.
I’d probably never turn to my wife and say «hey, how about Italian out at the MOA tonight». But the next time I’m out here, you can bet your sweet ass I’m gonna stop in at the «Tooch».

First off, I have to say the service was great. From the time we got there to leaving. I was impressed. Great happy hour. The apple sangria drink my wife had was her new favorite drink. The Finnegan’s beer on tap was great. Impressed with the all MN beers on tap.
Onto the food, the appetizer we had was the baked goat cheese. Really good. The bread you get is very good too. We ordered entrees even though we were on the patio for happy hour. Our appetites grew after looking at the menu. Though I saw some good things while looking around at some other tables. The mini pizzas looked good.
I ordered the carbonara and my wife had the rigatoni. Both delicious. I almost wish my egg was a little more sunny side up than fried. Otherwise, really tasty and filling. $ 50 bill on four drinks, app and two entrees. I was happy and full. Thank you!

Came here with some friends for lunch on a Friday. Really surprised with how packed the place got for a weekday lunch! Don’t people work?! But I guess I wasn’t working either so can’t judge! I got the spicy tomato and fresh rigatoni and got it with shrimp instead of chicken. It was pretty delicious and heavy! One of my friends got the bruschetta appetizer to go along with her salad and it looked so good! I had a bite of her chopped chicken salad and it was delicious. I will need to go back and try the bruschetta and some other pasta dish! There’s just so many choices and I don’t know where to start! Guess i’ll be going back multiple times to try everything.

Visited Tucci Benucch after a full day of shopping @ MoA — the mall closes @ 9:30pm on Saturday night sand Tucci stayed open until 11pm? They stop eating people @ 10pm.
We sat in the patio area so that we could take advantage of the happy hour that starts after 8pm. It was nice since the mall had already closed so there were only a few stragglers walking by, whereas if it had been peak shopping hours it would’ve been a bit awkward to be sitting out on the «patio.» The service was great — friendly, on top of it, checked up on us, didn’t rush us, considerate, and all in all on top of their game.
We ordered a few things off the happy hour menu. Cider sangria was tasty, had a splash of fruitiness and was very light and refreshing. The arancini risotto balls were really good — the cheesiness and the rice were fried to perfection, dipped in a delicious marinara sauce. It feels very indulgent though so if you’re looking towards a lighter meal might want to stay away from this. It comes with 6 small balls in an order. We also got the bruschetta which was phenomenal — the bread was toasted to perfection, had the right amount of crunch, the tomatoes were juicy, the balsamic vinegar and additional orange sauce spread on the bruschetta was delicious. Best dish by far.
Off the normal menu, we also ordered the salmon over lemon risotto and the special of the day, a chicken pappardelle. The pappardelle, described as freshly made, was perhaps a bit overcooked? According to my friend the pasta didn’t have any bite to it and didn’t «twirl» it just broke apart. The salmon over lemon risotto was better. The lemon risotto was just the right consistency and was very flavorful — the lemony flavor was the perfect accompaniment to the salmon. I would’ve liked the salmon to be a little more on the rarer side but other than that it was a fantastic dish, with a topping of arugula to give a mouthful different texture and flavor notes — rich risotto, salmon, and bitter arugula was really a fantastic combination. The entrees were pretty pricey but all in all I would come back if I had a craving for Italian food.
And I love their décor! The metal work they have for their restaurant name? LOVE!

Had a hankering for the oh so decadent baked spaghetti so we decided to stop in to this semi-​chain place at MOA. We even made a reservation although it probably wasn’t needed on a Sunday at 5:30 (we were going to an event at Nordstrom).
Since we were here last, the place has has a cosmetic upgrade — smaller dining rooms, darker colors and a bit more sophisticated looking.
A few minutes into our experience it all came back as to why we hadn’t been here in a while… service leaves a lot to be desired.
After being seated right away, it was probably 10 minutes before we saw a server-​and it was the manager helping out (they seemed a bit short staffed). She took an order for drinks and told us our server would be along in a bit. On the positive side, by the time she finally arrived, we had had plenty of time to decide what to order. Took almost 10 minutes more to get two very ordinary glasses of wine.
Since portion sizes tend to the large size, we shared a Cesar salad and baked spaghetti.
Food-​wise ratings:
–free bread and very green olive oil –1 star: a bit stale and very pedestrian
— Cesar salad-​3 stars: good flavor with big shaves of Parmesan
–baked spaghetti: very yummy-​4 stars — thick, cheesy and with your choice of sauce
Service ratings-​overall, very poor-​1 star
–getting seated right away –4 stars
–10 minutes waiting for a server to say hello –1 star
–never refilling water glasses –1 star
–training and demeanor of server-​2stars
I’m thinking it will probably be another gap before we visit again.

Well we were taken there for business dinner. It’s a nice place but the food wasn’t. I ordered walleye with fettuccini Alfredo on the side; angel hair pasta was cooked OK but I could not see the sauce. The fish was fried and looked as though it was floating on a plateful of cooking oil.
If they have been open 20 years I don’t think they will make it another 20.
I don’t live close so I never expect to be back but check it out yourself.

Nice Italian restaurant in the mall of America. The Italian food was delicious and inside the restaurant the atmosphere was quite dark and comforting. I use the word dark because the rest of the mall is so well lit that it was nice to be in a place that is a little more dim and had mood lighting.
For starters we tried the mussels diavolo and a baked goat cheese that is surrounded in a marinara sauce. Both were great starters and the mussels had an excellent spicy tomato broth. Our server also brought us some crusty Italian bread that comes with olive oil infused with basil and garlic served on the side. The bread was perfect for dipping into my spicy tomato broth from the mussels. The goat cheese appetizer also came with toasted bread crackers that were delicious.
For my main entrée I tried the house specialty of the baked spaghetti with meatballs. I picked my own sauce, the hearty tomato Bolognese. The baked spaghetti is a fabulous dish, it’s loaded with cheese and it has a soft ricotta filling surrounding the spaghetti. It has the lusciousness of a square a lasagna but it’s actually spaghetti. All of these carbs left me with zero room for dessert but I did enjoy this meal and would definitely come back here if I were in the area again. Our server was very charming and he had a great Midwestern accent.

So disappointed in our experience with this meal. Especially since I took my grandparents there for a special occasion.
Lunch started out with promise. I’d made reservations and requested a quiet spot because my grandparents are 91 and, understandably, their hearing isn’t what it used to be. When we arrived our table was ready for us and in a private room. Yay!
That was about the only good thing about our visit.
Our server vanished for long periods of time. I felt so bad for my poor grandpa waiting for his beer. Don’t deny a great-​grandpa to 25+ his beer, people! Food took a long time to come out and wasn’t hot.
Food was just not good. I tried a special… ravioli with mint and peas and it was not executed well at all. Far too heavy on the mint. Ravioli was too al dente. My grandpa’s baked spaghetti was a lukewarm brick of flavorless pasta and too much cheese, but he isn’t one to complain so he ate a small portion and politely said he’d take the rest home for later. I had the caprese salad which was ok but the rest of the experience just was so meh.

Great lunch! Service was superb and their main cripsy chicken dish was out of this world. I would come back just for that.
I really enjoyed the portion sizes here. Not too big and heavy. Just the right amount. Our server was sweet and attentive and got all of your nuances for how we want are meals prepared spot on. I was very impressed for an inside mall restaurant.
Only thing that sucked was our drinks. Whether it be the fruity mojito or the regular mojito I tried… just to sugary. Someone needs to school that bartender not to make the drinks so sweet.

This restaurant is located in the Mall of America near the TMNT ride. I came during the weeknight for dinner out of convenience since I was already at the mall. There was a wait for a table inside, so we opted to sit in the «patio» area. The service was quick and friendly. The food was a little pricey, but the portion is big.
Toasted Ravioli $ 7 — These were ok, mostly just fried flavor.
Carbonara $ 16 — Also OK. The sauce was good and the fried egg on top goes well with the pasta dish.
Tiramisu $ 7 — The dessert came in a cup and was pretty good. I might have licked the cup clean.
Surly Furious Beer on tap $ 7 — Yum! It was nice that you can get a local IPA from here.

Fresh thick spaghetti arrabiata has a little kick to it, but not too spicy. Would recommend this dish. Portion is very generous.
Pepperoni pizza is thin crust but not very crispy. Overall, dish is just ok.
Caesar salad tastes good, but you can see the lettuce is red and turning bad already.

Went for happy hour. Only ordered off the happy hour menu.
Bread & oil is tasty.
Baked goat cheese is awesome.
Pepperoni pizza is awesome.
Caprese salad is ok.
Service 10

Another disappointment!
I typically don’t go to Italian restaurants because I normally can cook better than what I get at places like this and this wasn’t an exception at all.
When they say spicy they really mean spicy — so spicy it actually ruins the original flavor of the food! Italian food is NOT that spicy and shouldn’t be! It bothers me when a place over heats with spice because I’m not sure why they are trying to cover the flavor of the food so much — is it old — spoiled — hard to tell when it burns your taste buds off!
The pricing wasn’t too high, but it certainly was overpriced for what you get! Though it’s inside the Mall of America — it shouldn’t be your destination!

Ok, so I eat out a lot because I travel for work. I would have given the food a 2 but overall the restaurant gets a 3 because my server, Jane, was AWESOME!!! She was friendly and gave me her honest opinion on what was her favorite items (I should have gotten everything she suggested, because my choices weren’t the best.
I had the mini meatball app… can you say Chef Boyardee. YUCK!!! The chicken Marsala was a very good dish and was the most pleasant food I had. The pasta was good, I just expected more. Being locally owned and supposedly using local ingredients, ect I was just expecting more.

Been to Tucci B. twice now and every time we order the fried calamari. It is so delicious! Crispy, crunchy, light and tasty. My friend ordered the mushroom rigatoni which was on the specials. I got to try some of hers and we both enjoyed it. I ordered the Baked Spaghetti since it is one of the house specialty and it had received many reviews. You get to choose what sauce you wanted on top of it. The waitress recommend the spicy marinara mixed with alfredo sauce. Since I like both those sauces, I thought it was a good idea. What I did not know (maybe I needed to pay more attention to the menu) was that the spaghetti is baked in ricotta cheese. With the alfredo sauce, I thought is made the dish too rich. However it was still pretty good, even as leftovers the next day.
If you want to order Happy Hour, ask to sit out in the «patio», pretty much sitting outside in the mall area. We didn’t this trip and missed the happy hour Sangria which is yummy.

This is a pretty decent place for a mall restaurant. We ordered the carbonara with homemade noodle and it was good but a little salty. The spicy chicken wing was not spicy at all but has good flavor snd crunch to it. Bread was pretty good, warm and toasty.
Service was good as well, waiter always make sure we were comfortable and got everything we needed.

We live close to the MOA and occasionally we like to stop by Tucci Benucch for happy house. They offer good happy house specials, $ 4 tap beers, cheap apps 4 – 6:30 every day. It’s a good deal.
The food is… good. The problem with loading up on apps at a place like Tucci is that most things come out fried so at the end of the meal I felt, heavy. On this night we had the meatballs, wings, fried risotto, and cheese bread.
Our service this night was just ok. i get it, we are now the annoying couple with two small kids but we like good service as much as the next guy. We were stuck at the last table on the «patio» which has its advantages with the aforementioned small ones but we tended to get forgotten.
We like Tucci, it’s a good value for what you get.