Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant

I had a clients christmas lunch there this past December. I love the food and the waiters once you are seated. Before that, it is really bad. Hostess when she is not in the kitchen playing with the cooks, she comes out and is not accommodating at all. Also has an attitude. Like for reals, you do not like customer service, get another job. No one is doing anybody a favor here. You are getting paid to deliver a good service –period–
I tweeted about it and the general offices offered an apology. Meh. I just want people to value their opportunities and smile when having customers. Plain out do their job

I ordered a small margherita pizza and an apple/​gorgonzola salad for take out yesterday. My guests looked at the salad and asked where were the apples. There was one sliced apple in the entire salad. When asked how much it cost and I replied $ 18 they gasped. The restaurant is over priced and the quality below par.

Buca is great for group/​family outings and when you need your carb fix. Stay away from the salads, I never liked them, the apple walnut one is super salty for some reason. My faves are the lasagna and the baked ziti. The spaghetti MEATBALL is huge, it’s a fun dish to get. The brownie sundae is also a fun dessert to order. There are always deals and coupons so that makes it hard to not come back. This restaurant is also a maze so it’s fun if you like getting lost while going to the bathroom or exiting. There are special tables like the pope table and the kitchen table so you could call to reserve those if you want a unique dining experience.

Only because I had to give a star. January 23^rd is my birthday and I was very excited to be celebrating it with family and friends at Buca. However, I wasn’t expecting the terrible service and the such a delay in drinks and entrees. They were told it was my birthday when the reservation was made and when we got there. We had to ask for refills and when the entrees finally came they were missing items. Being a server myself I expected better, two of the four parties that were at my table left then the serve staff decided it was the perfect time to come by to sing happy birthday. I declined and told them it was the worst serves I’ve ever experienced. Oh but the manager was happy to take off $ 15 from all checks it was four families but two paid together not enough to not make me write this review. I will not be going back to Buca and I wouldn’t recommend it. What a disappointment.

Good, but not great, Italian food as chain-​style. Nothing really stands out, but nothing is bad, either. Service has always been attentive and knowledgeable. Portions are huge, if you’re into that. Been here for lunch and dinner, can’t really remember anything I’ve had except the spicy something-or-other…mainly because I love me the spicy!
When I meet someone for lunch and they don’t have anything in mind, I know we can go here and get basic Italian and it will be good.

Came here with my girlfriend again and as usual it’s amazing. We get this baked ziti and chicken Parmesan with rosa sauce. Perfect for our craving

Service very good! The lunch portion is enough to feed two. So come with a big appetite.

Can’t go wrong with Italian food! I’ve been to this location a couple times, and it’s a hit. I love getting entrees family-​style so you can try multiple things. I love that parking here isn’t miserable (valet or lots of nearby parking garages). I love wine.
It’s hard to not feel happy after a filling meal at BDB, but I usually later regret pounding all those carbs. I’ usually only eat here for special occasions– the last being the rehearsal dinner for my cousin’s wedding. There were tons of people and this was one of the few places downtown that could accommodate that large of a group.

A $ 70 mistake! When I saw that BDB had a gluten free menu I was super excited. We were headed downtown so we thought we’d try it out. I have been gluten free for 5 years and I’ve been to my share of restaurants in that time. Gluten free pasta and pizza dough are not hard to find these days. Stupid me, when I read the gf menu I assumed the meals came with pasta. Not the case. I received 3 flat chicken breasts and a $ 10 plate of steamed broccoli. The menu implied that the broccoli came with cheese, ours did not. Not even butter.
They should just remove the GF options from their menu as they have by far the worst options of any restaurant in town.
Oh and we had to wait over an hour for the food to arrive… all in all it was a huge waste of time and money. For my husbands meal (not GF) he was up sold on adding chicken and it was dry and not good at all. My daughter and him ended up picking it out, another $ 4.99 wasted. Our waiter was nice, the restaurant was dead, our wait for food was too long and the meal was not as expected.
The manager did nothing to help us. Didn’t even give us butter for the broccoli.
We will not be going back and would not recommend for any one GF even though they have «options».

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and this is my personal opinion about Buca…
Pizza with pepperoni and italian sausage tasted good, nothing special or mesmorizing but good, its just too expensive, its ridiculous… The Chicken Cannelloni was decent, tasted good but damn, it was like $ 34 for the large which was barley enough for 3 people…
Overall, It was my first time at Buca and it be my last time there plus there is no parking. Find parking on street or pay for parking… Good Luck

Seated at Buca di Beppos at 6:55pm, as we had a reservation at 7pm. By 7:20, still hadn’t had ONE PERSON approach our table. Asked for a manager, the manager came and apologized. Took our first order for drinks and appetizers. 10 minutes later, still no drinks, or a server. We decide to leave and as we are getting our coats on, then the manager appears. We tell him we are going to leave and THEN he offers to comp our meal. Get out of here. Now we are searching for a place to have dinner on Christmas.

Terrible service… we were seated and ignored for 35 minutes. Finally asked for our waitress by two different bussers. Waitress was located and she said it wasn’t her table… since her appearance different servers have tried to bring us beers, calamari, salads, more drinks all for the table behind us.
Weird night…

Bei unseren San Diego-​Besuchen gehört ein Besuch bei Buca di Beppo einfach dazu. Das Ambiente, die freundliche Bedienung und das hervorragende Essen lässt uns jedes Jahr aufs Neue hierher zurückkommen. Die kleine Portion reicht übrigens locker für zwei hungrige Personen. Free refill ist natürlich ebenso inbegriffen.

I won’t waste my time as they didn’t bother to «waste» theirs for us when we were dining. We saw that a couple had to wait to be seated when we first walked in and should’ve taken that as a sign.
Had to wait for almost half an hour to be seated, then another 15 minutes for someone to come get our orders. and that was US flagging SOMEONE down!
We asked that they rush the food since it already took so long and our parking pass was expiring soon, they said no problem…45 minutes later– food finally comes out, oh but we’ll not bring out one of your entrees until 15 minutes later.
Luckily at that point, they could see how frustrated we were, and gave us the pizza for free. Not one water refill btw… and i finished my water early on.
The last straw was basically walking out of the restaurant, instead of doing their jobs and cleaning the place up, (by this time it was closing time because it took so long) they had just left all the dirty dishes at all the tables around… I felt like i was in a horror movie where the place was deserted.
CLOSE THIS PLACE DOWN! The workers don’t care as they were all just standing around chatting away, the business people obviously don’t care either. Build something nicer so that we don’t have to deal with such awful service.

Best food ever.
I always get the fettuccine alfredo with shrimp.
Sign up for their club, you’ll get a free pasta!

Buca definitely caters more toward those who prefer the quantity over quality preference for Italian cuisine. Good for family gatherings and the menu is quite extensive.
I ordered the Linguini di mare, which is served in a light red sauce. The sauce itself was average at best, but not an flavorful as plenty of other Italian restaurants I’ve been to. The portions are definitely enough for two people — I ended up struggling to stuff the leftovers into a to-​go container, and was stuffed for two nights. There’s plenty of seafood and the ratio of seafood to pasta was on point, which is left me satisfied. I do wish they offered more personal-​sized portions, especially if I’m with a smaller party.
The wait staff are efficient and offered great recommendations for our party. They do take photos, but charge for them and unfortunately don’t offer digital copies.
Come here if you enjoy large portions, which I call the «Hash House syndrome», and more Americanized Italian cuisine. Don’t come here if you’re looking for authentic and unique Italian dishes and to sample a bunch of flavorful dishes. I tasted my friends’ dishes and everything started tasting the same.

You must be wondering why we came here in the first place… Well way back when we had the Morena storage wars, me, PJ and Teresa decided to pool our $$$ together and buy whatever the first box was and we won! We got $ 50 gift card to Buca di Beppo. So a few months later we ended up here.
Our game plan: minimal food and excessive alcohol.
Reality: excessive food and minimal alcohol.
Why?
Reality: The pasta dishes that feed 3 are like $ 25ish. Our $ 50 turned into 2 entrees and 1 carafe of sangria. The sangria was basically juice and nothing else. I don’t even think they put alcohol in there. It was good because it was sweet, other than that what a waste of $ 22 bux. And to top it off the non existence of alcohol, since they are a big chain they do not have any of the SD craft beers… they have the mainstream beers. I can imagine it’ll be tough keeping up with the other local bars/restaurant…but hey they make it because of the tourist and high school kids.
2 entrees: We got the frutti di mare (my favorite) and the carbonara. I used to work at Buca back in the young days so I know that the frutti di mare is good. Lots of seafood and feeds 3 with left overs. The seafood tasted good. The carbonara was also really good with big chunks of pancetta and chicken. I must say that they have good «American» pasta. You can tell it was like an assembly line spitting out big dishes of pasta. It’s not going to be authentic but it’ll get you satisfied.
Buca is great for groups. It used to be good for birthdays because they would give you a fat piece of chocolate cake for free… now…probably due to recession they only put a lame paper sign on your dining table (that they reuse every time…) Go to a non-​main stream they give you a complimentary birthday cake.
I would probably not return to a mainstream Italian place just because there’s so many better places in SD. I must say Buca is great for celebrations and they have good customer service. Our game plan didn’t work but we did enjoy our celebratory dinner for PJ.

It’s a chain, so is it worth it? Yes, but make sure you order the right things…
Here’s what I learned on our recent visit to this SD downtown location.
1) Don’t bother with alcohol. The sangria, served in a half carafe for $ 22, is very watered down with a TON of ice. I would recommend getting the same pitcher of just pure house wine for a better value… but note that they tend to have pretty cheap wines here…
2)The main pasta entrees are definitely a great value and better quality than Olive Garden. For around $ 22 – 25 you get a big bowl of a fancyish pasta that’s good for 2 – 3 people (more like 3 people). It’s like $ 15 or less if you just want simple dishes like spaghetti and meatballs.
3) The carbonara — WOW! This has got to be one of the best things on the menu. Loaded with more pancetta than I’ve ever seen eating this dish around town at other places. Packed with peas, and plenty of juicy chicken breast slices. Not oily or overly creamy. Perfectly al dente pasta. Winner, winner!
4) Frutti di mare — SO many clams! Another great value. Pasta was a big overcooked but I liked the freshness of the tomato marinara sauce. My friend who used to work at another Buca said this is the best thing on the menu.
5) (Pre-​made mass produced) desserts are way overpriced! Like $ 12.95. Plus, they no longer give you a free dessert on your birthday. They will however stick a giant three-​prong candelabra on your table and have the waitstaff sing loudly to you. For birthdayers, they also put a cute paper sign on your dining table.
6) Photo op! A lady comes around with a camera to give you a free photo souvenir — postcard size card with a tiny picture of you and your table. If you want the bigger photo in a nice standup cardboard frame though, that will cost you. At Seasons 52, they give it to you for free…

I’ve always liked Buca, but usually don’t consider going here, unless there’s a big group to feed. I figured out long ago, this is not a good date place, unless you like family sized portions and only order one dish… cause if you order more, there will be a lot of leftovers. Go for lunch… We did! :) The portions are not as insanely large like the dinner entrees… and they have lunch combos.
This location, the restaurant is huge! Parking on the street was not bad at all. We were able to get a spot just across the street and walked right in. No wait at lunch time.
It took a lil bit of time to look over their menu and order. The waitress didn’t seem very knowledgeable when we asked about certain dishes or if the lasagne was ready… noted on the menu, only after 12pm.
I ordered the chicken marasala and it was delish! The portion was huge! Large mushrooms covered my chicken with a generous portion of spaghetti marinara, extra saucy! It was so good, halfway through I was sooooooo full, but I wanted to keep eating!!!
My friend ordered the Salmon Sorrento, and I got to try a lil bit. The salmon was fully cooked which I liked and flavorful. She wasn’t able to finish her lunch portion either… so we both had enough for dinner!
Our waitress was not great… she didn’t know anything about the dishes and checked on us once and never came back. We had to ask another sever to get us boxes and bring us the check. Overall great food… service could definitely be better.

This place is located in the heart of Gaslamp, a historic landmark and tourist destination. According to the staff, this family dining restaurant had been here for decades serving a real and authentic Italian cuisine.
It took me by surprised that the reviews and ratings here are very inconsistent not to mention the customer service complaints. I find it very immature and unreasonable knowing that this establishment survived and wants any constructive criticism.
Here’s what I think, this place could be busy so I suggest to book a reservation ahead of time. Don’t assume that once you enter the premises you’ll be serve and seated. I have never been in a place where it feels like your automatically at home and seems like you’re eating in your mother’s kitchen. The vibes and environment is very pleasant and joyful. The interior speaks own its own. I love the resemblance and history of the family were its displayed all over the place.
The food is just average. Its flavorful and delicious. I find it lacks in depth and complexity. Nothing spectacular but definitely will filled you up. The serving is very generous and can feed two persons for one order.
I’m glad that a friend brought me here for dinner. Due to a big serving, we share everything we ordered. To start with we ordered the BUCA TRIO PLATTER followed with SPICY CHICKEN REGATONI and a side of Italian sausage. The entire meal was ok. It personally didn’t wow me because it tasted very average. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely enjoyed it. I just thought that flavor profile was one dimensional.
The customer service on the other hand is extremely superb. I must commend that Latoya did a wonderful job. I’ll definitely come back and maybe try something different.

A great combination of atmosphere, service, and food. I realize this is a chain of restaurants but the feel inside makes it seem like this is a one-​of kind of place.
The service here can’t be beat. From the time the hostess greeted me to the time my waitress showed up to take my order, the welcome was warm and friendly. I especially the walk through the kitchen to get to the table. I’ve been here before and I still want to get the chef’s table seating. Specifically, our waitress Latoya was superb. She was engaging and funny.
The serving here are truly meant to be shared and you won’t be hungry when you leave.
Tonight we started with the Buca trio sampler. I enjoyed the mozzarella and the calamari. The stuffed mushrooms were not my favorite but then again I’m not a huge mushroom fan so I couldn’t count it against the restaurant.
For the main we split the chicken rigatoni and a side of Italian sausage. The main was advertised as being spicy but it wasn’t very. It was tasty just not spicy. Crushed red pepper was available to punch it up a bit.
I’m glad I do not live close to a Buca. My waist wouldn’t be able to handle it. I’ll just come here when I’m close. I know I’ll be back.