Buca di Beppo

Visited again after a few years away.  Gotta say-nice evening!  Our server was nice and didn't lay on the hard sell, the food was good and plentiful though still pricey, and the decor was fun.  

A much better experience!

My son is home on leave from the NAVY, and he loves this place, plus we had a $10 coupon !!

Arrived &  a fantastic hostess/Danielle sat us & gave us sweet booth to ourselves in the wine room, and assured us we had the best server, Nicole, .

Nicole was  very good & so was the pace of the meal

We ordered Caesar salads & a small QUATTRO AL FORNO to split, which is  a very nice baked Italian sampler.

QUATTRO AL FORNO Four of our favorite baked pastas. Enjoy generous portions of
Cheese Manicotti, Chicken Cannelloni, Baked Ravioli and Stuffed Shells.
$19

by the way the $10 coupon is on the Bucca website until 12-9-12

I had long been curious about Buca di Beppo.  Today, thanks to my wife and sister-in-law, I went there for the first time today.  

One of Buca's distinctive features is that all items are a la carte and sized for either 2 or 4 people.  It promotes "family style" sharing.  Since, as today, I'm often the only vegetarian in the party, I'm not wild about this.  I'm not anti-social but the idea of negotiating dinner would probably take some practice.  You'll probably do best if you're not picky and you have a large party with at least one other person like you.

Undaunted, I ordered eggplant parmigiana and convinced my wife and sister-in-law to go for mozzarella bread and mixed green salad appetizers.  The salad was a simple but good mix of romaine and iceberg lettuce with a zippy Italian dressing.  The bread was pretty average, slightly seasoned with lumps of mozzarella on top.  The lightly-breaded eggplant was not tasteless but was hampered by an overly-spiced marinara.

The restaurant studiedly cultivates the atmosphere of an informal neighborhood joint.  The walls are lined with pictures of Italian icons like Sophia Loren and scenes of Italian-American life.  Wine bottles cover the ceiling in the bar area.  Dean Martin, Louis Prima and Frank Sinatra music plays.  It's more than a little over the top, making Buca more like an Italian restaurant theme park than an Italian restaurant.  Service was strangely indifferent; we weren't even asked if we wanted dessert or coffee.

As an Italian food lover, I wanted to like Buca di Beppo.  While it wasn't as bad as my worst fears, it will be a place that I only know I can (not want to) go to.