Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant

Buca di Beppo est une chaîné de restauration américaine proposant des spécialités italo-​américaine.
La franchise est implantée dans 27 états des USA.
N’étant pas à la base une fan des grandes chaînes de restauration (le genre anti-​macdo… Et j’assume), ma seule exception jusqu’à présent était le Red Lobster.
Et Buca di Beppo est atypique:
— Ses photographies d’époque accrochées aux murs sont oufissime.
Les murs sont truffés de photographie et d’images originales.
— Le cadre est simple,
Déco rétro, années sixties-​seventies
— L’atmosphère est agréable, chaleureuse … coolax
— L’accueil est top:
Nous avons été accueilli par un manager et une serveuse qui nous ont fait visiter les lieux: les salles, la salle à manger, l’office, la cuisine (oui la cuisine, sans blague) et même les toilettes (rires assurés) !!
Tout ça avec le sourire et la bonne humeur.
— Les produits sont frais et locaux.
La carte propose des antipastii, des bruschettas, des crostini, stck bread à l’ail, des salades composées, des grillades, des ailes de poulet… plusieurs variétés de pizzas, de Pâtes (spaghettis, lasagnes, penne, fettucine, raviolis)…
Tiramisu, cheesecakes, glaces…
Le concept de cette chaîné c’est de partager des plats qui sont copieux et bien garnis dans un esprit convivial.
Les antipastis étaient pas mal.
Nous avons pris des pizzas small size chacun, un plat de lasagne et de pâtes à partager.
Les pizzas arrivent relativement vite.
Elles sont généreuses (on a pas réussi à finir… So take away) et bien savoureuses mais rien d’Italie en terme gustatif et les produits sont typiquement locaux donc rien de vraiment italien. Honnêtement on est loin des pizzas napolitaines, milanaises mais elles étaient bien goûtues. On a eu du mal à entamer les plats de pâtes, la lasagne était très bonne et le plat de spaghetti … Eh bien je n’y ais pas goûté.
Pas de place pour le dessert.
Conclusion:
C’est relativement Bön, la cuisine est correcte, mais pas vraiment de saveur italienne dans les assiettes.
L’ambiance, l’accueil et le cadre étaient au topissime !
À refaire? Carrément ! ;)
(surtout qu’on a pas testé les desserts: p)

I came here last night because i had a craving for some Buca but left very disappointed. Here’s a quick review:
1) Service (5 out of 10) — It was okay, but priority was given to other tables with a larger party since I came by myself.
2) Food Quality (2 out of 10) — The Caprese salad was below average but what really was disappointing was the Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken. First off, it’s NOT a boneless chicken breast as should be, it’s boneless chicken thigh (dark meat) breaded and rolled up with Prosciutto.
Also tasted like it was reheated and very «chewy».
REALLY?! For $ 29.99 !!!
Buca Honolulu used to be a restaurant I would bring my family and friends, and still would be if they improved the quality of there food. Taste was ok, but I feel like they are cutting back on quality to either increase profit or cover cost.
NON VA BENE!

Well being this is my second time here. I felt the effects of being put to the side. First I was a giving a table off in the corner with only a choice to sit on one side of the table. There were two birthday parties going on so I assume that’s why the waiter was not on his game. I ordered a drink that came in the complimentary glass. When it came out it look nothing like what I thought I ordered. The garnishments were missing and it was loaded with rum. The stuff mushrooms were on point though. Overall toward the end the service got better and the waiter redeemed himself. Note to everyone don’t go here while multiple parties are going on.

Family style portions and dining. Food is mostly just ok. I tried most of the menu and nothing stands out as amazing so I usually order the ceasar salad and spicy chicken rigatoni pasta when I come here.
Service is hit or miss. There are so many servers it’s bound to be inconsistant. Parking is sometimes tough since they share with the theater.
Now the ambiance… it’s loud, family style Italian dining which you can choose to embrace or despise. I embrace it… that’s part of the experience and makes it fun. =)

In the past few years I’ve gotten better at not eating just for the taste when I’m already way past full. I also try to stay away from carbs. But both of those go out the window when I end up here. How can I not keep eating pasta that’s staring right at me?
My favorite thing on the menu is the spicy chicken rigatoni. It isn’t as spicy as I’d like but the flavor is good. I’m weird and I like pasta on the drier side, and this dish isn’t too saucey (the times I’ve had it, anyway) so it’s good for me all around. I’ve also had the stuffed shells which are also really good. My mom loves the margherita pizza.
Everyone has always been friendly, and they give a cute tour through the restaurant before taking you to your table. The decorations on the wall are super cute; only, going to the bathroom may take longer than expected if you’re like me and have no sense of direction in a large, winding restaurant with heavily decorated walls that offer no real landmark. We divulged to our waitress that we were there tonight for a long away party for a friend and she had everyone in the restaurant wish him well, something I figured they only did for birthdays.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, you can’t go wrong with a huge glass cup full of brownies and 6 scoops of ice cream and a tower of whipped cream for like $ 13.

During lunch today the service was excellent. Our server was very attentive but not so much, as to become a nuisance. I realized that they changed the menu. I like how they have illustrated the size of the portions by stating how much people a small or large has the capability of feeding. Of course I ordered my fave apple gargonzola (sp?) Salad and my husband got his fave spaghetti and meatballs.
My salad is always on point, sweet and salty with candied cranberries, so yum! The meatballs are insanely huge and can be split & shared. I like how they’re super garlicky, I love garlic. So if u hate garlic, don’t get it. We also had the baked Ziti which was cheese bombed, so rich. And the kiddos had a pepperoni pizza & mac & cheese. My kids are young so u can imagine how big the portion sizes was for them. I definitely went home with leftovers. It’s always a good time here and I always enjoy the food. I’ve never really experienced anything bad.
The best part about this place is the capacity, the wait time is either nonexistent or if we have to wait its never too long. It’s big, and they can easily accommodate large groups.

When this location first opened 15ish years ago, we went pretty frequently…
One night we had a really large party, and they squeezed us in a larger booth… but we still didn’t fit… we were like sardines in a can… it really soured my opinion of this place and hadn’t been back for 10 or so years…
Fast forward… and here we are at the movies with the kids who are hungry… D&B’s is completely out of the question cause their food is TERRIBLE!!!
So we popped in @ Bucca…
Our kids really liked the funky décor…
Of course we ordered too much food… it was pretty good… might be back some day…

It’s very hard to write a review for this place because there’s just so much to consider…
FOOD: definitely 4 star value! Servings are HUGE… So if you are with 4 people I would only order like a large pasta and a salad lol. Apple Gorgonzola salad is my absolute FAVORITE. I do not come here without ordering it! The calamares are yummy. I’ve tried the pizza and pastas but nothing I would rave about.
SERVICE: service is such a hit or miss here. I’ve been at lunch and had a great experience. I’ve done dinner once or twice and the second time I was kind of upset at how our server seemed so careless with our food! She literally almost spilled our calamares off the plate and like dropped stuff onto the table kind of rudely?
LOCATION: conveniently located in Ward… Sometimes it’s hard to find parking.
Oh by the way I do not like the photography man they allow to take your picture and then charge $ 12.50 for it! They get you with the complimentary postcard but I thought the photography itself was not impressive and could be improved if they are going to jip tourists and locals who eat here.

My uncle and Aunty treated my fiancé and I to dinner here this past Sunday. I haven’t been here in YEARS so it was as it were my first time. Before we got seated we got a little tour of the restaurant and the kitchen. Everyone seemed happy and friendly, which sometimes is unusual to see at other restaurants. So that was nice.
Everything is family style, which means BIG portions. We ordered all small portions of the following: buca trio platter, Apple Gorgonzola salad, margherita pizza, shrimp fra diavola, baked ziti, chicken saltimbocca. For dessert we ordered the cannoli and sundae. For drinks I ordered a red sangria. It was okay, but I would rather have had a Milan mule! I was disappointed that they ran out of the ingredients to make not only my first drink of choice, but my second as well. I asked for the Milan mule but they ran out of that and then I ordered a beppo Bellini and they ran out of that too! So ended up with the red sangria. It was okay, but not my drink of choice.
As for the food I would recommend everything EXCEPT the baked ziti and the cannoli. The baked ziti didn’t have much flavor and the cannoli wasn’t all that great. It was too sweet and a bit thick. It wasn’t as cheesy as I thought it would be. I’m not a cannoli fan, but my Aunty is and she did not care for it at all.
Service: service was great and I wish I got the name of our server. We also got a free picture from another lady! Cool.
I can’t wait to go again.

I thought this was a pretty good restaurant! Was a little hard to find based on the gps directions but once we walked around to the entrance there was quite a few ppl waiting. Luckily we only had a 30 min wait. The place apparently is meant for large groups but PLEASE make a reservation. I heard the wait can easily he hours lol
I LOVE that they walk u through the kitchen if it’s your first time there. They even have a table to eat at in the kitchen!!! That shows a level of confidence and cleanliness I approve of. The décor is interesting. Like grandma’s house with old pictures and décor lol but it makes for a homey feel. We took our 3 month old and he just loved looking around lol.
We ordered the traditional spaghetti. It was delicious! The portions are huge! We ordered the small and still took home quite a bit of food.
Overall great place for family dining! We will be back!

Food is awesome, love the family size portions! Delicious! It’s so filling that I can never find my way to dessert and I REALLY want that huge sundae!
Ambience: one word, LOUD.
Definitely puts you in that Italian family dinner mode.
Plus, I always get lost trying to find the bathroom. Which reminds me the bathroom was mortifying the last time I came to the restaurant… 2 of 3 stalls were unusable. Poop everywhere!!! Yuck.
Also, I didn’t enjoy the photo guy there. When I came with my family, he asked us to take photos at the worst time. Our food just came and he said we should hurry and take a pic. He took our pics and showed us the printed copy (which wasn’t a very good photo) and was very persistent in saying it’s nice and we should buy it for $ 15 – 20? I forget the price.
I wish it wasn’t so loud in there, but I’ll be back because I love pasta! Lol

If you ever go to Buca Di Beppo and have 4 to 6 in your party. I’d HIGHLY recommend reserving the Kitchen Table. The kitchen staff is incredible.
If you do reserve the table be sure to order to the Penne Ala Vodka. The show will be Hot.
Overall, our dinner experience was enjoyable and the food was delicious as well.

Let me begin by saying I love me some good, family style Italian food. I’m not necessarily an expert on the cultural food, but if Italian is available, Italian it is. While I don’t frequent Buca the way some of my friends do, I will never say no to an evening there.
The location is alright. It’s located at Ward Center, and parking isn’t always the easiest to find, but it’s what you’d expect in parking for a shopping plaza. The restaurant is very homey and décor-​laden, giving it that family kitchen-​and-​living-​room feel. The only thing I don’t like about the design is how maze-​like it is. When it’s busy, this place is an easy place to get lost and confused in. Perhaps that’s a part of the charm, but I personally don’t see the purpose.
Customer service here has been good! Whoever happens to wait my party’s table has always been attentive, patient, and pleasant. Upon occasion, a dish will take a while to come out, but the waiting staff has consistently let us know what the deal is and comps us with bread (and I’m a carb-​o-​holic, so that is perfectly fine with me).
The food is good, though I’m fairly reluctant to try the different things on the menu. I usually stick to my Fettuccine Alfredo (which is just okay here), but their red sauce dishes are delish.

On Tuesday December 29, 2015 I met up with some friends to eat dinner at Buca di Beppo. It has been quite some time since I have stepped foot into the Italian restaurant.
I was the first individual to arrive out of the group. While I was waiting for the rest of the gang I heard the host inform other walk in people that the wait would be up to 2 hours. That’s a long wait especially if there’s no reservations.
As soon as the rest of the gang showed up we were instructed to follow another host to our table. It was like a maze just to get to the table. I did take notice of all the different portraits around the restaurant. There was a section with an awards display and another section with the small figurines.
Once we got to our table… we all made ourselves comfortable in our seats. The waitress hands out the food menu to everyone.
I wanted to order the small Margherita Pizza since I was totally hungry. Everyone else informed me to order the large size to share. Majority wins. I looked over the menu once more and noticed the Mussels Bianca (I remember having this dish before with my brother one time).
Other menu items that were ordered were the Warm Spinach and Tomato Salad, Chicken Parmigiana, and Eggplant Parmigiana.
Our group had a total of 3 baskets of bread throughout dinner. The salad came first… it was delicious. The mussels came next… the bugga was Da bomb. The Margherita Pizza came… it was flat bread and mighty large. To round up the dinner was the Chicken Parmigiana and Eggplant Parmigiana. I prefer the chicken over the eggplant (I really don’t like eating Eggplant).
The mussels and the pizza was wiped out clean. All other menu items ended up in to go containers.
The waitress did come around and checked up on our group. A photographer came around and took a photo of our group. Costs $ 20.00 for one picture in a cardboard frame. Complimentary group photo was given to one of my friends.
I got to remember that Buca di Beppo is family style dining. If I had my way I would have finished an entire small Margherita Pizza by myself.

Luckily we made reservations when we planned a Christmas Eve feast at the Honolulu Buca. If you’ve been to Buca in other places, you already know the drill portions of hearty southern Italian food sized to feed an army so our group of 9 was just the right size.
This Buca is located in a small shopping center on street level. There appeared to be movie theatres on the level up. We found parking in the free lot behind the complex although the spaces were pretty tight.
We were seated promptly for our 6:45 reservation but it took some time before our server was able to stop by (it was pretty busy in there). We gave her our order-​1lg. Cheesy garlic bread, lg chopped and sm Cesar salads, 1 sm pepperoni pizza, sm chicken Parmesan and sm spicy chicken rigatoni. This turned out to be the perfect amount of food for our 9 adults (4 college kids).
Service was fine, but certainly nothing to write home about and the taste and flavor of the food was up to the usual Buca standards. Look, you aren’t dining here for high end cuisine. You are here for great value and festive atmosphere.
All in all we had a nice time.

Well where do I start about Bucca’s…The customer service from the minute we walked in till we left was AMAZING!
My co-​worker n I just got done watching Downton Abbey upstairs in the theaters, so we decided to come here to finish off the nite. As we entered we were immediately greeted by a young man, very friendly smile n great attitude, I wish I had caught his name. We waited about 2 mins to he seated n it might’ve been because it was a week nite. Its been a hot minute since Ive been to Bucca’s let alone Ward Theaters.
If you have never tried this place n love Italian u wont be disappointed. They give u a tour around the kitchen n EVERYONE in there greets you with HUGE SMILES n FRIENDLY FACES… In the kitchen there is a table where you are welcomed to reserve n sit in there with the chefs while you dine pretty neat huh? As they give u a quick tour on ur way to ur table you will pass the Pope Room (ill add pictures) its a circular room with pictures of the Pope n a statue of the Popes head in the middle of the table, LOL… Ive eaten in there before n its a cool room. There are many different little areas of the restaurant for small or lrg gatherings.
We finally made it o our table n was greeter by this young lady named Lauren. Let me just say that she is AMAZING!!! We were talking as if we were friends for long time. To me when I get waitresses like that it makes it dining in more at easy n comfortable. Lauren gave us a few suggestions when asked about particular items. I had gotten the Lasagna n not disappointed at all for the pick. My co-​worker got a spicy chicken pasta (ii cant remember the name). When out dishes came we split our meals because it was so big… Lauren continued to make sire we were doing alrite or if we needed anything. Overall ii gave it 5stars because of the customer service… Thank u so much!!!

It been like 9 or 10 years since I’ve eaten here, and I clearly have not forgotten that this place called — Buca di Beppo serves MASSIVE amounts of food!
I wanna say they serve — «Family» size portions of food, so one small order of food could probably feed several people.
So after watching a flick, my sweetie made a reservations for a meal downstairs at Buca di Beppo. As we walked in, we were greeted right away, and seated quickly.
Upon scanning the menu, we decided on sharing a Warm Spinach & Tomato Salad, and a small Eggplant Pamigiana dish.
What can I say about the grub?
LOVED IT! Nom! Nom! Nom!
The small order of Warm Spinach & Tomato Salad was really delicious!
The fresh spinach was tossed with warm balsamic vinaigrette, red onions, Roma tomatoes, spiced pecans & feta cheese.
The Eggplant Parmigiana was topped with a marinara sauce, Roma tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese.
Complimentary bread was also delivered to our table, and when we ran out, our waiter was more than happy to refill our bread order.
Service was fast & friendly. Although our waiter would disappear at times, when we needed something, he was «Johnny on da spot» good! I guess he was busy waiting on multiple tables, so he had to be «Johnny on da spot» fast! He even talked real fast, as he was zooming around and waiting on multiple tables.
Overall a yummy meal! What more can I ask for? A great meal, with a beautiful girl… life doesn’t get any better than that! LoL!

I have been to this restaurant three times. The first time with my bf’s family and last two times with him only. I didn’t know what to expect because I only heard of the restaurant until last year. My bf said it’s italian food with the family sharing concept. Believe me the portions are huge. The small can feed 4 people exact and the large 6 or 8 people total. We ordered from spaghetti to lasagna to pizza to salad.
On our recent visit to the restaurant, we ordered the baked rigatoni pasta, knowing the size is huge and it was better than ordering two dishes. Share one dish together so there won’t be any leftovers. It was delicious, but not to the point where I could have this any day. It wasn’t spectacular Italian food I ever have after all this is chain restaurant. but still tasty. We had their colossal brownie sundae dessert with his family. OMG that sundae was so sweet and heavenly good. So much chocolate and caramel drizzling goodness.
The staff from the hostess to the waiters or waitresses, everyone is welcoming and friendly.
FYI, there is a photographer who will offer to take your picture at your booth. They give you a complimentary photo for free but the framed photo will cost you $ 20 for one photo. Don’t get sucked in. It’s a customer trap :(Now that I know what I am getting myself into, I won’t pay that amount for a photo again. We could of taken our photo for free with our phones. Wished more people would mention it in the tips sections in big letters. Oh well, we can remember this day we went to buca for dinner and watched the Wongfuproductions movie Everything before us at Ward theater.
Park in the theater parking and walk over through the garage entrance.

Fairly good Italian food for a chain. Great place for a family or a group of close friends. The entire menu is family style so you need to be there with some like minded people or you will have left overs of whatever you order for the next 5 meals. Everything comes in 2 – 3 or 4 – 5 servings. It makes for great experience for family’s who don’t fell like cooking but if you are going out with some acquaintances that have differing ideas of what you want in a meal it can be somewhat awkward.
I’d like to go back but I think I will reserve it for when the parents are in town and thats about it.

Food was excellent. Server was on point.
When orderimg a small meal, portions were extremely large, (be careful).
Will definetly come back.

Carbs, carbo load… get y’er carbs here!
After watching a movie at the Consolidated Ward Theaters, we decided on having a quick bite. Ahh, but, we didn’t want to move our car from its convenient parking stall in the Ward Village Shops garage so we wandered into Buca di Beppo that is located just at the base of the theater complex.
Now, it’s not like it had been our first time here so we knowingly went into the restaurant with expectations of huge servings of Americanized-​Italian food. We were greeted cheerfully and heartedly by one of the hostesses who then led us on the «tour» of the restaurant. The tour sort of gets your appetite revved up as you pass through the kitchen and in to large family-​style dining rooms… the twists and turns of getting to your table is like going through a labrynith. We were seated promptly and our server, Jesse, met us energetically.
I liked that there were welcoming Holiday references on their placemats which gave us extra reading material… not that we needed more literature because the menu is rather extensive. We peered over to a couple other seated families whose tables were filled with all sorts of dishes while assessing our hunger. My husband saw another couple who had ordered the appetizer, calamari fritti, served in a huge martiini glass, um, bowl! Turned out they ordered the large size which normally feeds 4 plus 2 other pastas on huge platters. I’m not making any judgements, here, but, from the looks of the amount of food they sure looked like they would struggle and need doggie bags.
Jesse returned to our table with our beverages and asked if we had any questions about the menu or if we were ready to place our order. We ordered small servings of calamari fritti and baked ziti. It didn’t take very long before our deep fried calamari appetizer was delivered… the perfectly breaded and fried calamari rings and tentacles was accompanied with a slightly sweet marinara sauce. I think we must’ve been hungrier that we thought as we demolished that appetizer and glugged down our beers. We managed to catch our breaths just as Jesse brought us a casserole pan of baked ziti. The baked ziti was a mass of ooeey-​gooey melting Provolone, mozzarella, ricotta cheese mixed with al dente ziti… this was like having a dish of macaroni and cheese on steroids! The only seasoning that we put on was a healthy sprinkling of chile pepper flakes. We didn’t think that we could finish it because this dish was quite rich yet somehow, while we were discussing the movie scenes and storyline, the casserole suddenly cleared!
Throughout our meal, Jesse had returned several times to refill our water and just to check on our progress. When he returned and found our cleaned plates he was surprised. He smiled, congratulated us on finishing and asked if we needed anything else. Really? Uh, how about a wheelbarrow!
We could see why this place is so popular with families and large groups… great customer service, huge portions with good flavor and good value.
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