10/13/09

Great food, fun atmosphere

by FreakyFoodie

I have been here twice, the first time for a private party. We received a private room, great attention. The food was awesome. Rich but not too heavy. I had the salmon with pine nuts and pesto. I tried to copy that recipe at home right away. Pasta was a bit mushy but still good. Prices are right on the fence. Second time, server was good. Food was just as good as I remembered. One thing that confused me was the table in the kitchen. I don't know why anyone would want to sit there. Too noisy, busy.

• Pros: Awesome food, private dining, the wine flows
• Cons: Can be expensive

08/27/09

Should've went somewhere else.

by DiaVelli

I've seen Buca Di Beppo many times driving through Franklin. I checked out the reviews online and thought it sounded like a great place to eat based on all of the raving reviews. I was expecting something along the lines of Macaroni Grill in a different light.

Well, I walked in and it looked alright. I was walked through the kitchen, and then to a table. The atmosphere was nice. It was a little different with all of the pictures, and Christmas lights hanging around everywhere.

My waiter was polite, but always seemed to be in a hurry even though it wasn't busy. No big deal. Apparently, this place usually serves parties of 2 or more. The dinner menu is designed in those portions. Small feeds 2, and large feeds 3 or more. The waiter was nice enough to let me order off of the lunch menu since I was by myself. So far so good.

The waiter brought back my sweet tea, which wasn't all that great. Then he left me some bread, which was cold, and poured some olive oil into a plate to dip in. No seasoning or anything. Just oil. I'm open minded so I tried it. If you've ever used super glue, and accelerator, then you'll know what the oil tasted like. Seriously, it tasted like accelerator. Disgusting.

I ordered spaghetti and meatballs. You can't go wrong with spaghetti and meatballs. You can't, it's too simple. Well, apparently you can go wrong. It was terrible. Why? The supposed meatballs turned out to be a meatball. Or rather, a meat loaf. I like meat loaf though so I tolerated it. The spaghetti was alright, nothing special. The sauce could've been good had it not been so watery after the initial thick top. Meaning someone probably didn't drain the noodles enough, the meat loaf was super greasy, or maybe the sauce was watery itself. Overall, though the taste wasn't good at all. Greasy meat with cheap noodles, and chunky.watery canned type sauce.

I had high expectations. The whole adventure cost me $16 ($2 tip included). I would've rather paid an extra $5-10 to go to Macaroni Grill or anywhere else really. I wont be dining here again.

So again, good service, nice people, a pleasant atmosphere, but terrible food.

• Pros: Service. Atmosphere. People.
• Cons: Food.

06/01/09

Affordable date place for college students!

by tatasr

My boyfriend and I eat at Buca ALL the time. We're college students on a tight budget and find that Buca is one of the most affordable places for date nights, because the portions are large enough to share. The desserts are delicious and if you get on the emailing list you get discounts all the time. Service is usually amazing, we've only had one waiter that wasn't great (we think it was his first day)

We highly recommend it.

• Pros: Huge portions, leftovers are delicious the following days
• Cons: Parking