Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant

I wanted to personally write out my appreciation to this particular Buca di Beppo because of the attentive service. Due to my gluten and soy allergies, it can be difficult for me to actually enjoy my dining sometimes. I know I’m walking into an Italian restaurant with two allergies but I was well taken care of. I sat in the kitchen with my sisters and we enjoyed every minute of it. It’s cool to be right there with all the chefs.
I mainly want to thank Chef Lara for actually coming to my table (which was a few step away lol) to talk to me about the menu… wow does he know his stuff!!! You would be surprised sometimes chefs at other restaurant tell me «I DON’T KNOW and they walk away» like they don’t even care… but Chef Lara was very honest, direct and gave me my options and how he can customize the dishes I wanted to order. I love food, and I love good food… and when my food is prepared and served with a great positive attitude I enjoy it even more!
I ordered the Antipasti Salad without dressing… I used olive oil, vinegar, fresh ground pepper, and Parmesan instead. I also got the Chicken Saltimbocca! Both were customized to be gluten free and soy free for me! It was one of the most delicious combinations I’ve ever had at an Italian restaurant actually!
Also a huge Thank You to our server BJ for being patient with me when I was ordering and figuring out my choices with the Chef :)
Can’t wait to go back!

Came in a with a few friends for the first time at recommendation of another server in city walk. The food was great but the service was even better. One of my favorite things when I go out for dinner is feeling comfortable. The feeling of dinner at home. My server was a beautiful blonde named holly. She was wicked funny and so knowledgeable. Her personality just clicked with my group and I and made our dining experience great. Oh and her Boston accent was charming. Ask for her if you come around. Thank you Bucca! You’ve got a great staff and great food.

The food was good. The restaurant is actually larger than it appears. There are two floors, but I feel the décor is too old and I’m not a big fan of carpet flooring, because it can look really dirty. The food however is a huge portion, and there is plenty of it left to share. This is a good place for get togethers. Service can be a hit or a miss. We went during New Years Eve, and it was super packed which is understandable. I highly recommend this place for large groups.

I can’t explain how disappointed I am with this place. On my special day with my fiancé we decided to come celebrate and the waiter had a very NEGITIVE energy ! It made us really upset because we spent so much to celebrate our big day and it got ruined by the service that we received. Our most special moment turned out to be horrible. She had an attitude and was not attentive at all when we told her that we wanted to know what type of desserts she recommended she proceeded to tell us she didn’t know… Really at least make it up. We tried to Brush it off by just making it about us but it was really frustrating when we tried to socialize with her. Honestly if you don’t like your job then don’t work it really was bad because our night got ruined maybe next time I’ll try samba

We had a group of 8 people and a reservation at 7pm and had to wait an hour for an available table. Then people started getting rowdy in the lobby and our server was very unattentative and sketchy. I definitely won’t eat at buca ever again.

I came here with a party of 20 and we had a reservation at 7pm. At 7pm they told us we had to have a majority of our party there, so we waited about 15 minutes to tell them there were 16 of us. When we did, they said that we’ll be seated shortly since the other party was finishing up.
All of that seemed quite strange to me. They seemed to first blame us because we didn’t have enough people, but really, I think it’s because the party sitting there was not done yet. Odd. That actually may be the policy, but it just seems fishy.
Anyways, we ordered family style (of course) and everything tasted delicious. We got calamari, garlic bread (must get), Fettuccine Alfredo, a pesto pasta, Chicken Parmesan, and their Veggie Pizza. I liked almost everything; however, I wasn’t a fan of the pizza. It was extremely bland. The Alfredo was also not very hot when we got it; maybe they weren’t paying attention to what was coming out of the kitchen? Who knows.
For dessert we got the Colossal Brownie. It was so good for the first 10 bites, and then I felt sick. It was so sweet, which we obviously knew when ordering it. Had a hard time finishing it, but it was amazing!

I’m not sure why they wouldn’t seat some of us who arrived on time for our reservation for 20 people until most of the party was there. I went here last Saturday for a holiday work dinner. We got the package from where it’s unlimited wine, beer, and while drinks for two hours.
The red one was really good and some of my favorites were the «enchilada» and the salads. I liked the Tiramisu even though the flavor was really mild.
The salmon was really over cooked and didn’t have a lot of flavor.

Our group of 4 are here about 2 weeks ago on a Sunday night. It wasn’t too busy when we arrived around 6pm and they were able to wear us immediately. Our waitress was really nice and friendly and was happy to help answer any of our questions since it was our first time there.
We decided to go with the large supremo Italiano pizza and the large shrimp far diavolo pasta which were both DELICIOUS. We enjoyed the pasta more because of the sauce. THE SAUUUCE. So creamy, spicy, and rich in flavors. We also expected the shrimp dish to be like a typical shrimp dish where they put just a few shrimp pieces in a bowl of pasta but this place put enough for the for of us to enjoy thoroughly.
Don’t make the mistake of ordering 2 large dishes for a group of 4 because half way through what we ordered, all of us felt the food coma kicking in. We didn’t expect the pizza to be so huge but that’s what a large gets you…

I had the shrimp fettuccine and a pizza it was very delicious will come back for some more and the server did a great job. Thanks Buca di Beppo
5stars

Meine Freundin und ich besuchten das Buca di Beppo bei den Universal Studios vor einigen Tagen. Wir mögen diese Kette eigentlich sehr und deren Ableger in San Diego gehört zu unseren favorisierten Restaurants in Kalifornien. Jedoch assen wir dort stets Pasta und nie Pizza.
Wir waren schon genervt, als die Bedienung uns Vorspeise und Hauptgang zur gleichen Zeit aufgetischt hatte. Aber das fehlen von Esskultur in den USA ist uns natürlich schwerstens bewusst. Jedoch hätten wir über dieses Missgeschick locker hinweg gesehen, wenn das Essen geschmeckt hätte.
Buca di Beppo benutzt bei seinen Pizzen jedoch eine Art Käse, die mehr nach Erbrochenem als nach Käse riecht. Zudem ertrinkt dieses teigige etwas in einem See von Öl.
Hätten wir doch nur die Pasta genommen, die wäre vielleicht gut gewesen.

After our all day adventure at Universal Studios we were ready to eat, didn’t really want to pay exorbitant price for food at the park.
Ordered small portions which serves 2 – 3 people, versus the large which serves 5 – 6 people.
Caesars Salad, Calamari, Baked Ziti, and Chicken Stuffed with Prosciutto.
We asked for bread and our waiter Jared brought us half a loaf, and put out Olive Oil with Balsamic Vinegar to dip it in.
The food was flavorful and very hot. I feel bad for the staff if they have guest upstairs, they definitely get their exercise!

My first time here with some co-​workers and honestly the food was good the sirachi chicken pasta and the pizza was good. Although, to me the alcoholic drink wasent that good it was way too strong and I love drinking. Haha… the portions are huge so be careful on what you order.

I took my mom and dad here to try for their first time. Surprisingly we have never eaten here as a family, even though we have lived near City Walk for over 20+ years.
We all only had water cause no one wanted to drink, which was fine.
We came for dinner so parking not on Halloween horror night/​day hours so it came out to be $ 10.
Walking to here was super easy since it was right around the corner from where we parked.
Sizes here are HUGE for those who don’t eat a lot. Small = 2+ person, Large = 4+ person. If you eat a lot of carbs in general you probably should just order the large unless you want to try different things then order 2 smalls.
As for the food we ordered, we got small basket of garlic bread ($ 10), small dish Ravioli with Meat Sauce ($ 23) and small dish for Shrimp Florentine ($ 29).
My dad ate the whole plate of ravioli plus half the shrimp Florentine and most of the garlic bread. My mom and I shared the shrimp florentine and only had a piece of ravioli from my dad’s plate. I seriously don’t know where he puts all that food.
We had $ 20 groupon deal so it was like paying for a lil over half the actual bill in the end. The waiter and waitresses were super nice. If you need cell reception for coupons you need to walk outside. Remember to print or screenshot ahead of time to avoid having to walk out to have access.

On the weekends it can get very busy, so we waited 30 minutes for a party of 5. We ordered our food and it arrived rather quick. But when we asked for oil and vinegar for our bread, or napkins and refills it took our waiter a while to get it. He was very busy with other parties. The food is delicious, we ordered a large pepperoni pizza and Mac n cheese. The ambiance is nice, just the service was lacking.

we LOVE buca…
My kids love the service, the food, the bread, and yes the décor of the restaurant. This is not the first buca that we went to, we only come here if we were to go to universal and as the matter of fact, this is my first time coming to this location. And we came here after we had an awesome experience at ifly hollywood.
I love coming here again because of another amazing buca coupon. National Lasagna Day, all lasagna were 50% off. The bill was $ 14.16 including tax, prior to tipping amount for a small dinner lasagna, and we couldn’t even finish it (we as in me and my two children). with tips it will be about $ 16.50 to feed us 3. wow… cheap… and delicious. LOVE IT.
Also, for the last two times I was at buca (universal location and brea location), we got a complimentary pictures (of course you can purchase more), they haven’t done this in a while, I had another two complimentary pictures from years ago.
Food: love the food, I had better italian food (aka more authentic for sure for sure) at few of my favorite hole in the wall (my favorite is
I grew up eating this thing, they used to called alejo’s), but I will still come back to Buca, just cause the service is great, restaurant is a service industry, as we all know it, if the service is bad, I won’t go back. At buca, they have very good customer service, very attentive, always checking to see if we need anything else, like bread, water, or need anything.
Again, my kids always enjoy looking at different pictures on the wall or eating their unlimited supply of bread, we come hungry, and always always leave happy. Kids happy = mom happy
Other location I’ve been to: (pasadena, brea, garden grove, irvine)
Tips: you can request to sit at the kitchen at any location, but yes you have to RSVP for that one. We did that one time at the pasadena location during the most busiest season of all Thanksgiving

Good ol’ Buca – came here with 3 others after spending the day at Universal Studios. Just a heads up, you do have to pay for parking in order to dine here, but we had already paid for parking since we were at the park. I’ve never been to this location before, but they gave the usual tour through the kitchen and around the dining area to see all of the neat photos covering the walls. I definitely feel like Buca offers quite the dining experience and is good for really any group or occasion – from family gatherings, to celebrations and date nights, you’re just winning by coming here.
We were celebrating a birthday and were told we’d receive something towards the end of our meal. Our server was friendly and cautioned us to order family style so that we wouldn’t end up with leftovers and thanks to his suggestion, we ordered just the right amount. We started off with the caesar salad to share which was good; pretty small but a perfect portion for the four of us. We were also served bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The bread was cold and well, not good. I’m such a fan of bread – I honestly eat 2 baskets of bread to myself if the bread is good or even just ok but this bread, I was out after one small piece. Buuuut we didn’t come here for the bread, we came here for the pasta, so we were fine with shoving the bread to the corner of the table and saving ourselves the useless carbs. We ordered the spaghetti with meatballs and meat sauce. (It usually comes with one or the other, but for a small up-​charge of $ 3, you can have both!) It was so good, and the meatballs were incredibly huge; the size of my fist! The spaghetti, although yum, could have used a little more tomato sauce. We also ordered the spicy chicken rigatoni, which was a huge hit and just so happens to be my favorite pasta from here (I must have good taste or something.) It comes with crushed chili flakes and overall has a good, bold flavor with a kick at the end. The rigatoni was cooked perfectly al dente, which is how the Italians do it, so applauds to you, Buca di Beppo.
Our server was pretty busy and helped the bussers a lot with cleaning and setting up tables so we didn’t mind that he wasn’t as attentive as I’d usually like. In the middle of our meal a photographer came around to take a handful of photos of us and gave us a complementary photo collage to remember our experience. To my surprise, the single 8×5 photo collage was the birthday freebie rather than a dessert! BUT not to worry, I’m signed up with their mailing list and found a free colossal brownie when dining in. We redeemed the offer and saved a whopping $ 12 on this bad boy. I’m so happy we had that coupon because the dessert is definitely not worth the $ 12. The brownie pieces were rock hard, and the ice cream was completely melted. They claim the colossal brownie comes with 6 scoops each of vanilla and chocolate ice cream, but it definitely looked like 2 scoops each, melted. Other than the sad dessert, I’m happy with my experience at this Buca location and always enjoy eating at Buca in general.

Two words; food poisoning
I grew up in a 3^rd world country and believe me, my stomach can withstand a whole lot of random edibles! Buca has given me food poisoning twice now! I also know of 3 others who have had the same experience. Something is up with your food. Please check on it!
Food has good flavors but not worth having to curl up in fetal position the next day!

Buca di Beppo, The Chuckee Cheese of Italian Food
I don’t review chain restaurants usually but after being here regretfully 4 times, the case of Buca di Beppo needs to be addressed.
This place just overall doesn’t make sense to me. From the food to the silly floor plans it fails.
I can see how the try hard nostalgic «good ol Sicilian Grandparents living room» feeling with the obscure décor, tight hallways, and photographs does have its touristy gimmicky appeal to some. Its just a bit off putting to me. Call me a hater.
Pros:
— Large portions with a LARGE prices (I guess thats not really a pro)
— Good for large parties
–Service always seemed scripted but it is pleasant and the servers have always been helpful
Cons:
–Absolutley mediocore at best food, have had most menu items and just not a fan (desserts are good however)
–Very loud with children’s cries making an appearance at some point during the meal
–Ridiculously small plates
–A Difficult restaurant to navigate
–Overall super cheesy vibe with a recycled concept that lacks any feeling of credibility as Italian food
After hearing the meatball, pasta birthday anthem the staff sings to birthday guests for the 5^th time and looking down at my plate of watered down tomato sauce and stale bread, I have associated this place with the likes of (gasp) CHILIS, TGIF, and APPLEBEES: 0

My family and I decided to try this Buca di Beppo after having a terrible experience at the Huntington Beach location. The service was very good. The manager visited our table several times to make sure we were taken care of.
We ordered the Lasagna, Chicken Parmesan and Baked Ziti platters. Both the Lasagna and Chicken Parmesan were excellent! However, we did not care for the Baked Ziti and sent it back to the kitchen. The manager was kind enough to take it off our bill and provide us with complimentary dessert.

I know my other reviews of Buca di Beppo locations were less than kind. I’ll give this place three great stars, and two of them are for Jennifer. She was great – kept the water flowing, lively banter, friendly, quick and didn’t rush the food, which… is worth one star. Expensive, too salty and served so hot it took 10 minutes before I could take a bite. The restaurant’s own wireless doesn’t work (unless you have Verizon, you won’t get any cell coverage in CityWalk or Universal Studios).

I have such a soft spot for Buca. My main concern is that I wish there were more in Los Angeles that weren’t so hard to access.
With that being said, the biggest con of this location is, well, the location. It is one of the many flashy chain restaurants in the Universal City Walk, so expect to pay $ 10 to park (if you’re going here only for food). That’s a pretty steep price in my opinion.
But Buca itself is great. I’ve always been seated almost immediately, even on busy weekend nights. As most Bucas are, they are huge and festive on the inside. Their family style dishes are usually more than enough for a table of two with leftovers to take home too. I usually get an order of their garlic bread and ask for a side of marinara sauce and then the spicy chicken rigatoni.
I would highly recommend this place for a large family or a group looking for a fun, filling place to have dinner!
If you’re a frequent of Buca, my pro tip is to sign up for their mailing list. They are super generous and frequent with coupons.