Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Forest Hills

Hyped this place up a lot to my family because I have had their food togo but never went in, that was for the best. My brother, sister and I are triplets and wanted to celebrate our birthday here by getting dessert to finish off our evening. We had 7 people in our party total, the parking lot was dead when we pulled up and the hostess didn’t say a word to us. We asked for a table and mentioned we were only here for desserts celebrating our birthday. We then waited in the almost empty restaurant for 15 minutes while they “checked on a table” We got seated and the waiter immediately started saying that we couldn’t only order dessert and that we had to order a penne pasta too, then the next we were told is that there was a special button on the computer that he can use that is going away conveniently after today. After getting waters for the table the waiter asks if we’d like to start with any appetizers and we all just looked puzzled because we had already mentioned twice we only wanted dessert. Clearly upset by that he says okay and asks for our menus before we could even look at the desserts then walks away. While the waiter did whatever he did in the kitchen my family and I exchanged glances and I finally just asked if anyone else felt extremely unwanted here. We all agreed and decided it was best to celebrate our birthday somewhere they actually want us. We got up to leave and walked by our waiter as he was speaking to another table, completely ignored them in the middle of his sentence and repeatedly asked what was wrong and why were we leaving as we walked by. When we spoke up front in the lobby before going we got nasty looks from 4-5 servers now standing behind the waiter as we explain that we were simply just disappointed and felt unwanted and uncomfortable. The manager tried to get my mother to stay but I told him we felt so uncomfortable and that we just wanted to leave. My family has all worked in the restaurant business and I understand that a just dessert table is not the prettiest penny for servers but just getting dessert here for 7 people is also around $70 or more. We were not just trying to come and get a free dessert and leave which was what the staff assumed. Instead of communicating that to us they just treated us terribly and were surprised when we left. I couldn’t believe that they wouldn’t want customers coming in to even just get dessert judging by how empty the restaurant was. Every expectation was a let down and this ruined our birthday celebration as well as make my mother cry because of how awful and embarrassing the...

Recommendation: AVOID AT ALL COST

OVERVIEW Date: 10/21/2024, at Time: 7:30pm for my birthday. Occupancy: less then 25% occupancy Server: Savanah Food Ordered: Appetizer Trio, Stuffed Shells, Kids Chicken Parmigiana

BACKGROUND We have made it a family tradition to go to Buca. It was the last time my mother and my wife's grandmother were together. So it has a special place in our family. We started in the Chicago suburb area when we lived in there. Since then, we have dined at Buca's in Milwaukee, WI; Los Angeles, California (before they closed them); various locations throughout Florida, Texas, and Georgia. With that said...this has been by far the worst experience of our life.

REVIEW OF SERVICE The hostess was very friendly and we were seated immediately.

Our server, Savanah, was very rushed with us (I am not sure if she had a larger table or something). Literally the server next to us, Charley, attempted to cover for her (he was brilliant. However, we told him to take care of his tables and we would be ok). She stared out ok but, we ordered calamari but she convinced us to purchase the appetizer trio (shrimp, fried cheese, and calamari. The fried cheese and calamari were cold. The cheese was still solid on the inside. We told her, she then told us, "I literally saw them plate this" I asked did it come from a warmer or fresh out of the oil? Or, did you see the shrimp (the only hot item), come out of the oil and everything else was already plated? After that, she finally decided to ask if we wanted to remove it from the bill or have them prepare it again. I asked if they would make it fresh. And I apologized profusely (we are not those type of people).

Once she brought the new dish, the marinara was not in a dish but in a small plastic ramekin. Far from enough for the amount of food provided with the trio and less than a third of what was previously provided.

It got to the point we just asked for the check (we were there less than 30 minutes). Savannah brought the check then began clearing the table...we were still eating, food on the plates and she picked them up.

REVIEW OF FOOD Every dish we ordered was cold (not being overly critical but literally every dish)

The stuffed shells were to have Alfredo on top and bedded in marinara. There was very little marinara and the Alfredo was virtually absent.

The stuffing in the shells had not been melted. This was a huge indicator that the food had not reached temperature.

The food...

So why all the good stars for great food, atmosphere and good service then the 2 star rating? Customer interface! They sent me an email for $25 off of $50. Easy right? I read the entire email, no where does it say what the coupon code is. I call the store, the young lady that helped me said come on in and we will fix it when I get there. Ok, I order.

I get there and I am told since I ordered online, they can't honor the coupon code. "Ok, show me where the code is please." There is a red medallion in the center of the email and it copies a coupon code to my phone. Not labeled, no "push here for coupon code", nothing. This is a "Can I please speak to a manager" moment. She comes over and tells me there is nothing that can be done since the order was placed online and that she is sorry. She next tried to pitch the staff under the bus about the coupon, but if they don't know, its a managerial problem, not a staff problem.

She resolves the issue to my future satisfaction and I take my food home. Great stuff! Love the Spicy Arrabbiata pizza! Its great! The spaghetti hit the spot and the Tiramisu was, well, more than I could ask for. I don't mind that at full price it is not a "high value" place. Honestly it is a bit pricey but when we don't want to cook its a great option. Besides, I was supposed to get $25 off and that would have made it very reasonable.

I then went back to my order conformation email. There was a "contact us" link that didn't work and thus I am here. Yet another melt down in function from the corporate side. Even more evidence of poor corporate decision making and sloppy customer interface.

Don't get me wrong, the people were as nice as they could be under the circumstances, the food was great. But sadly, the corporation and their systems are a mess. There is even some sort of kerfuffle with gift cards that were from the previous corporation not being honored. They need to fix their customer facing systems and stop leaving people on the ground holding the bag to apologize for...