Buon Appetito Italian Bistro — Restaurant in Heber

As we walked into the restaurant, we were ushered out to the patio. Unfortunately, there was very little shade, and it was very hot outside. We waited nearly 20 minutes to even receive a menu, let alone receive linens, silverware, and water. We order appetizers to start. After 15 minutes, a manager or owner, I'm not sure, came out and told us it was going to be at least 20 more minutes before our food would be ready. Our kids were hungry, we'd been there for over 30 minutes already. We politely told her we would need to leave if that was the case. She begged us to stay, and then disappeared. She was apologetic, explaining that there was a large party of 35 inside. That is fine, but it is hard to understand why we had to be treated like the second priority.

She came out a few minutes later with some cheese focaccia bread. I'm not sure how they determined this was focaccia bread. Very flat and tough. It was ok where the cheese and pesto was, but this was not a bread where anyone wants the crust. Caked in cornmeal, dry, and flat.

We finished and waited for over 20 minutes to receive our meals. A pizza arrived, which was made out of the same tough crust as the cheese bread. Tastes like they forgot to add salt to the dough. The food is good, but not great. The service was sub par, not good enough to return. The meal was overpriced. I've had better. Overall, quite disappointed in this experience.

Our waiter really struggled through the night. He didn't provide menus to us for at least 15 minutes. He spilled a tray with glasses of water, stepped on someone's dog's water dish, and showering the woman sitting there with the water. He seemed like a fish out of water. Not sure if he was new, or just trying to help out for the evening, but clearly did not have table waiting experience.

Overall, an unfortunate evening. We likely...

our 30th anniversary. we went there twice, saturday 6-4-22 lunch and 6-5-22 dinner-our 30th anniversary weekend. that should mean something. 1st visit pizza and Caesar salad and ending with tiramisu- was a 4.5 star. anniversary dinner at 7pm appetizer eggplant (involtini) then entree Caesar salad with chicken and pasta chick alfredo. should have brought the appetizer with their bread but bread was extra another side entry expense - real cheap. i asked for bread since the appetizer was real small. then a long while later - the people after us already eating- was supposed to bring two entrees together. instead waiter announced they didn’t have the caesar dressing. he wanted to offer alternatives but 2 problems. already waiting long. and we didn’t want anything else. i wanted to eat WITH my wife , not after she is finished. then 2 minutes later they brought the pasta . small and glaze of - standing finished in a microwave reheated- prior my wife saw them delivering our pasta to the table behind us (ordered after us but were eating before us.) table behind said they didn’t order it. waitress took it, was stopped at door by our waiter who disappeared with it, then came back with it reheated and that is why it had that slight crust glaze over it at delivery. now my wife and i shared half the meal and skipped out of the tiramisu too. bill came, involtini 11.99$ instead of 9.99$ as per menu. it was nice sitting outside. the restaurant is new i hear 3 months. buono appetito better gets its act together urgently and modiifies its attitude or else they will be gone by november. they show great food and service potential. that wrong food delivery and redelivery is a habit - we saw them doing twice. they brought is water with ice. we don’t ice in water. so the waiter took it and gave to the people behind is. bad habit. you do...

Glad there is another Italian place in Heber again. But like all the others, its already doomed to fail.

Once again we are treated to rather decent food, at a big dinner price, with a small dinner portion. 5 Cheese Ravioli? Awesome. The serving size of a can of Chef Boyardee? At more than $10+? Not awesome. I had the chicken parmesan, which the chicken was great, the spaghetti? Let's just say there are better choices of marina sitting over on the shelves in the grocery store.

The table bread? Just a couple of really small pieces of bread with enough butter to cover 3 at most. Have to ask for the vinegar and olive oil if you want it but they charge extra for more super small slices of bread and butter.

We came early before their dinner rush and the wait staff was still struggling to make minor checks on the tables. We had an absolute Karren next to us and sadly I had to agree with her frustration, for her sake; she was waiting for the waitress after being seated for 15 minutes before she got up and got someones attention. Our waiter decided to go MIA when he should have brought our check.

All and all, just another Heber restaurant trying to justify its overpriced food at the cost of quantity. Which has proven to be a failing business strategy for 2/3 of Heber's now extinct restaurants. Not to mention this place sits in the infamous cursed location for failed restaurants. The customers with lots of money will keep coming in for awhile, then they'll get bored and go to better places they were already going to, then that will be the end of this place. But, so glad Heber's more well off customer base have another place to spend their money 🙄. As for the rest of us, there are always better and cheaper locations for Italian just over the mountains.

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