Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Peoria

I just wanted to truly say thank you to the Buca di Beppo Team!

I was trying to find somewhere to hold my husband's surprise birthday party. I had looked at many different places and options. Some places didn't have good facilities, or enough parking that would accommodate some of the group that have physcial disabilities. Some places wanted you to jump through hoops to have food catered. Some places could not accommodate a large group. Some places had group dining, but were extremely restrictive on the food choices available. This is not ideal when trying to accommodate different flavor palates and dietary needs. Some places never replied back, even after they had started discussing availability. NONE of this was a problem for Buca di Beppo!!

Tired and starting to have a serious migraine, I walked in to the Buca di Beppo at Arrowhead. After asking the host, Rafael, if they could accommodate a large party of around 30 people or more, he happily took me up stairs to show me around. He was great at explaining how things could be set up and what would work depending on the final number of people coming. He then brought me back downstairs and asked if I wanted to set up a reservation. After having so many issues with other places, I was a little hesitant on making a decision. He then had the manager, Robert, come out to talk to me further about questions I had. He was so kind and answered all the questions I could think of at that time. Little did Robert know I was going to have so many more questions! I was starting to stress about the fluction of the amount of people and trying to figure out how to make things work in my budget. He graciously worked with me, from beginning to the end. He was even there a little bit after everyone arrived that evening! He appears to be a "working" manager, which I have much respect for.

Aaron and Shelby were our servers and did a great job with taking care of our large group. Aaron even took mind to the fact we had birthday cake that Robert let us bring in (mind you some places don't allow that). Instead of bringing out the brownie/ice cream birthday treat they do, he brought him out just some ice cream. They still added the whip cream and sprinkles to make it look happy. My husband loves ice cream, so this was just topping on the cake, haha.

Everyone had such a great time. It was nice to relax and enjoy the moment. Thank you for giving me such a great gift, even though it wasn't my birthday! I have great memories to look back on.

P.S. Rafael is a foodie and even tried to help me find some bbq places to have my husband try. He is the epitome of what a good host should be. He is kind, proactive and reactive. He makes sure the customer...

After my long term commitment to Olive Garden had ended due to a mutual decision, I discovered Buca di Beppo. This place is an Italian Fever Dream mixed in with the painting section at a goodwill, but all the paintings are of spaghetti, people eating spaghetti, and/or Nuns. Very inviting atmosphere, like your great grandma’s living room, except your grandmother is Italian. The decor is striking and vibrant like a neon sign, sporting colors red, white, and red and white checkered. This too, feels authentic. As well as Italian. This is the perfect place to bring anyone. A girlfriend, your boss, Jimmy Hendrix, or anyone really. No matter who you bring, they’ll realize exactly what you’re after: Fresh Bread for the table. If I ever need to carbo load, I’ll be coming here. If I want to celebrate a victory in either monopoly or Jumanji, I’ll come here. Or if I want to drown my sorrows in an aesthetically pleasing display of balsamic vinaigrette and extra virgin olive oil, I will be here and likely order 3 of the Birthday sundaes even if my birthday is half a calendar year away. This place is very Italian if it wasn’t clear. Did I mention it was Italian? I feel like I may have forgotten to mention that it was Italian just then. Jarrett was our server, and he wasn’t Italian but we could never hold that against him with his impeccable service. He was great to talk to and gave great recommendations. Will be back for him as well as the bread respectively. I tried to feed some of my Alfredo to this cartoon dog here, however a tempered glass barrier prevented this mission from being carried out and he was left hungry and I had extra Alfredo. Pretty conflicted about it because that Alfredo was delicious and I could see why he wanted it. Maybe it didn’t work because he wasn’t Italian. Our failed carb-caper had left sauce on my screen and after leaving the restaurant the only ads I get now are Italian vogue and every recommendation on my Netflix account is Call Me by your Name. A+ Experience, learned a lot and I will definitely be back for...

Save your money, go elsewhere. We went for an event, the guy at the front was short tempered with us as we waited in the lobby to be seated. He wanted to know how many kids and how many adults were in our party before seating us. He was pretty rude about it. We gave him an estimate, and when we were seated, he said the adults would have to share menus because there weren't enough, we got like 5 menus for a party of 20. We were seated in a reasonable space for the group, but the temperature in the room was hot. They had a portable A/C that was blowing out air to the side of the room where No one was sitting. The waiters were nice, but looked rushed as if they were understaffed. Their main focus were the adults when it came to refills, the kids were not asked or even though about. One of the kids finished their drink, the ice melted, he drank that and still did not get a refill. We had to ask a few times, I was not happy. When the food finally arrived, it was bland. There was no flavor and the ingredients used were not quality ingredients. The chicken was dry, the Mac and cheese tasted like it came from a craft mac and cheese box, the individual pizza looked like a flour tortilla with melted cheese on it, the stuffed shells were watery with no flavor. The highlight of the night was the cake that was not from the restaurant. We all left unsatisfied with our meals and the cost. In my opinion, you're better off making your own Italian food at home or going somewhere else. Frozen lasagna taste better than the one served here, the chicken from Sam's club taste better, Chick-fil-A has better mac and cheese... Honestly, ANY frozen pasta with filling will have more flavor than anything we...