This year for father’s day my mom decided she wanted to try
something new. So I looked through the
large pile of coupons and found one new place.
I found a coupon for a free desert for dad on father’s day only. So we drove across town for an early dinner
at Buca Di Beppo.
There
was a nice covered walkway from the parking lot to the door. There was a little outdoor sitting area to
the right of the entrance. They also had
a few chairs just inside the door. The hostess station was this massive dark
wooden platform that looked like it belonged in a large church. I did like looking at all the pictures that
covered every inch of the walls. Pictures of laughing nuns butted up against
pictures of Marilyn Monroe type beauties in bathing suits. There were also a
few pictures of elderly men and women with dogs. My mom gave them her name and they told us it
would be a twenty minute wait. Which
when you think about it is not too bad for father’s day.
When
they called our name, the waiter lead us through the kitchen, of all places. I
was even more surprised to find a family of four or five sitting at a booth
built into the wall. Right there in the kitchen! We were seated at a small
round table right next to the kitchen door. I had to push myself half under the
table to make sure I was out of the way.
Large trays piled with food whizzed past my head the whole time. I
forgot how many times I was brushed up against that night. It really is a
wonder that none of my hair ended up in someone’s food or even the other way
around. There were so many people there
talking all at once that it gave me a migraine trying to hear what my mom was
saying. Eventually I gave up trying, took an aspirin and just looked at all the
photos.
Oh
don’t get me wrong they were very fast about asking for our drinks and the
drinks themselves were very good but it took them forever to bring them. Both of my parents ordered cocktails. White
Russian for my mom and whiskey sour with bitters for my dad. Their drinks did not
come until after we were already done with the salad. At least my parent’s both
agreed that their drinks were very good. Our family style bowl of salad came
and we served ourselves just like at Olive Garden, except Olive Garden salad is
much better.
After
our drinks showed up and the salad plates were taken away, our waitress brought
out warm bread and plain olive oil. The bread was very good but I wish they had
brought it with the salad. Plain olive oil is better left in the kitchen.
Being a
family style restaurant, all the dishes are meant to be shared. This worked out
well for my parents who shared a pesto stuffed chicken. I, being the vegetarian
that I am, had to choose from a very small side menu. I ended up settling on fettuccine alferdo. My parents loved their steaming out pesto
chicken and even I must say, the pesto was amazing. I added a nice spoonful of it to my own
barely warm pasta. I wish there had been more.
They honored
the coupon and brought out a nice sized Canoli for my dad. He was nice enough to share it with my mom
and me. It was a noodle shaped cookie filled with creamy white custard. I still don’t really know how to describe the
taste of the custard, except to say it had a faint nutty taste to it. Though it
really was something more. The whole thing
was drizzled in rich dark chocolate.
The bill came and I was surprised to find tip suggestions at
the bottom. 15% 18% and 20%. I really
don’t know what to say about that. Even
with good cocktails and great pesto it was not worth $70 for three people.
Buca’s is not a place for veggies like me and I will
consider buying a gift card for my parents but I will never eat there again.