Recommends

Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

Get cozy with friends and family and enjoy an Italian feast at this loved-by-locals restaurant.. In Short
Homesick for your mother's Italian cooking? Grab your appetite and head to this restaurant, where the friendly wait staff will serve up portions of Colosseum-esque proportions, like spaghetti and meatballs loaded with savory tomato sauce and lots of pungent garlic. Dishes center on Southern Italian immigrant fare, and are meant to be shared family-style with a large goblet of wine-to enhance the taste, of course. The ornate décor with walls covered in vintage photos evokes a warm homey feel that welcomes customers to dine among the other families and loyal customers. Buon Appetito!

Recommends

abeal7572

Joined 7 years ago

Best Italian restaurant in the world possibly.. This is the ONLY chain restaurant that Iwould jump out of my seat to recommend other than Capital Grille or Smith & Wollensky's for steaks. This is the greatest restaurant for Italian that I have ever had and I have had great Italian food in New Jersey, New York, Vegas, etc. etc.

This place really is something else. Quit going to that garbage Olive Garden, Carraba's, or Macaroni Saltfest Grill. This place DESTROYS THEM!

Doesn't Recommend

kiegan73192

Joined 6 years ago

Dont waste your time.. This is homeade italian food gone wrong. The only thing that i liked was the antipasto salad. We got veal parmesan and some other chicken pasta dish. The veal was terrible it was tough and the sauce was not even sauce it was like dice up tomatoes that were extremely tart. I had to put a mountain of parmesan cheese on it just to force it down. I dont care if thats how its suppost to taste it was down right the worst italian meal i have ever had. As far as the chicken dish it was better than the veal but still had that bland tart tomato sauce on it this time they were actually blended up though. So find a different place to eat this is surely not worth the money.

Doesn't Recommend

azreader

Joined 6 years ago

Chef Boy-ar-Dee. Compliments to the chef - Chef Boy-Ar-Dee, that is. The pre-prepared Italian food at Buca ranges from mediocre to outright horrible. I guess they figure most people won't know the difference, and the are mostly right, judging by the other reviews. My "quatro" dish containing 4 types of baked pasta was disgustingly overcooked, and mostly tasteless. I also noticed that they did not print the prices on their drinks menu, always a big red flag. What are they ashamed of? Charging $4.50 for a bottle of domestic beer, for one. Shame on you, Buca. My service was actually pretty good, given that the place seemed to be barely organized chaos. Be careful where you sit, as some areas of the restaurant can be annoyingly LOUD.

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gatorspirit

Joined 7 years ago

Italian Dining. Great Italian food (not like the Olive Garden) in a family oriented atmsophere! I especially love their bread :)

Doesn't Recommend

muranodiva

Joined 7 years ago

Failed expectations. I was excited to try a new italian restaurant with the many great reviews I had heard. The place was entirely packed on a Sunday night full of screaming kids at some birthday dinner party that took up half the restaurant. The food was not very good either. I love caeser salads, but the one they served up was pretty awful. I ordered a chicken dish that was below par too. I usually give a restaurant 3 strikes your out but this is one of the few that gets eliminated on the first try.

I would not recommend it based on the food alone.

Recommends

petruolo1963

Joined 9 years ago

Outstanding establishment. Just being located in what is considered Old Scottsdale makes it really nice. My wife and I fall in love with the Phoenix area everytime we make it out there! I come from an old Italian tradition and I felt right at home. We will be looking foward to coming out that way again soon(we hope) and when we do,we will make it to this restaurant.

Recommends

aznursie

Joined 10 years ago

Fantastic Place. My son, daughter-in-law, my date, and I were treated to the most impressive dining experience when we arrived for dinner one night. The staff was fun, thoughtful, professional and treated us to the "kitchen" booth. We could view the preparation of all the delicious dishes. We were encouraged to browse through the remainder of the restaurant and it was overall a delicious and fun experience. I would highly recommend Buca Di Beppo to all. Thanks to the great staff for such a fine experience!

Doesn't Recommend

frank860

Joined 10 years ago

Marginal at best-find something else.. If everything else is closed and you don't want to cook, hey, it's edible. But if you were raised on REAL Italian cooking, you are not going to be fooled. I agree with the "too large" portions. Why? Charge less and serve a normal portion. VERY noisy when we were there (not just normal "Italian Restaurant" but irritating). One of our party got sick & stayed home with her hubby. When we told the hostess, she tried to boot us from the special room we'd requested and reserved, "because it's only for parties of 15 or more." Yeah, real friendly greeting. Room was great, server was friendly, food was marginal...and way too much to eat. Maybe if it tasted really good, I'd be interested in leftovers.....

Doesn't Recommend

lwfrazier

Joined 10 years ago

Best of Phoenix -- No Way!. The food is mediocre with quantity as justification for the price. After spending many years dining on The Hill in St. Louis, I can definitely tell you this is not Italian food (unless you like yours out of a can). Try Casa Mia in Scottsdale if you want the real thing.