Buca di Beppo

What an atmosphere! Volumes of food, and great service. Bring your appetite!

This place is a joke! No Thanks! Never ever!

Love Buca's! Extremely fun atmosphere and good food. Didn't realize at first that this was a chain. Doesn't have that chain feel or taste. Great place to go with a group of people for a night of fun! Recommned the kitchen table for added fun!

Arbiata pizza, large beers, lemon alchol. Excellent

Lively, fun, warm feeling atmosphere. Food is really wonderful. Great place for everyone to talk and have great time and enjoy great food.

Great food, fun atmosphere, good service, well priced. Great place for a family dinner. The portions are huge and are meant to be shared.

This place is awesome! The decor takes you back in time! Black and white photo's and interesting Italian history. The lighting is nice and dim to give that nice laid back atmosphere or even that romantic touch. The food is heavenly. The service is nice and the place is filled with great people!

Warning: their food may promote good digestion and cause you to spend great evening in company of friends! :) Well - their food in not very fancy. Menu is quite basic and prices are not a steal. But it has everything a soul needs!! They offer seafood, chicken, beef, tomato sauces, pasta, pizza, cheeses, salads, and, of course, desserts. I am a great fan of seafood, tomatos along with cheese - but I do not like feeling sleepy after all that pasta. Well - not a problem. You can order a dish without pasta. The place is very decorated. Service is very friendly. Manu is hard to understand if you are not familiar with Italian food - but waiters are always ready to explain what everything is. The one and only time I've gone there I ordered Shrimp Parmigiana and was very happy not feeling overfull/sick from the food. I'll definitely be proud to recommend this place to my friends.

Service excellent, staff and food exceeded our expectations. I had so much fun I booked the Popes table for next week.

Anyone who's ever been to a dinner with a large Italian family, and lived to tell about it, will enjoy Bucca (obviously some of the reviewers don't understand this). The food is to dye for, the enviroment is invigorating!! This is not a place you go to expecting everything to run on a tight schedule. From the moment you enter the kitchen on the way to your table you will realize this is a dining experience unlike any other. Come relax, eat, drink and be merry! As fast a people drive around here you would think they would have time to sit back and enjoy a good meal with family, friends and evryone else in the restaurant.

We took my boss Dora to Buca di Beppo's for her birthday. Everyone there love the food and thought the service was excellent. Since then Dora has been to Buca's twice. I would recommend Buca di Beppo Restraurant to anyone who likes real Italian food.

I went to San Diego visiting some relatives, and we (4 people) found this place on downtown, we enter without knowing nothing about the restaurant and it was excellent! They take us on a trip for the kitchen, when you can see how the chefs cook your plates, it has a nice atmosphere, and the food was pretty good and plentyl, our waiter, was excellent. In fact we talk with 3 waiters and they were very good as well, ok, maybe one of them was a little bit clueless, but notrhing to worry about. And about the decoration, I thought it was funny, of course that you have to be in the mood for it. I don't think we were lucky, so I'll continue going to see if I am wrong (hoping not).

I'm just appalled at how poorly rated this restaurant is. The reviews certainly don't match the fact that the place is 'packed' at all times. The service may not be the best but you don't expect it in a very busy place. You go there for the atmosphere, definitely Italian family style (I lived in Italy) and the good food (extremely tasty). Love the various dining rooms! You can't get any more special than that. I'm glad that an establishment opened up in North County making it more accessible for me.

Buca is a being poorly rated...Why? The first time I ate at Buca's was 3 years ago in Brea, CA. When in first came to OC it was very crowded and you had to wait a long time to be seated. In 2 years Buca opened in Universal City Walk, and Huntington Beach. The service in these two restaurants were excellent. I went to Buca's in Downtown SD last month, and yeah it did take awhile to be seated cause it is very crowded. But that is the only Buca's in San Diego. The service is great and the food is excellent. This restaurant is great for large party's. or even for a family of 4 or more. This restaurant is not ideal for dinner for 2 even though they do have a meal for 2 but will still cost over 30 dollars. It is way too much food for 2 people as well. You don't order food for yourself, it's all family size portions. Buca's is a great place to eat. Try to reserve a seat in the kitchen and watch the cooks in action.

The food was very hoome like and delicious. The portions were generous. I'm still not sure if I know what "Family Style Dining" means. But overall, I enjoyed everything.

This place is definately a spot to choose for the big appetite. You can choose from a regular or large size portion of your meal and they are filling! Once you see how big the portions are, you'll be in complete awe! When they say large, they mean large! You really do get what you pay for...and it is quite an affordable restraunt. The service is definately friendly and very helpful. Buca di Beppo has a well rounded atmosphere.

I have been to this restaurant 3 or 4 times already and have yet to be disappointed. Great friends atmosphere, good food in huge portions at a reasonable cost. This is a fun, loud atmosphere, don't go there expecting a quiet romantic dinner, it is not what this place is about. Highly recommend the tortillini, was great!

The food was very good.Although the service wasn't that great.I still enjoyed my experience.

I was reluctant to go to this restaurant because of all the rumors I heard about the poor service. I am glad I did, the food was good and plentiful and our server, Amy, was excellent. In fact the assistant servers were very good as well. Maybe I hit it lucky, so I'll have to go back and see.

The portion sizes are enormous. The food is good but not great. Ask about the "pope" table. Bathroom decorations are downright disturbing (you'll see). I would recommend this place if you want to eat massive amounts of cheap pasta in a super casual environment.

I writing this review mainly because there is a lot o mix reaction to this place..we,a party of 12,5 being children enjoyed our visit immensely.I even think the dishes were better than average...Having grown up with Italian families in N.J. I have a good reference point for this cusine...Its good,tasty and plenty...enough to take home for another day....The waiting crowd and the full dining area says something about its popularity....fhj

I SAW THIS RESTAURANT HAS NOT GOTTEN THE CREDIT IT DESERVES IN A LOT OF OTHER REVIEWS. THIS IS NOT A ROMANTIC RESTAURANT, IT'S LIKE DINING IN AN ITALIAN HOME WITH A HUGE FAMILY IT IS LOUD AND THEY DEFINETALY SQUEEZE AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE INTO IT, BUT IT'S A GREAT PLACE FOR LARGE PARTY'S. ALL MEALS ARE FAMILY SIZED PORTIONS, SO YOU CAN ORDER A BUNCH OF DIFFRENT THINGS AND SHARE. I CAN NEVER DECIDE WHAT I WANT AND HERE YOU DON'T HAVE TO. WE HAVE MADE THIS OUR BIRTHDAY GATHERING PLACE. I LIKE THIS PLACE...

If your looking for a "fine" dining experience this is not the place for you. This place reminds me of my good friend's house and the ton of people who used to show up for Sunday dinner. The food was good and certainely more than enought. The service wasn't bad, our server really knew her stuff and most anything we asked about the place. I believe her name was Amy or Anne. Sorry. Good for a family meal at a reasonable price.

Man, so my dinner date and i go there and the place has a 15 min wait...and we have reservations. well, then we get the tour which was cool. it meant they had nothing to hide! well, our server came by like two times the whole time. once i asked for the wine list, she brings it and didn't come back until like 20 minutes later! "Oh! I don't want anything to drink, I was just curious!" DUH!!! I may go back because a competent server would have put this place over the top. the salmon was the best i've EVER had.

The food is good, the pictures on the walls are fun. The house Chianti is drinkable.

Mmmm, this place is fun and very family sized portions. If you plan on chatting a lot over a meal, this is the place to go. The food is really good too. I go to the Mira Mesa location and I haven't had a problem with service

We've eaten here a number of times, myself and my roommate, and we really do enjoy it. It takes a while to get a seat, sure, but the lobby is PACKED! I feel so bad for that hostess! Sme must have to deal with 300 people a night! We always get a table, in spite of the wait. Its loud, lots of families, but its comfortable. Our portions are always HUGE and they dont mind that I take a while to order. Sure, it does take the hostess a while to refill my coke, but she can barely see me over he 30 other people she's serving! She must be exhausted, but she's still smiling. I'm sure they're understaffed, but they still make it work and I can't see how. For the price per portion, I spend $30 and get 5 meals out of it. I dont mind waiting on a coke refill or having to ask for assistance; they work hard enough without my attitude.

My family had just landed in SD and were starving with the time change. My brother met us and said that this was the place to go for a fun affordable experience. We had a great lunch. We split the large spaghetti. We had a friendly and attentive waitress and, if we lived nearer to SD, we would go back in a heartbeat.

Food was great, service great. The place is made for large parties and families. I travel on business and eat alone, not a great place for that.

Wednesday Feb 4th, 2009 I attended Buca di Beppo for a night of Italian food. I was with one friend and we both wanted to try several meals, so we ordered two meals with extra plates to split and try a variety. At the beginning we were told a 15 minute wait and after 5 minutes into the wait, then we were told there was a bar we could wait and have a drink at if we chose. We sat at the bar and read menus while we waited for our table. After probably waiting for a good 15-20 more minutes we asked the bartender if we could just dine there, and he assured us it would be fine. We then ordered our meals. Another approximate 5 minutes later the hostess showed and asked if we were ready to sit at our table, to which we replied we had chosen to eat at the bar. We ordered Lasagna and Lemon Chicken. We split both of them and tried each. The Lemon Chicken was out of this world in my opinion. It was zesty with Lemon flavor and creamy with Alfredo sauce. The Fetticine was just right. Atop the Lemon Chicken were Capers which added just the right amount of extra tang. I could not have asked for a better meal, after completely finishing my half, I had wished I did not give up the other half. Next was my half of the Lasagna. Different than what I proposed, but not bad. It tasted sweet with a hints of basil and oregano. I was expecting something with garlic flavor in mind. I finished all of my Lasagna too, which is unusual for me to finish a complete meal. It was not too hot either, or maybe it cooled real fast. By the end of eating the Lasagna it was cold. Overall the service was decent, but not great. The food overall was good, but not great. The Lemon Chicken itself, I cannot stop thinking about it days after. I will be planning on visiting again soon to have some more and this time a larger portion and all to myself.

... just realkly bad service. Our family is from southern Italy and the cuisine has never failed to impress us, however regardless of whatever night you go to the Miramar Location, the service is something less than desirable. My children felt bad asking for a clean fork! I'll stay at home for the food.. at least the dishes are clean!

This is a great place for large groups. The food is relatively simple and comes in very generous portions. The atmosphere is fun, festive, casual, and noisy.

Nice place even better if you can make the reservation for the kitchen table. The food is in large portions, but if you are first timer they take you on a tour so watch what other people are eating.

Went back to Buca the other day it found it to be the same. The food was plentiful, even tasty and the service was as good as any other place. Go and enjoy yourself but keep in mind the type of restaurant your going to and you'll have a great time.

The food was excellent as always, but the service in the downtown San Diego location needs a LOT of work. This is the second time I've been to this location, and the host/hostess (there always seem to be three) can only concentrate (as a group) on one thing at a time, and are VERY snotty. Our waitress took quite a while to bring drinks, food, and take our order. But the food was great!

This restaurant is great. The portions are so big, it is a lot better for large parties where you can all split multiple platters. Good price too.

I went to this restaurant with my family and friends and was extremely disappointed on the service. After waiting for about one hour, we were led to our table and forgotten. When we were finally able to place our order, one item was forgotten and was not brought to our table until the meal was almost finished. Our server told us we would not be charged for it after having waited so long, but we were charged for it. The food was fair, but what makes or breaks a restaurant is their service. I was very disappointed, but would probably consider giving Buca di Beppo a second chance.

Buca di Beppo is not four-star cuisine. They don't claim to be. What they are is a load of mediocre chow at cheap prices and meant to be gobbled down by the great unwashed. Every once in the while that is me and it serves it purpose; making lonely people fatter!

Buca di Beppo has a wonderful American/Italian atmosphere of family and frienship. Once one steps in the restaurant they feel as if they are part of the family. The service before eating is excellent. However once one gets seated because of all the people the servers are busy elsewhere, so drink slow. Also their food is not authentic and does not taste real. There are too many fillers. Lastly, although it's nice at first, the restaurant is too busy and too close together to hear each other, so it's not very romantic!

If you LOVE wannabe Italian food, where you can taste nothing but the salt, that will bloat you up like a toad and raise your blood pressure throught the roof...this is your place!

If you like poor service, this place is for you. I've tried this place twice during this month and both times received very poor service from two different servers. I have taken this restaurant off our recommended list of restaurans while in San Diego.

completely overrated!! haha who voted this place??

The service was ok. Chef Boyardee makes better Italian food than these people. The food was terrible!!! Why is this place popular? I took one bite, paid my check, and left the place.

Why does this place exist? Disappointing does not begin to describe the joint. The only thing worse than the food is the service. Don't waste you money on this "authentic" Italian restaurant, instead, boil some pasta at home and pour on the Ragu~

Don't waste your time/money. This place was horrible. We were told 1/2 wait. 1 1/2 hrs later, we were seated. Our server took forever to do everything. The lasagna (a staple for any italian restaraunt was a sad, sad story. It was all mush, I am not sure they put noodles in there. Very, very disapointing. We will NEVER go back.

I went to bucca for takeout for myself. The place was not at all busy and i was told it would be about 5-10 minutes. The hostess never acknowledged me to let me know my food was ready. I noticed she was very rude to other customers that were there and when i asked her about my order she said "you have to pick it up at the window" in a snotty way. I had tipped one of the hostess for taking my order which he had forgotten about, and when i was standing at the window he had the nerve to ask if he could help me. Duh! stupid! i'm waiting for the order you took and i havent received. It was obvious he had forgotten about me. I can understand if the place was busy and it slipped his mind but the place was completely dead, dead enough for the employees to be standing around doing nothing. The management needs to hire new hostesses.

In addition to my last review. It took half an hour to get takeout for one person.

I had to laugh when I saw the rating on this restaurant's service which was listed as poor because it is true!! One reviewer said that her large group got excellent service and another said that the place is always packed, so they must be doing something right. Well if you are in a large group of diners, you are going to get better service, because they want a big tip! I will tell you about my experience. I was staying in the hotel next store and the girl at the desk recommended the restaurant. I knew I was getting the brush off as a single diner shortly after being there. The waiter never told me about the specials whereas the table nearby that had six at it got his attention. The calamari, my first course was good and I stated so when he came by and asked about it. But then he didn't bother to clear my dishes away! Another waiter came by and she was nice to do it. He then never asked if I wanted a drink refill until he was ready to give me the bill. I think he must have choked when he saw that this average looking diner gave him a federal government credit card and therefore had the money to spend afterall. I was there in town on business and the Navy gives us sailors decent expense money to spend when away on business. Needless to say, when I got back to the hotel next door, I told the senior person at the desk what happened. She wanted the waiter's name, which I gave her, and she said she knew the chef and manager and would tell him. I found out that a lot of military stay at this hotel and believe me, I will let any of them know what lousy service this was, if asked. I have now been at three restaurants that have discriminated against the diner dining alone. Giving them lousy service, probably thinking the single diner is not worth the time being waiting on because the end result may be a small tip. This experience was the worst experience of my week. I am sorry if this review is too long, but feel that this restaurant is not worth trying at all. Put your hard earned dollars towards a meal somewhere else. I recommend Nami up in the Hillcrest area of San Diego. It is a quiet Japanese restaurant and the chocolate cinnamon ice cream on the dessert menu is to die for, due to the usual chocolate taste. Their sushi is a work of art. It is not Italian, but worth trying out. I ate there for the first time 4 years ago when stationed in San Diego. Go there for good food, but do not go to Buca di Beppo!!!