Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant

This used to be one of my favorites, but after tonight, I will not be visiting Buca di Beppo again. The service was fine, but the portion of calamari appetizer for $ 15.99 was obscene, and the Shrimp Florentine was overcooked, watery, and just disgusting. For $ 65 for two people, that was absolutely the worst meal I’ve ever been forced to pay for.

The food is ok. Not bad.
Here’s my complaint. SO EXPENSIVE! WHY??? we got a small order of pasta, small chicken parm and a small salad (feeds 2). $ 70.00!!! Am I at a 5 star NYC restaurant? I think not! Haha.
We have been to Italian restaurants with much better food and paid half the price, or a little more than half. I don’t get it. We didn’t even buy a drink! Got our food to go.
The food is pretty good. Not great; but good. But definitely not worth the price. Insanity…

We ate there last night and it was late so it was fairly empty.
Service was very good. Food was good I would not say great.
We got the Spicy Chicken and actually it was to spicy for us, but give our waiter credit, he noticed it and insisted on getting us a new dish with a little less spice.
The servings are family style so you are ordering the dish for either 2 or 4 people.
We did not know this so we were not able to try other dishes.

Evrything here are expensive compare with another, the prices menu compare with luxury restaurant but this is just normal restaurant why the menu prices expensive I won ‚” t go back there not worn this, the food greasy, not looking good in decorating finally not place for family and also need full wallet to walk in there

Normal Buca
But unfortunately not great at adapting to special requests /​dietary restrictions

Went here because they gave us a coupon for a free Alfredo dish. The food was bland and very expensive along with the beer. 6 bucks for a domestic small draft. Won’t be returning

This place awesome, I love how every inch of wall space is covered with a picture or something random and also this place is huge on the inside so don’t get lost. Now the food is very good and as most other reviewers mentioned it comes family style which is fine by me. Bring a group of friends to enjoy it with. Overall they do a good job and there’s nothing to complain about.

I heard a lot of great things about Buca Di Beppo and thought «What the hell, let’s give it a try.»
The hostess was friendly and gave us a tour. I think that it is absolutely awesome that they weren’t afraid to show off their kitchen. We got to our seats and got our drinks, placed our order.
Unfortunately our appetizer and entrees still hadn’t come out after 45 – 50 minutes of waiting. We rarely saw our waitress, who stopped at every table but ours. Finally, our food came out but our Chicken Supremo was on the cooler side. The Baked Ziti was delicious.
I probably won’t recommend this restaurant. Everyone was friendly, just the service was on the poor side.

Went with a group of 8 tonight and sat at the Pope table. Table is a large round that seats 16 so we had lots of room to spread out. There is a bust of Pope Benedict in the middle of the table that looks like Anthony Hopkins which was creepy. The walls are covered with chachkies, old photos, and randomness which is fun.
Dinner was good and serve was pretty good too. Here is a dish by dish breakdown:
Bread and olive oil was just okay. Bread had a slightly sourdough hint and oil was standard
Caesar salad was under dressed and a little wet. Disappointing.
Calamari was better, but a little overcooked and the oil needed to be changed in the fryer as the breading had a hint of rancidness
Fried mozzarella was OK but breading had little seasoning and sauce was bland
Bruschetta was better but needed some salt and pepper. Mostly tomatoes with a little cheese. Needed more herbs too.
Chianti braised short ribs were good. 2 — 10 ounce pieces was a small order and it had about 2 cups of sauce with it. Needed some salt too make the chianti pop
Shrimp Florentine was bland
Sausage and chicken ziti was tasty. Creamy sauce was smooth, sausage had a little bit to it.
No one had room for dessert and there were 3 large to go boxes.
Buca’s is fun for a large group but not a regular destination. Everything comes family style and portions are big. 3 entrees, 1 salad, and 3 apps was too much food for 8 hungry adults.

This is some really good food. I will say, it is my favorite Italian place in the Reading/​Wyomissing area! The sense of place is amazing with it’s funny Italian pictures. Amazing wine bottle holder in the one room which hangs over head of the Wine Room, which holds some 160 bottles.
Incorporates old school and new school with the menu and the wait staff. One time I had ordered a pizza. Once they bring it out, the have a huge, unopenned can of tomato sauce taht holds the pizza serving dish. I absolutely love the seating booth that is located in the kitchen, very old school, mafia movie type of thing and very cool appeal points!
Free bread and olive oil every time you come. My favorite dish is the baked ziti which has alfredo sauces and 3 little scoops of ricotta cheese and mozzerella cheese all over. Fresh marinara, zesty and chuncky! The one thing I miss about Buca is the place mat with the menu on it but to have pictures of some of the things is nice to have when you don’t know what somethings are.
Sign up for their e-​mail service and get coupons and a birthday desert on the house! Also, look out for the coupons that go around all the time for $ 10 off of a $ 20 bill, but I highly recommned to tip as if it were the full bill without the $ 10 off, these guys deserve it!
the one things that you notice when you first arrive is that the building looks small, but once you take the tour, it feels as iff it can seat a few thousand people with all of the rooms they have.
Another cool notation about Buca, if something is not cooked to your liking the Chef actually comes out to speak to you about the item in question, cooks a new one for you if you would like and takes it off of your bill and gives you a free desert. I have not had this happen but saw it happen once in my 100 times or so going there and thought it was worth mentioning how accomadating they are to us customers.
5 STARS, highly recommended!

We were here for Thanksgiving dinner. So, the review mostly reflects what is on their Thanksgiving menu.
Our daughter made a reservation for 4:45 p.m. When we got there, we were immediately greeted by a friendly hostess. She asked us if we had been to Buca di Beppo before. When we all said «no», she proceeded to give us the grand tour of the place as we were led to our table.
On the grand tour, we learned that Buca de Beppo means «Joe’s Basement». The restaurants are built without windows and with low ceilings to give the feel of being in a basement. The grand tour, much to our surprise, took us right through the kitchen. We were told that in Italian homes, the kitichen is considered to be the heart of the home, hence the walk through the restaurant kitchen. We were also surprised to see that there is a booth in the kitchen where customers were seated and eating their meals. When the customers saw us, for some reason, they smiled sheepishly.
Almost right outside the kitchen was a room with a huge round table that has a bust of the Pope right in the middle. We were told that this was a very popular table and people make reservations requesting to be seated there. We then went through a room callled The Frank Sinatra room which had photos of Ol’ Blue Eyes along with some of his record albums. Then finally, we got to our table in The Sophia Loren room.
The restaurant felt like being in a maze. By the time we found our table, we weren’t sure if we would ever find the front door again. Each room is overly decorated with photos and religious icons. I wouldn’t recommend eating at a Buca di Beppo if you, or anyone in your party is claustrophobic. Between the low ceilings, dark wood paneling and no windows…
I get that they are going for the 1950s Italian restaurant look. However, it comes off as really contrived. Those restaurants that still have the 1950s décor tend to be local places often in Italian neighborhoods. Generally speaking, the regular customers get to like the idea that the décor is still the same from their childhoods — and would have a fit if the owner ever redecorated.
Our 6 ½ year old grandson said to me as we were leaving after dinner, «Robert needs to come to this restaurant and fix it.» Out of the mouth of babes. I was thinking along those lines. If Robert Irvine came to a Buca di Beppo, he would probably start yanking things down from the walls LOL!
Okay…on to the food and service (I know, you’re thinking «finally!») For Thanksgiving, they were offering up a turkey dinner that fed 6 people for $ 90 (which is served family style). It included a boneless, skinless turkey breast with a choice of traditional sage stuffing or a stuffing with spicy Italian sausage. When we couldn’t decide, our waiter said we could have some of each stuffing, which is what we did. Also, there was cranberry sauce, gravy, whole green beans and garlic redskin mashed potatoes. For dessert, there was a dish of 12 small cannolis. Even though we had a party of 7, it was more than enough for all of us. Our daughter also ordered a small portion of baked ziti because she thought that we should taste something off the regular menu.
We thought that the turkey was quite good — very tender and moist. Of the 2 stuffings, the one with Italian sausage was the best as it added a nice contrast to the traditional dinner items. The mashed potatoes had good garlic flavor and the green beans were cooked so that they were still crisp. The cannolis were okay — not the best I’ve ever had, yet not the worst either.
As for the ziti, it was okay, nothing to write home about. The sauce didn’t have much flavor and the added large dollop of ricotta cheese seemed to overpower the dish.
Would we go again? Perhaps. The Thanksgiving dinner menu was well thought out and executed quite well. So, we would consider going again for another Thanksgiving meal. However, that décor!!!

A fun atmosphere with good Italian food. Everything is served family style and you get plenty of food with your meal. My only gripe is that they don’t give you the bread and oil during lunch anymore.

Buca is a total immersion experience. You enter a sensory filled experience that I really like; in particularly because it reminds me of where I grew up. The service is always consistently good and the food is delicious. I used to frequent Bucas more often but their prices have gone up and it just not affordable to me. We now reserve the experience for special occasions. It’s great for group occasions. If you haven’t experienced this chain yet, you should do it at least once.

Visiting this buca in my hometown was my first experience with the chain. I loved the tour of the restaurant on the way to your table… ours was way in the back so it felt like forever until we got there.
The food was decent but it’s family style so bring your appetite.
Nothing really stands out because it is a chain restaurant. But they didn’t really fail at anything either. It was just A-​OK.

HUGE portions, pretty good food. I’m Italian and used to the real thing, this is acceptable. A little pricey but we always have a lot of leftovers, so we get two meals out of every visit. Service is inconsistent, sometimes excellent, other times really slow and inattentive.

We had reservations for 5:30 on a Saturday. All though the parking lot was very crowded, there was no wait inside. Once seated however, it became quickly apparent that the service was practically non-​existent. Our server was friendly, however it took a long time to receive drinks and place our initial order.
Tables near us were receiving incorrect orders or no order at all. A manager was on constant placating duty trying to keep the peace.
The food itself was ok, however nothing special. I don’t believe we’ll be back anytime soon.

On our second trip to the same shopping center my wife and I were guests at Buca di Beppo — or ‘joe’s basement’ as we were told on the quick tour with a group of 13 — 9 adults and 4 kids. We went through the kitchen which has a booth with a view of the cooking action. We were seated in a round room with a case with a bust of the pontiff on the turntable. The room could have seated 20 probably but we were comfortable and the staff gave us plenty of time to decide since it was our first time dining here.
I have had the garlic bread and tiramisu courtesty of my brother Tim, when he worked at the Aspen Dental in the same shopping center. The bread is really tasty with a nice tender interior and a crusty outside, the dipping oil is tasty too. I thought it was spiced at first, but it was just a little drying on my throat when I first swallowed. I was not entirely pleased with the draft and beer menu, but it is a chain so I consider it ok compared to places like Chili’s and Fridays.
We ordered and our appetizer came quickly which was great since I had a light breakfast and we were seated after 12:30. The stuffed mushrooms were possibly the best my wife and I have tasted. I loved the taste of the pesto sauce and the cheese filling was creamy and smooth with a light breading on top. They were meaty, yet tender and succulent — I did not really want to share them, but I did.
Entrees came out next and they were all served pretty close together so we got a chance to check out each other’s meals. Chris, who sat next to me let me taste his calamari appetizer and sausage entrée which both had nice flavors. The calamari came with a zesty tomato sauce and they were fried perfectly with light breading. The calamari was done very well and was tender, not rubbery. I found the Italian sausage to be nicely spiced and tender with a nice crisp casing.
My wife and I ordered the Quattro al forno which is a sampler of the oven baked pastas including ravioli, stuffed shells, manicotti and rigatoni. The sampler was adequately sauced and served hot with plenty of cheese filling. The taste was good with lots of mozzarella and ricotta cheeses and the sauce as sweet with a nice blend of herbs. The pastas were tender, not chewy and were well baked which made the meal delicious all around. I consider the value a little on the pricey side, but overall the value is pretty decent for the type of restaurant — which is a chain. I have had meals of a lot lesser quality at other ‘Italian’ food chains so I was very satisfied. The service was friendly and they let the 6 yr old in our party to make her own pizza and put it in the oven which was a nice touch. I recommend checking out Buca di Beppo if you are going with a large party or if you are really hungry since most entrees come with 3 or 6 servings. I won’t hesitate to go back even if there are only 4 of us, since the doggie bag would definitely be tasty.

This Buca Di Beppo location is located just outside Reading, PA on papermill blvd. It has pretty decent portion sizes. Our whole family went there recently and it was a nice experience. There’s an exposed kitchen (whioch is cool) and ample seating. We had a 15 minute wait on a saturday night. Lots of italian selections to choose from (think rigatoni, manicotti, spaghetti marinara, eggplant parm, veal saltimbocca) with both large and small sizes.
Prices are comparable with say, Olive Garden, and the service was fair. Our meal was served relatively quickly. Although I liked it, it was a little better than average. I probably wont be back. Reservations suggested. Parking in lot, accepts cash, visa, mc. Kid-​friendly.

I feel guilty admitting it, but I like the food here. The only thing that stops be from going is my general objection to the enormous portion sizes.