Buca Di Beppo

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Buca di Beppo is a ‘family-style’ Italian Restaurant located at 855 Howard Street in South of Market. After hearing from a number of people that I ‘had to try Buca Di Beppo’, I finally decided to take my wife for dinner last week and I must say that we were both pleasantly surprised.

There was a slight 5-7 minute wait for a table even though there weren’t many tables full when we sat down. We got there around 6:45-7 pm, and the tables weren’t empty for long. By the time we left, it was filling up pretty fast.

The interior of the restaurant is very nostalgic with all sorts of old photographs and posters scattered throughout. They even have a room that has a large table for group seating complete with the Pope’s head in the middle. I wanted to sit there just to investigate it further, but I think you need a large group of 8 or more.

I was completely distracted by all the knickknacks on the wall and I missed the fact that all the items on the menu are served family-style in two sizes. Buca Small serves 1-3 (but more likely 4) while their Buca Large would probably feed that Octomom lady and all her kids. My initial thought when I first saw the menu was that the food was way overpriced. However, when I realized the portions were so large, it actually seemed reasonable, if not cheap.

After a long, indecisive debate, we opted to order  a small Caesar Salad and a small Penne San Remo which consisted of penne pasta tossed with chicken, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and peas all smothered in a white wine sauce. Being our first time there, we pretty much filled up on the fresh baked bread and Caesar Salad, so much so that we managed to take home about half of the Penne San Remo. It was still pretty good reheated as leftovers!

Overall, I would say that Buca di Beppo isn’t the ideal restaurant for two. Not that it’s bad, you’re just tempted to eat a lot more food than you normally would because it’s pretty good, and it’s just sitting there looking at you.

If you have a friend in town, or a group of people craving family-style Italian, this is definitely the place to go. They also have half priced drinks for the early crowd, between 4:30 – 6:30 everyday.