Rough Draft

Buca Di Bepo

Ricci and I went to Buca Di Beppo for dinner tonight. I've been to one in Cleveland a couple times. People always tried to build it up as "oh, you get so much food for your money" and both times I was disappointed in that regard. So I was reluctant to go to the one out here, but I figured I'd give it a try.

Sadly, once again my expectations of large quantities of food were not met. We ordered the large baked pasta sampler which included stuffed shells, manicotti, and baked ravioli, and cannelloni. When we ordered the large the waitress asked if we were sure we wanted that size because it "feeds 5 or 6", but we said we were sure. We also ordered a small fettucini alfredo. The baked pasta sampler came out first and I was underwhelmed at the size. It looked like it would feed four people at most, but more likely three. The pasta came out and it was pretty sizable.

We ended up eating just over half the baked sampler and about half the fettucini. The bill came to $40 -- $26 for the sampler, $10 for the pasta. Not exactly a great value in my opinion. The food itself was pretty good, but nothing outstanding. I'm sure there are Italian restaurants in the area with better food, it's just a matter of finding them.

My restaurant recommendation if you're in The Pruneyard and want a lot of food for your money is without a doubt El Burro. Jeff and I have been there twice and both times the bill was around $20 and we had at least as much leftovers as I had tonight at Buca Di Bepo.