Buca Di Beppo

Huntington Beach, CA Restaurant

Visit: 3/9/24

Time: 1130am

Good Afternoon,

Upon entering the restaurant today we were greeted by the host. We have a service dog that accompanies my wife due to her physical disability.

The host said he would be right back. After several minutes with no sign of the host another male came from the kitchen and said they were waiting for the Manager to come up front. I told the man that our dog was a service dog. He said the manager would be up shortly.

After waiting at least 5 minutes or more the Manager finally came up front and said we only allow service dogs. I said she is a service dog. The manager then proceeded to help a service person that came in after us that needed to be paid. During this time 2 females came in and were seated immediately to a table.

After waiting several more minutes the Manager said that he had a big party upstairs and it would be awhile before we would be seated. Clearly the restaurant was not crowded. He also said that the dog must not bark. The manager was also rude in how he handled us and our service dog.

We actually had to tell him what kind of service dog it is because he appeared to not have any knowledge of service dogs. We also have an ID that states this is a service dog, but he didn't even take the time to ask for it. . After that he said he would be back and then he disappeared.

We promptly turned around and walked out. The ADA would not think very highly of the treatment we received form the Manager. Obviously the manager has no clue what or how a service dog performs. Service dogs do not bark unless they are drawing attention because their is something wrong with their owner.

I spent 30yrs in Management and never seen a poorer demonstration of customer service, unprofessionalism in how this Manager handled us as a Customer.

Its worth noting you may want to ensure this manager and staff are educated in the laws when it comes to a service dog in a restaurant, understanding that they go everywhere their owner goes, and you cannot ask what kind a service service dog it is. Clearly this restaurant does not understand.

On Friday 12/8/23 my family and I made reservations for bucca di peppo in Pasadena CA, for 7:45 pm. Upon our arrival we check in at 7pm waiting for our reservation time.

Come 7:45 and I go up and ask how much longer for our reservation since we made it for 7:45pm. And they say well it might be a longer wait because we have a party of 100 who made reservations at 8pm. I asked to speak to Anthony the manager and he tells us that theyre still getting the table for 100 ready that our wait time might be a little longer. He said our reservation had started about 4 minutes ago and that we would be seated as soon as they cleaned up the table and got it set up for my family and I.

We continued to wait and come 8:07 they go ahead and sit the party of 100 down before our party of 7! That party of 100 had only waited 7 minutes after their reservation time had started, we waited 22 minutes after our reservation actually started and still couldnt get seated. Anthony the manager comes and says he has a booth for us but if we wanted to see it first to see if we would all fit. My dad proceeds to go check and it wasnt even going to fit my whole party of 7!

We waited over an hour total, payed $15 for parking, and didnt even get seated! Very disappointed in their customer service. The way they treat the costumers with reservations. I didnt see what the point of making a reservation was when I couldve walked in and just waited the hour they first had told me it would be if we just walked in.

As much as I love going to Buca this has been by far the worst experience weve had with them, and weve been going to buca for years. Never again will we return to this location!

And will go ahead and leave a bad review for the way they treated us. I hope my family will want to go to another buca in the future after this bad experience we just had with buca in Pasadena!

Our family absolutely adores Buca Di Beppo. I've been to 3 different locations.

Westlake, Ohio, Strongsville, OH and Columbus, OH. All 3 locations have been absolutely delicious. We always order the Penne Basillica which hits the taste buds full of flavor. We always order the large to take some home for later.

The manager of the Strongsville location is very welcoming and personable. He likes to make his rounds to the tables ensuring personal satisfaction at each table and offers to make the Penne Basillica even though it was off the menu for a while. Very sad to see that not all locations have been equal.

Buca will always be my go-to Italian Restaurant as long as it exists. Absolutely delicious.

On May 24, 2023, my family celebrated my mothers 80th birthday at the Brea restaurant. We had a fairly big party of 12 people.

After the meal we requested the cake that we brought in to sing for my mother. The waiters came, and we all sing happy birthday to my mother. Shortly after my two brothers ordered an extra round of drinks. At that time, the manager, who identified himself as Chris, asked to have all her attention and interrupted our party.

He stated that he had a large group waiting for our table. He also stated that we should finish up quickly so that Group could have our room. Well, like I stated we were celebrating my mothers 80th birthday. Also in a group with my sister-in-law who has stage four cancer.

Also, in the group was my nephew with muscular dystrophy. We all felt extremely offended by the manager Chris who asked us to leave or finish up quickly . I dont know if its a case of discrimination against Americans with disability or elder abuse. A little bit about our family.

My two brothers are retirees from the Los Angeles city fire department. One of them was a fire captain and the other was a fire engineer . I am currently an LA county deputy sheriff on special assignment. We, are not the type of family that gets thrown out or removed or asked to leave from any restaurant ever.

Before a Yelp, your company, I would like an explanation from one of your executives . If you can call me back or email me at 562-631-**** and Or vortiz1444@***.com. Lastly, we split the bill three ways. I spent $250, both my brothers spent over $300 each.

We are clearly valuable customers. But, at this point, I do not think that we will ever visit any franchise of yours without a proper apology.

On 3/1/23 at 4:48pm I placed an online order at Buca di Beppo, 44 Wolf Road, Colonie, NY 12205 for a 5:30pm pick up, order # 165807****717****. My brother went to pick up the order and they told him no order was placed.

I had an email confirmation that I had the forwarded to him and I checked my credit card and it had a pending charge for the order. My brother showed the staff and after half an hour they found the online order and said they would fill the order. My brother came home and the entrée (chicken parm) was missing. I called Buca di Beppo and was connected to Stella at 7:13pm who said a manager would call me back.

I also sent a message on the contact portion of their website since I had not received a call back. Nor did I receive a response from the website message I left.

I called them again on 3/2/23 and spoke with one of the managers Lisa at 8:13pm. She told me there was no Stella that worked there and the online orders frequently get lost in the system and she was not concerned that one of her staff lied to me and told me her name was Stella or that online orders frequently get lost in the system. She said she would refire my chicken parm and I told her I wanted the chicken parm last night, not the next night and I live 45 minutes from the restaurant.

She said she will contact the EVP who travels frequently to see what he can do to give me a credit and if I do not hear back from her in a few days to call back. How does a manager not have the authority to grant a credit for $30.00 for an error from the staff at her restaurant?

This is terrible customer service from placing the order, waiting half an hour for it to be found in the system despite having a confirmation email, having the order placed once it was found, having the entrée not included in my order, calling to speak to a manager and being told a name that is a lie and then speaking to a manager that clearly does not care that all of these errors happened and has no authority to rectify them.

I just want $30.00 credited to the credit card that was charged for the chicken parm that was missing from my order. not Do