
I truly enjoy birthday parties. It's a chance for someone to be the most important person for a night with all of their closest loved ones. Some choose to throw a big party in their honor, others like to keep it low key, and a few just want to go out to a nice dinner celebrating their big day with their favorite people. I was fortunate enough to celebrate Blair's birthday last week with a large group. Finding a restaurant last minute on a Saturday night that could hoard this large of a party is a task in itself, but we eventually found one that could accommodate us. We felt we couldn't be too selective about where or when we would eat, and ended up with a reservation for 20 at the good ol' Buca Di Beppo.I've done some language research and I've found numerous translations for this over the top Italian eatery. Specifically interpreted as the Hole Of Beppo, keeping traditional namesake with Guiseppe's Hole or as the employees say, Joe's Basement. Whatever the english rewording is, the word hole couldn't be more closer to the truth. This place is an absolute shit hole. It is sensory overload times one million. It's loud, it's bright, it is utterly obnoxious upon opening the front door. Imagine a Chuck-E-Cheese for adults without the skeeball and creepy robotic animal band. The thing is, this place doesn't need the help of Mr. Munch or Pasqually to make you completely uncomfortable. It eye fucks you immediately. You cringe, swallow your fear, and hope that a meatball the size of your head will make it all better. We had been starving ourselves for hours with dreams of eating our way out of pasta filled swimming pools. Our reservation was for 7:30 and shockingly enough our table was not ready upon arrival. Needing to loosen some stomach muscles, we stockpiled our group into the bar for an aperitif. Some were complaining about the prices of the Peroni and others were mesmerized by the 26,843 pictures of Italian memorabilia on the walls. During our 20 minutes of anticipated waiting we witnessed 3 annoying birthday songs and watched NBA basketball on the big screen. It felt nothing like Rome, but more like a TGI Fridays stuck in the middle of a Naples garage sale. Our party was supposed to be for 20 but we seemed to be missing some people. I'm pretty sure they got lost upon finding us at the bar or looking for the restrooms. I would bet there are probably a handful of my friends still wandering around looking for a way out.
Our meal started with a truly Italian staple, bruschetta. Giant piles of diced tomatoes were falling all over the place as extra crunchy Texas Toast bread rounds tried to keep them at bay. I've never had bruschetta before that was literally just tomatoes and bread. The bread carved into the roof of my mouth with each bite, it was like chewing on rocks. I loaded up on salt and pepper yet none of this still had any flavor. It was as bland as the holy eucharist and we weren't even sitting in the famous Pope Room. Calamari soon joined in on this share affair and started to make things worse. It was basically a heaping of fried breading shaped into rings. I kept adding marinara to each bite to avoid the tiny chunks of burnt grease. The flavor and texture was reminiscent of a school eraser. Not the big white square one, but the pink angled topper that you would put on your Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2 after the original eraser had worn out its welcome. This was grossing me out and my fork was missing.
Luckily for all of us, Buca has their own house wine served in oversized gallon bottles. Drink your heart out, Carlo Rossi. The drinking needed to continue and it needed to continue heavily. If I'm going to eat such shitty dog food, I'm at least going to be drunk as hell so I have a slight chance of enjoying it. The meal limped on with a dying caesar salad served in an actual bathtub. The romaine was wilted and the iceberg was lifeless. They were mashed and mixed together probably over a week ago. The dressing had settled in like soup and even the birds wouldn't eat the croutons. They had the same affect as the bruschetta bread as it cut their way through your gums and into your stomach. At least the little hints of blood dripping from the inside of my mouth added some gusto to an otherwise meaningless meal.
As the entrees arrived, I noticed that my second fork was missing. I'm pretty sure that one of my 5 servers took it away with the appetizers. I can't be too sure which one it was because they are all dressed in white on white outfits and they each carry exactly 9 straws and 12 pens. Why are there five servers anyway? Do we really need this many people to take our orders? I was told this was family style dining but I didn't know that it also included family style service. Four different people then delivered our rigatoni, chicken alfredo, and saltimbocca. The rigatoni was undercooked and completely covered in red pepper flakes. My guess is the chef accidentally knocked over his entire supply of it into our plate and said, "Fuck it." The chicken alfredo was decent but it had way too many peas in it and it left me desiring more. My final hope was the saltimbocca. 34 dollars for 6 small pieces of chicken wrapped in prosciutto?! I swear they just cut up one chicken breast in order to deceive us that this was a big dish. We each took one small bite of the dish and passed it on to the next person. My small bite was good, really good, and I yearned for more. This was the only edible portion of my meal and I was only allowed one measly bite!? All the food here is similar to the food any ordinary college roommate might make but the downside is they don't give you bong rips at the door to make everything taste better. I downed another glass of red and struggled through my remaining al dente rigatoni.
Damn, this place sucks. For the past ten minutes they have been playing Indian music! Can you at least throw on some Pavarotti or Dean Martin singing That's Amore? Shit, play The Lady and The Tramp soundtrack. Anything is better than what's going on in the background. This restaurant must put something in the sauce to brainwash you into coming back again and again. They make you believe quantity is better over quality and you walk out thinking you got a good deal on this much low budget pasta. I'm never coming here again. I don't care if the president himself eats here on his birthday, I'm not going. Guiseppe can kiss my ass for all I'm concerned. Where is my fork, again? I need to stab myself immediately.Mr. Onions Rating (on a 1-10 scale)Food: 2 Service: 3 Atmosphere: 0Overall: 1.6
Sometimes you go to a restaurant for the food and other times you go to a place for the atmosphere. When one of your friends is working you most likely will stop in, have a drink, and say hello. Then there are places so conveniently close to you, you must go to them. Sometimes you don't want to grocery shop, or walk 20 blocks, or hop on a bus for 40 minutes to hit some of your favorite watering holes. You go there because of location. It's right next door. People are inside everyday seemingly enjoying themselves so it must be good. Right?I have lived near B & O for almost 2 years and I cannot remember one time where I have actually enjoyed anything. I keep trying. I keep wanting something good to come out of this dimly lit shit hole. They continually let me down. The coffee tastes like burnt tar. The quiche lays there like a lifeless, soaking wet corpse. The service has usually been from the slowest humans on the planet. Every time I enter, a group of chubby mustached men greet me with a sweat drenching hello. Why are there three to four of you? Why are all of you sweating so profusely? What am I getting myself into?!My lady and I were heading back home after a nice evening of drinking and partying with DTTTC at Winner's Circle. It was an early 10pm. We were just hitting our groove. Our buzz was perfect. We reached the moment of the night that no matter what we did, it would be a grand ol' time. Both of us were easy to please with big smiles on our faces. I didn't want to stand on the corner of Belmont & Olive for 25 minutes trying to figure out where to go. I wanted a hot meal that I didn't have to prepare. We decided that this was their absolute last chance. If they ruined this moment then I would continually walk by this place forever.After a solid 20 minutes of waiting for our appetizer, our Stuffed Dates had arrived. We each took one bite of these pancetta wrapped, blue cheese filled bird droppings and immediately wanted to gag. This had to be one of the grossest things I've eaten in a while. It tasted like one of the old dried up raisins that gets stuck to the bottom of the box. It was dry. It was chewy. It was Charleston Chew chewy. I reluctantly washed down another one with a big gulp of ice water. This place had immediately sucked all the positivity and fun right out of me.
Another 20 minutes later our entrees finally arrived. I ordered the Grilled Flank Steak. Medium rare. I felt like it was the easiest item on the menu to not fuck up. It was served with a helping of mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach. Meat, potato, vegetable. These three items together have been my staple for the past 10 years. Of course, somehow this place has ruined a simple meal for me as well. The spinach was soupy and lacked any apparent flavor. The potatoes were delicious but served cold. Ice water cold. Like, I am about to pick it up and make a potato snow ball and throw it across the room cold. My flank steak was prepared to a nice overcooked temperature of well done. It was covered in erratic splashes of port wine. I didn't bite the steak. I didn't want to. I had had enough and sent it back. I never send anything back! The server knew it was wrong. It was like he expected it to be wrong and apologized before I complained. He was genuinely bummed when stating how inconsistent the cooks were.
I told the waiter I'd just pick on my lady's plate for the remainder of the meal. She got the Arabesque. A bowtie pasta with salmon tossed in a lemon, garlic, and caper dill cream sauce. Upon first bite I longed for my meal that I had so recently returned. This was tasteless mushroom soup. I piled on the salt. I loaded up on pepper. It was fishy yet gamey. It was mushy and chewy. It was hot baby food for adults. No real salmon, just the the lips, eyes, and assholes of the fish. It was chum the sharks wouldn't eat. My taste buds were climbing out of my mouth fully enraged. They hopped onto my face to smack me around for making the bad decision of taking another bite. They thought I was playing a cruel joke on them and haven't trusted me since. The server returned and offered up dessert, the one thing this place actually does right. As much as my lady enjoys the Red Velvet Cake here, we decided against it and just had to get out. I do appreciate the server, I will tell you that much. After all we've already been through, he did his job and still tried to sell us on more. He knew how terrible everything was and wanted to get us something that we might enjoy. I'm glad that the staff knows what they are selling their customers, and I'm glad he did all he could to appease us. My sister-in-law worked here many years ago and I remember that not only was the service great, but the food was equally delicious. Some things do change and not always for the better.
When we stepped outside, I couldn't help but comment on the "Notice of Proposed Land Use Action" that had been up on the side of the building for well over the past year. Apparently, B & O will be closing at the end of the 2011 for what will be a new housing project. I haven't been a huge supporter in all the pop up condominiums that have been gentrifying my Seattle neighborhood. This is the only time I say hurry up and tear this place down. Shut it down TODAY. It is long overdue! Put up condos! Please!! Build me a Wal-Mart! Anything! Throw in a Tully's or Seattle's Best Coffee on the bottom floor and make parking on my street even more unbearable. Bring on the yuppy fucks that I will soon call my neighbors. Anything is better than this glorified soup kitchen on my busy street corner. Bring on the cranes! Build it now! Within a year, I hope not to be tripping over the blood filled syringe a few steps away from my apartment. Someone must have eaten here and tried to kill themselves. I was close.
Mr. Onions Rating (on a 1-10 scale)Food: 0 Service: 6 Atmosphere: 3Overall: 3







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