khristine jackson

So I was chatting with a pal who's a Record producer and song writer from the Entertainment Industry.. He wanted to discuss a few topics over dinner and he could not think of a place to eat at. I recommended this eatery.. because I dined at a location up in San Jose, California many years ago. This location is in the Janns MALL in Thousand Oaks CA. Parking was easy.. despite the fact that this mall is a popular location for restaurants, shopping and a Gold's gym. We were seated rather quickly and our table was near the kitchen area. This chain is very popular due to the location and Italian food is still a favorite of mine. The manager and the server were very friendly to us. We started out with a Vodka and I ordered Chianti. Then we ordered a salad, that had a mixture of salami, yellow peppers , purple onions, lettuce, tomatoes. The dressing is to die for ..not to bitter,or watery. My friend did not want dressing in our salad. Our meals consisted of me ordering Ravioli, My friend ordered pasta , mozzarella chicken Alfredo..I also ordered fried calamari. The meal was so delicious "!!! Yes... I will most certainly come back to THIS location. The location in San Jose California..the food wasn't that great.. This location serves large portions and you are well fed. The Cook's we're on their A-Game. .. Let me describe the location...when you step in you feel like you are at a Italian museum...the pictures.. artifacts give you that feel ..as if you stepped back to the 1950's-1980's . Lastly before we left..I needed to go to the ladies powder room. Well check this out.. the bathroom..reminded me of an Italian Grandma's bedroom. Again I don't recall the location in San Jose, California. Looking anything like this.. but I departed truly happy and with a satisfied tummy. I enclosed some pictures and my apologies for not sharing additional images. My pal..is an Old school Recording Industry individual and he doesn't understand the fuss about a review"?. Unless it aquates to his work and an artist he's worked with"?? . My point..we were talking so much and I didn't want to offend him. By taking too many photos,,while he discussed the legal issues with recording contracts, touring,etc Finally this is a perfect location for families,first dates, engagements and birthday parties. Nothing was out of order and the service was up to my friends standards. Normally he eats in pricey eateries in Malibu and Beverly hills CA. Enjoy 🍝🍷 Happy Holidays.. 🦃.

+2

uskok68

We were astonished how beautiful and atmospheric this place is. From the outside this was not visible. Our waiter Enrique was extremely nice. The lunch offers are extremely excellent value for money. Huge size and delicious. And in the end we got one lunch for free. We were so pleasantly surprised. Five stars plus!!!!

Arun Adiyeri Chirukandoth

A wonderful Italian food experience. Good selection of tasty Italian dishes. The walls are filled with antique photos of different people from various landscapes of life. The dishes are huge portions meant to be shared. Their "small" plate can feed 3 and a large can go up to 5. So keep that in mind when ordering dishes.

+5

Paul Flick

I met 7 other people for lunch there.We sat at a big round table that had a lazy susan , that was terrific. The service was very good.The food was also very good.I had an Italian chop salad.A portions were actually quite large. We are a group of men that meet about every 2 weeks for lunch, and we were able to get individual checks for each one of us. It wasn't a problem, no complaints at all. We were there for lunch around 12 in the afternoon and it was not crowded at all.

Rebecca Castro

Whenever we eat some hearty pasta we always go to Buca. This location has good service and very good pasta ! The portions here are “family size” so everything is shareable. A small feeds 3-4 and a large feeds 5-6. The chicken entrees usually come with 3 or 5 pieces of chicken. We ordered the small chicken saltimbocca. It came with 3 pieces or chicken and we cut them in half to feed 5 people. We had 1 half left over..the saltimbocca is chicken with prosciutto on top with lemon and capers and lemon sauce on top. The sauce was great the prosciutto gives the chicken an extra flavor kick. We then got the small penne San Remo (always a favorite). It is penne pasta with a garlic cream sauce and has chicken, peas, artichoke hearts and sun dried tomatoes. We also got the small apple Gorgonzola salad which is excellent! It has fresh apples and a vinaigrette dressing that pairs perfectly. Lastly we got a single meatball. They are big and we cut it up to everyone could have a piece. We order here frequently for catering events as well as dine in and takeout. . . . Update- went back for lunch specials and am devastated to see they took the penne San Remo off the menu entirely. I was literally craving it and didn’t know they took it off until I got there. This is very unfortunate and I am very sad about it. I instead got a lunch portion of the baked ziti and my dad got the lunch spaghetti and meatballs. While all the other pasta is good, they did not add anything to the menu to replace or that closely resembles the San remo in any way. I liked it because I don’t always want a red sauce. The only other white sauce option they have is basically a fettuccini Alfredo.

Justin shudo

Food quality and service was fine for the most part. However the amount of free bread that they serve is lacking compared to a few years ago. They’re definitely skimping on their bruschetta as well, the bread on it so thin they look like chips. You charge all that money for food, but you hold back when serving free bread? We had a large party and they gave us the BARE minimum, we had to ask for more every 5 minutes, and they never once bothered to ask us if we wanted more.

Noam Baruh

Absolutely great. the restaurant really gives a vibe of mini Italy! It's a great place to bring the family !! all the food that we ordered was tasty and fresh and all of the staff members were friendly and professional Parking - 5/5* Accessibility -4/5* Atmosphere - 5/5* Clean - 4/5* Restrooms - 4/5* Service - 4/5* Food visually -5/5* Food taste -4/5* Food freshness -4/5* Price - 4/5* ** 4.3stars

+9

David G

Great time, good food and wonderfully playful decor. Service was excellent and the meatballs are to die for!! Update 2/28/23 Back again, first time in quite a while. I've got to say that I was pleasantly impressed. All was clean and in good order. Friendly wait staff and host. Very helpful and professional. We ordered a small pizza and a small spaghetti and meatballs. We basically ate the pizza at the restaurant and took the spaghetti and meatballs home. We had two meals out of that doggie bag!! Only criticism is that I miss the ambiance of the traditional Italian music 🎵🎶 Everything was great. Be back again soon.

Nance Jay

Great service. A 4 star simply because they took about 15 minutes for a waiter to come by our table. However, when I brought it to their attention, they were nothing more then nice. I will continue to dine at this location.

+1

JON S

Food wasn't bad, had the lasagna. Portions are big, so entrees are a bit more expensive. Went on a Friday night, restaurant was empty which was kind of depressing. Service was decent. Not sure if I would go here again...

Raymond Carbonneau Robles

They provide a pretty consistent experience across their chains. Though the prices seem high (and they are), they give insanely huge portions. So either prepare to under order, or have tons of leftovers.

+3

Frank

Revising my review here [was originally 5 stars] because I came back again and wasn't nearly as good.. The service was pretty bad. Waiter disappeared for 20 mins at a time, and it wasn't even busy. Got to the point where I had to ask other employees for my waiter lol. Food was mostly good... until we got to dessert. Got tiramisu. Now I'm not a picky eater but this was honestly pretty bad. Very dry and doughy, undercooked. Felt like a bunch of layers of undercooked pasta. And it costs $18 so was expecting better. Anyways. Lots of food here is still good. Carbonara and pizza was good. But this was a big turn off. Original review below. Kinda sucks since I liked the place. Not super classy amazing Italian food, but simple tasty hearty Italian food that reminded me of how momma makes it. And I think honestly that makes it just as good. Also the drinks were very good, little pricy for the amount you get ($15 for a half cup drink with a huge cube of ice)... tasted fantastic though. Gave it a 5, but would do 4.5 if I could.

+1

TERRIBLE SERVICE The first time I went, they seated me at a table and I waited 20 minutes for a server who never showed up. There was a table in front of me with 9 people, and I understood that they were busy. I gave them a second chance and went back, but this time I sat at the bar, and it was even worse because no one attended to me. I waited around 18 minutes for someone, and even then, I was never served.