Buca di San Fran
Everything here is served family style – as in jumbo-Southern-Italian-extended-family style. When you place an order of pasta, you get two pounds of it. TWO POUNDS. Dishes are meant to be shared with others.

The food is decent chain Italian (better than Olive Garden but by no means a good Italian restaurant.) They provide Italian standbys like pizza, pastas, and a cupla entrees - nothing too complex.

The main reason this place fills up is the cheesy decor. Two thumbs up for their campy décor - plaster statues painted gold, Christmas lights, and lots of eclectic picture frames on the walls. It sounds like Friday's but it's actually not that bad. I like the kitsch, even though I know it’s not really kitsch anymore because it was a corporate decision but still, it’s nice.

The restaurant has different rooms, each having its own theme. The Wine Room, has plastic grapes all around and empty wine bottles above creating a glass canopy. The primo room is the Pope Room, where the walls are plastered with likenesses of his holiness and where you and your friends can sit around a table with a lazy Susan. On the Lazy Susan is a plaster head of the pop, encased in plastic even. Your campy servers will rest stuff on his head.

Our party of fifteen folks ordered two appetizers, one salad, one pizza, two entrees, one pasta dish, and two desserts. Total damages? Around $20 a head. (We also got two 3-liter bottles of Chianti.) We left stuffed. Stuffed and tipsy… and happy.    [21 May 2002 21:45:42]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Mozzerella Caprese

     ­megu