In the movie "Big Night," a great small, authentic, gourmet Itallian restaurant is run out of business by a big, noisy American Italian restaurant, that serves food that panders to American tastes with a lot of tomato sauce and cheese. Buca is the latter restaurant, not the former. The portions, the wait for a table, and the noise level are all enormous. The food has lots of tomato sauce and cheese, and all the wine is cheap. If you want the American stereotype of Italian food, it really is quite decent. My favorite dishes are the chicken marsala and the Margherita Pizza. But Buca is not authentic and has very little individual character.
Pros: enourmous portions, cheap
Cons: crowded, noisy
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