content: This is an UPDATE on January 21, 2011, to my earlier reveiw that follows below.\n\nAfter the terrible experience we had on Thanksgiving, I wrote the Buca de Beppo corporate headquarters and sent them a copy of this review.\n\nI was frankly surprised to receive a personal reply from the company's Regional Director.\n\nIn addition to apologizing for the bad experience, she refunded the money we paid for our Thanksgiving dinner and sent us a gift card asking that we give them a second chance.\n\nWhile there was no excuse for the issues we encountered last Thanksgiving at the Mesa location, the parent company clearly cares about their customers so if you have a problem, WRITE THE COMPANY and you might be pleasantly surprised.\n\nAs for our return visit, took my dad there for his birthday and we had an OK time... not as good as I remember, but still enjoyable.\n***************************************************************************\nReview for 11/25/10\n\n2 or 3 years ago, we'd have rated Buca a good solid 3-4 stars for value, but my oh my how low they have fallen.\n\nI don't often rant about a restaurant unless I feel completely taken advantage of. That said, here I go.\n\nOrdered the Turkey Feast for Thanksgiving because in the past Buca always represented a good value. \n\nHA WHAT A JOKE!  Their use of the word Feast borders on deceptive advertising. \n\nA \""Feast\"" as defined by Webster:\n\na : an elaborate and usually abundant meal often accompanied by a ceremony or entertainment : banquet \nb (1) : something that gives unusual or abundant enjoyment\n\nThey should be calling it a Turkey appetizer, but before I expound further, I want to explain that my wife and I usually share an entree, so you'll know neither of us is a big eater. We went to Buca because we expected to have lots of leftovers over the weekend. NOT\n\nBuca claims it can feed 3 but I could have eaten the six (6) MINISCULE, REHEATED, COOL slices of white meat and 4 tablespoons of dressing by myself. What a RIP-OFF for $24.95!!\n\nThe extra side of salad was missing the usual pepperocini (only contained 1) so we had to request some on the side.\n\nThe baked Rigatoni pasta was DRY, DRY, STICK IN YOUR THROAT DRY and we had to request extra suace.\n\nAnd let's not forget the bread... whoever currently orders this for Buca doesn't know the meaning of Italian bread. What they served wasn't much more firm than Wonder bread and certainly a far cry from REAL, Crusty, Coarse Italian bread like you find at Brio, Maggianos or any other restaurant with Italian roots. You can find better Italian bread at COSTCO than at this place... in fact, they'd make a huge improvement in the authenticity of the meal by getting their bread from COSTCO instead of the bakery they are using.\n\nAnd yes, we could have sent all the food back, but we decided to be Thankful for our ability to go out and enjoy a beautiful day, as well as not cause a scene in the restaurant and spoil anyone else's enjoyment of the holiday. Our response instead  will be to never visit one of their restaurants again.\n\nPLEASE do yourself and your family a favor by avoiding Buca de Beppo at all costs. This company should be out of business so something better could fill the space.\n\nGo to your local Italian restaurant, run by a local family, rather than this corporate theme restaurant that has forgotten the quality and value that made them famous in the beginning.\n\nIf we could rate ZERO stars we'd have done so.