Buona Terra: User Reviews

This restaurant is fantastic. You will not be disappointed in the wait staff, ambiance, and certainly not the food. I have been a long-time customer of Buona, and have tried almost everything on the menu. I also rented it out for my rehearsal dinner, and have had several dinner parties there. This is a must try for foodies and locals. The Prix Fixe is a great way to explore some foods you normally would not try either because of preference or price. The food melts in your mouth, and street parking is not bad either. Do yourself a favor and eat here this thursday.

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Should have known when making the reservation that this would be a bad experience. We went for a birthday dinner. Owner's wife wanted the party of 8 -10 people to have decided what their menu choices were prior to coming to the restaurant. Who has ever heard of such a thing? When one goes to a dining facility and receives their menu and hears the specials is when one decides on their order. When she was asked about using credit cards to pay the bill she made a scene in front of the birthday girl/ host. She was complaining that it would take too long to run two different amounts on 2 cards. Huh? How much longer could it possibly take ? 20 seconds at most? Our waiter was as nice and accomodating as he could be with such a demanding owner. The food was average to good but not worth the hassle of putting up with such rudeness. It's a shame. She left a bad impression on everyone in our party and most of us are local and could potentially be regulars. I guess getting guests in and out and turning tables is more important than customer service. Will not be returning.

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Having been a restaurant manager for more than 18 years, I am pretty particular about my service AND my flavors. Here at Buona Terra we felt right at home from the hostess greeting of a big smile that Midwestern Folks know how to give all the way to the owner and his wife, Elaine, making certain the place ran like clockwork.

Our appetizers were terrific followed and topped by the entrees and bread with dipping sauces that I would pay good money for should they be sold on a grocer's shelf! Then, of course, my sister had to order dessert as I sipped on some terrific red wine ... both of us in our respective culinary heaven! Thank you / Graci for a beautiful dining experience.

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Buona Terra is consistently outstandingly good. The specials are always interesting and very tasty. The regular menu items also are reliably delicious (veal, pork t-bones, butternut squash pasta). I brought some friends from college who were in town, and we all thoroughly enjoyed the whole evening. And, despite having had appetizers, salad, entres off the special menu, a dessert, and a couple bottles of wine, the bill was surprisingly reasonable.

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This was once an inviting neighborhood place with decent food and good service. After dining at Buona Terra for over five years, I find that the new staff is wholly indifferent to the needs or desires of diners. The wait staff carried forward from the glory days remains as great as ever, but they cannot make up for the disdain dished out by the newcomers. After several meals in a row tainted by snottiness, I see no reason to hope that Buona Terra will return to its former, friendly self. Ciao.

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I felt obligated to write to defend this establishment that is helping to put Logan Square back on the map. I have eaten here many times and never had an experience that I thought deserved a truly negative review. First, the food is amazingly well prepared. My wife and I strongly recommend the Veal Ravioli and the Buona Terra Rigatoni as entrees. They are absolutely two of the best Italian dishes in the city. As for starters, I usually get the Calamari. It is good, but to be fair there is only so much you can do to calamari. I do want to note its freshness. As for desserts, you are in for a treat. I recommend the Chocolate Pecan Tart. It is a rich chocolate mousse on a pecan crust topped with fresh berry fruits, amazing! My wife prefers the gelato, but we have sampled all the treats on the dessert menu and find they all are fresh and satisfy even a picky dessert fan. The biggest downside is that the space is tight. Once, I did have to wait on reservation for almost half an hour when they first opened, but the owner did comp a round of drinks for my party. To me, it was addressed and corrected and they are forgiven. Besides, they were just working out the kinks as all new restaurants do. It has never happened since. There is a Prix Fixe on Thursdays (amazing value if you can get in) 19.95 for three courses, ANYTHING on the menu goes! This place is a must try. I promise you the other reviews are flukes.

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I don't know what happened for the other visitors but this place left me with a huge smile and happy taste buds. Great dishes, very flavourful from the octopus app to the scallop pasta. The service was great and the bread with spicy garlic spread to start out was heavenly... I was definitely recommend this place and plan on heading back soon.

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My husband and I went here for Valentine's day, because we had a pleasant experience here for the Big Day before. The place does look nice, but the food was just okay. Even so, I wanted to go here because it's an easy place to walk here from our home and it has that special feeling to it. However, the service was just beyond lousy, and I still feel jilted about it to where I will never go here again. We even went here soon after it opened so the crowds would be less. That should have made a difference, but it didn't.

First off, the hostess was wearing faded jeans with a big tear in her butt with the fringe hanging out. Even when I waited tables at diners, I would never dream of dressing so inappropriately! Also, we were rushed throughout our whole meal, even though most of the tables were still empty! I know we weren't the swankiest couple in there, just working class folk, but I got the distinct impression we were not wanted there.

I noticed the other tables were being told about specials and given drink suggestions, but all we got was the menu handed to us. With less than a minute of looking, the waiter sat there expecting us to have already made up our minds. When I asked for a little more time, he made me feel like I was upsetting his schedule! Also, we had a hard time getting more water and drink refills. (We decided against ordering drinks, since we already felt like we were an inconvenience to this place - why spend more money?) And when we ordered dessert, I again felt like we upset his schedule, like he was hoping us low lives would stop stinking up the place or something.

I left a 15% tip, which is very low for me; I rarely leave nothing, simply because I used to be a waitress so I know what it's like to really work for a living. This guy made a big mistake ignoring us and rushing us out like that! And again, what's with the hostess looking like a slob? She's supposed to represent the restaurant! Shame on her!

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I live in the neighborhood and have been going since it opened. The food has been pretty consistently good except for my last time there. I had ordered the daily fish special and it was just a bad piece of fish appearance, texture and flavor. The garlic spread served with the bread is deeelish. I have introduced many friends and clients to this place but the last two times I have been there on weekends we were practically kicked out! We had a 7:30 reservation and they ASKED us to leave at 8:30. I had a friend in from overseas that I hadn't seen in a year and another friend. We were looking forward to a relaxed evening; cocktail, appetizer, dinner, coffee. The appetizer arrived before we had two sips and the dinner came after two bites of the appetizer. The waiter was constantly interrupting and finally at the end the owner asked us to give up the table because they were so busy and offered to buy us a drink at the bar. There was no room or even a bar stool to be able to comfortably enjoy a drink so we went next door to Hachi's Kitchen were the staff was warm and accommodating and we sat to our hearts content. I like this place so I hope they see this and do something about it.

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I have been there twice and both times i came away with the same opinion: Horrible service, good food. This last time i had reservations at 7:30 and didnt get seated until 8:30. in meantime, at least two tables of walkins were seated. the hostess only said "we're busy, i cant help it" both her and the owner were unapologetic. The food is good, but there is too much good italian food in this city to deal with the poor service. Regardless, expect a long wait - reservation or no reservation - and there is no waiting room.

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