After a fun filled day at the Central Park Zoo and various other locations in New York City, our family wanted to finish the trip with a nice NYC dinner. We had a party of 10 which included a hungry 3 year old and teenager and friends.  We had planned our last stop before dinner be Toys R Us in Times Square, so we made reservations at an Italian family style restaurant- Buca di Beppo in Times Square (Buca di Beppo is right on 45th between Broadway and 6th Ave.. which is a hop, skip, & jump from Toys R Us).

Buca di Beppo sits in the same building as Planet Hollywood, but on the second floor off of the elevator. You can feel the warm and inviting atmosphere from the moment you step out of the elevator. There is Italian music playing and pictures up all over walls. There is not one single dining area, instead there are various tables set up in numerous rooms. My favorite part about this restaurant was how our table was set up. We had a large round table that was in our own private room. It was as if we were having Sunday dinner at home in our dining room! We were still able to laugh and carry on 10 different conversations (we ARE Italian, you know how loud that can get).

The menu is so robust, there is definitely something on there for everyone. All dishes are served family style.. the small plate serves 2 or more while the large plate serves 4 or more. After careful consideration of all the items on the menu we ordered the following:

Antipasti

• Bruschetta
• Cheesy bread florentine
• Mini meatballs
• Fried Calamari

Insalate

• Chopped Antipasto Salad

Entrees

• Chicken Parmigiana (small plate)
• Spaghetti with meat sauce (small plate)
• Shrimp Florentine (small plate)
• Chicken Cannelloni (large plate)
• Shrimp Fra diavolo (large plate)

Side Dishes

• Rosemary potatoes
• Green beans

Dessert

• Cheesecake
• Tiramisu
• Celebration Cake

Every appetizer was absolutely delicious. The mini meatbealls were stuffed with cheese and covered in plenty of tomato sauce. The breading on the calamari had the perfect amount of seasoning where you hardly needed any marinara. The bruschetta and cheesy bread florentine went faster than they were put out. I could have easily made my entire meal from these two items. The tomatoes in the bruschetta were so juicy and ripe I couldn’t get enough piled up on the bread and who doesn’t love cheese, cheese, and more cheese piled up on their bread. The hardest part was pacing ourselves for the next few courses.

The chopped antipasto salad was just as delicious filled with pepperoni, red onions, pepperoncini peppers, cucumbers, roma tomatoes, provolone, feta and Gorgonzola with mixed lettuce. The signature Italian vinaigrette dressing drizzled over made the entire salad.

We order five different plates for our entrees, two large and three small plates. The small plates were PLENTY for us to sample the item and still go back for seconds. We could have gotten away with ordering all small plates and still would have had quite a few left overs. All our entrees were of course enjoyed with a bottle of the signature pinot grigio, Ciao!

After the entrees, we couldn’t pass up sampling a few items on the dessert menu. The celebration cake was the dessert of all desserts. It came with brownie pieces, ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream and a SERVING SPOON! The cheesecake was (literally) melt in your mouth good and the tiramisu was the epitome of an Italian dessert to top a wonderful Italian meal.

Overall, we had an amazing meal and definitely will be planning a trip back to Buca di Beppo. We even were able to enjoy dinner the next day with all of our leftovers!

If you’re planning a trip to NYC I highly suggest to make Buca di Beppo a Must-Do for dinner, It won’t disappoint you with the food or price!

 

*TheBloggerConnection and friends were guests at Bucca di Beppo, all opinions are our own