Mishawn D.
Yelp
A few weeks ago, after a trip to Barnes & Noble, my kiddo and I stopped for dinner here. It was the first time for us both and we were excited to get our fill of Italian food. Here is what we experienced:
Location: 9/10 Undoubtedly, the CCP has changed over the last several years. Buca has been around for as long as I can remember and one of the few restaurants that's been around, aside from the Classic Cup, Cheesecake Factory, and Jack Stack. This place is great for date night or happy hour with friends, which was the majority of the crowd.
Customer Service 6/10 We arrived right as the dinner rush was beginning - 6pm. The hostess was welcoming and friendly and we were seated quickly. There was not a lot of diversity among the staff, which could use some improvement, and it took the server almost fifteen minutes to come take our drink order. Though we asked for plenty of time to look over the menu, it took longer than we wanted to wait. He was also sporadic in how quickly he came to fill up our water and check on us.
A Standard: 1/10 The patrons had an air, which definitely impacted our experience. One lady grabbed her purse quickly when a Black man and his family passed by her table. Another couple moved outside because they felt we were being "too loud." It definitely gave me "back in the day" vibes and that is not a good thing. This is not a shock to me, considering the history of CCP.
Food: 5/10 We waited a while for the food to come, but that seemed to be a good thing. We both shared chicken alfredo with Caesar Salad. It was pretty decent. The flavor was good, but I was not a fan of the chicken's texture. The portion size definitely could feed more than two people and we had leftovers for a couple of days. When we asked for the check, we did not get a bag, which made our next stop difficult. For the both of us, it was a little over $50, which for me is overpriced for our experience.
Overall: 5.25/10 The low rating is for the poor customer service and the atmosphere of the patrons. The food is overpriced for what it is and there are better Italian options in the metro. For us, this is not a place I would opt to come to if I had the choice. Maybe in the distant future, we may try again but in the meantime, we will stick to other places or travel to the Hill in STL.