Buona

“Buona Beef never disappoints! Every time I visit, the staff is always friendly and welcoming. The atmosphere is clean and inviting, and the food is always fresh and full of flavor. The rewards point system is a great bonus — it definitely keeps me coming back!”

Phenomenal restaurant with excellent Italian Beef, Hot Dogs, and Cheese Fries that has top-notch service from an excellent staff.

The food was good, customer service was also good. The Alfredo was really creamy, the noodles are made in house which I find amazing, you can definitely taste the homemade noodles. The Chicken Tenders were good too, chocolate shakes are okay, like any other shake from any fast food restaurant. It was still very good and would definitely come again.

I placed an online order and then going through the drive up my son wanted to add to it. They couldn't have been nicer. Food was hot and delicious as usual. Staff at the window was a very nice young man.

Wanted a rainbow cone after driving past the huge cone statue everyday. Asked for the cone and was told they don’t sell it at the drive thru but the pint came with 2 cones. We had to drive back through again to ask for two spoons after there were none in the bag. Ice cream was super hard.. and a bit disappointing. unsure why the cone is not available via drive thru? She also didn’t tell us to come in and get it so unknown if it was even in store either.

The Rainbow Cone in Darien is the absolute best place to take the kids for a fun and delicious treat. Servers are always kind, place is clean and it has a vibrant atmosphere.

The Darien location is always a pleasure to dine at. This was my first time placing an online order for pick up and everything ran so smooth. I had a large order and everything was perfect.

Always good food! We have enjoyed every single meal we have eaten here. 4/25/2025 update. I love that you offer a lettuce wrap option for the burgers, but unfortunately, the way you wrap them is impossible to eat. I would suggest some iceberg lettuce that you can actually wrap around the burger so that people can pick them up and eat them instead of using a knife and a fork. I have ordered lettuce wraps from many restaurants and I have not ever had an issue like I have here.

I have a question, do we tip for everything now? I like Buona and am a fan of most of the menu. The crispy chicken salad is my jam. But, do I tip someone for bringing and removing a tray? This is not service. This is crazy, these folks are not waiters or waitresses - why am I tipping? It's uncomfortable and stupid. Putting the customer in an awkward situation is always good business.

My boyfriend and I ate here. He got the Italian beef with sauce and I think it was better than Panera. It was so saucy and very flavorful. I got a Cesar salad with chicken. The salad itself was good but the chicken was dry. So amazing for Italian beef, but wouldn't recommend the salad for what it costs. The place is clean. Service is good but you have to order over a computer screen.

Came for the beef & stayed for the cone! Parking is plentiful for indoor dining and a lane for drive-thru is available. Inside you can order from a table (card payment) or at the register (cash). Menu offers beef, pasta, and pizza choices - rigatoni with chicken is my all-time go-to. Our order is always fresh and timely. Finish off a delicious meal with a tasty ice cream treat!

The food is good. It's called Buona Beef, so I definitely come for the beef sandwich. I had the beef with red sauce and mozzarella. It was really good. My girlfriend had a Cesar salad that was good but the chicken was a bit dry. The service is good with friendly staff. The tables are cleaned up for you after you're done eating. You also have the option of ordering at the kiosk or with someone behind the counter. The ambiance was good as well. The lighting isn't too bright or low and the place was nice and quiet. You can have a comfortable conversation and enjoy the food. 5 stars due to the food and service.

What do you feed the Drake University Softball team when in town for a 3 game series? BUONA BEEF of course! What better way to 'taste Chicago'? They LOVED it! I just feel bad they're heading back to Iowa so it'll be awhile before they can eat like that again. Ordering, pickup and setup couldn't have been more effortless. Everything was included and easy to follow for catering setup. Taste? - full bodied perfection just like our family is used to in the restaurant. 24 thumbs up from the athletes and coaches! Drake Softball thanks you for their full bellies!

Yesterday I drove up here to get me a meatball sub and I thought it was gonna be normal like every other weekly buona feast. But I'd be dammed when I saw what I think his name was Alex he was so god damn charming and nice gah damn ! I will definitely be coming only when he works woowee

New updated review available via the elite event It was held at this location that was very good and I very much enjoyed myself the food and service was really good too So not going to sit there and put the same thing up again but have upgraded the Stars to the full five bar across the board.

the last few salads I have gotten from Buona in Darien have had brown and slimy lettuce they look pre made and not fresh. This is disgusting and cannot even be eaten. I had to throw this one out. It's very sad when you spend so much money and the quality of food is bad.

Of all my years living in the city of Chicago and now in the burbs, this was my first time eating at Buona beef. Wild times. I loved this location and the food. It's shares space with a rainbow cone place and has a decent sized parking lot. The staff were quite friendly and the food was delish. I ordered the original beef with hot peppers, fries and a drink and my hubs got the saucy beef. I was honestly, like for real, surprised at how good the Italian beef was. I grew up in a neighborhood in Chicago , KNOWN, for Italian beef and this was a close win. The bread was just juiced enough, beef was tender and the peppers spicy. YUM. I enjoyed the sandwich way more than expected. Fries were crispy and they have a large selection of drinks and iced drinks in their fountain area. The menu is also surprising with a wide array of food as well as serving wine and beer. Im surprised I never came here before and now that I've been, I for sure will be back.

**NOT SAFE FOR FOOD ALLERGIES** MAJOR FOOD SAFETY CONCERNS My 2 year old toddler with a severe anaphylactic egg allergy ordered chicken fingers which claimed to be Egg Free. After noticing that the crispy chicken on the adult menu was not listed egg free, we got suspicious and called the store when we got home before letting him eat it. The employee we talked to told us that they were the same chicken, despite allergens listed as different. He also told us that they DO contain Egg, which is not disclosed on the allergen menu. I'm thankful my wife caught this and convinced me to double check, as it could have ended up in an ER visit at minimum and injury or death for my toddler at worst. I later followed up with an email asking them to make the update but have gotten absolutely no response. This is a major food safety concern and unfortunately there have probably already been injuries that have resulted from kids unknowingly consuming food allergens they can't have. Unbelievable that of all places, they neglect to get right the KIDS allergen menu.

Buona food is good There's something about this place that makes you come back. You can finish it of with rainbow cone now since now they're essentially the same place

I stopped by this location for the first time a few years ago when they first opened and I thought it was so weird to have an Original Rainbow Cone inside. I took my mom here over the weekend and she thought it was a south siders dream come true. We spent 2hrs here while she ordered a burger AND Italian beef (baptized of course!). She said the food was fresher and hotter than other locations. The manager came around to tables to check on people which I thought was a nice touch. They also sell beer and wine at this location, which I hadn't seen before. We then went across the room to rainbow cone which is my moms favorite ice cream. We were already stuffed but sat outside on the beautiful, colorful patio to enjoy some ice cream. We will definitely be back, obviously this is my moms version of Disney World lol.

Being from California, Italian Beef sandwiches are kind of foreign to me. My boyfriend ordered me the standard sandwich with hot peppers as well as a chopped salad and a side order of chips. The sandwich was so tasty! The meat is really lean and not super salty, and because it's sliced so thinly the whole sandwich is really light and has a good texture when you bite into it. The bread is very lightly toasted and the gravy is nicely soaked so you get a tasty soaked bread in the middle. The addition of the hot peppers gives it a little texture and kick, but I only wish they included more. I definitely wish they had this in California because the sandwich is under 400 calories and you get awesome lean protein. Chopped salad was pretty good too! Nothing mindblowing but the sweeter dressing and textures helped contrast with the sandwich. Chips were sprinkled with some cheese powder or something but nothing special.

I've had their beefs before, but I was intrigued by their Italian beefless sandwich. My husband got a regular beef with giardiniera with cheese fries and I got the beefless sandwich and fries. The regular beef is always good. Fries are crispy and their cheese sauce is good. Their plant-based sandwich was just okay. I guess if you couldn't eat meat, this is a great alternative. But I wouldn't choose the plant-based version over the real beef. The texture reminded me of very soft processed gyro meat. Not horrible, just an observation. But it was definitely missing the meaty satisfaction of the regular beef. Also, they have an attached Rainbow Cone counter! Can't say no to ice cream!

Waited a long time in the drive thru waiting area. But then I get home and they forgot my French fries. Ugh. I had such a craving for them. And I'm way too tired to drive all the back. These kids are getting at least $18 an hour. I seen the "we're hiring" sign. Surely they can double check receipt & bag. It's not that complicated. I can call and complain and maybe they'll give me a credit but I'm not ever going back, so what's the point?

They still take cash in drive through and food is just as good as Portillos. No more Portillos.

It has been a million years since I have visited Buona! Yet, when I heard they had a vegan sandwich I was all in! Since I was on my way to work I had to do a drive through option. I wanted to enjoy the "beef" in all of its fabulousness at a table, but had no option but to devour it in my vehicle. And devour it I did! Upon ordering, you have the option if adding hot or mild giardinere or sweet peppers. I went with the hot, for this experience. The peppers added the proper amount of zing without overpowering the actual flavor of the seitan "beef.". I ordered it dipped, but was told that option wasn't available for the vegan sandwich. However, it was wet enough and to the point I had to eat it over my work iPad, ha ha! (Hey, it cleans off just fine!). The staff there are incredibly nice and oh so professional! The sandwich and staff were so awesome I stopped there for another for the husband on my way home from work. Ha! Highly recommend!

Food very good had pizza, combo (great as always) and split a meatball sandwich for the first time. Meatballs were excellent!!! Great flavor and nice and juicy. Marinara sauce was really good for a chain restaurant. This will make our choices when going there even harder now. This establishment has now just risen a star more than Portillo's for me. My husband probably still likes the competitor a little more cause their chocolate cake. That makes the difference to him but I like it more as I feel the au jus for the beef at Buona is more tastier. Love their beef because it just melts in your mouth cause it's so slow roasted which is the only way I like Italian beef. They do beef right!!!

Always eat here at least once a week. We have inflation now we have shrinkflation. WHERE'S the BEEF!!?? Talked with Daniel T. The manager and he assured me that they weighed the beef. I watched the whole process because of the mess up on my order. They never weighed it. Hate to stop coming for some of the best beef around. Oh well.

I'm not one to leave poor reviews unless something extreme happens, but I feel like a warning has to be issued. My husband and I are dealing with our second round of food poisoning after eating Buona Beef--& both instances were only a couple weeks apart. A couple weeks ago I went through the drive-thru & ordered two sandwiches and fries. I was told to pull up, so I did, and our order was out in 30 seconds. Awesome! (Or so I thought). Got home and saw all that was in the bag was an order of mostaccioli. My husband brought it back and they replaced our order and gave us cards for 2 free beefs. We both had tummy issues the rest of the day and for the next day too. Then the other day my husband went to redeem the 2 free beefs. Again, for the rest of the day and now ever 2 days later we both had stomach issues. I should have proceeded with caution after the first round messed us up, but I thought maybe it was a fluke. But now dealing with the same thing again I know it wasn't. Our son is a picky eater & didn't have Buona either time, and he's been fine. Just proceed with caution when going here. The food tasted fine, but our tummies are paying a horrible price.

During my visit to the Darien IL BB, I ordered the beef, fries + drink combo. The sandwich was good but slightly dry. Manager Derrick brought some gravy w a smile. Kudos on doing what it takes to keep customers coming back.

I've been going to Buona since the original in Berwyn opened up. We had a taste for a beef sandwich and this is what I got. Hardly any beef on the sandwich, no wonder Portillo's consistently outperforms

Nikki helped me recently when my order went astray. She couldn't have been nicer and quickly expedited getting my food ready during a busy lunch hour rush. Very service oriented and professional. Generally very nice employees at this location but Nikki really went out of her way to problem solve and make things right! Thanks!

Had a great experience here last week ! The place is more family friendly than I would have expected . There is bench seating outside, individual tables and a large ice cream area that is super cute for kids. I got a sandwich and side to go and they were very quick with the order and everything was made how I asked it to be . They also had a drive through which looked super efficient and fast. This was my first time at Buona beef and I will definitely be back ! It was great

Nice dining room. Great Italian beef also has outdoor dining . Provides great service

Not so good anymore! Wife's beef was rubbery & gristly! Mine not so bad! Not to impressed by getting handed the credit card reader thru drive in window & it says how much for a tip, before I even see price for food! I don't think someone who takes my money & throws my bag out a window deserves a tip! I believe the restaurant.paying these employees should up the pay so they don't.have to ask for tips! Never been approached at portillos for tips! Can't believe Buona let this happen! Fries sucked also! To much competition out their !!!!

I used to really enjoy eating at Buona, but not so much anymore. Their prices have gone up, and the quality of food has gone down. I tried their Buona beef, which is their specialty, it was terrible. We tried the Quattro pizza, it was the worst pizza I've ever had. Disappointed. Don't think I'll be back. Oh, and Joe said, "They committed a crime and should be arrested."

Food is great. Love the beef. BBQ chicken pizza with tomatoes is tasty. However, the online order process leaves room for improvement. Stood there and waited 5 minutes before someone even addressed me. I had no idea of the status of my order. They should have a TV screen or monitor to queue status of online orders. I noticed customers inside were also frustrated with lack of interaction.

Well,the fries are good. I ordered a beef and sausage combo,the bread was wrong and the sausage was missing.They tried again..This time the cheese was Missing and they once again forgot the sausage..At this point I gave up and ate my dry Beef..without cheese or flavor. The lemonade was ok,but it tastes like that Country time powdered mix.

Absolutely not worth the $20! The beef sandwich was about 4 pieces of beef with the scraps added to it. Asked for it dipped thinking it would be at least a little wet, barely splashed. No peppers came with it even tho we ordered them and paid extra. Meatball sandwich was mortified beyond extent. Portion size from ball to bread was a 4/10 ratio not at all the greatest bite of bread and no meat. Been waiting to try this place, I wish I never went. DONT WASTE YOUR TIME NOR MONEY

On Monday I had a terrible experience at your Darien location, on Jan 2nd I received my birthday reward, I try to use it on Jan 5, but they said, you can't use it or a pizza, you can use it next time on a beef, so Monday January 16th, 2023 when I tried to use it they said it's expired, I spoke to the Darien store manager and he said there is nothing we can do, he didn't say sorry or show any empathy, he lacks any skills related to customer service, I have been a long time customer and I found this experience below your standards.

Tasteless. No salt on anything. No comparison to portillos. I had the original beef which they're supposedly famous for. Very mediocre. Two stars cause I didn't spit it out. But no reason to come back whatsoever. What can I say. Another restaurant chain that doesn't give a shit about quality. I hope the entire chain fails. Make room for places that care. Hi. How do I leave more detail? Do you wanna send me an email address I can send to? I'd be glad to. Thanks

Buona beef sandwiches are my go to with their tasty beef, perfect bun, and giardiniera that's not vinegar tasting like some can be. We normally get the beef sandwich and split a salad which rounds out a nice lunch. The salads are fresh and a generous portion. Recently though, out of the blue I had a strong urge for a hotdog. So along with my usual beef order I got a hotdog with everything, and it did not disappoint. The hotdog was juicy, the bun was fresh as was all of the garnish. Now I guess I will have to try some of the other offerings there. Heard the pizza was really good and a special on Thursdays!

I had a poor experience with this Buona a while back but I decided to give it another chance. I ordered off the DoorDash app (which could partially explain the poor experience) and ordered the AntiPasto side salad and Beef Bowl. To start, the beef bowl consisted of maybe four thin slices of beef, two slices of green peppers, and cheese all the way at the bottom of the bowl. It was almost $8 and felt like it had less meat than the sandwich. Secondly, the antipasto salad (which is typically salad with an assortment of meats) was actually a penne pasta salad with a few pieces of salami mixed in. There is no description of this salad in the door dash app so you may want to look into this as it's somewhat misleading. Overall, I was disappointed by the entire meal and will not likely return in the near future.

Buona is my favorite Italian Beef place and this location is as good as all the others I've visited although it is bigger than most. My regular order is a 10" beef, dipped with hot giardiniera. After finishing, i feel like i could eat another one but common sense prevails.

We like Buona better than Portillos, outside the city of Chicago. However, we now have to question the service... A week ago Friday, my wife and I ate at the location at Cass and 75th. My wife ordered the chopped salad and I had a beef combo with fries. I also took advantage of the 1/2 price wine. It took more than 20 minutes to get our food..... When the food arrived my wife's soup was on my beef platter and half of it spilled into my sandwich and fries. I told the waitress that I still had wine coming. The wine never came. As the waitress came back to deliver to another table, we caught her again, and reminded her again. We watched her go back behind the counter and get distracted, and again forgot the wine. We caught the manager and told him about the wine and refunded our money. We left chalking it up as a bad day at a good restaurant. Today, we ordered 3 beef sandwiches...DRY...and fries, through the drive thru. We were ushered to the waiting corral, where we waited 12 mins for our food. We got home and each sandwich was baptized in gravy and the fries were ice cold. We may be rethinking our beef place. There's only so many chances you give a place until you are the issue.

I have to eat GF, and they have several options, so I eat here quite a bit. I know everyone is suffering lately, but when I go there now, I expect my order to not come out right. Very annoying. And twice after I asked politely for what was not included or wrong to be fixed, they smiled and said sure and then never came back. Also, what happened to the Citrus iced tea?? You replaced it with some foul tasting liquid :(

So I only come here every now and then, today was the "FREE" sandwich they couldn't find it under my number ( been coming here for 8+ years...no worries) got my sandwich home no cheese! Not going back bc they're 15 min away...but to not get the free sandwich and to spend $19 I'm good! Shame onBB

Always a great beef sandwich, love the seasoned chips. They also have cannoli, they load them when you order, not soggy. Fair price.

Love the Caprese sandwich, tomatoes, red peppers. Good bread, not dry, good texture, fresh tasting

This place is alright if you shop the specials, otherwise you can buy better (like the patio just down the street) Otherwise was great when combining offers (discount meal, 10% local employee, etc) for a junk food fix lunch. But since they've gotten rid of this, no bueno.

I placed an online order , went to the drive through to pick it up at the desiring, was told to pull up and they would bring it to me. I waited 15 minutes then went in to find out it was sitting on a shelf for online orders. In addition to the food being cold from the employees neglect my order was missing 2 items.

Pleasant place to get lunch or dinner, Good selection of items on the menu Nice dining room. I was pleased with the service and friendliness of the staff Food was of good quality and I enjoyed my meal.

Just got a 10 inch combo.... Sooo disappointed no flavor whatsoever the last inch was nothing but bun won't be back to many other places that are actually good shameful!

Food tastes fresh, however for $8, they are OVERPRICED for the amount of meat given. The bowl supposed to have beef ,sausage, cheese, bell peppers. Seems you only get limited shreds of Italian beef on bottom, masked by melted cheese and juice. The sausage was tasty.

Amazing beef.. nightmares fries.. conflicted.. so I usually pass on this establishment the pizza is also ketchup based & usually cold so yeah naw dont come

Love this place. The food is amazing, and the service is the best! I get salads but their hot dogs are delicious.

Today again screwed up my order. First you can't talk to anyone. Got to order and pay before they make your order. Than once they have your money they can give 2 shits. Last week didn't put cheese fries in bag. I let it go. Today didn't put cannolli in bag. I drove back to get it. Now back home and my food is cold. I will never order again this place sucks. PORTILLOS BEVER LOOKED SO GOOD.

We had two deaths in our family in the past eight months that were unrelated to Covid. The Darien location provided high quality service and food for our large group of people on both occasions with short notice. I spoke to Rudy today, he was kind and helpful during our time of need. I think that was his name. Our order was perfect and our guests loved the Ceaser salad rigatoni, sausage and beefs. Thank you for such great service during two difficult events. We love your food.