Sheena C.
Yelp
Il Buco has earned its Michelin star in not only my palate but my heart for its excellent service in rolling with the punches and making the best out of a situation. My 5 year anniversary dinner here was a journey with hiccups but the staff couldn't have been more accommodating.
Firstly, the notoriously confusing bus schedule meant that we missed the first bus down the hill from our Airbnb, and the next one took another hour to show. That meant me standing in the freezing November rain at 20:00 waiting to flag down the next bus barreling its way down the hill while my bf called the restaurant to inform them that we'll be late for our reservation. And we were late, by almost an hour. But after we walked in, the staff of Il Buco graciously welcomed us, took my soggy raincoat, and seated us without any issues.
I've already heard about the "I Trust You" menu and ordered that. The menu is tailored to your preferences between sea and land. I liked both so I ended up with basically a surf and turf type variation which was perfect for me. Five courses was also a perfect amount of food and I chose a wine pairing to go with that, which didn't appear on the menu but the server said was doable. We then got an interesting stacked box of various breads to start things off, with subtle texture, shape, and flavor differences, and a nice pouring of olive oil for dipping.
Here's where the next big hiccup happened: I have 3 highly specific allergies, learned the hard way through experiences with bad reactions. I did tell the waiter about the eggplant one, and one of the amuse bouches was substituted out because of it. However I failed to mention the others because in my mind there was just so little chance they would happen. Imagine my surprise and horror when my first course was a beautiful plate of raw prawns... which last time I tried (in the form of amaebi) and it caused me to break out in hives and an itchy throat all night. I was too mortified to send the dish back, so I ate it anyway and could immediately feel the telltale tingle in my mouth and throat suggesting a reaction was already starting to happen. I quietly freaked out for five minutes before my bf flagged the server down and explained the situation. They leapt into action immediately, convening with all the floor staff before presenting me with an antihistamine pill on a spoon doused in a tablespoon of bottled water. I was instructed to wait two minutes as the pill began to dissolve, then take the spoonful. And honestly I was also very surprised at how miraculously quick and effective the pill was. The server showed me the box and concentration and while I didn't understand it, it worked for me! All the servers who came to our table after that checked in to make sure I was still okay, which felt amazing.
Finally the last little hiccup of the night was the second course. While the server repeated several times that our upcoming dish would be calamari and octopus, there must have been a mixup because I ended up with charred octopus and my bf got bluefin tuna. But that was the least disappointing mixup ever because we preferred these! Thus began the real start of the night's amazing menu.
After two courses came the meat dishes, and these really stood out. The chef made sure that my bf and I got completely different things each course so that we ended up tasting each other's. Our pasta dish came with a generous shaving of black truffle on top and for meat I got an elegant presentation of the tenderest lamb, and he got the juiciest hunk of short rib I've ever tried. And finally our desserts came plated with a Happy Anniversary message scrawled in chocolate. I much preferred my dessert, which was a deconstructed tiramisu with Bailey's flavored ice cream.
As for the wine pairings, they were all delicious but the last one was so fragrant I imagine that's what ambrosia would have been. It was like amber honey going down and I'm so glad it was the last thing I tasted before going to bed. Fortunately after we were done, a local we had arranged a ride with picked us up at 22:45 and took us back home. As a side note, cell reception inside was virtually nonexistent but wifi it turns out was free and easily accessible, which helped immensely in timing our ride home just right. It was a night of some epic anniversary stories and I have Il Buco to thank deeply for taking care of us and making this an unforgettable night.