Buca Di Beppo- Maple Grove

Travis' mom wanted to take on the Groom's dinner, which was fine with me. She decided to invite all the out of towners and bridal party to the dinner. She visited Buca's and really liked what they had to offer. They told her that she could fit a maximum of 100 people in the section of the restaurant that they would designate for us. We ended up with about 70 people at the Groom's dinner and I thank the lord that there weren't 100. The room was packed. I can't even describe how packed it was. When we arrived we couldn't even get into the room. It was a freaking mad house. The invite (and the Buca time) was 6:30, but people were standing around talking for at least an hour, which appeared to have been planned because the poor servers were trying to pass wine to people but there was no room to move. You literally could not move. When people finally sat down there were barely enough seats for every butt. Once we were sitting appetizers came out but then things slowed to almost a halt. It took over an hour for the family style dinner to be served. I was looking forward to a dinner and then getting back to the hotel and finishing up some last minute things and getting a good night sleep. We were at Buca's until 11. The servers did a great job though. They didn't let the madness get to them and they were very very sweet to everyone. They boxed up left overs, which fed the in-town family for weeks. The reason that I am giving Buca a C is because they were completely off in telling my MIL that she could have 100 people there. There was barely sitting room for 70 and I can't imagine what would have happened if there were 100! They oversold themselves and it was ridiculous.