For more than three decades, maybe even four, my family has made the jaunt once or twice a year to Buscaglia’s Ristorante in Jackson, California to celebrate. Sometimes it’s a birthday, sometimes Mother’s Day, sometimes for other important family events like confirmations and baptisms. We’ve always considered it our restaurant of choice for really special family events.
Until May 11, 2008, that is.
When I was a kid, Buscaglia’s was an awesome little place…right on the road with this huge, beautiful stained glass window of roses and a light-up dance floor in the lounge, straight out of the seventies. The food was to die for, homemade minestrone, succulent pastas, and this amazing fried chicken that I swear I can still taste, even though they discontinued making it more than 15 years ago. The place was cozy and warm, the staff was always friendly and attentive and it really felt like you had gone to an old friend’s home for dinner.
Not so anymore.
The day before Mother’s Day, we made the trek to Buscaglia’s for dinner. All told, there were eleven of us, eight adults and three kids. Buscaglia’s recently built a new restaurant farther back on the hill from the original location, and although my parents and grandparents had been there since the new spot opened, my siblings and I had not. I must admit, I was saddened to see that all that was left of the old building was some brick pillars and foundations. The new building is really quite impressive, but the rubble at the foot of the hill made it seem bittersweet.
To get to the restaurant entrance, you have to enter the courtyard and walk up a short incline to the back of the building. When I arrived with my kids, my grandparents were talking to the waiter about getting a different table location, and although we were the first people there (the place opens at 5pm and we were there on the dot for our reservation) they refused to move us. Ok, no problem I thought…I wasn’t sure why my grandparents had wanted to move in the first place, but once we sat down, it became all too apparent. The main walkway from the kitchen to the outdoor seating was right along our table. With all the coming and going, you would expect that we would have received better service, but not really. Our drinks were a long time coming and our ordering even longer after that. By the time the waitress came with our soup and salad, our bread was long gone and she forgot my brother’s minestrone. We managed to get that rectified and about 7 or 8 minutes later, another waiter came by to ask us if we wanted grated cheese on our food…except that we were almost done with it at that point, so it was pretty silly. It took quite awhile longer for our dinners to arrive and in the meantime, the traffic behind my chair increased in pace and it was incredibly distracting for my three year old.
Finally our meals arrived. I had their small prime rib special, my brother had cheese raviolis and my sister had the seafood cannelloni (no photo sorry). My prime rib was disappointingly chewy and had almost a bitter taste to it, as if it had been marinated in white wine or something. The vegetables were way over done, almost to the point of being chewy, not a terribly pleasant texture. The side of spaghetti was good however, with a classic red sauce and topped with grated Parmesan cheese. My brother enjoyed his cheese raviolis very much. (Inhaled is the proper terminology.) My sister’s seafood cannelloni however was so exceedingly rich and the lobster cream sauce was so heavy and plentiful that she could barely eat any of it. She nibbled at it, but wasn’t very happy with her choice over all. I tried it as well and while delicious, it was far too heavy to eat the whole thing.
After our disappointing entrees, my sister and I decided to have dessert and our brother came along for the sweet tray too. They both had a key lime cheesecake and I split a sinfully delicious chocolate ganache cake with my three year old. Dessert was by far the best part of the meal and nearly redeemed the whole experience, if it hadn’t been for one extremely snotty waiter.
We had finished our dessert and the three year old had to use the restroom, so we started to get up to go and she stepped right in the path of this balding, forty-ish waiter who was dressed so sloppily it looked like he had just come from washing dishes. (The rest of the staff was dressed in black, very classy.) And this rushing, horrid little man had the audacity to snap at me and her for getting in his way. I’m sorry, you have absolutely no right to yell at a customer who is simply getting up to use the bathroom. My whole family was disgusted at his boorish behavior and then it took forever for the check to come after that.
So, after pleasurably dining at Buscaglia’s for thirty plus years, I doubt we shall ever return.
If you do plan to go there, the grounds are quite lovely as is the new building, but I wouldn’t take a large party there nor take anyone under the age of 13 or so. It’s family style charm is entirely gone, but it might make a semi-decent date restaurant.
Buscaglia’s is located at 1218 Jackson Gate Road, Jackson, CA 95642 and can be reached via phone at 209.223.9992.
