Buca diBeppo's gets Bought Out and Sells Out.

My husband and I went to Buca's in Birmingham, MI tonight for my birthday and I have never been so disappointed in my life.

My husband and I have been going to this same Buca's for nearly a decade - through a beginning friendship, then courtship, to every birthday, anniversary, any celebration including our wedding reception where we hosted 25 people to share in our joy six years ago. We've gone there for every Valentine's Day, many of my children's and grandchildren's birthdays. I was never disappointed in the food or the service.

Tonight, all of that changed.

First, we were seated in the bar, which I did not ask for and really would not have preferred, but apparently our waiter didn't want to miss the Super Bowl.

Next, in the midst of eating our apple gorgonzola salad, I found a nice curly, black hair in my plate. The waiter, when I could get his attention, came and took the salad away. Yes, he took it off our bill, but amazingly enough, he didn't offer replacement appetizer of any kind or clean silver. I had to go, myself, to another table to get fresh utensils.

Next, I ran out of diet Pepsi - and when I tried to get the waiter's attention, it was virtually impossible because he was so entranced in watching the Super Bowl on the bar's tv. I finally just hollered across the room. Nice. Classy.

We tried to order, but as we went through the dishes we would have liked to have, our waiter told us, for instance, that the brushcetta sauce wasn't really any good any more. It used to be nice and thick, he told us, but now it's just like some chopped up tomatoes. Then we asked about various other dishes and were told that Buca's no longer used much garlic in anything, that fresh garlic was no longer used, that the sauces were all different than we were used to, but that, thank heaven, the chicken Marsala had the same sauce. He informed us that everything had changed since Buca's has been bought out by Planet Hollywood and I can see that this is true.

So we did intend to order a variety appetizer, but we settled for a small garlic bread, and we also intended to have frutti di mare (we usually get the large and take some home) but we settled for a side of fettucini alfredo and spaghetti with marinara sauce (which was downright mushy) and then ordered a large dish of chicken Marsala. We got the sides but we ended up receiving a small order of the chicken and when we asked him to correct that, he seemed quite confused.

At no time did he come and refresh our drinks without being asked or offer dessert. I had to flat out ask for it to be brought to us.

When I asked for the manager part-way through our meal, I had to go explain myself and still, he never sent the manager to our table! The manager did happen to come by - he was visiting all of the tables - but I truly do not think I need to explain myself to a waiter before I can speak to a manager.

In any case, the manager basically listened to me as I explained the various problems, but still never spoke to the waiter so we could get service instead of watching him watch the Super Bowl as he leaned on the bar. He did take my garlic bread off the bill, but as I explained, I didn't want money off, we wanted decent food and decent service, neither of which we got.

As we left our table and walked to the elevator, someone started screaming, literally screaming, "Hey!, Hey!" We tried to get on the elevator and go upstairs to leave, but the screams continued and finally, despite being in the elevator, I stopped it and hit the open door button. The waitress came running up to our door, still screaming, and then stopped as she saw that we were apparently not the person she was looking for. She told me that she thought we were her manager, a tallish black man. I am short, chubby white woman and my husband is an equally short Chinese man. Hard to mistake. What on earth she thought she was doing screaming like some kind of lunatic as she ran down this hallway behind us, I will never know.

The waiter's explanation of Buca's being bought out, of course, appears to explain everything and is the reason why I know we will, sadly enough, not be going back. We were used to excellent service, exemplary food, and good surroundings.

Instead, with the new owners, we got plunked down in the bar, got service I wouldn't accept at the local bar and grill, and food that was totally unsatisfactory and in fact, unsanitary.

We had intended to take my two lovely granddaughters with us, but they had a bit of car trouble and didn't end up joining us. I'm not thankful for the car trouble, but I am certainly glad they didn't have to sit through that mess.

I'll miss Buca's - as I said, we courted there, had our wedding reception there, have celebrated many good times there over the last decade, but I'm not interested in paying close to $100.00 for dinner for two and be as disappointed as we were this evening.