Buona Vita

Physical Facilities: It's a beautiful building with a lot of potential, but the lack of ambience was definitely a distraction. Several of us thought some booths, and candles could cozy it up a bit. I felt a bit exposed b/c it's such a large space with such high ceilings and we were just sitting there in the open. The views were nice enough, with the exception of those horrid SunCrest McMansion monopoly houses purposely stuck so rudely on top of the mountain.

Service: Can we just say "disinterested third party"? Slurping the small amounts of water that melted off my ice cubes every few minutes as the only way to quench my parched throat was certainly not enjoyable for me, nor for the people sitting next to me. Sorry gals! There were only two other tables there during the excruciating amount of time, two hours, we spent there so the excuse is not that they were super busy. I too felt that they would have been perfectly happy for us to all walk out the door and let them get back to whatever it was they were doing that was so much more pressing than...their jobs.

Food: OK. I am not a gourmet chef by any stretch of the imagination. Occasionally I will make a zippy meal like roast in the crock pot, or I'll get all fancy and make BBQ meatloaf or Poppyseed Chicken. Most of the time it's Mac-n-Cheese, Quesadillas, stuff my kids can also make etc. So, when I do go out, I expect to get something of a little higher quality than a dish my 10 year old can throw together, which is exactly what I got at Buona Vita. Spaghetti, mushrooms, peas and a little cream sauce with not a lot of flavor. The dessert was so memorable that I have already forgotten what it was.

Music: The finale of every song became at least 50 decibels louder than the previous sections and had us bursting into fits of laughter every few minutes as our conversations would halt mid-comment while we waited out the 48-measure baritone vibrato song ending.

That being said, perhaps it's just growing pains and I will give them a second chance several months from now when they've had some time to work out the kinks.

Company: I love my friends! We have a fantastic time regardless of ambience, service, or music, and it's always a delight to spend time with them. I can't wait for next month-Ginza, here we come!