San Diego Reader

Buca Di Beppo
705 Sixth Avenue, Downtown
619-233-7272

If you go to Buca Di Beppo for your birthday the servers won't bring you cake and ice cream. However, if you catch the right group of servers on the right night, you will get a huge production of song and dance. "Happy, happy birthday, birthday," they will sing while clapping and doing a partially choreographed, mostly improvised dance routine. Sometimes parties from other tables are coerced into joining in, and by the end of the song most of the restaurant is at least watching if not participating. This ritual is not a standard Buca procedure and sometimes must be requested, but it will create a memorable birthday.