Joe Busone, the manager who made headlines last October when he was fired by Buca di Beppo, prompting his staff to stage a walkout that closed the west Chandler restaurant for a night, has opened a new eatery of his own just a few hundred feet away.
Fired Up Grill takes over the former 56 East Bar & Kitchen on the southwest corner of Chandler Boulevard and 56th Street. One of Chandler’s most popular nightspots, 56 East closed in October along with sister restaurants 98 South Wine Bar & Kitchen and KiZake Sushi & Martinis in downtown Chandler.
The reasons for Busone’s abrupt dismissal after eight years at Buca di Beppo have never been made clear. He has blamed a personality conflict with a new executive at the chain; Buca di Beppo has refused to comment.
One thing is certain: Those who’ve dined at that Buca di Beppo will see a lot of familiar faces working at Fired Up Grill. Nearly his entire staff was hired from Busone’s former restaurant.
Inside, the space looks almost identical to the old 56 East, just with a new coat of burgandy and gold paint. A large sliding door still opens the cozy dining room and two-sided bar to a wrap-around patio.
The menu features a variety of Italian dishes. Pastas, which are pressed daily, include a baked rotello ($12.99, pictured), a flat piece of pasta rolled up with ricotta, spinach, red peppers and mushrooms. Another highlight is fettucine tossed with smoked ham and grilled chicken in a pink alfredo sauce ($12.99).
Chicken marsala ($13.99) topped with asparagus and provolone leads a roster of seven entrees. Individual pizzas are $8.99 to $10.50.
The most unusual thing on the menu is tabletop grilling, available only on the patio. You can order up to eight different ingredients — chicken, shrimp, asparagus, pineapple, etc. — that arrive at your table on skewers ($1.50 to $2 per skewer). You cook the skewers yourself on small Sterno stoves. Three dipping sauces are available.
The wine list has 11 whites and 19 reds, including seven and 10, respectively, by the glass ($4 to $10). Happy hour, which runs 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, offers $2 off any glass of wine or liquor and $1.50 off beers.
Fired Up Grill, 7131 W. Ray Road, Chandler, is open 3 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday. Info: (480) 940-4040.
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saw your story and totally inspired by the hope and drive you have even after getting fired from buca especially in these tough ecomonic times. 2 thumbs way up!! can’t wait to go to fired up grill!
Fired Up Grill is so good!! It’s tucked away in the corner of the plaza and makes you feel like you’ve stumbled upon a hidden treasure. The foods great, atmosphere is chill and you’ll get service with a smile!
On 6/25/09 three of us celebrated a birthday at your restaurant. Being new, we try different restaurants every month. Our night was a dissappointment! Our waiter didn’t know what the wrap was wrapped in! He wore a dirty wrap around his finger which made us sick knowing he was even serving food! One friend ordered a hamburger-one piece of wilted lettuce, one tomato, stale looking bread and cold fries. Birthday girl ordered a chicken wrap, she said it did not taste good, picked at it and left 95% of it, her fries were cold as well. I ordered the tamale bits? At least they were tasty, thank goodness one of us liked our dish. The liquor drinks we ordered lacked liquor! None of us even got a buz!! Our waiter never came around to freshen our water or even fill it up! Our night was a disaster, we didn’t want to complain that night in order to not ruin it for our birthday girl. we will NOT recommend Fired Up Grill to any of our family or friends. Two of us split the bill for the birthday girl and we felt our money went down the drain!!!! We felt like leaving a penney to show the waiter just how disappointed we were. We left him $2.00 for a $60.00 bill and felt it was too much. We are not snobs, but do enjoy having a great meal and great service. We work hard for our money and hope to spend it wisely. We walked away and felt so bad for our birthday friend, what a horrible birthday dinner!
thanks for reading my email (I hope).
My wife and I were frequent visitors to 56 East so we were glad to see this new restaurant open in the same space. But what a disappointment on our first — and maybe only — visit on a Friday evening a couple of weeks ago. The place was a real let down.
I asked the server if he’d been with Joe Busone at Bucca. Indeed he had, so I anticipated good service from an experienced team. Alas, that was not to be. He recommended the crab cakes and ceviche as appetizers, but otherwise didn’t know much about the menu. When I asked him about the sauce for a smoked salmon-over-pasta dish, he said only “It’s pink.” The service the rest of the evening was on a par with that: empty cocktail glasses left on the table forever, water never refilled, total indifference.
Cocktails were puzzling. My martini arrived in a large glass about 1/3 full. The actual portion was indeed smaller than I’m used to at most places, but it looked like only a drop in a bucket. Later I ordered a glass of Zinfandel which arrived chilled!
The food was no better. The crab cakes were fried hard, with little hint of crab, and totally overwhelmed by the chipotle mayo sauce. For all I know they were made with canned tuna. (I’d seen Bobby Flay’s crab cake throwdown on the Food Network, so maybe my expectations were too high.) The ceviche was almost tasteless, and served not with corn chips but with water crackers! The bland to accent the bland, I guess.
My entree was grilled chicken and ham over pasta in cream sauce, but again very little flavor. I’d hoped for smoky and salty ham to contrast with the generic grilled chicken, but alas, that wasn’t to be. Every heard of country ham, Joe? It would do wonders here. And I found out what the “pink cream sauce” was; apparently it’s the standard throughout the restaurant.
The evening was a big disappointment, but I can chalk it up to experience and go back to VinciTorio’s where I get good food in a real family-run (and professional) setting. Maybe Bucca was justified in letting Joe go after all. His team, though portrayed as loyal, just didn’t seem up to the challenge of a family-run place, and his dishes were undistinguished in any way. Maybe they all needed the Bucca corporate umbrella and its recipes and marketing shtick, who knows. But they’d better kick things up several notches if they expect to make Fired Up Grill a success.
I went to Fired Up a couple weeks ago and had a great time! I loved the atmosphere and how all the servers were young and fun. I had the chicken midici and it was delicious!!
I ate here about a week and a half ago and had a very pleasant experience. My salmon was tasty, the ambiance was nice, and the server was attentive without being annoying. I’ll definitely go again.
Don’t even go there, it is a total mess, service and food are for the birds (not even sure the birds would it).
I not sure how long they will stay in business.