The series follows Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, an award-winning New York City chef de cuisine, who returns to his hometown of Chicago to run his late brother Michael's failing Italian beef sandwich shop.
In May 2023, Hulu confirmed that the eighth episode of the season would be titled "Bolognese", and was to be written by co-executive producer Rene Gube, and directed by series creator Christopher Storer.
[2] The episode included songs, such as "Lay My Love" by Brian Eno and John Cale, "Stop Your Sobbing" by The Pretenders, "The Crane Wife 3" by The Decemberists, and "Throw Your Arms Around Me" by Neil Finn and Eddie Vedder.
Marah Eakin of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star out of 5 rating and wrote, "He's showing her he cares in the way he best knows how, and she rewards him with a hug and a kiss.
"[7] Karl R De Mesa from Show Snob wrote, "With everything cleared for their soft opening, it's time they got down to finalizing their menu.
"[8] Rafa Boladeras of MovieWeb named the episode as the eighth best of the season, writing "The episode delivers, as the moment of the test feels for audiences like a Hail Mary pass, or a love declaration, or the big final battle, creating expectations and tension while also being a scary moment.
"[9] Jasmine Blu of TV Fanatic named the episode as the seventh best of the season, writing "The stakes were fairly high in this installment, with The Bear needing to pass the Fire Suppression test if they hoped even to get the restaurant going in time.