Bubala's is the kind of place tourists eat and locals stay well clear. It's very visible when walking on Commercial Street and always seems packed. This seems like a good sign, so people head to a place where other people are.
However let me warn you, there are much better choices in town. Let me tell you about our last experience - we didn't even get to eat there!
It was Family Week and we had two families with 10 people in all. It was lunchtime and we understood that ten people walking in anywhere is a problem. However, we were fine to split up into two groups of six and four. We were just outside of Bubala's and my experiences there have never been good, but everyone seemed to want to do it. So I went along with the crowd.
We put in our name and let the host know we could do ten, or six and four. We waited our turn. It was August and a rainy day and the place was beyond busy. Finally, he called our name and said he did have a table for ten. We were to go inside. On the inside the hostess looked puzzled, and said she just sat a table of ten folks who had just walked in, and that the guy outside never gave her a heads up that we had been waiting. She then went outside and busted his chops. They had it out right there in front of the whole world. It was a amazing and highly unprofessional.
A little flustered, we told the host we would wait for the next table. We waited about another twenty minutes and again a table opened. This time it was outside and in his control. We sat down. We waited, and waited, and waited for a staff person. Finally, we were told by another waiter that nobody was waiting our station, that another waiter was on his way from home, and that he should be here soon to take our order. They were short staffed and we would just have to wait for him to get here from home.
At that point the kids were getting hungry and crabby and we weren't much better. We got up and left. We voiced our frustration to the host and he just shrugged his shoulders.
We never did eat at Bubala's that day. We had a great meal further down Commercial Street and it is what I would advise you do as well. The food is not that great and the service stinks. We told our experience to a friend who lives in P'town and he just shook his head and told us that no local would ever step foot in a place like that. It's strictly for unknowing tourists.