La volta buona literally means “the good time.” But volta means several things, as does buono. “Time” also has several connotations. So let's take a closer look.

Here are some examples of how volta is commonly used:

Sarà la volta buona (this time you’ll make it)!

Ancora una volta (one more time, or “once again”).

Un'altra volta ("some other time").

After many failures, la volta buona is the successful attempt at something.

Nel senso, magari è la volta buona che ti fai una bicicletta pure tu.

I mean, maybe this will be the time that even you get yourself a bike.

Captions 4-5, La Tempesta film - Part 2

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When we want to or have to postpone something we talk about un'altra volta (another time). Not this time, but another time.

Va bene, delle disavventure tropicali di mio fratello ne parliamo un'altra volta.

All right, about the tropical misadventures of my brother we'll talk about them another time.

Captions 31-32, La Tempesta - film - Part 2

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But the same thing can mean "again."

E' sparito un'altra volta! -Ma stai scherzando,

He disappeared again! -But you're kidding,

Caption 24, Il Commissario Manara S1EP4 - Le Lettere Di Leopardi - Part 9

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With the preposition a (at) in front of the plural of volta—volte, we get a volte meaning "sometimes" or "at times."

A volte tengono la loro "a". OK?

Sometimes they retain their "a," OK?

Caption 46, Corso di italiano con Daniela - Il futuro - Part 4

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A volte is another way of saying qualche volta. They both mean “sometimes.”  A volte can be also translated as “at times.”

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We can use una volta in thinking about the future:

Una volta mi piacerebbe andare a Londra. 
Sometime I’d like to go to London.

But it can also mean “one time."

Io ci sono stata una volta.
I went there once.

And we can use it to refer to the past:

C'era una volta il West (Once Upon a Time in the West) is a famous film from 1968 by Sergio Leone.

We can translate it as "once" or "at one time."

Una volta servivamo il papa e il re, ∫ eravamo anche colti e magnanimi

Once, we served the pope and the king. At one time, we were even cultured and magnanimous,

Captions 44-45, Volare - La grande storia di Domenico Modugno Ep. 1 - Part 23

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Here's a great little expression of relief. Literally, it means "less bad." It's about the relief you feel when worse didn't come to worst! In English we usually say "good thing" or "it's a good thing." We might even say "luckily" or "thank goodness." In the example below, meno male is used with che in a sentence.

Meno male che non era un lingotto.

Good thing it wasn't a gold ingot.

Caption 26, La Ladra Ep. 3 - L'oro dello squalo - Part 8

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It can also be used by itself, and is an easy comment to make in many situations. In the following example, Caterina is worried about Lara, but then Lara finally shows up. Meno male. Thank goodness! 

Ah! Meno male, meno male, ecco Lara!

Ah! Thank goodness, thank goodness, here's Lara.

Caption 21, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP4 - Le Lettere Di Leopardi - Part 9

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Note that sometimes it's used as one word menomale, and sometimes two: meno male. They're both correct, although some dictionaries will say the two-word version is more proper. 

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Practice:

When you feel relief that something went better than expected or when you would say "whew!" having avoided a disaster, try saying menomale all by itself. For pronunciation help, listen to some examples by doing a search in the videos tab.