I love keeping up on the restaurant scene and am so surprised this one has flown under the radar for me for this long—I visited last night with my partner and we were utterly delighted!
Benzina hit a perfect sweet spot for us. Great energy, delicious, high-quality food, and a charming, cozy ambiance. (We visited on a snowy night - very magical - but can only imagine how lovely the patio must be in summer weather, too!) We ordered a few dishes, but the lasagna was a *standout* - deeeelish!
Most of all, we loved how the menu and space reflected so much thought and character but still felt very down-to-earth and approachable for a spontaneous night out! Our gracious and friendly servers were especially wonderful.
A middle-ground spot like this can be hard to come by, and now this one will be a go-to for us + all the friends we’ll bring back with us!
Came with my big family. Staff was happy to greet us and seat us. Food is out of this world delicious. Squid ink pasta, and Mista Salad were solid but the appetizer bread and cheese sauce - calcio y pepe - amazing. Jordan has been my server the last few times I’ve shown up. Always excellent service. Can’t wait to come back!
We just ate at Benzina for the first time ..found it through InKind... and really loved our experience.. The Caesar salad and pizza were fabulous and the service was wonderful. We spoke with the owner who was so kind. We look forward to returning and highly recommend. Can't wait for Spring, to sit outside!
Been trying to go here for a few years. Finally made a reservation. Unfortunately, I left confused and a bit disappointed.
The arancini was a bit untraditional, served with honey. The sweet and savory worked well. Not bad, though a bit small for the price point.
The cauliflower head with pine nut puree and a bacon jam was the highlight of the meal. No complaints about this dish; it was well executed and a surprising mix of flavors. Savory and sweet seemed to be a theme.
From here, the experience went downhill. The "medium-rare" NY Strip came out brown nearly the whole way through, past medium-well and heading into well done territory. The cubed deep fried potatoes were novel, but unfortunately, rather unseasoned. They relyied on, you guessed it, the sweet bacon jam, along with a small splash of brown gravy with peppercorns. The gravy was quite good, and the scant few peppercorns were great, but there weren't enough. The dish wasn't well balanced, and the issue was exacerbated by poor timing from the kitchen.
The DOP Margherita pizza came out several minutes after my strip, very awkward timing for a place with menu prices where they are. While the ingredients were premium, the buffalo mozz was scantily applied, insufficient even for a neoplitan style pizza. The cheese was hard to the touch rather than stringy, probably undercooked. The red sauce was competently made, but applied too thickly, leaving the middle half of the pizza soggy. The basil was cooked with the pie and charred to a crisp rather than applied after cooking, definitely not my preference.
We left with half the pizza in a box and stopped by another neoplitan pizza spot on the way home. I'm not sure if Benzina's pending closure caused my experience, or the experience is causing the closure, but either way, I don't think I'll ever return.
