Whenever my parents come to Rochester to visit, we go here. The meatball is so good like I crave that meatball at times. Chicken Parmesan is pretty good. The penne Al a vodka is a little spicy but it’s Okay. The people are very nice to us the bread is great. Will continue to go to Benucci’s :)
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Ed Connell
This place was good for a chain restaurant.Can't find a restaurant, stop in for a good meal.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Lasagna Bolognese
Kyle
My family had a very nice birthday dinner celebration for our most recent visit to Benucci's. We made reservations a day or so before and were seated within 5 minutes of arriving.Our waitress was attentive and took our drink orders immediately, though the restaurant was a bit busy at first and it took a minute before we got our drinks and basket of bread. We had the sangria (photo 2) and it was great, on the sweeter side, but definitely one of the better restaurant-sangrias!For appetizers we had the fried artichokes (not pictured), fried calamari, and the bruschetta board (photos 3-4, respectively). The fried starters were cooked well and not too oily like some other places; the artichokes came with a delicious garlic aioli, but the calamari came with a horseradish sauce that we didn't like so we asked for marinara and preferred that instead. The bruschetta was great as well and the only thing left was the wooden board once we were finished with it.I appreciated Benucci's detailed menu as each dish was accurately represented with seasonings and sauce compositions. For dinner we had: pollo formaggio (not pictured), eggplant parmesan, shrimp scampi, pasta ravioli with grilled shrimp, and chicken limon (photos 5-8, respectively). One notable aspect of the dishes is the spoon that came with stringy pasta, which is appreciated as it makes twirling with a fork much easier. On top of that, everything was absolutely delicious and each dish was seasoned well, having an ample amount of sauce and protein. Everyone in our group either cleaned their plate at the table, or took the rest of the dish home to eat later!For those of us that still had space for dessert, we each enjoyed espresso to drink and tiramisu, creme brulee with raspberry, and italian chocolate cake to share for dessert (photos 9-12, respectively). The lemon peel that came with the espresso was a nice touch; I would recommend rubbing it on the rim of the cup where you sip from for an interesting flavor! Benucci's has an interesting take on tiramisu (still tasty!) in that it is more like a pie/cake with a chocolate crust bottom, covered with the mascarpone creme filling and ladyfinger layers. The creme brulee was great with the sweet raspberry sauce though it was not the most intense vanilla flavor (there were no vanilla bean flakes in the creme). The chocolate cake was good, I don't normally enjoy cake but this one was moist with a smooth/rich chocolate flavor. Our group agreed that you can't go wrong with any one of these as your choice for dessert!All in all we had a great experience that came from the good service, great food, and fun atmosphere giving us a birthday dinner celebration to remember! I would definitely recommend Benucci's to anyone looking for a place to have a nice date-night, or dinner celebration!Vegetarian options: My wife is vegetarian and had the unusual pleasure of finding difficulty in deciding what to have, as there were so many options for her to choose from! There are plenty of vegetarian appetizers and entrees with each dish being clearly marked and its ingredients disclosed so patrons can make informed decisions when ordering.Parking: The massive parking lot means you will definitely find parking, but if you go during a busy time of the night you might have to walk a fair distance to the restaurant from your car.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Warm Bread and Garlic Butter
nichole outhouse
Great food, service, prices, atmosphere!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Athen Voultsios
Kinda small portions, and expensive. But typical for Italian restaurants. Very good
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Marlene Mancuso
Server was very attentive and provided a wonderful dining experience. The food was absolutely delicious and Ruby Red Martini’s tasted great. We are looking forward to our next dining experience.
Found a cockroach in our pasta. Staff was very apologetic but there's never just one
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 5
Kevin Silverman
The food was terrible. The chicken parm was tough. The vegetables had an over powering seasoning. The Caesar salad had no taste.Our server was very good. Food came in a timely manner and was accurate.Automatic 20% gratuity for parties of 6 or more is a little ridiculous. It leaves the server and staff without any incentive to perform. Automatic for 6 people? 2 of the 6 were under 8 and ate off the kids menu. Very poor management.Lastly, I went to get the car and while waiting my 13 year old had his younger 7 year old brother sit in the booth where we had just spent over $200 for a terrible meal, so he could help him tie his shoe. Only to be rudely ridiculed by a manager on duty. They were in the way apparently. I didn’t realize $200+ only bought me a certain amount of time at the table.I’ll never go back. The food wasn’t worth the money. The treatment after blowing the money wasn’t much to be desired. Benuccis is off the list!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 4
F. Lynn Wickes
Great neighborhood place, Food is consistently good, nice wine list. Fabulous manager.Parking: Need more handicapped spots
This was a place we picked out of the blue!! The first spot we stopped at was such a disappointment!! So we left. So we decided on this restaurant. There isn't a bad word I could say about this place. Everything was great. Our waitress Chase was very on top of things. We were all happy with our meals. The portions were more than we expected. Compared to how things are nowadays. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who wants really good Italian food. 2 thumbs up!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Linguine & Meatball, Warm Bread and Garlic Butter
Cyndi Marvin
Best penne pasta and sauce I have ever had.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Patricia B.
Food was ok chicken parmigiana too greasy service was as well as the owner & family there!
Joshua M.
where to begin? I went with my wife on a date to this spot. I drive by a lot and thought I'd try it out. I thought it would he better than it was. The first thing that I noticed was the cooks are in an open area and visible/ audible from where I was sitting. One cook was loudly blurting obscenities for about ten minutes. As I'm settling into my seat and looking at the menu I'm barraged with more passive cussing than I've ever heard sitting in a restaurant setting. The next detail was the service. The waitress was attentive and friendly. We ordered cocktails expecting them to be rich and flavorful, however they were pure alcohol and no actual flavor. Raspberry chocolate martini and tiramisu martini were the drinks we ordered. the raspberry had some basic flavor while the tiramisu drink tasted like nail polish remover. The food was ok. I ordered penne and the dominant flavor was pepper. Strong black pepper. My wife ordered veal parm and it was deep fried and mediocre at best. The bread they brought out was good and the artichoke appetizer was also good, if, if not a bit greasy. The am was not great the food was not great. The drinks were borderline radioactive.
Love Happiness Peace
I would NOT advise you to eat here. The food is good, service is good...but THEY HAVE MICE. My family and I had just finished eating dinner here a few months ago (this was our second time eating here) and were just sitting in our booth talking when we saw a mouse run across the floor. It was toward the end of the night but the restaurant was still open. I will never return here. The waiters did not know what to do and there were other patrons still in the restaurant.
Whenever my parents come to Rochester to visit, we go here. The meatball is so good like I crave that meatball at times. Chicken Parmesan is pretty good. The penne Al a vodka is a little spicy but it’s Okay. The people are very nice to us the bread is great. Will continue to go to Benucci’s :)
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
This place was good for a chain restaurant.Can't find a restaurant, stop in for a good meal.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Lasagna Bolognese
My family had a very nice birthday dinner celebration for our most recent visit to Benucci's. We made reservations a day or so before and were seated within 5 minutes of arriving.Our waitress was attentive and took our drink orders immediately, though the restaurant was a bit busy at first and it took a minute before we got our drinks and basket of bread. We had the sangria (photo 2) and it was great, on the sweeter side, but definitely one of the better restaurant-sangrias!For appetizers we had the fried artichokes (not pictured), fried calamari, and the bruschetta board (photos 3-4, respectively). The fried starters were cooked well and not too oily like some other places; the artichokes came with a delicious garlic aioli, but the calamari came with a horseradish sauce that we didn't like so we asked for marinara and preferred that instead. The bruschetta was great as well and the only thing left was the wooden board once we were finished with it.I appreciated Benucci's detailed menu as each dish was accurately represented with seasonings and sauce compositions. For dinner we had: pollo formaggio (not pictured), eggplant parmesan, shrimp scampi, pasta ravioli with grilled shrimp, and chicken limon (photos 5-8, respectively). One notable aspect of the dishes is the spoon that came with stringy pasta, which is appreciated as it makes twirling with a fork much easier. On top of that, everything was absolutely delicious and each dish was seasoned well, having an ample amount of sauce and protein. Everyone in our group either cleaned their plate at the table, or took the rest of the dish home to eat later!For those of us that still had space for dessert, we each enjoyed espresso to drink and tiramisu, creme brulee with raspberry, and italian chocolate cake to share for dessert (photos 9-12, respectively). The lemon peel that came with the espresso was a nice touch; I would recommend rubbing it on the rim of the cup where you sip from for an interesting flavor! Benucci's has an interesting take on tiramisu (still tasty!) in that it is more like a pie/cake with a chocolate crust bottom, covered with the mascarpone creme filling and ladyfinger layers. The creme brulee was great with the sweet raspberry sauce though it was not the most intense vanilla flavor (there were no vanilla bean flakes in the creme). The chocolate cake was good, I don't normally enjoy cake but this one was moist with a smooth/rich chocolate flavor. Our group agreed that you can't go wrong with any one of these as your choice for dessert!All in all we had a great experience that came from the good service, great food, and fun atmosphere giving us a birthday dinner celebration to remember! I would definitely recommend Benucci's to anyone looking for a place to have a nice date-night, or dinner celebration!Vegetarian options: My wife is vegetarian and had the unusual pleasure of finding difficulty in deciding what to have, as there were so many options for her to choose from! There are plenty of vegetarian appetizers and entrees with each dish being clearly marked and its ingredients disclosed so patrons can make informed decisions when ordering.Parking: The massive parking lot means you will definitely find parking, but if you go during a busy time of the night you might have to walk a fair distance to the restaurant from your car.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Warm Bread and Garlic Butter
Great food, service, prices, atmosphere!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kinda small portions, and expensive. But typical for Italian restaurants. Very good
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Server was very attentive and provided a wonderful dining experience. The food was absolutely delicious and Ruby Red Martini’s tasted great. We are looking forward to our next dining experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Pepperoni Pizza, Warm Bread and Garlic Butter, Creme, Pizza
Found a cockroach in our pasta. Staff was very apologetic but there's never just one
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 5
The food was terrible. The chicken parm was tough. The vegetables had an over powering seasoning. The Caesar salad had no taste.Our server was very good. Food came in a timely manner and was accurate.Automatic 20% gratuity for parties of 6 or more is a little ridiculous. It leaves the server and staff without any incentive to perform. Automatic for 6 people? 2 of the 6 were under 8 and ate off the kids menu. Very poor management.Lastly, I went to get the car and while waiting my 13 year old had his younger 7 year old brother sit in the booth where we had just spent over $200 for a terrible meal, so he could help him tie his shoe. Only to be rudely ridiculed by a manager on duty. They were in the way apparently. I didn’t realize $200+ only bought me a certain amount of time at the table.I’ll never go back. The food wasn’t worth the money. The treatment after blowing the money wasn’t much to be desired. Benuccis is off the list!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 4
Great neighborhood place, Food is consistently good, nice wine list. Fabulous manager.Parking: Need more handicapped spots
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Linguine & Meatball, Arugula Salad, Warm Bread and Garlic Butter, Pizza
Food and service was wonderful.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
This was a place we picked out of the blue!! The first spot we stopped at was such a disappointment!! So we left. So we decided on this restaurant. There isn't a bad word I could say about this place. Everything was great. Our waitress Chase was very on top of things. We were all happy with our meals. The portions were more than we expected. Compared to how things are nowadays. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who wants really good Italian food. 2 thumbs up!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Linguine & Meatball, Warm Bread and Garlic Butter
Best penne pasta and sauce I have ever had.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food was ok chicken parmigiana too greasy service was as well as the owner & family there!
where to begin? I went with my wife on a date to this spot. I drive by a lot and thought I'd try it out. I thought it would he better than it was. The first thing that I noticed was the cooks are in an open area and visible/ audible from where I was sitting. One cook was loudly blurting obscenities for about ten minutes. As I'm settling into my seat and looking at the menu I'm barraged with more passive cussing than I've ever heard sitting in a restaurant setting. The next detail was the service. The waitress was attentive and friendly. We ordered cocktails expecting them to be rich and flavorful, however they were pure alcohol and no actual flavor. Raspberry chocolate martini and tiramisu martini were the drinks we ordered. the raspberry had some basic flavor while the tiramisu drink tasted like nail polish remover. The food was ok. I ordered penne and the dominant flavor was pepper. Strong black pepper. My wife ordered veal parm and it was deep fried and mediocre at best. The bread they brought out was good and the artichoke appetizer was also good, if, if not a bit greasy. The am was not great the food was not great. The drinks were borderline radioactive.
I would NOT advise you to eat here. The food is good, service is good...but THEY HAVE MICE. My family and I had just finished eating dinner here a few months ago (this was our second time eating here) and were just sitting in our booth talking when we saw a mouse run across the floor. It was toward the end of the night but the restaurant was still open. I will never return here. The waiters did not know what to do and there were other patrons still in the restaurant.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3