I didn't have a yelp account until now. I had to join to write this review, which is saying something. Here it goes:
My family was in town for graduation. We walked down the block from my apartment in the North End wondering where we would end up for a bite to eat. We chose Benevento's, a new-comer to Salem St. We thought we'd give it a try. What a mistake that was.
The evening actually began quite well. The service was good and I was excited to see that the Sox were playing on the flat screens around the restaurant. I noticed the kitchen was open and in plain view of the dining area as well as the pizza oven. Everything about this place said, "we spent a boatload of money to make this place look good." The granite bar to the light fixtures, faux tin ceiling and wood-paneled walls looked great. Too bad the food sucked.
I ordered calamari con pomodoro. When calamari is not fried, it tends to become rubbery. This calamari was okay. However, the over-saucing of the calamari left me with more sauce than squid. Good thing my father ordered garlic bread, which was also good, to mop up the sauce. My sister ordered the mussels also in a tomato sauce. She offered some to me; I refused due to the fishy smell wafting off of it. Not a good sign for shellfish.
For my entree, I ordered the Pomodoro con linguini. The way the menu is laid out is strange. First you pick the sauce, then the pasta. In Italian cuisine, the pasta is the star, and living in the North End, we have access to fresh pasta all over the place. The sauce is the condiment to the pasta. Pasta and sauce is analogous to a burger, you don't order a burger to taste ketchup. You order and eat a burger because it tastes like well seasoned delicious beef. My pasta was swimming in sauce. Now, I know that in America, pasta will be sauced more so than in Italy, but this was ridiculous. And I wouldn't have minded if the sauce tasted good. It didn't.
It was bland, void of any flavor. The entree description stated fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, and garlic. I saw no fresh tomatoes anywhere near the kitchen, 2 chiffonades of basil on the plate, and no garlic or garlic taste whatsoever in the dish. The onions were undercooked and not diced properly. I noticed huge tubs of dried herbs on the kitchen shelf and cheap canned tomatoes. San marzano tomatoes, regarded as the best tomatoes in the world for sauces, grow in Campania for #$%@'s sake which is where Benevento, Italy is! You can buy those down the street. This restaurant should be embracing the food and cuisine of Campania. This isn't fresh Italian food, it's poorly thrown together by chefs who are cutting corners.
In addition, the portions are huge! While I don't usually complain about this, I would rather have 1 great tasting portion than enough poorly prepared and under seasoned food to feed a family of four. I stopped after 5 bites. I'm glad that my dad ordered the pepperoni pizza, that was quite good by the way, and stole a few slices.
My sister ordered the Alfredo dish with fettucini pasta choice. Not only did she complain of blandness, but the dish was all cream. Now alfredo sauce is only made with 2 or 3 ingredients: butter, parmigiano reggiano cheese, and a little pasta water to act as a binder to make the texture creamy. Chefs may add a splash of cream for consistency, but the dish tasted like cream with pasta in it. Nasty. I can buy better tasting powdered Alfredo sauce that I can reconstitute at home at the White Hen on Hanover.
The owner/manger, who was dressed in shorts, running shoes, cotton socks up his shins and a scuzzy T-shirt walked over to try to rectify the poor food, which was what he should have done, but not in his attire. If he is going to require that his wait-staff wear all black, he should at least have pants on. After his attempt to please us, he walked back to his perch atop a bar stool, eating and drinking and chatting it up with his buds. Not professional. And to boot, he owns/manages the restaurant next door simultaneously. Are you kidding me? If my family wasn't there, I would have walked out.
When we got the bill, both my dish and my sister's dish were still on there. They ended up taking only my sisters dish off the tab, but not mine. Unbelievable. No comped dessert? No bottle of wine? No nothing. This place is a nightmare and a perfect example of an establishment that will fail if it continues on this path. Stop spending thousands of dollars on a granite bar and custom light fixtures and focus on the food.
I hope that those at Benevento's read this review, sit down with the wait-staff, managers, bartenders, and chefs, and have a taste test of everything on the menu. Then, figure what is done well and what isn't. If pasta dishes are going to cost $13, I don't expect black truffle shavings on top, but I do expect good, fresh food with flavor. I'll have to go elsewhere in the North End for that kind of food I am afraid. Good/sad thing is, it isn't hard to find. read more