You must visit Viola Cucina. This food is among the closest of Italian dinners - like I've grown up…read morewith - that we've ever enjoyed. The pasta e fagioli soup was delicious and tasted as it should. We savoured it. Our salad tasted garden fresh. I asked for a basic spaghetti with meatballs. Delicious. Their meatballs meet my approval. And that is saying a lot because usually no restaurant meatballs measure up. Except for the meatballs my Grandmother, Mother and I have cooked. This is why I'm tentative about eating Italian out since we grew up making it, ourselves. Everything we tried here falls under the "did not disappoint," category which is an A all around. Even the rustic dining style with sentimental interior home furnishings and decorations. All of it speaks to the heart. They are a warm bunch and will talk to those just passing through. When I'm traveling the Eastern seaboard, I will make it a point to dine at Viola Cucina.

Mostly Smoke and mirrors.... At first glance, their website…read morelooks impressive, their menu looks authentic, and their staff promised 'everything' made fresh and to order. But upon tasting their food, it was clear, 'Viola' is just another Americanized Italian restaurant. We started with an a la carte order of: 'House made focaccia, roasted garlic spread, evoo, craft butter' This was fresh and tasty. We then shared the 'Caesar: traditional romaine hearts, foccaccia croutons, shaved pecorino cheese. classic caesar dressing.' This lacked any flavour, the romaine was cut into too small pieces, there was no hint of garlic or anchovy in the dressing. But the most disappointing dishes were the pasta dishes: 'Fettucini bolognese, house made, beef, pork, veal ragu, pecorino, basil, calabrian Chili.' 'Scampi viola, squid ink linguini, shrimp garlic, white wine, julienned vegetables, preserved lemon butter.' Although the pastas were freshly made, their textures were compromised; both pasta dishes were not 'al dente'. In fact the Scampi viola was drenched in a dark gravy and greasy. This is just not a very skilled preparation of pasta. A fresh pasta needs very little sauce, and should be dressed very simply so the 'textures' can be enjoyed. I ordered the: 'Zuppa di vongole: fresh little neck clams, vino biqnco, fresh herbs, crostini.' But this dish was replaced by a fried calamari dish. This was well prepared, actually the only star of the evening. This restaurant may succeed on its 'blandness' but will never attract the discerning diner who wants and appreciates authentic Italian cuisine. ~tiaotse~

Great experience. Small intimate setting. Large portions. Our waitress warned us when we were…read moreattempting to put to many apps in. 6 people split 2 apps. Everyone took leftovers home. Great wine selection as well

I was expecting to be blown away considering all the amazing things I have heard about spaghetti…read morelane.. here's why I just couldn't give 5 stars.. We had a reservation for 5pm.. we arrived around 440.. to find out we couldn't sit in the "restaurant side" meanwhile there were vacant tables. We asked politely if we could just stay in that room considering it was our first time there, we were clearly for our res and didn't plan staying too long (just a quick early dinner) .. we were told no and next time to "request" that room.. oh well.. so we sat in the "cafe".. definitely not the vibe we wanted for our dinner but we still had high hopes.. it was awkward- people in and out.. standing around us getting coffee/pastries etc while we are "having dinner" however, our waitress was great, very polite, knowledgeable about their menu.. the food wasn't anything special but it was delicious!! I really wanted to LOVE this place so I will be coming back to give it another shot!

The food was amazing! Our waiter, Kevin was attentive and helpful. Great menu and reasonable prices.read more

I'd give this a 3.5 and I'm hoping if I go back, they can get it up to a four. I ordered delivery…read moreand waited an hour, and the food was very underwhelming. It was cold, but that's not really their fault because they are thin pizza and it's likely the DoorDash driver didn't have appropriate warming holders in their car. The lack of sauce on the pizza was my number one issue. It's like somebody airbrushed the crust with the sauce and missed massive chunks. I've never had this experience before, they always have been light on the sauce, but not to the point where an entire pizza barely has anything on it. I love sauce on my pizza so this was inedible for me and I wasted about $45 in delivery for two pizzas that I now can't eat - they're too dry. So I'm pretty aggravated about that because that's not what the photos look like and that is not what my experience has been in the past. As you can see from the photo there is literally no sauce on this pizza, it's disgraceful. I'm not sure if they purposely do this for takeout pizzas so they don't get soggy, but honestly, I would rather have a saucy soggy pizza than a pizza with almost no flavor because there's no sauce on it. I got the Margherita and the pepperoni, was not a fan of the pepperoni at all. They use these big deli slices in addition to regular salami, instead of sopressetta or Calabrese. Couldn't eat it. They kindly put the prosciutto on the side, which I requested for my marg, but they chopped it up into very tiny pieces which was a little offputting. I'll stick with the Margs going forward. As you can see from my photos, the pizza eaten in-house looks far better and has far more sauce on it. That one was good and that experience was 4 stars. They have decent cocktails and the wine selection is OK. Service has been a little disorganized in the past but overall friendly and attentive enough. I definitely want to come back to give them another shot, but I don't think I'll ever get delivery from them again.

Everything was good; service, food, price. Ambiance was vas very nice also. Don't be fooled by…read morethe hotel front, in the restaurant it was completely different. Hill in front May deter people who have walking problem

Benjamin's Easter Buffet 2025…read more I don't normally leave bad reviews but this felt necessary. Let me paint you a picture of Easter at Benjamin's: My family of 9 adults had a reservation for their 3pm seating. When we arrived a little before 3, we had to wait in a line that was out the door of the restaurant and down a long hotel hallway. We were pretty far down, and as we came in people were wishing us luck or calling other restaurants to see if they could go there instead. It was like being on the RMS Titanic- a foreboding sense of inevitable danger ahead. We were worried about our 3 elderly family members being able to stand in line, but luckily the line started moving after 10 minutes or so. When my party got to the front, we were seated. They did not ask if we had a reservation- just led us to a table. Half our group was cut off by another party that just arrived, claiming they had priority because they had a reservation. Hah! So did everyone else in that line but okay. Anyway, the rest of our party joined us, our waiter brought out 2 carafes of water, and told us his tables would be going first. He felt really bad for the customers, you could tell. We asked him about the food they ran out of as people were muttering about that in line. He said they were out of garden salad and turkey (because they dropped it, apparently. Huh.) but they were also out of bread rolls. If you're going to have three buffet seatings- have food for all three. So the buffet itself was outside the dining room. They had opened at least one other banquet hall at the hotel to fit people, so they were all coming toward this buffet table. Luckily, we were first in line. There were three servers at the buffet for 11 trays of food so it took forever. The scrambled eggs looked awful- very dry. No one piece of bacon looked like it was cooked the same- some of mine were crispy some were chewy. Sausage was fine. They gave you two pieces of each. Stingy! One of my two French toast sticks was hard as a rock. Potatoes were okay. I went to get coffee at the next table and Oop! There wasn't enough to fill a cup in the one canister on the table. No one seemed to be in a rush to bring out more though. The dessert table had some danishes and another tray of blondie crumbs. While eating this first plate, someone finally came around to ask what the name of our reservation was. Better late than never! Our waiter brought us a whole coffee pot because he knew we didn't get any, complete with fresh cream and sugars. After finishing our first plates, some of us headed back to the buffet for round 2. But lo and behold the line was back around the corner! A family friend dining in another section of the restaurant told us that at this point, they had only just received water. Yikes! We did not want to wait in line, so we waited at our table for a bit. Some of us never even returned to the buffet table. A few of us did head back now that the line had died down. I set a timer; it took 14 minutes and 43 seconds from the time I entered the line until I was back at my table. When you reached the buffet area, they had now diverted the line to start at the ham carving table rather than the eggs, so the feng shui was even worse than before, with the line now stretching across the small buffet area. This time, I got the lunch offerings. The ham was alright. The mashed potatoes were incredibly salty. The carrots were mushy on the outside but hard on the inside. The scrod was fine and the penne was fine. There was a welcome addition to brownies at the dessert table. We could've paid extra for a better dessert selection off the menu though. We were not as wise as our fellow diners who complained and got comped, so my elderly grandfather who was paying for our meal paid full price for this, at $35 per person. Oh, and they didn't tell us about the credit card processing fee, costing an extra $10. Thank you to our waiter who tried to make this doomed experience a little better! Suffice to say, we will not be returning to Benjamin's.

Excellent sandwich although I ate half before tinking to post a photo of what was left!read more

Love this place! The sandwich was made perfectly! Despite having restrictions (no meat since it's…read morenot halal here and no nuts due to allergy) still their caprese sandwich was incredible by itself. Service was excellent. They have few tables inside enough for a nice lunch. Coming back.

My FAVORITE vodka pasta in Rhode Island! Great food, great atmosphere, and the valet is critical!…read more Love this place :)

Had a nice lunch while walking about Federal Hill on our last day in Providence!…read more Got a couple cocktails - one especially, was a seasonal tequila cocktail that was very drinkable. Both got the lunch special (3 course - salad, main, dessert) for about $25. Caesar salads were great - one of use got the chicken piccata (that was the highlight!) and chicken parm for the other (it was good, nothing insane - and they give you lots of pasta). Portions were quite large for a lunch portion - can't imagine what the dinner portions are! Desserts were also delicious (cannoli and tiramisu). Service was attentive throughout the meal - and got to sit by the window and watch the people walk by.

I recently discovered Bellas being new to the area and I've already been several times. Their…read moresandwiches are great and my favorite prepared foods are the chicken Marsala and the penne pink vodka. Delicious!!!

The guy that took my order was rude, barely acknowledged me. He acted like I was inconveniencing…read morehim. He seemed friendly to other customers that he seemed to know. Guess he doesn't want any new customers. My chicken parm was terrible. The chicken was rubbery and tasted off. I threw it away after a couple of bites. Bad food and bad service two thumbs down for me.

Love this place! Oysters, fantastic pizza, veal parm, bolognese to die for- top notch food all…read morearound. Great service, too. Excellent date night vibe. Save room for the butter cake. Gets busy, so be sure to get a reservation.

We had a wonderful early Wednesday dinner at Basta. The restaurant was comfortable and inviting,…read moreand the service was attentive and knowledgeable throughout. Nate was excellent, as was the supporting staff. He gave us plenty of time to enjoy our cocktails while we looked over the menu. The Fiori Rosa Spritz was terrific, as was the smoked 'Mericano. We thoroughly enjoyed the bread with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a garlic clove big enough to choke a horse! The shrimp cocktail was also excellent, especially with real horseradish on top of the cocktail sauce. My Montepulciano d'Abruzzo complemented the Rigatoni alla Bolognese perfectly. The sauce was flavorful without being overpowering, allowing all the flavors and textures to come through. The Cavatelli Rustici was also very good and satisfying enough that it didn't need an added protein. We finished with decaf cappuccinos and shared the warm Old Fashioned Butter Cake--a delightful ending to a wonderful meal. The people seated around us were friendly and engaged us in conversation, which made the evening even more enjoyable. We highly recommend Basta. Even though we're only visiting for a few more weeks, we'll gladly bump another restaurant off our must-try list to make room for a return visit. We will definitely be back!

Excellent Italian grinder! Split a large with my daughter. Way better than an fast food…read more Support local business

In Full Transparency, this review would be 3.5 stars if I had that option, but that's by no means a…read moredig on this nice little spot to get some good local food at great prices. Came here before a concert at XFinity based on Yelp reviews. Provalone's is a very unpretentious little spot with a big menu, great prices and friendly service. Also, surprisingly fresh, quality and tasty food for what you might expect from the outside. Definitely a book that can't be judged by its cover. This is primarily a takeout spot and catering service. While we were sitting and enjoying our dinner they were loading up a large catering order for a customer and several people came and left with good sized orders. Clearly the locals enjoy it here. I went with the chicken parm sandwich. I expected a fried, formerly frozen patty and mediocre sauce Inna roll. What I got (for a very reasonable price) was real chicken breast, clearly hand breaded and fried, with a chunky, fresh, tasty sauce that ended up being a bit watery when put up against the cold provolone in the roll and made everything a bit uncomfortably soggy and messy. This may have been alleviated by baking the sandwich a bit before serving. Sandwiches come in one size here, which is a 12-in grinder. I would have ordered a slice as well, but the pizza in the case seemed to be pretty old and needed a refresh to be appealing. There is a very large menu, including pasta platters that include penne, ravioli or tortellini with meatballs, real veal or chicken. That's unusual for a takeout place with just a couple of tables. But it was among the many very pleasant surprises here. Good food, great prices and friendly service at a nice local spot with great menu variety. If you're nearby, I would definitely recommend giving Provolone's a try.