Went here for a group dinner. Ambience is nice but that's about the only okay thing about the restaurant. Bread basket is decent, although not warmed, Olive Oil tasted fine. Then everything goes south. We ordered their special german sausage appetizer, crab cakes, octopus, roast chicken, linguini with clams, pappardelle bolognese, rack of lamb, and shrimp. Sausage app, was very fatty, overcooked, crab cakes were dry, roast chicken was actually good. linguini, papperdelle, rack of lamb, and shrimp were not memorable. To add insult to injury, they charge more than what some items are actually worth when comparing to the menu. One of our group members was called fat, even if it is a joke, that's a bit unnerving. They also added an additional item to our bill which we didn't catch until the next day. We spoke with a female manager and she is an absolute horrible human being. TLDR: Overpriced, underwhelming flavor, very small portions, poor service. Do yourself a favor and avoid at all cost.
Sarah A.
Benitos is the ONLY place in the area that I take clients, and where I go to celebrate wins. The level of service, quality of the ingredients that they use, and the deliciousness of the food and cocktails is genuinely above par for the surrounding 30 mile radius. The staff is welcoming and gracious and the wine list is legit. If you're looking for a relaxing experience and super high quality food and drink, stop looking and check out Benitos. (and they have parking!)
Ashley N.
An old school Italian place that feels luxe. To start, we were given a bread basket with the greenest olive oil I've ever seen! The bread was not warmed but the texture was nice regardless (crispy crust and soft chewy inside). One of the specials for the day was oyster Rockefeller so we decided to try. It was good! My fiancé thought the toppings kind of overwhelmed the actual oysters but it was our first time having this dish so maybe that is the intention. For mains, we shared linguine alle vongole and a breaded veal dish. Both were generous portions. The linguine was cooked very Al dente and the sauce was delicious. The clams were on the chewy side, however. As for the veal, it was plated so that a salad rested on top of the veal. I thought this was an interesting choice since the heat of the veal wilted the lettuce almost immediately making it less enjoyable. I found myself wanting more seasoning - either more salt on the veal, a dressing for the relatively plain salad, or maybe a sauce? It was still enjoyable but I wanted more flavor. By the end we were stuffed but still opted for dessert. They unfortunately do not have tiramisu but we got a chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream which was great. Overall the service is good too.
Anton M.
Clean..fresh...nice staff but they WAY over price and portion are smaller. I felt I was in Paris near the arch de triumph .. good yes ..worth the price..no. go for anniversary or such very elegant.
Caroline A.
How this restaurant only has 4 stars is beyond my comprehension. I have been coming here for almost a decade and it is by far the best restaurant in the state of New Jersey. I am assuming the low amount of reviews is because most of the clientele has been coming for so many years, it wouldn't cross their mind to write a review... which is understandable. I also need to add that my career requires me to dine out a lot and I have been to so many good restaurants and, in New Jersey, we are blessed to have many... but this is the BEST. It's not just the food but the SERVICE!! If you want an amazing meal, quick service and to be treated with respect... come here. And I'm so sorry it took me 10 years to write this myself!
Kelsey H.
Excellent fine dining experience. Everything was wonderful! We loved the artichoke appetizer and the lamb was simply the best lamb I've ever had--so crisp and carmelized on the outside, and so tender and juicy inside.
Richard L.
This has got to be the top Italian Restaurant in the state. I have never had a bad meal here. The homemade pasta is excellent, the fish, theveal, and even the steak is top notch. Bennie is a master chef. The way he is able to combine ingredients for his dishes is like no one else I ever seen. And if your a wine afficanato, the wine list is excellent!!! They have wines you can not find anywhere else. Great food, service, atmosphere,and wine!! Highly recommended!
Cheryl B.
Over rated! The food is just okay, not great. The service was poor. The decor is like 1980's "Dynasty" -- tacky, tasteless, outdated. Meh experience at top prices.
Gloria L.
Full disclosure: I attended a work event in the private dining room so did not pay for the meal. We were only able to order from a limited pre-set menu. Food: incredibly underwhelming based on the other Yelp reviews - Cold Antipasto (mozzarella, roasted pepper, and tomato): sad piece of tomato topped with a single piece of mozarella. One small roasted pepper was splayed open in the attempt to fill the empty plate. Did they run out of ingredients in the kitchen? I would recommend putting it on a smaller plate at the very least, so it doesn't look so ridiculous - Mixed Baby Field Green Salad: bed of mixed greens with a few tiny radish slices thrown in as an afterthought. More thought needs to be put into the composition of this dish - Slow Cooked Wild Salmon: got this based on the waiter's recommendation. Someone needs to take an objective look at the ingredients and proportions of the dish. Huge piece of salmon that was undercooked in the middle. I don't mind it being on the rare side, but one of the people in our party sent it back because she couldn't stomach it. It was topped with thinly sliced cucumbers and cherry tomatoes with a tiny piece of chickpea cake on the side. This dish would have been more successful had the salmon been a smaller portion (easier to achieve the correct temperature) accompanied by some type of grain (ex. rice, couscous, farro) and vegetables - Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream: the inside of the chocolate cake did have the ooey gooey goodness of melted chocolate that paired well with the vanilla ice cream. Probably the most successful dish of the night Service/Ambiance: Excellent service and pace of the courses for the meal. The private dining area was spacious and had the feeling of an intimate dinner in a wine cellar given the bottles that adorned the walls. There is a parking lot across the street from the restaurant Overall: I am very glad I did not pay for this meal
Yesenia R.
My friend took me here for my birthday and I had mixed feeling regarding the food. I don't know but it didn't feel like an Italian restaurant to me, or the ones I'm used to. We had the tuna tartar and it was the worst I have had. The texture and look was more like beef and the flavor was off completely. For the entrée I had the filet which was okay and my friend had a five cheese cheese pasta that she liked but I found it taste more like a Chinese dumpling with cheese sauce. The best part was the crème brulee. That was delicious and their coffee.
I had high expectations for this restaurant, based on their reputation and their prices. I started with a special app ($14), a thin slice of roasted eggplant stacked on top of a tomato slice, goat cheese, and a few arugula leaves, dressed with balsamico. It was OK, but the tomato was not ripe, and the eggplant was dry. My entrée was their famous osso buco ($45). It was a generous portion, but utterly bland, even the sauce. It desperately needed seasoning: salt, pepper, garlic, bay leaf, anything. It was underwhelming. I make it better myself. Of course, I ate it, but didn't love it. I had the carrot cake for dessert. Obviously bought in, and served cold, straight from the refrigerator. I didn't finish it. The wine list is impressive, and the service was very professional. Our waitress was pleasant and attentive, without being intrusive. I'll echo what some other reviewers have said. Come here for the wine, service, and decor, but maybe not the food.
Yelper G.
One word Gondolas get them :-) to die for! All food delicious. Very nice place. Great wine selection
Claudia G.
I had dinner last week and ate one of the best Italian foods, Capelli d`Angelo Con Gamberi (angel hair pasta with shrimp and tomato sauce) SPECTACULAR !!! The staff and the owners of the restaurants were very attentive, I felt very special that night. 100% service, I will always come back when I am in NJ. 5 stars without a doubt !!
Michael M.
Excellent Italian restaurant located st Five Corners in Union. Nice ambiance and good service. Parking lot on side of restaurant and across street. Appetizer of crab cakes was good and filled with crab meat. Dinner of jumbo shrimp and vegetables satisfying. Finished off with créeme burlee. Definitely returning!
kevinjmonaghan
Have not been here in some time but really enjoyed our visit. Owner/chef Benito could not have been nicer spending some time with us. His personable son Donny was great host. Food was very good especially the soft shelled crab special. Terrific wine list. Loved our visit and will be back
Went here for a group dinner. Ambience is nice but that's about the only okay thing about the restaurant. Bread basket is decent, although not warmed, Olive Oil tasted fine. Then everything goes south. We ordered their special german sausage appetizer, crab cakes, octopus, roast chicken, linguini with clams, pappardelle bolognese, rack of lamb, and shrimp. Sausage app, was very fatty, overcooked, crab cakes were dry, roast chicken was actually good. linguini, papperdelle, rack of lamb, and shrimp were not memorable. To add insult to injury, they charge more than what some items are actually worth when comparing to the menu. One of our group members was called fat, even if it is a joke, that's a bit unnerving. They also added an additional item to our bill which we didn't catch until the next day. We spoke with a female manager and she is an absolute horrible human being. TLDR: Overpriced, underwhelming flavor, very small portions, poor service. Do yourself a favor and avoid at all cost.
Benitos is the ONLY place in the area that I take clients, and where I go to celebrate wins. The level of service, quality of the ingredients that they use, and the deliciousness of the food and cocktails is genuinely above par for the surrounding 30 mile radius. The staff is welcoming and gracious and the wine list is legit. If you're looking for a relaxing experience and super high quality food and drink, stop looking and check out Benitos. (and they have parking!)
An old school Italian place that feels luxe. To start, we were given a bread basket with the greenest olive oil I've ever seen! The bread was not warmed but the texture was nice regardless (crispy crust and soft chewy inside). One of the specials for the day was oyster Rockefeller so we decided to try. It was good! My fiancé thought the toppings kind of overwhelmed the actual oysters but it was our first time having this dish so maybe that is the intention. For mains, we shared linguine alle vongole and a breaded veal dish. Both were generous portions. The linguine was cooked very Al dente and the sauce was delicious. The clams were on the chewy side, however. As for the veal, it was plated so that a salad rested on top of the veal. I thought this was an interesting choice since the heat of the veal wilted the lettuce almost immediately making it less enjoyable. I found myself wanting more seasoning - either more salt on the veal, a dressing for the relatively plain salad, or maybe a sauce? It was still enjoyable but I wanted more flavor. By the end we were stuffed but still opted for dessert. They unfortunately do not have tiramisu but we got a chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream which was great. Overall the service is good too.
Clean..fresh...nice staff but they WAY over price and portion are smaller. I felt I was in Paris near the arch de triumph .. good yes ..worth the price..no. go for anniversary or such very elegant.
How this restaurant only has 4 stars is beyond my comprehension. I have been coming here for almost a decade and it is by far the best restaurant in the state of New Jersey. I am assuming the low amount of reviews is because most of the clientele has been coming for so many years, it wouldn't cross their mind to write a review... which is understandable. I also need to add that my career requires me to dine out a lot and I have been to so many good restaurants and, in New Jersey, we are blessed to have many... but this is the BEST. It's not just the food but the SERVICE!! If you want an amazing meal, quick service and to be treated with respect... come here. And I'm so sorry it took me 10 years to write this myself!
Excellent fine dining experience. Everything was wonderful! We loved the artichoke appetizer and the lamb was simply the best lamb I've ever had--so crisp and carmelized on the outside, and so tender and juicy inside.
This has got to be the top Italian Restaurant in the state. I have never had a bad meal here. The homemade pasta is excellent, the fish, theveal, and even the steak is top notch. Bennie is a master chef. The way he is able to combine ingredients for his dishes is like no one else I ever seen. And if your a wine afficanato, the wine list is excellent!!! They have wines you can not find anywhere else. Great food, service, atmosphere,and wine!! Highly recommended!
Over rated! The food is just okay, not great. The service was poor. The decor is like 1980's "Dynasty" -- tacky, tasteless, outdated. Meh experience at top prices.
Full disclosure: I attended a work event in the private dining room so did not pay for the meal. We were only able to order from a limited pre-set menu. Food: incredibly underwhelming based on the other Yelp reviews - Cold Antipasto (mozzarella, roasted pepper, and tomato): sad piece of tomato topped with a single piece of mozarella. One small roasted pepper was splayed open in the attempt to fill the empty plate. Did they run out of ingredients in the kitchen? I would recommend putting it on a smaller plate at the very least, so it doesn't look so ridiculous - Mixed Baby Field Green Salad: bed of mixed greens with a few tiny radish slices thrown in as an afterthought. More thought needs to be put into the composition of this dish - Slow Cooked Wild Salmon: got this based on the waiter's recommendation. Someone needs to take an objective look at the ingredients and proportions of the dish. Huge piece of salmon that was undercooked in the middle. I don't mind it being on the rare side, but one of the people in our party sent it back because she couldn't stomach it. It was topped with thinly sliced cucumbers and cherry tomatoes with a tiny piece of chickpea cake on the side. This dish would have been more successful had the salmon been a smaller portion (easier to achieve the correct temperature) accompanied by some type of grain (ex. rice, couscous, farro) and vegetables - Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream: the inside of the chocolate cake did have the ooey gooey goodness of melted chocolate that paired well with the vanilla ice cream. Probably the most successful dish of the night Service/Ambiance: Excellent service and pace of the courses for the meal. The private dining area was spacious and had the feeling of an intimate dinner in a wine cellar given the bottles that adorned the walls. There is a parking lot across the street from the restaurant Overall: I am very glad I did not pay for this meal
My friend took me here for my birthday and I had mixed feeling regarding the food. I don't know but it didn't feel like an Italian restaurant to me, or the ones I'm used to. We had the tuna tartar and it was the worst I have had. The texture and look was more like beef and the flavor was off completely. For the entrée I had the filet which was okay and my friend had a five cheese cheese pasta that she liked but I found it taste more like a Chinese dumpling with cheese sauce. The best part was the crème brulee. That was delicious and their coffee.
Restaurantji Recommends
I had high expectations for this restaurant, based on their reputation and their prices. I started with a special app ($14), a thin slice of roasted eggplant stacked on top of a tomato slice, goat cheese, and a few arugula leaves, dressed with balsamico. It was OK, but the tomato was not ripe, and the eggplant was dry. My entrée was their famous osso buco ($45). It was a generous portion, but utterly bland, even the sauce. It desperately needed seasoning: salt, pepper, garlic, bay leaf, anything. It was underwhelming. I make it better myself. Of course, I ate it, but didn't love it. I had the carrot cake for dessert. Obviously bought in, and served cold, straight from the refrigerator. I didn't finish it. The wine list is impressive, and the service was very professional. Our waitress was pleasant and attentive, without being intrusive. I'll echo what some other reviewers have said. Come here for the wine, service, and decor, but maybe not the food.
One word Gondolas get them :-) to die for! All food delicious. Very nice place. Great wine selection
I had dinner last week and ate one of the best Italian foods, Capelli d`Angelo Con Gamberi (angel hair pasta with shrimp and tomato sauce) SPECTACULAR !!! The staff and the owners of the restaurants were very attentive, I felt very special that night. 100% service, I will always come back when I am in NJ. 5 stars without a doubt !!
Excellent Italian restaurant located st Five Corners in Union. Nice ambiance and good service. Parking lot on side of restaurant and across street. Appetizer of crab cakes was good and filled with crab meat. Dinner of jumbo shrimp and vegetables satisfying. Finished off with créeme burlee. Definitely returning!
Have not been here in some time but really enjoyed our visit. Owner/chef Benito could not have been nicer spending some time with us. His personable son Donny was great host. Food was very good especially the soft shelled crab special. Terrific wine list. Loved our visit and will be back