Benvenuto's Italian Grill

User Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Benvenutos: This has excellent Italian food and sandwiches Great place for luch.

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User Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Don't order salad: I enjoyed the food with exception to the salad. I don't know how anyone can screw up salad, but the cooks of Benvenuto's gave it their all. One complaint about the bar, my father in law ordered a drink with a specific alcohol, he's very picky. The bartender used a lower grade alcohol that does not taste as good, so the drink was sent back. The wait staff is friendly and clean. The decor is great and I love to just look around at the walls. Possibly the best part of the decor is the clothing line with the bra hanging from it. Very funny. Just stay away from the salad.

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User Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Benvenutos, Italian Bar and Grill: Though styled an Italian Bar and Grill, I didn't really get any sort
of ethnic feel. It could have been family Mexican dining as well as
an Italian grill. Buffalo wings, burgers, spaghetti, or Philly
cheese steak, just about anything you're in the mood for.

Benvenutos isn't really a chain restaurant, but there are 3 in the
Madison area now - one in Madison, one in Beaver Damn, and one in
Fitchburg. This was my first trip to my first Benvenutos anywhere.
We went on a night when there was a Mallards game, and the restaurant
is close enough to the ballpark that it benefited from the game.
We didn't have to wait long for a seat, but the place was full.

I don't know the history first hand, but I'm pretty sure that the
restaurant is inside an old grocery store. The set up is kinda
neat. It looks like a small village inside. The interior walls had
little awnings fixed on them. Looking into the open kitchen was like
looking into a smaller restaurant from the outside. Giving the
impression of being seated outside with the other patrons. It's a
pleasant illusion. But it's just an illusion. The ceiling isn't a
sky, it's just a high metal ceiling. And the patrons aren't sitting
outside, we're all together in what is essentially a big metal box.
The acoustics were bad. Maybe it was unavoidable, but they were
bad. When my wife and I go to a restaurant, especially on the rare
occasion when it is just the two of us, the time we get to talk is a
part of the experience. Our conversation is nearly as precious as
the dining itself. And we found ourselves literally having to shout
to each other. We talked a bit, but gave up eventually, not because
our company had soured, but because it just didn't feel right yelling
across the table.

It took longer than we are used to before we got our food, and after
we were done eating it took a full ½ hour before we received our
check. But we aren't impatient. The service was nice. They do this
little trick that impressed us both way too much. The table clothes
are paper (maybe for the kids to colour on, maybe just because it's
easier to clean, I'm not sure) and the waitress signed her name
perfectly on the table. Upside down to her, right side up to us.
Somehow, we found that terribly impressive.
The food, once it arrived, wasn't great. I got a Philly Cheese steak
Sandwich, $7.99, and Sarah got the Eggplant Parmigiana, $9.99. Now
they were busy, so maybe our experience wasn't the standard, but we
probably won't be going back to put that theory to the test. My
sandwich wasn't bad, but it wasn't exceptional, or even good. It was
on par with a well made frozen sandwich. Sarah's Eggplant Parmigiana
was decidedly worse. The lettuce in her salad wasn't cleaned, there
were still dirty spots on it. And the cheese on her food was cold
and congealed. Her theory was that it had been cooked, cooled, and
then reheated. Probably microwaved. All in all it wasn't enough to
complain about, but it wasn't enough to warrant a return visit
either. I give it a 3.0 out of 10.

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