Bianca's Restaurant — Restaurant in Albany

We had dinner at Bianca’s this past Saturday and it was simply said, a well oiled machine of professionalism and well crafted taste sensations. My girlfriend had been here before with her work, they take clients here when in town, but this was my first time here. After traveling to Albany, GA for nearly a year now my only complaint is not coming to Bianca’s sooner. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel personally to many large metropolitan areas and have eaten at restaurants that are known to be destinations of their own. I believe Bianca’s is on its way to becoming that sort of fine dining establishment. The decor is modern, elegant, and clean. The lighting is moody, but deliberate. They dim the house lights so much that even though the neighboring tables are relatively close together, they fade into dark obscurity because your primary light is a nice little lamp on your table. This does make taking photos a little more dramatic than I would normally go for in my lighting choices, but it helps keep your focus on those in your party than on everyone in your vicinity.

I do have to make special mention of the wait staff. Our waiter, Johan, was a delight and charming to interact with, but they also had people to make sure drinks stayed full, plates being taken away, bread refilled. Furthermore when the table next to us accidentally knocked over a wine glass, three people swooped in immediately to clean up the mess before any semblance of disruption could be felt. They train their staff well and it shows. For those who have been there, I feel like this is aspiring to be at the level of service they have at Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa, FL. I was thoroughly impressed.

Everything we ordered was delicious, but I do have a few favorites I want to mention. For starters, the complimentary bread with a herb and garlic infused olive oil was truly memorable. The bread was crusty and nicely toasted, but had a texture almost like they used a cake flour or something. It had such a fine granular mouth feel that it was almost like chewy, pillowy, croutons. It’s hard to explain, but excellent and thankfully they happily refill the bread upon request… and we did which is unusual for me because I don’t normally like to fill up on the bread to make sure I have room for the meal. For my entree I ordered the Spaghetti Al Coccio Con Fritti Di Mari and the sauce was remarkably flavorful and well developed. The portion of seafood was generous enough to fill even the most hungry patron. My girlfriend had the 16 oz Linz (sp?) ribeye from the chef’s menu that day. It was cooked in a caste iron skillet and thus had a bit more gradation in temp than I would like to see at that price point, but overall came out a solid medium as ordered. I also wish the seared crust was a little more defined, but I am being a little nitpicky. It was an excellent steak. My favorite bite of the evening was the dessert. I normally go for anything chocolate, but I saw the Tortino and it stood out to us as something worth trying. It is described as a sponge cake filled with vanilla gelato, topped with fresh berries and a vanilla cream glaze. This description doesn’t say that the gelato is the best I’ve had outside of Italy and the thick crust on the bottom of the sponge cake was amazing while having a dense and chewy consistency that was scrumptious while still being moist barely describes the elation that came out of this tasty morsel. I would come back just for the Tortino.

All things considered, if you’re in Albany, GA and have a reason for a nice sit down fine dining experience, put this at the top...

I've dined in at Bianca's twice in the past two weeks. I love Italian food, and the diversity of restaurants in Albany is small, so I decided to try them out.

I was a weekly regular at Osteria before they closed, so I had been craving some good food without having to drive to Macon or Tallahassee.

Both times I sat at the bar, the ambiance was great, and the food exceeded my expectations.

Although the food was great, you're probably wondering why I gave it two stars.

Two words: MEDIOCRE SERVICE.

On my first visit, I asked my bartender what their specials were for that evening. Without saying anything, she just walked off and came back a few minutes later with the specials.

Maybe she was new and didn't know them yet? Maybe it slipped her mind? It's not a huge deal, but communicating that she didn't know them would have been better than just walking off without saying anything.

The service on my second visit (yesterday) did it for me.

I sat at the bar for about five minutes before I was noticed by either the manager or the owner. He wore a nice chef's uniform so he could've been either.

He got the attention of one of the many people behind the counter, who made my drink and took my order but then disappeared. I ordered both my dinner and dessert together.

It wasn't hard to notice the staff who were gaffing off in the hallway behind the bar.

When I eventually got my food, I didn't receive any utensils, so I asked the blonde bartender behind the counter for some, and she ROLLED her eyes.

After I finished my food, I sat and waited for a bit before the same blonde bartender asked if I needed anything else. I replied that I was just waiting for the creme brulee I ordered, to which she ROLLED her eyes again.

After finishing my dessert, I asked for the check, and my tab came around to $59 and some change. I paid with a $50 and $20 bill.

The blonde bartender took my check and never returned my change. I sat there for a while before just deciding to leave because they had already closed for the evening.

I would've been happy to have tipped her the $10. However, the opportunity to do so was taken out of my hands.

Good food isn't enough to make me return to an establishment. The service is part of the experience, and I'd rather drive out of Albany if I can get...

Bianca's is a lovely restaurant! We made reservations for Valentine's Day for dinner. We got Bruschetta as an appetizer which was pretty good, a little too vinegar-y for my taste but my husband enjoyed it. I got the ceasar salad and Salmon as my entrée and my husband got the Ribeye. The salad was lovely and so was the Salmon. The ribeye on the other hand came out in the sizzling skillet. Yes, it said it would on the menu, that's not a big issue. Although, if he had left the steak on there instead of taking it off and putting it on his appetizer plate, it would've overcooked. He had ordered it medium-rare. He also noticed while heading towards the restrooms that other people seemed to have the same steak but the cuts they had looked much better and less fatty than his. Also noteworthy were the french fries that came with my husband's steak. They were small and honestly were only as good as any fast food chain's. And in my opinion, if they're going to serve fries with a steak in that swanky of a restaurant, they should at least, be thicker or some homestyle fry, not McDonald's skinny fries. For dessert we had creme brulee and tiramisu. The dessert was honestly the best part of the evening. Our server was okay, he could even barely hear us the entire time and wasn't the friendliest but I'm sure he was having a stressful and busy evening so I won't harp too much on that. I just feel like there could be improvements made to make things actually worth the prices they are charging. Sadly, we probably won't be dining there again...