Bencotto — Restaurant in Boston

Absolutely one of the WORST dining experiences I’ve had in a long time. Part of this is attributable to dining in North End in general.

Some of the key highlights: Removing 1 star because we made a reservation at 6.30 pm and were only given a table at 710 pm. Despite being seated at our table (we were a party of 5), we only were able to get service at our table at 7.30 pm (we literally sat at our table with no service for 20 minutes) Removing 1 star because I had to send back two glasses because they were cracked. One water glass had a clear chip and I had to send it back. Another glass (get this with wine service) had another large crack and had to be sent back Removing 1 star because I ordered a lemonade that took at least 30 minutes to arrive. I saw many tables with guests that came after me that had cocktails etc delivered prior Removing one star because the bruschetta we had was very cold and the bread was very lumpy We were seated in “downstairs” area right next to the bathroom. My mother and wife had to witness the unfortunate sight of men zipping up their pants while eating their food. I don’t understand why should the table be seated right next to the bathroom in such a manner.

In general, I was absolutely shocked by the level of crowds and wait times in the north end.

Unless you want to spend 1 hour waiting outside the restaurant on the street, wait another hour waiting to get your food with sub-standard service and eat mediocre Italian food - look elsewhere.

I’ll definitely not be back and urge as many folks as I can...

One of the worst experiences I’ve ever had at a restaurant.

We found Bencotti on Google Maps and thought it sounded like a nice restaurant. When we arrived, we asked if they had any tables and the waitress told us we would have to wait 15-20 minutes. We ended up waiting an hour outside in the cold, while other people who arrived later than us were given tables. We asked twice during the long wait whether we could expect to get our table soon. Both times we were told that we would get a table very soon - but we didn’t. It was disheartening seeing companies of people who arrived later than we did being let in before us. It is of course perfectly understandable if they had reservations, but it couldn’t have been the case for all of them, and even if it was the restaurant should have given us a more realistic estimate of how long it would take before we got a table when we arrived - or one of the times we asked during the long wait.

Once we got inside we were not impressed by the service either. We ordered pizza, because we were very hungry by then and wanted to choose something that would arrive fast. The pizza was good, but about 15 minutes after our pizza arrived our waitress asked us if we wanted a to-go box for the rest of it. It seemed as if they wanted us out as fast as possible, and we felt like they treated us differently than the other guests, which made it hard to enjoy the meal.

I haven’t experienced anything like this in a long time - if ever. I hope they improve the service as it was otherwise a...

I was really hoping to leave a wonderful review, unfortunately, we had a rather disheartening evening.

The hostess was very lovely. We had a reservation, so we were seated right away. Once we were seated, we waited for about roughly 20 min until a tall gentleman walked to our table and just blurted “You ready?” We were taken by surprise, but we shrugged it off. It was a Saturday, we understand it can be chaotic.

Unfortunately, the rest of the night did not get any better. The gentleman continuously sighed very loudly when we had a question, and even rolled his eyes when we mispronounced the name of the dishes. He continued to do this when we were trying to inquire about wine recommendations, and even walked away mid-sentence. I looked around at other tables and it didn’t seem like he was treating anyone else the same way. He was having regular conversations; smiling, laughing, and making eye contact.

The waiter never came back to our table after he set down our main course. He never came by to check in with us, to offer any water or condiments/cheese on our pasta. (A different table had the same pasta and they were offered cheese by the same gentleman.) I tried to flag him down a few times. We made eye contact, but he quickly looked away and came back only to drop off the check. He didn’t even say anything, just simply dropped it off and walked away.

I understand that people can have bad days, but he made us feel unwelcomed and will not...