Benny’s Italian Resturant — Restaurant in Jonesville

I try not to review an independent restaurant without getting a little information on its inner workings.

Benny’s has had quite a journey in its 2.5 years of life. Its first month the building caught fire, causing a delayed opening. Its opening was pushed back to late December where it began to gain momentum until covid-19 dropped the ball and forced its temporary closure, like many other businesses.

Fortunately, Benny‘s weathered the storm and came out swinging with a fresh paint job, unique dining area, and a menu that caters to many tastes.

For those unfamiliar, the menu features both Italian and Hispanic offerings. This seems unusual until you talk to the man himself. Benny was born in Honduras to a Honduran mother and Italian father. He moved back and forth between the states and Honduras for extended periods of time, soaking up both cultures but never declaring one for himself.

The menu features this duality. It’s a reflection of Benny and what he likes. Ask him what his favorite item is and he promptly answers with a question; “which type of food?”. Then he gleefully lists off favorites on both.

Taking his cue, I ordered the Chicken Parm. It arrived quickly, the chicken was crispy and seasoned perfectly. The portion was HUGE. My only complaint was that the sauce was a bit loose, but the included garlic knots took care of that issue and soaked up any sauce that was left.

My beautiful date ordered another Benny suggestion; Camarones en Crema, or shrimp in cream sauce. It was served with rice, choice of corn or flour tortilla, that seemed homemade, refried beans, and a large portion of grilled tail-on shrimp in a rich cream sauce. I stole several from her plate, and she didn’t seem to notice them missing as we both became full with food leftover.

It’s a small staff, mostly because it’s still technically in its infancy and ironing out its kinks. We all know restaurants are going through many struggles with staff. But Benny remains upbeat and rushes around taking orders, serving food and drinks, directing staff, and bussing tables.

This place has a ton of potential and I truly hope to see the moves Benny makes in the future. The menu and brightly colored walls feel like an authentic reflection of a man trying to bring joy to the eyes and palates of...

So I paid $18+ for shrimp and steak tacos. Come with rice and beans and guacamole. This is the first time it did not take over 1-1.5 hours for me to receive my order, even when I pick up. I have had poor experience before but never bad enough to make a stink over, though I will say their tamales are more Maza than filling. But I digress. I went to dress my tacos and say a tail on the shrimp, ok they missed one right? NOPE! All of them were like this. Then after digging through my tacos, I find that all the steak is essentially burnt pebbles. I try a burnt shrimp so see because I’m hungry obviously and you can’t eat it. It tastes horrible because it was burnt on what I am assuming is a flat top that hasn’t been scrapped all day. So then I try the rice, again I’m hungry. It’s not cooked. I’m Spanish. I’ve eaten and made rice my entire life. Just go get yourself a box of uncle bens if you aren’t familiar with how to cook it cuz this ain’t worth it.

So again, this is a place that is close so I use them. I reached out to the service that I placed the order through (Slice) because I assumed there would be some customer care and replacement or discount or something for the food I can’t eat. They reached out to the restaurant and advised me that that is the way they serve it. Not their problem. FYI, I included these pictures and have also ordered this from them before. Who says “I want tacos I have to take apart de-tail and then put back together”? They didn’t even mention the burnt and uncooked food. So essentially this went in the trash and wasted $18 and they don’t care. I don’t recommend this place. Go to Theos or a different chain for pizza. Go to Margaritas by foodlion for tacos cuz they’re banging. Don’t use slice cuz at the end they don’t care. I deleted my account.

They got one star because the dough of my kids pizza (I ended up eating some) wasn’t super salty like usual. Like I wanted tacos and was praying the pizza was ok just for it to switch up on me. The worst part……. I...

Catering Joke

My wife and I had a destination wedding in Yadkin County, NC. Coming from a small town, we wanted to make locally owned businesses the forefront of our wedding. We decided on Benny’s Italian and Latin Cuisine after speaking with the owner about their catering services months prior to the wedding date. He was extremely confident in his ability to provide and serve a standard package of salad, garlic knots, and pizza for 100 guests with the special request of a gluten free pizza to accommodate a few guests with dietary restrictions. Not only was he very convincing in his ability to cater the event, but he was adamant that he could complete the order in the necessary timeframe to ensure the reception would remain on schedule.

On the day of the wedding, the owner informed us that he would not be serving the food, as discussed, but only had enough time to “drop off” the food. The delivery driver arrives 35 minutes late with cold pizza, some of which had not even been cut. They also provided inedible garlic knots that had likely been prepared days before. Lastly, they provided no gluten free pizza forcing my mother to leave the reception in order to accommodate the aforementioned guests. This delayed the reception which resulted in several guests leaving before the reception activities could begin. When confronted, the owner denied responsibility for the missing pizzas and ignored all lines of communication shortly thereafter. My purpose in sharing this experience is to prevent other couples or families from allowing this shady, cash-grab business to jeopardize another event. I sincerely hope that anyone considering Benny’s catering an event quickly reconsider because once he has your money, abysmal service will...