Benito One — Restaurant in New York

I found this place on Yelp while in NYC on our Christmas vacation and decided it would be a good place to try for our Little Italy dining experience.

I believe we were fortunate in that we walked in without reservations during a holiday week and it just so happened they had an open table for an immediate seating. It was a touch on the early side mind you, maybe 5:30PM. I don’t believe there was anyone else this night to be seated that didn’t have a reservation.

While waited for our dinner, (in no hurry) I read through several of the more negative reviews. I began to get a little nervous about my choice. Stories of rude staff, 35% mandatory tips, bland food, plain bread, etc. I am happy to say that none of the above applied to my family’s experience except for the bread. It was plain and served with cold butter (like what any one of us can buy at the store....this is my only recommended improvement....a homemade bread served warm with olive oil).

Our food took a little time to prepare, as expected in a small place that would cook your meal special for you and not have it prepped and staged in a cooler and heated like a chain does. It was outstanding in taste and properly cooked. I had a Alfredo pasta dish (I asked for the Pesto on the side) with half a small lobster, shrimps and scallops. All seafood cooked perfectly, not mushy and not tough and rubberlike or chewy. I was absolutely satisfied!

My wife had Shrimp Oregatano. She said it was very good and quite pleased with the taste and quality of how it was prepared. My son had Lobster Ravioli and said it was some of the best he has ever had. He chooses that dish at many Italian places we have been in the past.

Price was not pricey at all. As expected for similar dishes at other places that are not an Olive Garden type of place.

The tip was not included on the front end nor implied to be a certain percentage. Where we come from, 18% is the normal, 0-10% for bad (depending on how bad) and not due to the wait staff, and sky is the limit for good to awesome! I tipped $25 on a $103 tab. For me, that amount is appropriate for good service and very good food.

A large party entered that had reservations for 12 and ended up needing 14. The restaurant didn’t have room to seat the extra two in a normal fashion. I was expecting the owner to ask if I would mind moving to another table to allow him to seat the entire group comfortably, but he never asked....so I offered that option to him and he politely said no, they would manage.

All in all, a very pleasant experience and wonderful meal! I would recommend it to anyone. To the owner, simply change your bread option to serving it warm with the option for some olive oil and you would have a devine experience.

Merry...

The prices are decent for the area and the place itself is nice and cozy.

The food we chose was bolognese and carbonara pastas. Maybe the people here like those dishes as they serve it, but if that's Italian cuisine then I'm Italian, and I'm not Italian. Really that different.

First the waiter said that their carbonara was made with mozzarella cheese and didn't know what pecorino or grana padano were... Eventually he said it was served with a parmigiano kind of cheese. The yolk wasn't even noticeable and the sauce was thickened with flour that was leaving a weird aftertaste after each bite.

The other bolognese pasta was ok, the pasta itself just a little bit over cooked.

The bread rolls served as an entrance weren't fresh and were served with butter. I'd expect olive oil and balsamic vinegar, it's an Italian place, right?

Now the funny service part, so the waiter brought the receipt with a handwritten amount to pay that included 20% tip. Why would you tell me how much to tip you? I've never experienced such thing as telling me how much to tip and I consider that rude. I get the social standard of tipping, nonetheless if the service was mediocre, the food below average, and calling it Italian (especially the carbonara) is a sin, plus the rude handwritten "give me this much", then I don't see the reason to tip.

Take a trip to Italy and taste the real thing, cook.

Two stars for nice music and that the food was...

This is probably the saddest review I have to write. Little Italy is just not it anymore, I hadn’t been back since the pandemic and Benito One had the best meatballs in town, I wouldn’t even look the other way to try anything else. If you go to Italy give other restaurants a shot. Not only were the meatballs grainy, yes, grainy they tasted like they were sitting out for a long time and the sauce they were in was more watered down than the water that comes from a can of tomatoes. Not to mention we were charged almost $15 for less than 4 ounces of wine, not that I measured or anything but I am a bartender with a solid eye for a 5 ounce glass of wine. Disappointed to say the least, I talked this place up to my friends and they all left with bitter tastes in their mouth. The table next to us was a couple and a family who spoke French and the guy in charge coerced one of the guests there to come up outside to talk to some people who only spoke French to convince them to come in his establishment. The entire walk around little Italy was depressing, the pandemic really changed the scenery, and it made everything look dull. I can’t recommend anywhere else because we were to grossed out to eat the rest...