Bianca Woodfire Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Newton

This was my second time dining at Bianca. The first time was dinner and yesterday was brunch. Both experiences were consistent in where the restaurant excels and in where it is lacking.

Pros: 1) Outstanding service. The hosts and waitstaff are all friendly and solicitous without being intrusive. Requests were met quickly even when the dining room was very busy. 2) The atmosphere is lovely. The room feels light and expansive but still intimate.

Cons: The food. There were hits and misses (far more misses). They need serious qc in the kitchen because even the hits were of a similar quality to strong area chains (which would be fine if the price point was the same) . Brunch hits: Breakfast pizza (yeasted doughs in general seem to be a strength), hummus, deviled eggs. Brunch misses: Shakshuka. The eggs were overcooked (hard yolk, rubbery whites) and the sauce in which they were poached had a level of spice that was almost inedible (and I have a high tolerance for spice). Homefries. These were a mixed bag. The flavor was on point but the texture not. The potatoes were overcooked needed to be crisped to compensate. Dinner hits: The tuna tartare was nicely balanced. Crispy brussel sprouts delivered as well. Misses: The shitake sushi roll. The truffle froth overwhelmed everything else and was used so judiciously that an otherwise pleasant dish was ruined. The wood grilled broccolini. This should have been a no-brainer but for some reason it tasted of kerosene. The Wagyu burger was overcooked (medium well when the request was medium rare and the condiments were used too sparingly. The tuna on the tuna burger was cooked well but not seasoned and, as with the beef burger, the condiments were not adequate to elevate the meat.

If the kitchen was managed as well as the dining room, Bianca would be in great shape. As it stands, I cannot...

What a culinary experience from beginning to end. Josh our server was amazing and so helpful. I was debating on wines and he recommended exactly the perfect choices that went well with my food. As interesting as the menu was the wine list was incredible and so fun to read, as it is extensive and obviously well thought out. The menu is everywhere but pleasing to every type of diner. There is pizza, sushi, French dip, burgers, short rib rigatoni and wood fire chicken in addition to many other choices. But make sure you look at the dessert menu and if you may want the donuts order them early with your server as they do sell out! I totally went with Josh's recommendation and got the temupra avacado sushi roll along with the Crispy Nori Sushi Tacos, specifically the torched Salmon Teriyaki and the Spicy tuna. Both were so good! My daughter had the truffle fries and 2 slices of the margherita pizza. This is not like your traditional pizza by the way, as it is a combination of deep dish pan/cookie sheet pizza, if that's even a thing? It was delicious so that's all that matters. We happened upon Bianca, as we are new to Boston and loved it. I need to add that the atmosphere is as funky and cool as the music/playlist which was awesome by the way and only added to the whole experience. To top off a fabulous meal I am always so happy to meet the owner who graciously introduced herself. Thank you Nancy and Tim Cushman. My daughter is a freshman at BC so expect to see me for...

Drinks were good, food was subpar for the price, service was not good. Waitress kept pushing one of my friends to order a drink and my friend kept saying she needed more time. We ordered the tuna tartare which was really good and two other friends had the penne with shrimp. I had the penne with chicken AND shrimp. The server kept asking who had the last pasta and I told him it was supposed to be both proteins and he kept saying no this is shrimp, like I know. But it’s SUPPOSED to be chicken AND shrimp. I’m paying $51 for a pasta so it should be correct. The waitress and server didn’t apologise for the incorrect order/extra wait which I didn’t really care about. There were a few other weird things with the service. The bill came out and we gave them a $50 tip, which we thought aligned with the service we received last night. IMMEDIATELY after we pay the manager basically tries to bully us into giving a larger tip. Mind you, we’re the only people of colour in this restaurant and she’s singling us out in the middle of the floor, asking why we gave a low tip. Extremely unprofessional and the low tip should be self-explanatory. Look at the other reviews about the service. Also, the mains don’t come with sides. What kind of steak doesn’t come...