Bene Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Placerville

Our family recently visited Bene Ristorante Italiano for my daughter’s 18th birthday. The restaurant failed to provide adequate service for a large group of 11 people.

I called the restaurant the day before to inquire about a reservation for the party. I was told that the restaurant does not take reservations and operates on a first-come-first-serve basis. When our party arrived, we were told that we could not be seated until the entire group had arrived.

The situation only worsened from there. When our group had eight of its 11 guests, we requested to be seated since we were blocking the front door. However, we were once again informed that we could not be seated until the whole party had arrived.

Upon the arrival of the entire group, the restaurant attempted to seat us in half-circle booths that fit only five average-sized adults. We let them know that we wanted to eat together, we were given a different half-circle booth and a two-seater table, which made it clear that the entire group would not fit. Frustrated and disappointed by the restaurant's inability to accommodate us, we decided to leave. The owner of the restaurant told me dad that the cook would not have been able to serve such a large party anyway.

This experience left a bad taste in our mouths, we left feeling unappreciated and disrespected. The restaurant did not seem interested in providing great customer service to a large group, even though Italian food can be quite expensive.

Fortunately, we found a better option at The Little Place off Pleasant Valley Rd, where the staff went out of their way to make us feel welcome and special. From the moment we arrived, we were treated with respect and courtesy. The environment was warm and inviting, and the staff went above and beyond to ensure that we had an enjoyable dining experience.

In the end, this experience serves as a reminder that customers have the power to choose where they spend their hard-earned money. While some restaurants may provide poor customer service and fail to accommodate large groups, there are always other options available. In this case, The Little Place proved to be a...

Honest review of the food: it's better than the Olive Garden. That's not saying a lot but at least at the Olive Garden when your there your family or something like that. Quite the experience here . I have been here twice.......eaten here only one time. The first time I watched the man with bad mustache run 3 people off. I thought it was odd and it caused a bit of a scene, but a party of three wanted a specific table that could accommodate 5. The owner/manager wouldn't let them sit where they asked to sit and became argumentative. So they left obviously frustrated. I found it odd but didn't know the details and pith waiter was cool so what ever. Our party actually laughed because that table sat empty for the rest of our time we were here. Fast forward to tonight. Party of 4, my wife has a broken foot and we were seated on the small patio out front. An employee moved two two person tables together. To accommodate my wife's broken foot, that is in a cast, I scooted the tables over about 12 inches. We were alone on the patio and the last table furthest away from the patio entry. The strange manager mustache man was trying to stop me from adjusting the table over to accommodate the giant cast on my wife's leg. I told him to look at her leg she needed a little bit of room. He said it was against policy....I really doubt theirs a policy in place to move a metal patio table a few inches to the left. I was taken back by how rude, unprofessional and unaccommodating he was toward someone with a temporary disability. It was blessing in disguise. We all walked/hobbled down the street to The Farm Table Restaurant. The food was awesome there and the staff was so cool and accommodating. They even let us scoot the table over a few inches and brought an extra chair to prop my wife's cast up on. So watch out for the guy with the bad mustache. Before you sit or move check to make sure you don't violate his policies. He would rather lose out on literally hundreds of dollars before he lets you scoot a table over for a...

This was my second time dining here in 6 months. First time, the service wasnt great, but so many people speak highly of it so I thought I would try again. I arrived at 4:20 pm The bar was full, but no one in the tables. I was informed that they could not seat me until 4:30, so I could sit at the bar for Happy Hour. I was given a Happy Hour food menu, but declined to order the snack/appetizer type food. I wanted a full dinner. Ordered a glass of wine to wait until 4:30 so i could sit down. At 4:30 the waitress directed me to a table in the middle of the room. I asked for one by the window, but they had already been "spoken for". Hm. Okay, no one told me I could do that. While I was reviewing the menu, the bartender brought me the bill for my wine and asked me to "close out my bar tab". Hm. Odd, but okay. I ordered my food, it came fairly quickly and I ate it. Not exceptional, not bad, just okay, but definitely not worth $37 (chicken piccata). No one ever stopped to ask if my food was prepared to my liking, or anything. It wasn't until the bus person picked up my plate and I asked for a check did the waitress stop to ask how everything was. I told her it was "okay". She appeared disappointed at my response. It's not a big deal, but I don't take myself out to a 'nice' dinner often, and I expected just a little bit better service, especially for the price. If you are a regular there, service is top notch, as I observed servers chatting it up with other patrons. This is the exact same experience I had 6 months ago when my daughter and I ate there. Luckily, there are other Italian restaurants in town that provide excellent...