Benny Ventano's — Restaurant in Richmond

I'm giving Benny's 4 Stars mostly for the experience/ambience. Where else are you going to go for pizza's as big as the hood of your car? A slice alone is the size of a full pie at many restaurants!

The scene is pretty slick. From the booth seats to the wall art, it's a solid joint for both friends having beers & pizza or families swapping out the brews for the cool selection of local & mainstream sodas. Lines may form at the genderless restrooms owing to the walls being plastered with a thousand classic Far Side comics...

As far as sauce, cheese & toppings were going, Benny Ventana's are pretty good and distributed perfectly across the crust. The pepperoni & sausage slices were good. I gave the special Mexican slice a whirl as well. It fell short of awesome. There was a very generous (excessive) coating of little beef kibblets which rolled over the pickled jalapeños on their way off the slice and into my lap. It also had a swirl of nacho-style “queso”, which congealed as it cooled, lending an odd texture and American cheese essence which threw off the taste of the pizza sauce & cheese beneath it

The crust itself was unique to me, it had more in common with a bread that didn't rise than a chewy pizza crust. The bottom was crisp like a thin cracker with a little soft layer above - But it worked! It had a nice flavor and gave good structural support to the massive, banner-sized slices. But that under-proofed bread character took over at the edges leaving them unappealing. Then again, by the time you make it to the outer crust you're either out of toppings or are flat-out stuffed and eating that arc of bread wouldn’t be a sensible option.

Service: pizza was easy to order & came out hot & quickly. Staff was a mixed bag - one was a very friendly, helpful guy. There were two others who were as charming as empty root-beer mugs: no emotions whatsoever whether taking orders or delivering them. The dispassion was so impressive I'd bet they'd make incredible top-tier baristas.

Lastly, In terms of return on investment… At six bucks a pop for slice big enough to hide behind, Benny Ventano’s is a serious value. Two people could share a single triangle and feel satisfied. Whether you’re on a budget or on edibles, you can’t...

Benny Ventano’s pizza was not just a bad experience—it was downright dangerous and left me violently ill. From the moment my family and I walked in, we should have known something was wrong. Every single table was filthy, and despite asking three times for a cleaning rag, we ended up having to clean our own table. With only two employees running the entire restaurant, the neglect was painfully obvious.

The menu board above the counter was half-erased, making it unclear what was actually available. When we asked for items still visible on the board (like blue cheese and multiple wing and pizza types on their already limited menu), we were told they hadn’t carried those items. On top of that, the drink fridges were almost completely empty, with very few options left. I decided to grab a Joe’s lemonade, only to find the first bottle had a broken seal. I exchanged it for one that seemed fine—still sealed and cold—but the nightmare was just beginning.

About an hour later while still in the restaurant, I started experiencing severe stomach issues. We had to rush home due to symptoms that yielded severe embarrassment. Once we got home, that’s when I realized the lemonade I drank (which I brought back with me) was over six months expired. What followed was hours of misery—crippling stomach pain and diarrhea so severe it felt almost flammable. It was as if the drink poisoned my system.

This level of negligence is beyond unacceptable. I’ve retained the receipt, the expired bottle, and all relevant details because I am deeply concerned about how this restaurant operates. Selling expired products and failing to maintain even basic cleanliness standards is not just a bad business practice—it’s a serious liability. I’m shocked this place is still in business and wouldn’t be surprised if others have faced...

All of the open tables were dirty so we had to clean our own, maybe add some sani wipes for guests to use rather than napkins. I noticed 2 people working, and they were nice enough. The choices for slices all looked good on the board, I choose the garlic mushroom slice and my husband got the cheese slice. They were huge and I am sure if I we were starving we would have eaten more but it just wasn't good enough to have as an actual meal for us. Both of our slices were very, very dry. The "garlic" in the garlic mushroom slice was like an Italian seasoning sprinkled on top that must have had some sort of garlic in it. The crust wasn't bad, but I didn't make it past a few bites of the the bottom because it wasn't worth the carbs to me to keep eating. The crust was thin and crisp but not too crispy, so okay but I am not sure how it would have held up if there was any normal amount or sauce or cheese on the pizza, which is exactly what these slices were lacking. I figured out pretty quick why they sell sauces on the side, I think that is probably the only way to make it through the lack of sauce, cheese and flavor on the pizza. No cheese pull, no moisture at all, huge bubbles in the crust, not the good kind that makes for a chewy and crisp crust, but the kind that shift the toppings off of the slice totally and leave behind craters of dried up sauce traces and nothing else to indicate it was a part of a pizza with toppings. I wasn't expecting a fresh slice of pizza but I was hoping for a bit more. It all resulted in terrible heartburn later...