Went for lunch a couple weekends ago and it was better then I expected. Â I had their chicken parm lunch portion and it was just right. Â Their sauce was very good, it didn't taste homemade but it was certainly better then most off the shelf brands I've had in restaurants. Â Service was quick and friendly and the price was what I would expect, I'd go back again for sure.
Review Source:Decent Italian food for a chain. A little overpriced for what they offer. To be honest, haven't tried too many dishes on the menu but have been here TONS of times. I guess, if you know what's good - stick with it.
The calamari is perfectly tender and crispy on most nights. Â Marinara to accompany is very tasty as well. Â The complimentary garlic knots are also delish, although sometimes well done or TOO salty.
I usually go for the pan-fried chicken arugula. It's very simply and not much to it, but the way they bread and fry the chicken cutlet makes the meal. Â The top the cutlet with an arugula and very casually put together "bruschetta mix." It's a very light meal and different take on Italian. Â The basic Chicken Parm, Francaises, and Veal Pomodoro, although typical are very good as well.
Either way, if you're looking for a basic, chain Italian restaurant and definitely hate Olive Garden - this is your place.
UPDATE: Â Bensi is now RUDY'S Italian Ristorante, so I am copying my review from there to here (below), or you can use this link:
<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/rudys-ristorante-and-pizzeria-garwood">http://www.yelp.com/biz/…</a>
Rudy's is now the former Bensi Restaurant; they left the "franchise" but have the same chef and in addition to the menu items they had, they've added more! Â
They have GREAT Italian Food ~ there is a wide variety of choices for lunch or dinner ~ really great entrees, fantastic specialty salads and a nice selection of great appetizers. Â While you're waiting for your appetizers or meal, they serve hot garlic triangle bread and also regular Italian bread (also hot) & accompanied by real butter patties (sealed).
They have a full pizza menu (pizza is thin crust), including white pizza, calzones and ZAZONES ~ a Zazone like a Calzone but with many choices. Â All of the above come in 2 sizes ~ personal or family size. Â My favorite one is the Portabello mushroom & spinach Zazone; it also has mozzerella cheese and a choice of 3 "spreads" - ricotta, pesto or tomato. Â It comes with a small cup of delicious chunky marinara sauce. Â That's one of my favorite things for lunch there. Â My husband loves the Buffalo Chicken Zazone.
Nice, comfortable decor in a good size dining area (booths & tables); Italian music is playing over the sound system. Â When there's a full house, it is a bit on the loud side. Â If you want a quiet dinner, don't go on a Fri or Sat evening! Â If you do go on those evenings, you should make reservations. Â It's a VERY nice place for a weekday lunch ~ especially on the slower days, i.e. Monday - Thursday. Â Since everything is made fresh, I'm pretty sure that if you wanted to do it on your lunch hour from work, if you call ahead they can begin making your meal (I would suggest calling them to ask). Â Their website has the menu ~ and it's in a nice large font!
Pleasant & efficient servers ~ I have to say that when I wrote my review of Bensi last August, I gave it only 4 stars because AT THAT TIME, some of the servers were not too bright & made omissions on anything that wasn't standard, but when you asked them about it, they went & got whatever it was without an attitude. Â Now, I can happily give a FULL FIVE STAR RATING since I've been there at least 5 times since they became Rudy's. Â
They have a liquor license, so they are able to serve wine and liquor.
They have a gluten-free menu now, which you can view in their website. Â This is excellent because I have a friend who is restricted to gluten-free foods.
The prices are fair ~ comparable for this type of food & atmosphere.
They have take-out; it's located right in the front; you don't have to go through the restaurant to get to it.
The ladies room is 1 large room & very clean. Â I only had to wait one time for one other person & that was when the restaurant was full!
I recommend that you read the History in their website.
It's located in the Garwood Mall where King's, Dress Barn, Radio Shack, Pet Valu and some other stores (I forgot the names) are located.
I'm the first to write a review since the restaurant didn't come up when I did a search for it, so I hope I covered everything.
I came here on a Saturday night with a party of six and the wait was about 25 minutes. Â We thought the restaurant was BYOB, but we were wrong. Â Slightly disappointing. Â The food is very good - I had a pizza with chopped tomatoes and black olives. Â Very thin crust and the toppings were very fresh. Â I was very pleased with my meal, as were the other people I was with. Â We all had pizzas and calzones. Â I will definitely return. Â It's also good for takeout.
Review Source:Monday's seem to be a slow day for restaurants. In fact a lot of them are closed on Mondays (especially Italian places). After a lengthy search, a female friend and I opted to go here. I have been to Bensi before. I remember the food being good. We got here really early. Almost early enough on a Monday night to be confused with the "early bird" crowd. We sat down conversed for a while. They do have Italian beer in bottle and terrific Italian music playing in the background. Ahhh the memories of childhood. The bread came out. They bring these garlic 2 bite breads and your standard Italian loaf. We ordered apps. Buffalo Calamari and Stuffed Mushrooms. The calamari was spicy but not overly. They were cooked semi crispy. Stuffed mushrooms were stuffed with bacon, chopped mushrooms and seems like breadcrumbs. Both were very good. For a meal we opted for the pepperoni pizza. The dough was not good. It was a doughy piece of cardboard.  Very bland sauce and a sprinkled amount of pepperoni. For dessert we wanted to share the Tiramisu and Creme Brulee Cheesecake. The Tiramisu tasted like garlic and I had to spit it out. Plus it had fridge burn. Yes, I said garlic. I had to switch spoons to make sure it wasn't the utensil and still the same end result. It was quite nauseating. Luckily they took it off the bill. The  cheesecake was ok. I kind of lost my appetite after the Tiramisu incident. The service was great. She was very patient (since we were there nearly 4 hours) and friendly (put up with our sarcasm). Conversation/service was excellent, the food not so much.
Review Source:Bensi is one of the better Italian restaurants we've dined at in Jersey. Casual dining, good service and a great selection of pastas, pizzas and meats!
To start we enjoyed the hot meat antipasto platter (baked clams, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed shrimp, mozzarella in carrozza), bacon wrapped scallops and jalapeño ravioli. Next we had minestrone and salad.
At that point we were completely stuffed, but that did not deter us from ordering full entrees: baked ziti ~ bucatini alla amatriciana ~ veal pizzaiola ~ chicken francese with artichoke hearts
Highlights: marinara sauce, hot antipasto platter and the bucatini alla amatriciana
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