Rudy's Ristorante & Pizzeria

For me to give 5 stars to an italian restaurant in an italian restaurant saturated market, it's gotta be good.  This place was fantastic.  It is the type of place you can go casually or for an occasion, and there is food to fit everyone's likes/dislikes.

They start you off with two types of bread: a regular crusty italian bread and a garlic knot-type bread.  Both are delicious.  We had the potato and leek soup which was excellent.  My wife got the vegetable lasagne which was full of broccoli, carrots, spinach and ricotta.  I got the chicken margherita special: pan fried chicken breast topped with tomatoes and fresh mozz in a white wine sauce.  I also got a side of gnocchi in tomato sauce.  Awesome, Awesome, Awesome.

Had a pizza dinner here and it was perfect - the crust was nice and crisp and delicious!  Their pizza is a close second to the pizza @ Cranford Hotel for the area.  My husband also loved his pasta fagiole soup appetizer ... I loved my arugula/pear/walnut salad.

They also serve drinks!

Service was great. Food, not so much.

We went on a Wednesday evening and were seated immediately.  

The warm garlic bread was pretty good (can't complain too much because it's free.) The loaf of bread was delicious, with a crunchy exterior and a nice, warm inside. The bread was pretty much the highlight of our meal.

We ordered mozzarella sticks for the table, which were sub-par. I've had better microwavable ones.

Both my girlfriend and I ordered the chicken parmesan, which was extremely bland and not worth half of what we paid for it. Each chicken parm came with a side of linguini with tomato sauce, which was alright. Again, I've had better frozen meals.

Overall, both of us were pretty disappointed, especially after reading the raving reviews on here. If you want to see more reviews, look up "Bensi," which is the restaurant's old name. According to other reviewers, not much changed, except for a few menu items, but they have the same chef.

Honestly, we would've been more satisfied getting Taco Bell for a quarter of the cost.