Cafe Bengodi

Cafe Bengodi is a cozy little italian sidewalk cafe in Pioneer Square. The menu is simple but thorough, a large variety of pasta and pizzas with wine, appetizers and salads. The service was excellent, and our food was amazing. The prices were slightly higher than I would have expected, but we got two servings out of each entree. Appetizers were also generous. We had no problem getting a table, but a party of four or more might do well to get a reservation for the weekends. more

My experience with Cafe Bengodi was hands-down the worst experience I've had with a restaurant in Seattle. Horrifying. I had wanted to try Cafe Bengodi for years and finally went for a celebratory lunch a few months ago. To make a long story short we ended up having to cancel our order and leave without any food because after 50 minutes of waiting and being lied to (our server kept insisting that our food was being plated and would be out any minute) my entire lunch break was over! When I went inside to cancel the order because I had to get back to work the server said that the cook was just about to start our food - this after 50 minutes of saying that it was being plated. We did have an order of very oily, very garlic-y garlic bread that was sub-par for any italian restaurant. STAY AWAY! To make matters worst, this is a TINY restaurant with only about 7 tables (approximately 15 total customers there!) during the summer when they put an extra 3 tables outside. This kind of service is INEXCUSABLE, particularly since we ordered pasta with *uncooked* sauce (caprese style). more