Joe Benny's

Shame on me for putting off dining at Joe Benny's for so long! I wish there was more time to indulge in the Sloppy Balls, Foccacia, and the dreamy Reese's Cream Puffs with Silky Chi Hazelnut Mousse.... my daughter said I should befriend Joe so we could go eat at his house.... but for real, I need either the meatball and sauce recipe or the dessert. Otherwise, I'll fall into a deep depression knowing I'll never have either ever again 😭. I wish more people were good empathetic people who placed value on these small, charming, scrumptious establishments, and maybe Joe Benny's would be around even a little bit longer. Thanks to the crew there for a fantastic dining experience! Chefs Kiss!

If someone blind folded me and told me to taste this pizza... I would say it was good, but this isn't pizza (to me). This is pizza bread. The focaccia bread was very flavorful but dry, and not enough sauce. In general.. awesome flavor, just dry. The pizza's are also super small. If you're a guy who likes to eat, you'll easily take a whole pizza down yourself. Probably the right amount of food for two women to split or split on a date if you don't want to be "too full". We ordered a meatball and pepperoni pizza, a Joe Benny sub, and a grilled chicken and mushroom pizza. The meatballs are phenomenal, but belong on pasta with a lot of sauce. Honestly.. the sub was way better than the pizza. Overall, pretty good food. Would I eat here again..? Probably not (unless I was in the mood specifically for a sub).

Had a great dinner experience! Stopped by on a Friday evening, no wait for a table. Our server Stephanie was great and recommended customer favorites. We shared the Big Guy focaccia pizza pie and the Anita Manna special with rigatoni pasta and meatballs. Both were absolutely delicious and paired great with the ice cold Peroni beer. Highly recommended!

Came to Joe Benny’s from Virginia, our drive was about 1.5 hours, got there at 4:20pm, still had to wait until 6:30 to get seated because we needed the big table, but the wait was the most pleasant wait time i have ever had, the ambience was amazing, playlist was lit and you get to order drink while you wait! i ordered the sicilian salad and also the sloppy meat ball as appetizers, the first bite just redeemed the wait. i also ordered the big woo, again, it’s not just pizza, it’s focaccia, so the crust was flavorful itself. They tend to sell out pretty fast cause it is a small restaurant, everything on the menu are handmade, so expect them to sell out if you are too late already, it’s not the Cheesecake Factory, there are a lot of nice places in little italy, no need to dump your first world problems onto small businesses while they need your support the most.

Whatever this restaurant lacks in size, it makes up with outsized taste and charm! Remarkably, the dining room only has six tables. There are another four small tables outside. We came on a Saturday night around 7:30pm. We waited about 30 minutes for a table. There was a very limited menu because the restaurant was short-staffed. The high-top table we had was incredibly wobbly, but our waiter quickly fixed it. How this place gets by with only one toilet for customers, who knows? But it works! We’re giving this place five stars based on the quality of the food alone. We also got to meet Joe himself! He is a great guy. Get the meatballs with the cream sauce. You won’t be disappointed! Also, if you order the pizza, order it with extra cheese. You won’t be disappointed! This place has the best “thick deep dish style” pizza in Baltimore! (It’s really focaccia-style, but if you like deep dish pizza, you’ll love this place!) Also, Michael was a great server!

The sign got us in, but the simple yet delicious food and authentic service earned the stars. This quaint Italian restaurant is a local gem and this was our first time in. Joe himself greeted us with a warm welcome and after a brief wait, we took a seat at the bar. While waiting for our order of meatballs and Angry Ginger pizza, Mr & Mrs Clause came in for dinner too and it was pure joy. The meatballs smothered in homemade marinara and served with focaccia bread are flavourful and moist. My personal favourite is the fluffy focaccia bread with the crunchy ends, which is also their pizza dough.

TLDR: Amazing focaccia pizza and an unforgettable neighborhood atmosphere. Unfortunately they are closing their doors at the end of May 2023 for the time being. But it's not a goodbye for forever, but see you later! Vibe: 5/5. Located in the heart of Little Italy on S High Street, Joe Benny's is a small rowhome restaurant. Inside, the restaurant holds approximately 30 guests at any given time by way of the long bar top and a handful of 2 tops in the back dining room. Joe Benny's has that neighborhood watering hole vibe down solid. Because the place is so narrow, diners will be in close quarters with the staff and other guests at all times, but that's not exactly a bad thing. The kitchen is located right behind the bar out in the open, so you can watch all items being made from start to finish. Unfortunately, by the time I post this review, Joe Benny's will be in their last few weeks of operation as they are planning to close up shop at the end of May. Due to the imminent closing, demand has been through the roof, so expect to wait 1hr+ at peak hours. Fortunately, it has been said that the closing is only for the immediate future and Joe plans to make a comeback in some shape or form in the future. Service: 4/5. We went on a Wednesday at 4:45pm (they open at 5pm) and there was a line of 30+ people stretching down the sidewalk waiting for them to open. When Joe opened the doors at 5pm, he warmly greeted people and mentioned that the "service may suck" tonight because they are short on staff being it's their last few weeks in operation. My party of 2 missed the first seating, so we decided to wait via standing at the bar inside the restaurant. Joe mentioned it would be around an hour wait, and he was pretty much spot on with that estimate. In the meantime, we kept ourselves busy with a few sangria's as we stood in the background listening to the friendly banter between Joe and his patrons. When we were finally seated a little before 6pm, we already had our order ready to go so the staff promptly took our food and drink orders to get it started. Both the food and drinks came out faster than expected which helped justify the long wait. Small miss, but one of the pizzas we ordered was misunderstood during the ordering process and we received a different pizza then what we anticipated. They asked if we wanted to get a replacement made, but we were totally fine with the pie we received, and we wanted to get the next group of diners in behind us. Food: 5/5. In a sea of pizza restaurants offering up more or less the same things, Joe Benny's truly has something special. The focaccia style pizza just hits different than any Sicilian, Detroit or Chicago style pizza I have ever had. The focaccia provides this unbelievably pillowy yet crisp base for Joe's amazing sauce and toppings. One thing I definitely appreciated was the frequent use of burrata cheese in the pizza combinations. Of the three pies we ordered, our favorite was by far the crabby Joe and the sharini. The Crabby Joe was their take on a crab dip pizza, but a much superior version using homemade garlic sauce paired with lump crab. The Sharini used their famous homemade meatballs paired with a heaping dose of burrata and sauce. Simple by design, but an amazing combination of textures and flavors. There were several other pizzas on the menu we wanted to try, but for 2 very hungry people, 3 pizzas was borderline overkill. Overall, I highly suggest paying your respects to Joe Benny's for a dinner service before they shut their doors. You may have to wait, but that focaccia and family atmosphere makes it well worth it!