Benevento used to be located down Henley Beach Road, until that particular store was bought out by a former employee and renamed “Nostra Casa”. Benevento then reopened on Port Road, however, both pizza stores have an almost identical pizza menu. Having dined at Nostra Casa recently, I already had a good idea of what to expect.

The Port Road location is certainly a lot more spacious than their former Henley Beach Road establishment. The dining area consists of booths and normal tables, and the wood fired pizza oven is open for all to see. Complete with a bar area at the back of the premises and basement storage area, this place is considerably large. The venue is neat and well presented, and the place has a casual vibe about it.

As a starter, we had the 14 inch Garlic Bread which comes in the form of a flat pizza base. The pizza base had a nice thick consistency and was loaded with cheese and garlic. It was well executed and identical to what I had at Nostra Casa.

For the main, I had the Salmon Pizza which consisted of salmon, capers, onions, chives and mascaponi cheese. Although I expect our meals to come out as soon as they’re cooked, I felt they came out too quickly as we were still in the middle of eating our garlic bread.

The salmon was soft and delicate, and really well cooked. The saltiness of the capers was balanced by the sweetness of the onions and chives. While the menu says there is only a dash of mascaponi, it was only distributed to one quarter of the pizza. The amount of topping on the pizza was also conservative as there were many bare areas on the pizza base. The pizza base had a nice thick consistency and was well cooked.

My friend had the Bettina pasta which consists of chicken, mushroom, spinach and chilli. The chicken was tender and succulent, and the chilli content certainly gave the dish heat. The pasta was well cooked and the sauce was nice and creamy. We both thought the dish lacked depth. It tasted good but wasn’t great.

For dessert, we had the Nutella Pizza which is basically nutella rolled up in pizza dough, baked and then served with strawberries and cream. The pizza dough was nice and firm, however, the nutella topping was conservatively applied.

The staff were friendly and the service was average. The waitress came around to our table once in a while, however, our drinks were not constantly refilled. As mentioned earlier, I also thought our mains came out too quickly. As far pricing goes, the garlic bread cost $9, the 9 inch pizza $16 and the nutella pizza $18. All very similar price points to Nostra Casa, which is fair and competitive.

Verdict: A step up from Nostra Casa, but not by much.

WHERE: 218 Port Rd, Hindmarsh