About Us
Have you been searching for the best Italian restaurants near me? Well look no further than Benoli, an independently owned restaurant that focuses on Italian and local ingredients cooked with skill and care. We specialise in modern Italian cuisine, which includes our beautiful and freshly handmade pasta, carefully sourced ingredients and making customers happy! Here at Benoli, we like to take Italian cuisine as our starting block and then add our own flair – this really isn’t your typical, traditional Italian restaurant! We like to experiment with different flavour profiles from around the world in order to create a unique dining experience for our customers.
We pride ourselves on changing our menu regularly, not only to keep in line with the seasonal produce that is available, but so you can try new things each time you visit. Of course, there are some firm favourites which will be on the menu for a long time to come. Don’t panic, our croquettes aren’t going anywhere. Find out more about where we source our produce from on our menu page. During the summer months we use Oli’s dad’s produce! Mike provides us with our courgette flowers as well as our basil from his garden in Suffolk.
If all that wasn’t enough reason for people looking for an ‘Italian near me’ to visit Benoli, maybe our vibrant Italian trattoria style bar, offering casual dining, inventive cocktails, and an extensive wine list, will be. We have carefully selected exclusively Italian beers and wines for our drinks list, except for some bottles of bubbles. Our cocktails include classics such as the Tiramisu martini, peach bellinis, Aperol spritz and of course our famous ‘Barrel-aged Negroni’. If you’re stuck on what to choose, we would recommend trying our house wines, our Benoli Falangina and Benoli Primitivo. We also offer bubbles by the glass if you fancy having a pre-dinner treat. We stock Italian Champagne, Franciacorta, which is a must-try for Champagne fanatics, and English sparkling Nyetimber. Alternatively make your way upstairs to one of our two dining rooms. Our middle and top floors are spacious but still allow for a buzzing atmosphere. Check out our Tom Raffield lights on each floor, handmade in Cornwall, which we think adds great lighting to our dining rooms.
For a more intimate dining experience, you can book our private dining room for exclusive parties of 6 to 8 people. Benoli is a perfect restaurant for a pre-theatre meal, our 5:30pm bookings have become a favourite for those heading out to a 7pm show. We would recommend putting a note on your booking so that we can provide a swift service.
We are open 7 days a week Monday – Saturday 12pm-3pm, 5:30pm-10pm / Sunday 12pm-3pm 5:30pm-9pm. If you’re looking for an ‘Italian restaurant near me’, check out our fantastic reviews and book a table today. We look forward to seeing you at Benoli soon!
Skilled Italian cooking in Norwich City Centre
Oliver Boon
Benoli is independently owned by chef patron ‘Oliver Boon’ who has returned to Norwich after 10 years training in London for some of the best chefs in the country. The list Includes: Bryn Williams, Gordon Ramsay and finally Michel Roux Jr. and Albert Roux at The Landau where Oliver was Head Chef. He was also a finalist in ‘MasterChef Professionals’ in 2012 at the age of just 22.
After travelling extensively around Sicily and Italy as a child he was always going to come back to his memories and love of robust Italian flavours.
The name ‘Benoli’ is made up of Oliver’s name and his brother’s, Ben. The boys had a boat of the same name when they were growing up!
Italian recipes to make at home
Why not try making some of our favourite Italian recipes at home? We’ve added a selection to our recipe page. Feel free to share your dishes with us on Facebook and Instagram!
“Benoli is about remembering why I fell in love with food, Benoli is not about cooking - it’s all about eating”