The Flying Banzini
Cheesecake at The Flying Banzini
Panini at The Flying Banzini
Pizza at The Flying Banzini
The Flying Banzini
Cheesecake at The Flying Banzini
The Flying Banzini
Pizza at The Flying Banzini
Foods from The Flying Banzini
Comments

2015 Sep 24
After wandering about the tastes of Wellington we finally made it out to the Flying Banzini this Saturday (minutes before the torrential downpour) and I was quite enamored with the overall experience. My Dad and Boyfriend were particularly delighted but these guys love their sandwiches.

Since there were 4 of us we really got to try a few different things!

W.C. Got the Piggy Panini (not exactly as named and not pictured because they made the wrong one first and i forgot to take a pic of the remake) that had Bacon and Chicken and tomato and Sage mayo and cheese and was quite tasty but possibly slightly over-pressed... She opted to have it with a side of amazingly delicious beer and cheese soup. That soup, oh man. It was so good, so rich, so cheesy with a nice flavour and a smattering of cauliflower chunks for good veggie karma. It was a little salty but in that awesome addictive can't have just one potato chip kind of way.

Dad opted for the Cuban Sandwich, which is not actually included in their pressed sandwiches (he asked for it pressed as it usually is traditionally and that was no problemo). Nice thick roast pork seasoned with a light chimichurri and thick pickle slice made for a tasty sandwich although tragically the pork was a little overdone which slightly marred the sandwiches juiciness profile. He also got that delicious soup, which I am actually working on concocting a home edition.

The BF opted for the Buffalo chicken sandwich which he said was the "Best sandwich" he has had in a long time which really goes a long way considering that this boy seriously eats a lot of sandwiches. The Buffalo Chicken was full of flavour and seriously marinated - not overly saucy but that buffalo flavour was sure there. Yum. Oh and all these sandwiches came with a nice little side coleslaw that was slightly pickley in a light tangy vinaigrette.

I asked the server which was the best sandwich and she was immediate to recommend the Korean Pork Belly Sandwich that didn't disappoint. Authentic Korean BBQ flavour with crispy pork belly and cucumber slices had me extremely pleased even despite my usual personal anti-sandwich tastes. I had tasty wedges as the side that came with a delightful red peppery(?) mayo dip. So good. I want some now remembering it.

We also added a half dozen tasty cheesecake bites for 10.95$ to share and they were darn tasty although they don't look quite as elaborate as they used to. We had Sea Salt Skor x 2, NY Cherry, Oreo, Lemon Drop and Raspberry Chocolate. Yum. Boyfriend already has mentioned wanting to go back specifically for cheesecake this week.

Overall great experience with only a few dismissable glitches. I also would like to add that the service was fantastic. Our server was friendly and attentive and even offered us beer samples to appease my parentals picky beer tastes! Made for such a nice experience. I'll be back and probably soon if the BF gets his way.

2015 May 9
Went here for lunch today. Hubby had the Havana sandwich and while he thought it was okay, he didn't think it was anything special. With it, he had some of the wedge spuds which came well done as requested and they were excellent. I had my usual beet salad and felt they were a bit stingy with the goat cheese. Also, the balsamic glaze, although tasty, was of a very thick gloopy consistency which made it hard to actually dress the salad. Some parts ended up with way too much dressing, others not enough.

They now have table service which was very good. Not so good was that on such a hot day the windows were open to the outside and it was very hot in there. It was also very loud between the traffic outside, the clanging of the dishes from the kitchen and people talking louder than normal so as to be heard. If that is going to be the norm, I won't be rushing back.

2015 Feb 21
I really love their sandwiches. The pork belly was good and their wedges are amaaaazing. I miss the old cheesecakes though...

2014 Sep 10
Went here again last night for a fairly quick bite. Pork belly sandwich was spot on and the side salad was small, but nice. The dressing is a bit sweet for my liking. Dragonlady had the soup and a Caesar salad. The salada was very nice, but she is still a bit miffed by the gigantic piece of garlic toast stuffed into the bowl instead of croutons. I don't mind, but it angers her for some reason.

The soup was so salty I had to send it back. They took it off the bill immediately and because you pay in advance, cash was brought to the table. We weren't screamingly hungry anyway, so shared my sandwich.

Good, quick service. A good meal, overall.

2014 Apr 11
Thanks very much Flying Banzini for your generous donation to the Connaught Public School Stone Soup fundraiser.

2014 Mar 18
Feline fan - I shed a small tear or two myself about the meatloaf/meatballs being taken off the regular menu. I had a bacon wrapped meatball with cheddar,that made my mouth dance

I'm keeping my fingers crossed it shows up as a special a lot.

2014 Mar 18
Not fair. DH is now addicted to the meatball sandwich which morphed into the meatloaf sandwich and was all excited today to go and have one and..........they had taken it off the menu!!!!! With tears in his eyes, he had to settle for a roast beef sandwich. Me, I had the beet salad which was even better than the last time as I asked them to take the refrigerator chill off the beets which they happily did. It was yummy.

2014 Jan 17
Stopped here for lunch today. Hubs had the meatloaf sandwich with a beef and onion soup and pronounced the sandwich "stellar" and said he would go back anytime for the sandwich. Said the soup was good, not great. I had the crispy pork belly panini. The pork was so tough that you could not bite through it so big pieces of it came out of the sandwich while you were trying to eat it. The meat was dry, tasteless and tough. I did not finish it. Too bad, as the rest of the sandwich was excellent. I mentioned the sandwich to the waitress who said that was too bad, and she would let the chef know. No refund on the sandwich but she did give us a free cheesecake.

2013 Nov 21
Finally made it here, really enjoyed the experience.

We had two paninis, the Late in the Evening (chicken, bacon, apples etc) and the Sexy Thing (beets, veg).

Both were big, filled with fresh ingredients and totally consumed in detail. Would go back without hesitation to try another one. the pizzas looked good too.

Not being a huge cheesecake fan, i still picked up a selection box for a meeting... and may have sampled one or two. They aren't going to covert me to a fan, but the sea salt caramel and the espresso chocolate were tasty, and everything else vanished in about 17 seconds, so i take that as a good sign.

Nice looking place. Staff were pleasant. Will be back for lunch no question, will send others.

2013 Nov 6
Finally stopped in last week with Porchetta in my mind. I ordered it on the soft bun which was excellent. One of the best buns out there. The Porchetta was very tender and tasty so all in all the sandwich was great. My only quibble was that I was given a choice of a mango chutney or an applesauce for the sandwich. I am not a fan of mixing sweet and savoury and I would have liked a straight up mustard or even a chil spread on my bun. Definitely going back though...

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2013 Oct 28
We opted for two cheesecakes each, which was a great quantity for post-dinner tasting. A person could easily motor through half a dozen as a large snack.

The quality is indeed high. I'm a picky purist when it comes to cheesecake so I usually don't order it in restaurants. But these were really quite good.

I found the seasonal (October?) "Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread with Toasted Marshmallow" (foreground right) to be particularly tasty. Fun!

2013 Oct 6
really loved the mini cheesecakes here. they are clearly crafted with care. these could put the nail in the coffin on the Ottawa cupcake trend! standouts were the salted caramel and lemon meringue. will definitely try the savourys next time.

while i didn't include anything for scale, each cheesecake is quite small. think one to two bites ie. hors d'oeuvre size. i would consider a 1/2 dozen a reasonable dessert portion of cheesecake. just order the dozen already and split with a dining companion.

the token (pog?) system of ordering these also worked quite well...

2013 Sep 1
Stopped in later last night for cheesecake. They had a dozen flavours. 8 sweet and 4 savoury. We decided in the interest of research to order a dozen. We sampled all of the sweet and 1 of the savoury.

The cheesecakes are petite, think 2 bite size. The standouts were:

Double smoked bacon with orange. Good flavour of the cream cheese in the filling. I liked the orange and the bacon flavour combo.

Classic NY chocolate: great chocolate flavour, deep rich, with a surprise coffee bean in the middle.

Lemon meringue: tasted just like a lemon meingue pie.

Chocolate salted caramel: I'm not a chocolate fan normally, but this could convert me. Deep cocoa flavour with a of sprinkling of salt.

Classic NY with dark cherry: I could have eaten a dozen of these ones. Graham cracker crust, but just a thin layer. Sweet and tart at the same time.

None of the flavours were overly sweet, you get the flavour of the cream cheese, smooth, silky texture. What cheese cake should be.

My only criticism - The bacon was set on top of the cheesecake, so the pieces fell off before I could get it to my mouth. Perhaps a way to anchor it to the cheese cake.

All in all a great 1st visit and I'll be back to sample the rest of the menu.

edited to add: Everyone from the front counter staff to the runners were very friendly


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2013 Oct 28
Wifey had the Zooma Zooma beef panino. This was nicely done and blended a bunch of compatible flavours. I found the arugula too stringy for a panino but obviously that's personal taste. I prefer my greens on the outside of a warm sandwich. If you like all the listed ingredients you will love this panino.

The sour red cabbage slaw that accompanies sandwiches is a nice touch!



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2013 Oct 28
My son had the Wasting Away Again pizza, which is basically a Margherita: bocconcini, basil, mozzarella, parmesan. He loves pizza and isn't usually very generous with it, but he only ate about half of it and was happy to share. "Very salty," he explained, between gulps of Harvey & Vern's delicious cream soda.

Wifey and I jumped in to take up the slack. There turned out to be large salt granules sprinkled on the outer ring of crust in a pretzel-like way. My wife found this to be too salty for her taste. As for me, I couldn't stop stuffing my face. Salt is my cocaine. I left full, but still dreaming of that salt-sprinkled crust!

2013 Oct 6
pictured is the 'That's Amore' pizza which is topped with sausage, red peppers, carmelized onions, and roasted garlic.

the crispy crust here is particularly enjoyable with a salty bite and what tasted like a brushing of garlic oil/butter underneath the sauce (not sure if that was just my particular choice of pizza, or if it's standard, or if i'm crazy, but in any event it was good!). combined with the sweetish San Marzano sauce and fennel-laced sausage, i really liked this 'za.

portion was reasonably sized for a personal pizza, but with respect to sharing, i think 3/6 of these small slices may have you wanting more here.

2013 Sep 8
I stopped in with friends last night and ordered the Little Less Conversation pizza, for $11.95.

The crust was light and crispy in all the right places, the pizza was topped with the perfect amount of cheese, and overall it was an enjoyable blend of spicy, salty and sweet. The portion size was quite large for a single serving, and could easily be split between two people.

I meant to take a picture, but it sort of jumped into my belly before I remembered.. ;)