Bennigan's Grill & Tavern

10/22/07

Avoid at all costs--terrible service, mediocre food!

by elainequilts at Citysearch

For two years in a row a group of us had dinner here because it was convenient--never again.-The service was incredibley poor. We were seated on the patio despite having requested indoor seating when the reservation was made 3 weeks prior to the event. The drink menus were so sticky that two of the tables were covered in ants and clearly the tables hadn't been wiped down in recent memory. It took over 20 minutes to have our drink orders taken and even longer to have our dinner orders taken. We were not served our food till well over an hour and a half after we were seated. Given the enormous amount of time taken over our meals, one would have thought they would have been perfect. NOT! One member had ordered a baked potato with all the trimmings---she received mashed potatoes (so did several others). The decision was made by the waitress without asking ---we were told that they could only cook 3 baked potatos at a time and that the kitchen was "small". Certainly, one wonders why one would build a restaurant with a "small" kitchen! It seems that the bar dominates the service. Such poor service would not make this a family-friendly restaurant---can't imagine how a tired and hungry child would cope with the service. IHOP two doors down the street is friendly and cheap and Pedros Mexican Restaurant and Cantina has great food with wonderful service. Avoid this like the plague (by the way, complaining to the manager and/or to corporate headquarters doesn't result in changes in behavior).

• Pros: Next door to Holiday Inn (excellent staff and service)
• Cons: Service, dirty menus, not hygenic