Nikkis at the Ben Mar

I had moved out of town but always loved to come back and visit this place I usually get the fried cod in dill batter but they had taken it off the menu so we ordered the cod in beer batter much to our disappointment it was frozen fish. Canned vegetables and not so crisp fries. I’m going to miss the old Ben Mar.
The service was good though

First of all the place needs a cosmetic update-​badly. Big menu. Definitely a local restaurant people knew waitress and hostess. Had a Honey crisp sangria. Very tasty. Husband had a Tutti-​Frutti sangria very strong a lot of liquor. Had the pork chops very good, moist, meaty and tasty. Baked potato was warm. Husband had a Tuesday special all you can eat pasta. Meat sauce. Had two helpings. Second dish smaller than first. The sauce wasn’t made by an Italian restaurant. The bread basket had three slices of bread which is supposed to be homemade but it was a little hard, maybe one or two days old. Peanut Butter pie, I would not recommend. At best the food was nothing to rave about. Would definitely drive by if up this way again.

Ate here for the first time last week. Was presently surprised when we entered. We had a coupon from NEPA (something) and the conditions and restrictions were very confusing, but they were quickly resolved by the owner. Our waiter was at our table quickly. Drinks were served and our order was taken. Salad and bread was served and the salad was adequate, the bread, not so much. It was home made, but it was several slices of white bread. Not what I would expect in an Italian restaurant. The main course arrived and it was very good. I had chicken parm, one of my all time favorites, my wife had chicken Marsala, which she loved. The only thing my wife said is she should have had the Marsala sauce on the pasta side dish instead of red sauce. The other couple had veal, one Marsala and had franchise. They said the veal was excellent and loved their meal. They also agreed, should have asked for the Marsala sauce on the side pasta dish. All in all a very pleasant experience, good food, good service. Will definitely return and enjoy another fine meal.

Love the antipasto salad, but I wish it would be the same ingredients every time. Last time there was no pepperoni.

Great food. Great service. Great prices for the portions you get. Our families favorite spot for all celebrations. New menu is fantastic.

Ok, I have eaten here three times. The first time we went on a Sunday afternoon, and the service was very good, and their garlic sauce for the wings was phenomenal! Truly impressive. The waitress told me that they sold the sauce; I wished I had botten some. The house creamy garlic was amazing. I was dipping the amazing homemade bread in it! Wow, very good!
The dining room was dated and the place was dated, but salad dressing and apps were tremendous. The fried calamari was exceptional, especially when dipped in the garlic butter sauc from the wings!
Entrees were good, but obviously not remarkable, since I don’t even remember what they were.
I don’t know why, but it took us two months to eat there again, and it was take-​out. The wings were dry with hardly any of the sumptuous garlic sauce and my steak sandwich had great flavor, but way too much bun for the amount of meat. and the burger, well, let’s just say it was OK.
We went again recently, about 3 weeks after the take-​out. To be honest, we only went back because of an $ 11 Birthday coupon mailed to us, and hey, bad nights happen and take-​out isn’t easy.
Let me say, I will never darken the door of this establishment again. For one, there was a birthday party with a lot of kids, at 8:00 on a weeknight. There was one waitress for the fairly decent sized dining room, apparently the other waitress only serviced the tables in the bar, all 3 of them. Most of the time I saw that waitress just standing around. Our order was TAKEN after about 15 minutes of waiting. I swear I was getting up to leave when she came to take it!
Anyway, to the food… Garlic wings, here I come. Well, never again. Just greasy with no garlic. Fried Calamari, oh how I have missed you… And apparently anyone who eats there will, too! This time it was pre-​breaded and packaged and just the little O’s. They looked like BK onion rings. We had asked for the garlic sauce instead of the marinara it comes with. Well, it was nice of them to agree to the substitution. It just would have been nicer had the garlic butter sauce had actually had even a hint of garlic. Yep… Not good!
So, for entrees I ordered one of their specialties, Chicken Marsala. Ok, I truly like Chicken Marsala in almost every place I have ever eaten it. I have always thought it almost un-​screw-​up-​able. Well, Ben-​Mar taught me at least one thing. You CAN screw it up! The wine sauce was sugary sweet. Too sweet, and it had another flavor that took me awhile to figure out… Maple. Maple Syrup. They had either used maple syrup, of the strips of bacon on top had been maple-​cured, but with the sweetness I am pretty certain it was syrup. Not good.
My companion ordered the chicken in garlic sauce (are you seeing a trend) over penne. First off, penne shouldn’t dissolve on your plate when you stir your food unless the Chef decided to make it Holy and cook the, well you know… One would think if you ordered Chicken in garlic/​butter sauce that it would have, you know, um… garlic? Yeah, I would. So, what they really should have called the dish is boiled chicken in butter over past mush.
It’s a shame to see what was a very close restaurant seem to fall apart in less than 4 months. Between the odd décor, the prices, lack of proper service, and the tremendously bad food we have had 2 out of 3 times, I could never honestly recommend anyone waste their money there.
We walked out, and I turned to my companion, and said, «We should have gone to McDonalds, it would have been cheaper and the food much better.»
There it is folks, I think that McDonald’s is better than the Ben-​Mar if that tells you anything!
I really wish it wasn’t so… there are very few choices for dinner dining near Carbondale…