Bennigan’s

Full disclosure — this review is for a pick up order.
Service = stinks. Called twice to place my order, the first time no one answered. The second time I was put on terminal hold. I walked over and placed my order (Chic Tortilla Soup and a Buffalo Chicken Salad) — it took 25 minutes and there were 3 tables in the entire place.
Food = worse than stinks. Soup was utterly tasteless. Buffalo Chicken Salad had NO BUFFALO sauce. I thought it odd when the server asked me «fried or grilled», but I assumed they had a healthier «buffalo» option. Nope, just grilled chicken pieces. Again totally tasteless. I have had better food from a kiosk in an airport.
I get that quick-​serve chains «are, what they are». But this was terrible and a bland waste of $ 20.
Yuck and fail even by chain standards.

We chose Bennigan’s for our date night. We were celebrating 27^th anniversary. We had a great meal and Azure gave us great service. I had the steakhouse salad and added a shrimp skewer. My husband had the half rack of ribs and he enjoyed every bite. If you like iced tea, I recommend upgrading it to a fruit tea, I got mango, but they also have peach, blackberry and watermelon.

Amazing experience! The food, the service, the ambience, price and the variety and quality of food … are all amazing and top class !! We all visited bennigan for the first time and were so happy to have found such a great restaurant like this in Fremont .
We look forward to our next visit. Super experience !!

Not my favorite place at all. New Management is creepy. All dude does is walk around and mean mug people. Not friendly at all. This is the after 5PM management.
Happy hour menu is weak and expensive. Service is slow.
The old Management here had things going well. Then they remodel and the place to ()^(^%/​
Coworkers like it, is the only reason i come here

Considering the fact that my friend and I decided on dining here during a not-​so-​busy hour (10pm), we were met with a service that can’t even be even be slower.
Lessee here …
We were seated right away though ! The menu is American, for sure, set in Irish ambience. I ordered the baby spinach with bacon salad. Iced water please ! It was a hot day, I’m not really there to drink.
Can’t remember what my friend ordered: p
Our server was friendly and he was chatty. I commend him for that.
Then he was gone for a whhhhhiiiile.
I think we may have started discussing about the physiology of the 5-​point-​palm exploding-​heart technique as we waited for our food.
Thankfully we weren’t that famished.
Our food finally arrived.
My salad was alright. I thought it had too much feta cheese. Well it was inexpensive, so I shouldn’t complain. Plus the salad had lotsa bacon :)
Our server didn’t fail on checking on us after our food was delivered too! I think that was really cool of him and he refilled our drinks promptly.
My friend didn’t complain about his food — be chomped on his sandwich like a pro.
I’ll come back here, I live close by. Why not? Patience is a virtue.
And I love bacon.

A very important warning: there are FREQUENT car break-​ins in the parking lot of this Bennigan’s. In the hour or so that I was inside, my rear driver’s side window was smashed and my laptop bag containing $ 1k+ in electronics and several identifying documents was stolen. I was parked in front of the restaurant under a street lamp facing Great America Parkway, not in a dark corner. There were visible cameras outside of the restaurant. I later found out that another car was broken into the same night, and when I went inside to speak with the manager about getting the camera footage, the waitress that I initially told about the break-​in responded with «Really?! Again?! That happens all the time here.» So before you even consider parking here for a meal, make sure you hide anything valuable or take it with you. Santa Clara Police Department will not even speak to people about break-​ins; you can only report online and there is no follow-​up, not even an email. The cameras outside of the restaurant won’t catch the license plates or identify the thieves, and since it happens so frequently, it’s probably because the thieves know their way around being identified – yet, Bennigan’s has not sprung for private security of the lot, which infuriates me.
As for the restaurant itself – if you can get past the risk you’ll be at by parking in the lot – the food is okay. Decent even. The service blows. The manager is verbally apologetic about the poor service, but doesn’t seem to care beyond that – we sat for 10 minutes before receiving drinks and another 30 before receiving our food. We only spoke with our waiter to place our order, he intentionally avoided us after that. The manager brought us water when he noticed us appearing disgruntled and came to apologize and we explained that we’d been trying to flag down the waiter for quite some time. We had to get up and hand our bill to the manager to pay; our waiter never returned to pick it up. The manager was apologetic and willing to help me when it came to dealing with the break-​in, but that’s not enough for me to return. I can get decent food with better service and sans the broken window and stolen merchandise almost anywhere else.

The food was ok, nothing amazing but nothing to really complain about. Service, however, was pretty awful, not sure that I’d want to return based on this.
For context, I ordered online (through Unilocal) for takeout. A few minutes later, I get a call from the restaurant that they were out of one of the items I ordered (cottage pie), and can they make something else in place. I chose something else, even though they didn’t offer to refund anything if the replacement was cheaper. Then, another few minutes later, I get another call that a manager said they could make it after all so not to worry. I should mention the order was for 5 hours later, so I’m not sure why they felt like there was no time to clarify among themselves before calling me. I was assured multiple times that the food would be ready for pickup at 4:30, as scheduled.
I arrived at the restaurant at 4:35, I was greeted and asked if I had the order with the cottage pie. Well yes, I do. The second employee at the entrance whispered to the one that welcomed me that the customer picking up before me got *the* cottage pie, so they scrambled to see if they had mine. They didn’t, my order was complete, minus the cottage pie. They showed me a hand written order that included everything *except* the cottage pie, even the side I ordered with that entrée was there but not my actual item. For online orders I’m not sure why they can’t just print out the order to ensure accuracy. They then said they would put a rush order to the kitchen to make me another one «10 – 15 min and it should be out». 20 minutes later, my cottage pie is finally out, by now it was almost 5 pm.
Then, I get handed a receipt and get asked for my credit card. Except I had already paid upon ordering online… they looked confused, but I showed them my email receipt and they said «forget about paying then, enjoy your food». I mean, really? I should also note amidst all this one of the employees handling seating/​teakeout orders mentioned to someone who appeared to be a manager that they messed up my order and that they were running 30 minutes late. He shrugged and turned away. That was disappointing.
Needless to say, this was not only a poor customer service experience, but a huge disruption to my schedule, I barely made it on time to pick up my son from daycare before they closed because I was waiting around for nearly half an hour for an order I made 4 hours earlier.

This place has decent food, but beware of shady servers. 4 of us sat down for dinner to eat… Service basically sucked. Then when the bill came the gratuity was already included… Come to find out the server Carlos put in 6 guest, so automatic gratuity is typically added after a group of 6. I don’t mind bad service, things happen. But this is bs!

During the last two times my boyfriend and I ate there, they screwed up with our order. Both incidences happened under the new management. First screw up was when I ordered a entrée — a turkey sandwich. It came with fries and I asked if I could substitute the french fries for sweet potato fries which is a little bit healthier. Anyhow, the waitress said that should be fine.
When they delivered my meal, I did get my sweet potato fries but I also got french fries! I thought it was a mistake on their part and would not be charged for the french fries as I thought I was clear that I wanted to substitute the side. I gave the french fries to my boyfriend. At the end of the meal, the bill showed a charge for the additional side. We asked about that, they told us that there are no substitutions for the french fries. Well then, why did I not get informed about this before I ordered my entrée?!? hmm?!? Well, we argued it and so the extra charge was taken off.
On our recent trip there, my boyfriend and I had a coupon that stated buy one entrée get an appetizer free. So we decided to give this restaurant another try. My boyfriend agreed to get an appetizer as his meal as I picked an entrée. My boyfriend chose a new appetizer — the nachos. He asked in advance if it would work and the waiter said yes.
So as we finished our meals, we got the bill. The staff had charged us for the appetizer! Again, déjà vu! We argued this charge first with the waiter who originally stated that the nachos would work for this deal. Then we talked with the manager who told us that the nacho appetizer is new and that is why it is not included with the coupon. Well then, that should have been mentioned in the small print on the coupon! But the fact is, there was nothing that stated that the nachos were not included in the deal. NOTHING!!!
Well, we did get the nachos free after about 40 minutes getting the bill corrected! Yes, after we ate our meals, we had to wait about 40 minutes for this issue to be resolved! We were heading to San Francisco right after eating here and they seemed to be taking their sweet time on this issue! My boyfriend just finally went over to the waiter and assertively told him that he wanted to speak with the manager. And that is when it was finally resolved.
I get the impression that the staff is told not to do anything as eventually customers will get fed up and pay the full bill. If that is the case, they apparently do not know how determined my boyfriend and I are to not give up. Restaurant staff should always honor what they say, if it is regarding a coupon, a substitution on side, or whatever. And no customer should have to wait anymore then 15 minutes to get anything clarified and resolved on a receipt.
Pros:
–great selection of Irish inspired food
–clean place
–friendly staff although appear confused at times
Cons:
–two times when I have been there, there has been mistakes — is just 2 too many!!!
–events here especially for St. Patrick’s Day now include costly admission (these events use to be free and much better)
–the recent remodeling — loss of the Irish Pub-​like appeal with all the thick wood paneling stripped completely– sad!
–too long a wait to get confusion regarding bill corrected
–lack of healthy food selections
–rarely get e-​newsletter with coupons anymore
Sadly, my boyfriend and I miss the way Bennigan’s was under the previous management. The St. Patrick’s Day parties included no cover charge and were awesome! Just about every month, we got coupons for this restaurant. And the carved dark wood paneling on the walls made you feel like you were in an authentic Irish pub. It was a warm and cozy atmosphere and I truly miss that. Most importantly, we never had any negative experiences like we have had during the last two times we ate there. In conclusion, we very unlikely will be going back there.

Slow service. Carlos only checked on us once and we have to flag him down to get our check after waiting 20 minutes for him to even acknowledge us.
Not coming back.

Food wasn’t on time, wasn’t cooked properly, and service was genuinely slow. Would have sent food back but expected a eat with everyone else or eat alone scenario. So you have to weigh your options there right?
Server was nice in general, manager came in and said some nice words but it was just chaos.
Was very tired and in general, it was an poor experience.

2 Stars– for the strong drinks
O Stars– for the food
I grew up in Santa Clara and not once did I stop at this place. Honestly, the outside never called my attention. I was on my way to SF the other night and by chance decided to stop here to get a quick bite. Because it was not my chest day I decided to order their steak salad. I mean in my mind I thought to myself… «can’t go wrong with a salad anywhere» right?
Wrong! The salad was a nightmare. The steak was rubbery… If that makes sense. The mushrooms tasted stale. I picked at the blue cheese and eat some of the spinach, chugged my very strong tequila tonic and was on my way out the door. Never looking back!

Ordered chicken quesadilla, my boss ordered loaded salad both very good she also ordered chocolate martini taste so alluring nice place for family and bar in the middle
Well lit resto bar

If you work in the area, this is a good spot to watch sports and HH with co workers and friends! They even have a late HH that starts at 9pm!
Moscow Mule comes in a copper cup, super strong!
It’s a bar /​dinner kinda joint. So finger food it is! Try the sampler, chicken shrimp Cajun pasta!
Cheers to the weekend!

First time at Bennigan’s with my boyfriend and his family this past weekend. Walked in and was intrigued by the large poster of the Monte Cristo.
The Monte Cristo is a turkey, ham, cheddar sandwich deep fried and served with fries and a raspberry dipping sauce. Yes, it is pretty greasy. But it’s actually pretty good and the raspberry dipping sauce goes with sandwich well. Also tried their blackberry lemonade which is a must, it’s tasty!

I’ll be back.
Doing my best to check out some new places I’ve not been to before. This place is almost opposite my office, so deserved a recce.
The guy behind the bar was a real nice chap, super service and just the right amount of attentive.
They have a happy hour from 3 – 6 that does a bunch of different beers, Margarita or wine for $ ⁵⁄₆ and a handful of $ 5 appetizers (boneless wings, cheese things etc) and lots of tv’s on different channels showing sports stuff.
Would like to come back when it’s a bit busier to see how it fares, but a great little find!

BECKY is the best. Busy or not, she always provides the best customer service, And somehow she always remembers what we like! My boyfriend and I are always coming back because we know Becky is on top of it and will always serve awesome drinks!

I had not been to this place for many years and was very surprised when I walked into a totally new and remodeled place. We had drinks at the bar and no food this time. The bartender was very friendly and even thought it was a busy game night he managed to keep everyone happy with a good service!

Went in for drinks… That was the first mistake.
Second mistake: there was weird, nasty looking debris in the ice cubes. Even the bar tender ANGEL said «gross» when we showed her.
Third mistake: a Jameson and seven cost $ 10 each, this chick CHARGED us for the nasty contaminated drink.
If you are looking for over priced drinks, shitty service and contaminated ice this spot is definitely right up your alley… Whenever I order an alcoholic beverage I expect there to be at least a minuscule amount of alcohol in my drink. This place might as well have charged us $ 10 for 7up.
If negative stars was an option I would’ve done so!

Six of us had reservations Sunday for 11:00am. As others have indicated, the restaurant was not full in the least… yet servers and food took forever to arrive. I don’t know if our server was new but she couldn’t seem to get more than 1 item at a time either ordered or out of the kitchen. And despite my requesting just plain milk for my coffee, it took. literally…ONE HOUR and numerous requests (from two different staff members) to get someone to deliver a shot glass full of milk. And the glass was cracked to boot! One friend ordered an Irish coffee and got it about 20 minutes into the meal.
Food itself is meh. Except the burger looked pretty good (I don’t eat beef so I can’t say). Three of us ordered breakfast omelets, 3 ordered lunch sandwiches. The omelets were amazingly bland. Toast is 1 slice of bread, cut in half, and dry. No butter unless you ask apparently. No jam unless you ask either. Potatoes were good and hot. French fries with the sandwich are thick and hot. Maybe just stick with potatoes and you’ll be OK. All in all I wouldn’t recommend this unless you have 3 hours to waste for breakfast.

Had a great lunch here. Our waiter, Chris, was very helpful and friendly. I had the cottage pie – and it was very delicious. It was a hearty and warm meal for a cold day. I didn’t know they now serve breakfast here. And ⁹⁄₁₇ is free monte Christo sandwich.

My girl friend and I stopped in for breakfast on a Sunday morning. We were suprised to see how empty it was and grabbed a seat at the bar. We ordered bloody Marys and it took atleast 15 minutes to get our drinks. We watched the bartender fumble around as if he had no idea how to make a drink. Some random lady checked in on us and when we referenced the slow service she took our order. When we finally got our food it was cold, although my steak was very tasty. We were served dry toast and I had to request butter and jelly. Should have gone to ihop.

We came in for a quick lunch. We decided to order appetizers at the bar. Thinking it would be quick in and out. Ordered some wings and a 3 item appetizer combo. (pub bites, quesadillas, nachos. They TOOK forever. Not sure if the renovation caused the food to come out a lot longer than expected?

Food was great. Cynthia our waitress was not overly friendly but I could tell she was tired and probably overworked so I gave her a break.
I had a corn beef sandwich (I know, the fancy name here in America is the” Reuben Sandwich” :) 12 bucks. It came with fries which were great. My son had the bacon burger. He was happy with the taste and said & it was cooked to to his liking
The place has an «Irish Theme». I now take this to mean, the waiters wear green and there are banners with the word Ireland or Irish next to another word that might be, Whiskey or Potato. Yeah as an Irish person I found it a wee bit insulting but, I was in a good mood and was on a road trip with my 14 year old son so I kept me mouth shut:. Not easy for a Paddie).
I would recommend a visit to Bennigan’s if your hungry for some good inexpensive food. Think of a TGIF with an «Irish Theme»,.a very loose «Irish Theme».

Bennigan’s, an Irish pub, only for name. The sign says «experience Irish hospitality» and if you believe that you are going to be disappointed. The food is kinda OK. I had Danny’s chicken, it was good but not worth 15 $ after tax, the chicken was juicy and the broccoli had cheese on it which made even broccoli edible. Its true what they say cheese can make anything delicious. But my friend had the mexican burger with veggie patty (if i remember the name of the food correctly) which was not good and it cost 15 $, it was bland and kinda tasteless. Beer is 8 $ and food is expensive. Its a good one time restaurant but I wont be going back unless they improve their service and lower the cost.
A word of caution for vegetarians, only couple of options in the menu. For vegans, nothing that you can eat everything has cheese in it or on it.

Goodness gracious, look at the size of this burger and onion rings!!! This restaurant should be featured on «Man VS. Food», yeah? Massive and tasty is what I have to say. Plenty of T.V. sets to enjoy. Bustley atmosphere, but welcoming and warm. Good food and great selection of beers on tap, but would like to see a Hefewizen offered when the weather is warmer.
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… American, traditional Irish pub … Bollocks! Traditional American sports bar … Good beer, fast heart attack food and tv screen … Only think close to an Irish pub is the flies hanging around the «spotless» bar. Beers are good though !
Tried the county Clare sampler … As Irish as tequila is all I can say. A plate of grease fried to overdone status with dollops of sour cream and avocado to pretend to be something … Photo of the bits I ate
If there is any true Irishman or woman working here be ashamed, you’re a fecking disgrace to your fine country.
Eat — never again
Drink — best to oblivion so you forget the food

Possibly the worst experience I have had — decided to take my dad out for dinner — but let’s just say it was a big mistake — Forty minutes into the our order when I asked when we should expect appetizers they told me that appetizers were on the way — when I asked to cancel them an hour and fifteen minutes into the service I saw them making their way to our table along with our main course after a few minutes .
Anyhow, I thought they may be able to redeem themselves with the food but everything was over seasoned and very salty be specially the pasta which I promptly returned. I decided to nibble on some leftovers from the late appetizers instead that we got while the waitress ordered me another pasta and told me it was on its way (which I never received at all) by this time everyone on my table had finished with their food and I had just had enough !
Let’s call it a night — Leaving starving (and half deaf with the loud music) jut the way I came in — certainly not coming back — such a shame!!!

This place is aight! Good amount of TVs to watch a number of sports at the same time. As far as the décor goes, the bar is the centerpiece which doesn’t matter to me since I don’t drink.
Our party of 2 did not have to wait very long even though the place was packed for the Stanford/​USC Pac-​12 Championship Game. Our server, Carlos, was friendly and took good care of us. We ordered nachos and their supposed World Famous Monte Cristo sandwich. The MCS was authentic and true to the name, that is, deep fried. It was delicious to me even it was a bit heavy in the turkey meat department. My daughter thought it wasn’t «sweet’ enough though.
The rest of the menu looked inviting and should be able to satisfy everyone’s desires!

I haven’t been to a Bennigan’s since I was a little girl. The food here is still awesome and the service is amazing! Everyone here is attentive they took really great care of us.
I ordered the monte cristo sandwich and it was so delicious. It’s a must have!

The place is always my go to place for a late dinner. The Monte Cristo hits the spot. The best part of it all, excellent service. The manager — Mike, always makes you feel comfortable & welcome.
For $ 12, I was able to feast on a tasty full meal & be waited on. Doesn’t get any better than that.

Stopped by Bennigan’s for a bite to eat with friends. It has a very casual bar feel, and the wait staff were nice but also very monotone.
The friends ordered a «small» tower of onion rings that in reality is huge, sparking my curiosity to see what the «big» tower of onion rings looks like. The rings are made in house, the beer batter is fluffy and delicious, the onions themselves are cut into large slices. They look more like donuts than onion rings. The rings are served with a tasty chipotle ranch sauce.
The plan from the beginning was for both my friend and I to order one Reuben and one Monte Cristo then share, which we did and it was may more than enough food for both of us. Both came with fries that were hot and delicious. The Reuben was very good, the corned beef has a beautiful color, the sauerkraut was delicious (coming from someone who had a long standing beef with the stuff), and the sandwich as a whole was delicious. The Monte Cristo is a sandwich lovers wet dream. Slices of ham and turkey, Swiss and American cheeses, dipped in batter, fried, then coated with powdered sugar. Talk about a good mix of sweet and savory. A small container of Raspberry preserves adds a little more sweetness.
I ordered their Stout Bloody Mary. It’s a Bloody Mary with Guinness Draught, with a bacon salt rim. Obviously for those who love beer and Bloody Mary’s.
Speaking of the Monte Cristo sandwich, ask them about becoming a Monte Member. If you’re a fan of the sandwich this is a must!
Over all they provided good service with amazing food. What more can one ask for?

I have never heard of this place until my friends recommended it as a place to grab a bite when we walked in on a busy Friday night after our adventurous time at Great America. You can’t miss it; there’s a huge sign and plenty of parking to choose from so it is definitely an easy restaurant to find.
The host led us to our seats almost immediately, but apparently the floor was understaffed because our waiter was literally pacing around every table trying to help everybody out. I felt bad for him, though they should really have more people on the floor on a Friday night. Our waiter was super nice and apologetic for the delay on our drinks and entrees, which was very kind of him. As for the food, all of the entrees that my friends and I ordered looked delicious and overcompensated. In other words, the entrees are definitely bigger than they look on the menu and I’m not complaining a bit about that! I ordered the Reuben Sandwich and requested sweet potatoes fries and left the restaurant as a happy, satiated camper. The sandwich was super delicious as I expected, but the fries were unbelievably better than I could ever have imagined. The texture and the way they deep fried the sweet potatoes… whatever they did, it was amazing. It’s definitely different than your average sweet potato fries and you have to try it for yourself! As for prices, they were reasonable because the portion sizes were huge. This place is not too cheap nor too expensive. I would definitely come back here if I ever go to Great America again and need a late-​night snack!
Also, if you check-​in on Unilocal (which you probably did since you are reading this right now), you can score 10% off an entrée! :)

Excellent customer service by Renee. Super friendly and very helpful with menu recommendations.
Had the Cajun salmon for entrée (it was OK) and bread pudding + brownie for dessert (too sweet).
Gotta come back to try other items on the menu soon!