Benders Tavern

We love Benders so much that we held our wedding reception in the Ladies dining room. A family favorite. Bender tomatoes are a must, as well as Bender fries. I am never afraid to ask for a bit of ketchup to top mine, even on the most elegant of occasions :) We like to sit in a booth at the bar. It is more casual, strangely intimate and fun to watch people come and go. The bar area is beautiful as is the entire restaurant. Great wine selection, fresh fish flown in regularly, excellent cuts of beef, delicious martinis, and wonderful service. Donnie and «Gigi» are our favorites. My husband loves the turtle soup, and he and my mom never miss the morels when they are in season. I am a fan of the spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. It would be a real shame not to end your meal with a mini peanut butter sundae, which is warmly topped with peanut butter sauce straight from heaven.

Honestly one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I had the ala Foley Halibut. It was absolutely amazing. I will 100% be back to this place. Wonderful entrée, amazing desert, and phenomenal wine list.

I rarely ever order desert. So glad I did.
Flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce– simply delicious.
I enjoyed the atmosphere and my dinner but I will return just based off this desert.

Pretty good, but super expensive. I didn’t expect to be able to spend $ 35 on a meal in Canton but if you want to, this is the spot.

Excellent service from all, food is great both seafood and steaks, salad, etc. Great atmosphere, a must when downtown Canton.,

I’m sort of speechless. Had the strangest dining experience ever. Upon entering you are ignored. Having never been there We didn’t know you have to go through the bar to get in the restaurant. Employees never made eye contact. When I finally found the host who was at a laptop he didn’t even make eye contact or smile. We were seated and a nice boy gave us water and bread. That was it for 20 minutes! I watched others come in and get seated and greeted by name and «I’ll be right with you Frank!». Meanwhile NO one even looked at us. Servers busily walked past to prepare a room for a party who hadn’t even arrived yet! I had to ASK if we had a server. My first and last visit. We felt invisible! We almost left. The food was good but it was my birthday and it was ruined. Turns out management did not have a server assigned to our table. Good going. You get better service at mulligans and the food is just about as good. They have someone right at the door who greets you and acts like they are happy to have you. Still stunned. I hate to write bad reviews but I hope their management reads this. Manager should have apologized at least. Our server Penny really went overboard trying to make up for it but she shouldn’t have to. She was the best part of the night.

Benders is a Canton landmark. Fish, red meat, pastas, it is a solid place to go to celebrate. I have been going there, maybe once every 2 – 3 months, for over 40 years. I love the dark oak, art deco atmosphere. I have never experienced anything but courteous service. I have had delicious meals there but, and this is the reason why 4 starts instead of 5, I have had really lousy food there also. I had a prime rib that was mostly fat. I had fish that tasted «off.» So, I’ll be back, but I would like to see things become a little more consistent in the kitchen.

My family has been coming here since I can remember. Holds many great memories and food to go with it, never disappoints! I always get haddock al a foley (usually have to ask the chef if they don’t mind using haddock instead of halibut) and of course bender fries. Highly recommend and plan on coming here for many more years!

Our party of 6 were so impressed. Fish is flown in three times a week and you can tell. You have to include turtle soup and bender potatoes in your order. And save room for dessert, key lime pie. Our server was amazing.

My friend and I thought this restaurant was awesome! The food and martinis were amazing. Our waitress Pat was beyond attentive, personable, and she made the Bender Tavern experience even better! Not sure if I’ll ever visit Canton again, but if I do I would certainly visit Benders Tavern again and ask for Ms. Pat. Oh! And coming from DC, the prices were very reasonable!

My fish entrée was excellent. I had sea bass with a Morracan sauce. The bar tender, Deena, was really nice and helpful.
Great coctail beer and wine menu as well.
I will definitely return.

This place is just awesome. We love trying new things, and had a lot of fun. We both had never had turtle soup was absolutely phenomenal. We loved it so much that when we saw it at another restaurant a few weeks later we had to get it, and it was TERRIBLE. Bender’s does it right! The fried oysters were very good, and really liked the dressing on the salad. We had a lot of fun with their cocktail menu too; a lot of things to try!
Hands-​down the best meal I have ever had was our entrée; the halibut cheeks with a coconut sauce and black rice. I am still blown away with how well this meal went together and how the halibut just melted in my mouth.
I can’t wait to go back and try more!

Old school restaurant. Good service, good food. Pricey for the area, but definitely a place for adults to celebrate a special occasion. Bulleit rye manhattan was very good. Flounder stuffed was delicious. Waitress was great with us as we marked an anniversary.
You’ll have to head north several miles to find something comparable.

One of the best places in the Canton/​Akron area, especially for fresh seafood. My friend I both started with the Benders tomatoes, which are reliably delicious– the only problem was we both wished we had ordered the full portion instead of the half, they were that good. I had the scallops special and they were amazing, cooked perfectly. My friend had the filet and it came exactly as she ordered it, flavorful and juicy. We both had Bender fries, which are thinly sliced potatoes, fried crispy– addicting. The key lime tart was an enormous slice, the right amount of sweet and tangy. Amazing meal!

Such a great place in downtown Canton. The entire menu is amazing, but I’ve gotta say I love the tomato salad the most :) enjoy!

My husband and I went to Bender’s on our first date so he brought me to Bender’s for my birthday last night as a surprise. He requested that we be served by Jim who had served us over a year ago. Jim was more than happy to tell us about the history of the restaurant and was very knowledgable about food and wine. The atmosphere is romantic and the historic building is beautiful — it’s as if one had walked back in time!
The waitstaff is accommodating and professional. The wine list is thoughtful and well put together, albeit expensive. They have a special list of wines that are offered by the glass and this list changes frequently.
We had the Turtle Soup (complete with a shot of Sherry which accentuates the sweetness of the soup), raw oysters on the half shell (3 Wellfleet oysters and 3 Bay Point oysters), roasted Sea Bass on hummus with Brussels sprouts, sauteed sea scallops, and a casserole-​type spaghetti squash with onions, fresh tomatoes, cream cheese. Excellent!
As my birthday dessert I received a dish of vanilla ice cream with an AMAZING peanut butter sauce and a birthday candle! According to Jim many patrons request the recipe for the peanut butter sauce.
Everything was perfect once again!

I really wanted to like this charming 100+ year old establishment, but they just didn’t cut it on my visit. The food was poor, service average and dining room ambiance didn’t live up to the hundred year old building. Here we go…
First, there are several doors that you can enter, but you need to enter through the door on the left so you enter through the bar and make your way to the host station. Enter any of the other doors and you will feel out of place. As you enter the bar, you are instantly transported to the early 1900’s. Very cool ambiance and inviting, unlike the plainly decorated main dining areas. I learned the host’s name was Neil because no less than four people told me that Neal would be right with me. I guess they weren’t empowered to help me even though Neil was on the phone. I finally got seated.
The lobster bisque would have been better if there had actually been lobster in it. Then came the bread. Nice large basket with a big white towel and one small piece of bread. The bread was good, hot, and soft but I guess there is one piece allotted per diner. The salad was unimpressive with iceberg lettuce and a piece of onion. No tomato and if there were any other veggies in there they were very forgettable. I asked for blue cheese dressing and the waitress asked «white or red?» Really? I went for red since I’ve never heard of red blue cheese and felt adventurous. Unimpressed. Not sure why they bother with this one.
The main dish was a 12 ounce ribeye steak. My «medium» steak had no pink, was not juicy, had the flavor of cheap meat, and was cooked in an herb (dill I think?) which didn’t do much to cover up a «cheap» steak… priced at $ 32.95 by the way. I’ve had better steak dinners for $ 12. Oh, and the Bender Fries (which my waitress insisted that I choose over the baked potato) were nothing more than greasy hash browns.
No way I was going to order dessert. I’m out of here. Two stars.

Came here years ago and did not like it. It is incredible now. Best lunch in Canton, bar none. The daily specials and the soups are to die for. The fish is fresh and prepared to perfection. You can’t go wrong with this place.

Elegant dining is alive and well in Canton, Ohio!
In business since 1902, my father’s birth year, I cannot recount how many meals I’ve enjoyed here. President William McKinley DID eat here. He lived around the corner and it’s not just a rumor. If you’re in Canton for the Hall of Fame week, you’ll see many football players, current and enshrined, enjoying the old-​world ambience.
Lots of mahogany contains it’s turn of the century atmosphere.
The menu is filled with sea food of high quality and many more entrees and the wines are fit for nobility. I especially enjoy their Portugese selections. My favorite meal is frog legs, small and tender and cooked in wine. Second is lamb chops. Don’t forget the beef, steaks, roasts and short ribs.
Service matches the food quality and the prices are much below the same dishes in any fine East Coast restaurant.
It began raining once when I was leaving and the Captain walked me to my car under an umbrella.
Don’t leave Canton without an evening at Benders.

Any joint that has Turtle Soup listed as a favorite for 60 years is almost like a challenge. I mean, come on, Turtle meat in soup? Who would of thunk? Taste like chicken, friggin’ out of this world, they bring a shot of sherry that adds a sweet nectar taste.
The tavern is old and actually very quaint. The bar area is small, but cozy. We ate in the main dining room. The staff was impeccable. Our server knew her food and did an outstanding job.
I went with the special «Georges Banks» Sea Scallop dish. This dish was served at the superbowl to some 3000 plus fans, or something like that. It was awesome, the tomato cream sauce over grits and perfectly cooked scallops was amazing.
I also order the Jerry Fries, these are curly fries with parma cheese on top, another great little side dish. My dinner partner had Halibut with Ritz cracker crust and loved it…
Just a part of history in the small town of Canton, not sure why people live here or visit here, but if you do, hit this place up. Oh by the way, as I learned, football was invented here. I was told the story after I asked who in their right mind would put the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, and now I know… to much information, by Canton…