Bennigans

I went here with a group of 10 people after a play that I was involved in. It was a friday night and about a week and a half after it opened. Many of us had never been to one so we were excited to try it.
We walked in and there was a good crowd, but we were promptly greeted. A gentleman took us back to where he would put a table together (which took 10 minutes). After that we sat 12 minutes and no one ever came over and spoke to us. No drink order, no greeting not even a glance over in our direction. We had to ask for a server. Once we did it took 15 minutes for all 11 of us to get drinks and 40 minutes to get food. The food was pretty good… but the slow service made it almost unbearable. Working in the restaurant industry myself it is hard to believe we could had been so mistreated.
I want to give this place the benefit of the doubt and chalk it all up to the location being new… sadly other servers I work with have had similar experiences. I will give it another chance… I hope they prove me wrong.
P. S. the sangria was good.

Good atmosphere. Decent service. I ordered the monte cristo and it was good but not great. The fries were extremely stale and the cole slaw had too much vinegar for my liking. I would go back for drinks and maybe an appetizer but that’s about it. Slightly disappointed.

Very noisy and crowded in the restaurant. They don’t have a good menu as which you would find in a good Irish place. You are better off at Magoo’s or Bushwaller’s for good Irish fare.

This place has awesome breakfast. Very taste omelets! We got the Chesapeake omelet, good portion of seafood. French toast is very savory. Very homey food. The kids meal provided enough food for 2. I can’t wait to try this place for lunch/​dinner. It is a bit pricey but it’s worth it just not an every weekend type of thing.

I’ve been here 3 times, and each time it gets better. Two words. Monte. Cristo. It is FANTASTIC. I’ve had their wings as well. All good. The bartenders are awesome… And $ 3 20oz drafts? Can’t beat it. When it’s busy, it is busy. But still great food and people!

My wife and I went here on a week night, the week after the big snow. We were seated after only waiting 5 – 10 minutes. We ordered an order of potato skins and a couple of beers, which we got within 10 minutes. For dinner we ordered a simple salad w/​chicken and a dish that consisted of two chicken breast, mash potato’s and broccoli. The waiter apologized numerous times for the delay and we tried to stay patient. 70 minutes after we ordered dinner, it arrived! Not only did it arrive late, it was wrong. I received 2 chicken breast and french fries. The young waiter took full responsibility for the mix up, which was better than him throwing the kitchen staff «under the bus». They waiter was great and it probably wasn’t his fault.
This location has only been open a couple weeks and it’s a nice place. But something was going on in the kitchen that was causing not only our food, but everyone around us, to take a long time to come out. The food was just okay, nothing special. When the bill came, I was surprised not to see some type of credit for the wait and/​or the order screw up. Full price, and I paid it just so we could be on our way. I didn’t have any more energy to argue over it.
The reason for 2 stars and not 1… the beer was VERY cold.

We live nearby and were very excited for Bennigans to open. Unfortunately, our first experience here was not pleasant at all. We sat at the bar and ordered three appetizers… all of which were TERRIBLE. Greasy, flavorless, and bland. My boyfriend and I both felt sick from eating it. The service was unimpressive and they also overcharged us by over $ 40. Had to get our bank involved. All around, very disappointing experience at a new and promising restaurant.

One of the most important things about a restaurant are the waiters and waitress. Unfortunately for us we had a sassy young lady. The Monte Cristo is really greasy. The Apple Pecan salad was very good but light on the grilled chicken. 2ounces maybe. They were out of decaf coffee. The bread pudding is really very good. The atmosphere is good playing the music we remember hearing 32 years ago when we had our first lunch together in a Bennigan’s. Thanks for the memories!

Great place to go. They just opened and haven’t figured out their kitchen yet, but drinks are on point! Don’t get me started on that Monte Cristo sandwich — yum!

So I haven’t been to Bennigan’s since it used to suck… Which would ballpark that timeframe to about 20 years ago. But to be fair, quite a large portion of the last decade was marred by bankruptcy, mass franchise closings, and eventually a changing of hands over ownership, so even if you had a hankering for their food (I guess there’s gotta be someone out there?), it was pretty hard to come by.
But Bennigan’s is back with gusto! They’ve revamped the logo, the menu, and the overall concept, and since this new Bennigan’s rebranding is in its relative infancy, I figured I might as well try it out since Frederick is a rather select location.
So first and foremost, if you’re someone who’s familiar with my reviews you know I DETEST bar slash restaurant combos. If I want to have a nice meal, why do I want to be surrounded by plasma TVs? And if I want to get my drink on, why do I want to do it at a family restaurant for a much higher price when I can go get tanked at a local bar where it’s usually cheaper and more socially acceptable? I do not understand this concept! But at least Bennigan’s is up front about this, so I can’t really say that it was an unwelcoming surprise.
Anyway, I’m here to talk about the restaurant portion. I ordered this humongous burger, which is kind of like an upscale big mac (in the picture). I asked for medium and it came out more like medium well, but with all the fixings and the option to have it on a pretzel bun (which I got), all was well. It was actually quite a good burger.
The service was awesome as well. Shout out to the waitress Angel, who was really great. I got an unsweetened iced tea and asked for some Splenda, and she brought out an entire styrofoam cup full of Splenda packs for me to keep haha. And she was totally attentive the entire time, and had great banter. But everyone there was equally friendly.
Also, the music mix going on was great. There was some The Eagles, and some Bob Seger, among other things. Can’t complain about that. So the ambiance was cool as well.
So even though I really just got a burger and fries, which you can get anywhere, it was the good service and the good music which warrants a decently high ⁴⁄₅ as far as the rating goes. If more Bennigan’s locations are like this, then I think they’ll be on the way to a healthy comeback.

We have been here twice since they opened, once with a group of friends and once just the two of us. On both occasions the staff has been very friendly and helpful. We have tried the mix and match appetizer, turkey o’doole, chicken tortilla soup, glazed bacon burger, and turkey club. All have been delicious and were presented well. The atmosphere is very casual but clean and we love the location.
While they have an extensive drink menu, we have found mixed to drinks to be a bit expensive for the casual atmosphere. The parking situation also seems a little bit crammed, there are several busy restaurants sharing the same lot.

Terrible experience. Went with my family. My dad never got his food. After we all ate and paid the check and waited another 10 minutes my dad finally got his food which we asked for Togo and came out on a plate. So my dad didn’t eat at all. Took a bite of his sandwich when he got home and didn’t even swallow, thought it was so disgusting and he never received his sauces that were supposed to come with his food either. I work in a restaurant so I get it, but as a Manger who was apparently in the kitchen trying to get their shit together, if you know there’s a «red check» aka a check that came back or never happened you get that out before anything else. Not 5 more tables worth of food and then worry about a check that happened an hour ago. Also our food didn’t come with any of the dipping sauces that were supposed to come with. My sister didn’t originally receive her French fries that came with her burger. My mom asked for no cheese on her sandwich and it came with cheese. While dinning we heard several servers apologizing for mess ups that happened to their orders so it wasn’t only us. I understand the mess ups are most likely the kitchens problems but it’s as easy as reading the tickets correctly. Never going back.

This place sucks took 20 minutes to get drinks 40 minutes to get food the owner yelled at me and my wife with my two kids present and then didn’t believe how long we waited and blatantly insulted us with very sarcastic language the only good thing was the food and that’s why I gave 1 star never come near this place again

Great girly cocktails. Food is good but priced a little high. The stack of onion rings is an absolute must!!! Space is a little small but they did well with what they have. Good size bar and good addition to the neighborhood.

Went for the redskin playoff game, restaurant was crowded but not packed. We got seated right away which was a plus but the floors were very slippery, not sure why. Felt like they were covered in grease or something. Our server was fine at first but had an issue with him later when he brought our check showing one amount but when he swiped our card it was for almost $ 10 more saying he forgot to put the drinks on the check (which was true but having waited tables before you never swipe the card for higher than what was presented. You go back and show them the corrected bill first). Food took forever to come out which was odd since it wasn’t packed. Having opened a new restaurant before I wrote it off to opening kinks. My wife’s buffalo chicken salad had stone cold chicken which was unacceptable. The quesadilla my daughter had was just ok and they didn’t bring the salsa or guac it was supposed to have. My burger was great, bbq cheddar burger. My son had the breaded wings and those were pretty good also (liked them better than the other wing place in the same center) though they don’t have any other flavors. I didn’t see any management personnel at all and nobody was going to the tables talking to customers which is pretty common at restaurants, especially new ones. Wife and daughter won’t go back but I’ll go back again one day with my son for burgers and wings. They have some kinks to work out and management needs to make their presence known or this place will lose business to the other place right down the sidewalk.

I wish we would have spent our Saturday night out elsewhere. Bennigans at this location is only a week old, so it is understandable that there would be kinks to work out… but it was just a sub-​par place to land. I ordered the cheeseburger. I even pointed to the picture in the menu of the cheeseburger and said is this what type of bun that’s included, I was told yes and instead the bun was soft but large and even though it was toasted on the grill it was cold and too much for the burger. The one in the picture would have been better. The burger was well done although I asked for medium rare. I understand some restaurants will not do less than medium, but then the wait staff should say that… well done is dry. The burger was one of the least tasty burgers compared to other chain restaurants int he area. The tomato was pale white and green with only tinges of ripeness which were pale pale pale red, it tasted like that too. The tiny vessel of ketchup they bring you is not enough for half of the fries, much less if you want any at all on your burger, and by the time you wait for your waitress and ask for another, and another your food is cold. It is usually not a good idea to bring the salad out and the soup out with the dinner. I like to eat my salad first, but then the food would be cold. When we walked in we were face to face with the table spray and dirty rag on the hostess stand. The table beside us was there before three other tables in the section and their food came last which lent to us sitting and listening to them get angrier and angrier as our ambiance. My husband ordered a cheeseburger with swiss that came out with pepper jack and they totally forgot his fries (no-​one noticed they were sending a burger that comes with fries out WITH NO FRIES!!!) and then the bill was incorrect in their favor, after we waited forever for it. While we waited for our bill our waitress was bussing tables. Bad management? First week? No former staff to kick it off? Inexperienced cook? Who knows. But the burgers were disappointing enough that even if everything else was great, we wouldn’t return considering all of the other burger options around. I felt badly for the waitress that had to field orders cooked incorrectly and taking forever, angry customers, etc etc… though on the cooks behalf she did indeed enter pepper jack cheese on the ticket, not swiss.

I wish I had gone elsewhere. I wanted to have a decent meal and watch the playoff game. Even though i was there to watch the game it was far too loud.
I initially ordered chicken and shrimp pasta and was served a huge plate of pasta with four undercooked shrimp and four slices of overcooked chicken breast. The garlic toast wasn’t toasted and the shrimp were mealy and inedible.
This was exchanged for a simple cheeseburger. It would have been edible were I starving but it was just not up to standards. The burger was obviously from a frozen patty, complete with grill marks. The manager swore it was from fresh meat, then resumed his bongo solo on the bar surface.
I paid for my beverage and won’t be back.
the chinese takeout I got on the way home was much better.

Atmosphere: Excellent. Fresh modern, yet comfortable feel. Warm and welcoming.
Food: Traditional Irish favorites with American classics. Tasty onion rings, apps, burgers, and meals with a healthy kick such as the salmon or grilled chicken with veggies. The shepherds pie is out of this world!
Drink: House cocktails, draft beer, and wine. Beer was in ice cold glass and mixed drinks were spot on.
Service: Great. Attentive and helpful with suggestions based on their experience. Down to earth and friendly people.
Overall: Highly recommend! Great new place for North Frederick. Check it out!