Ben’s Family Cuisines

Food is excellent, owner is very attentive and eager to talk about the food. She’ll go through detail, if asked, about how it’s prepared and take suggestions openly. It’s made freshly, which is a challenge given perishable ingredients. Sometimes she’s forced to eat lots of food at home she wasn’t expecting to in order to not throw it out, rather than serve her customers something that’s been sitting around (which I greatly respect).
Atmosphere is clean and simple. It’s a solid option for an easy going meal.

Was honestly a bit skeptical due to the location, but once inside, that hesitation quickly faded. Great food, huge portions, clean comfortable atmosphere, service from Graham was amazing (best wait service I’ve had in a long while), and the chef was extremely personable. Overall, a great eat!

This is a fairly new restaurant in a residential neighborhood of Front Royal. The décor is nice, with fresh roses on the table. The staff is friendly and accommodating. I ordered the Massaman Curry with chicken with ³⁄₅ spiciness. Level 3 spicy is significantly spicy here, I believe it matches other ‘real’ thai restaurants by level of spicy. 2 would have been perfect for me. My advice to the owner is to play soothing music instead of pop music. I will eat here again.

Yet another hidden gem in Front Royal, Virginia. Somehow, someway, Front Royal continues to impress.
My wife and I visited Ben’s on a Friday evening. We were greeted by the friendly staff and seated right away.
We had a fantastic meal. We started off with the Egg Rolls and Crab Rangoon. Both were very good. I will caution you that the egg rolls are a bit different than what you may be accustomed to.
We ordered the green curry and drunken noodles. Both were really good. My only complaint would be that they weren’t very spicy with a ³⁄₅ spice level. Will probably try ⁵⁄₅ next time around.
All in all, Ben’s is a great restaurant and I would definitely recommend stopping in if you haven’t already.

Husband, three year old daughter, and I went here on a dreary December afternoon on our way back from West Virginia. Place was spotlessly clean and simply decorated, with fresh red roses on each table.
Hope (Ms. Ben) and her server were very pleasant and attentive. As Hope used to live in a neighboring town to us in the DC Metro area, we had many places in common.
On to the food… since we happened to stop in on their one year anniversary, the restaurant was offering a free fountain drink and and half priced crab Rangoon. We aren’t big fans of crab Rangoon but Hope convinced us to give hers a try. Five minutes later, perfectly crisp and thin fried wontons came out of the kitchen — delicious! Daughter ate edamame as her appetizer, which was also good.
For entrees, my husband had the special — grilled eggplant and pork with rice, and daughter and I shared drunken noodles with shrimp. I asked for three peppers out of five (five being Thai spicy) and boy, did they deliver the heat! I regularly eat Indian vindaloo and other dishes that represent the spiciest in various cuisines, and I have to say that they didn’t dumb it down here. Daughter had the shrimp off of my noodles, edamame, and rice. She powered through the spice factor and ended up drinking a huge glass of water to do so. The broccoli and red bell peppers on the noodles were very fresh and flavorful, and not cooked to death like with some places.
Husband’s dish was also very fresh and had a nice caramelized flavor from the grilled (then sautéed) eggplant. Rice was covered with fresh mint and scallions.
Overall, a great experience!

The raving Unilocal reviews led me here today to try it out; I’m a huge fan of Thai and all Asian cuisine. Out of nearly 200 reviews, this is one of the hardest for me to write and I won’t enjoy writing it.
The best things about Ben’s is the friendly and welcoming staff and the clean, simple, small, and unassuming restaurant with gorgeous fresh flowers on every table. For those reasons alone, I wish it could earn 5 stars. But alas, the food was average at best.
After reading Philip T’s review, I, too, got the drunken noodles with beef — one of my favorite Thai dishes. I also ordered the hotness level a 4, and my mouth watered in anticipation of the first bite. When the dish was placed in front of me, however, it looked like the noodles were overcooked and mushy, and they were. The amazing and familiar aroma of drunken noodles wasn’t there; in fact the only aroma was a hint of hot pepper oil. I was worried, but hoped for the best as I picked up my fork.
While I tasted the «hotness», the flavors of the dish were simply missing. I didn’t notice any fresh Thai chiles, no hint of fish sauce, and very few basil leaves. The noodles were indeed overcooked and stuck together and formed a pasty mess. The amazing flavors of Thai cuisine were, unfortunately, absent.
I also ordered the chicken coconut soup, which was the special of the day. Another disappointment at first site — it was watery and had dried onions floating on the top. I’ve never seen tam ka soup like that before. I took the spoon and checked out what was hiding in that white liquid… huge slices of chicken, and nothing else. No straw mushrooms, no fresh basil… just overly large chicken slices in a watery white broth with floating onions. Oy.
The flavor was lacking, needless to say. There was no rich, bold, amazing combination of ingredients as the dozens of other chicken coconut soups I’ve had in other restaurants. It tasted exactly like it looked — disappointing. It was also the first time I had to use a knife to eat soup, but even with a knife, it was hard to cut the chicken into bite-​size pieces. I also added lots of salt to the soup to try to get the flavor to enhance; I don’t recall ever adding salt to Thai food before.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so disappointed after reading Unilocal reviews; I really expected to find amazing food here. To the owner and friendly and attentive staff, a firm 5 stars. The food was unfortunately a 2. The best chicken tam ka soup and drunken noodles with beef I’ve found is at Faang Thai in Warrenton. Perfection there, and I wish Ben’s had it as well.

Great hidden gem of a restaurant in Front Royal. Great menu and cuisine!

I’ve come to expect in life that some of the best ethnic food in the world are located in places you would never expect. Ben’s is one of those places. Located away from downtown Front Royal and really far away from any major culinary cities and hubs, I didn’t expect to find what would end up being one of the best surprises of my weekend.
Ben’s Family Cuisines serves up a variety of Asian favorites, taking a kind of «cast a wide net» approach to their menu. They have food form all varieties of American, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and primarily Thai and Southeast Asian cuisine. The owner is extremely friendly and plays a very active role in both the operations and actual cooking going on in the restaurant. Her cook team includes a sushi chef as well as a chef that specializes in Thai cuisine. During my visit, I ordered the Drunken Noodles with beef.
With most spicy dishes, they will ask you how spicy you would like it. Feeling bold, I went for 4/​5, or pretty darn hot as I love spicy food. When our food arrived, I could not prepare myself for the treat I was about to experience. When you ask for something to be hot and spicy here, you get it truly HOT! Too many places turn down the heat as to not offend unsuspecting, spice sensitive customers, so even «spicy» at many restaurants is merely mild to me. But this time, my hot and spicy drunken noodles took my taste buds for a ride. The noodles were bursting with savoury, sweet, spicy, and all varieties of flavours that soon had me sweating and hurting in the best way possible. Call me a bit of a sadist, but this heat was the kind of heat that hurt so bad but kept me begging for more. That’s because unlike some restaurants who blindly use chilies and hot sauce just for the sake of heat, my noodles had intense heat that also complemented the other bold flavours, crisp veggies, and generous amounts of beef. After multiple cups of water and dabbing more than enough sweat from my brow, I finished my plate down to the last drop of sauce. My only complaint would be that the noodles ended up breaking into small pieces towards the end of the dish as they were a bit thin and delicate versus the thicker, wide noodles I’m used to seeing in most drunken noodles, making it harder to eat. Overall, it was delicious.
The service at Ben’s was also very good during my visit. It was not very busy as it was pretty late for lunch on a Saturday, but our server and the owner were both friendly, attentive, and checked in on us on multiple occasions to see how we liked our food. Moving on to the space itself, Ben’s is not the biggest restaurant but it was clean and modern with fresh flowers at every table. I believe the restaurant opened less than a year ago so everything is pretty new. Finding Ben’s may be a bit difficult to find as it is located in a more residential area and the building itself is small. Be sure to keep an eye out when on the road as it can be easy to miss. There is a small parking lot in front of the restaurant as well. As for value, the curry was $ 10 while my noodles were only slightly more. Serving sizes were also pretty generous. Sweet deal!
Overall, Ben’s is an absolute gem. The owner and chef team are all specialists in Thai and Southeast Asian cuisine and it shows in thier passion for producing great food and taking care of their patrons as if they have known each other as friends for ages. If you’re in Front Royal and are looking for delicious Thai and Asian food, I would recommend checking out Ben’s Family Cuisines in a heartbeat.

A real WOW in Front Royal!
My husband and I had our first trip to Ben’s, and Hope greeted us warmly as we walked in to her immaculately clean, excellent little restaurant. Hope, who is from Cambodia, serves all homemade dishes in the South East Asian style.
We started out with steamed dumplings, and when they came my first comment to my husband was, «These are homemade!» They were fabulous!
My husband had red curry with pork, ask for it hot and spicy and it suited his very finicky spice level requirements. I ordered the Korean Japchae, A beef dish with clear, sweet potato cellophane noodles. It was wonderful.
Hope open the restaurant this past December, and it is building a steady, loyal following — as it well deserves. Alas for me! I get up to Front Royal only about once every six weeks, but this is definitely my new «go to» restaurant.

We were travellers to visit Shenandoah caverns and skyline drive. We had looked up this place on Unilocal and we were not disappointed. The food was fresh, served well and tasty and in good filling portions. The owner was extremely warm and ice and so was the staff. The décor was simple and neatly kept. We had ordered Thai fried rice and Crispy beef fry and ice tea… They were the best and we recommend this place to all…

Great experience, friendly staff and really good food! I had the Pad Thai and it was great. I can’t remember the name of it but we had spicy jalapeño egg rolls that were really good as well. We will definitely be coming back.

Amazing flavors, Ben was so nice. Highly recommend the pancake wrap doused in the sauce that comes on the side.
Very clean place, what a hidden gem!

Chose this restaurant based solely on the rave reviews on Unilocal.When I arrived I almost moved on to my second choice. Parking was very limited and the building and neighborhood were not what I would expect for a 5 star restaurant. But after a day of spelunking the local caverns, I just wanted to eat.
The waitstaff was helpful and pleasant. The food was first rate. The owner was around making nice with the customers, which seems to be the reason for some of the stellar reviews. Except for the fresh flowers on the table, the décor was Spartan, maybe even «mess hall».
To sum it up: Good food, good service, but let’s face it folks this is not five star dining.

This is a very unassuming place from the outside with a few parking spaces. It is located at the end of a small neighborhood, but is much larger inside and seemed pretty empty for a Friday evening. Staff was very friendly. Food was Asian Fusion. SO and I ordered a shrimp pad thai as well as Mama’s noodles. The shrimp pad thai tasted of tomato, and was very interesting and unique, but not the pad thai we were expecting. The Mama’s Noodles was a play on a Vietnamese dish and was noodles with fish sauce, egg, eggroll, and cucumber and lettuce. It was also interesting and innovative since it was based on flavor profiling I assume. Prices were also reasonable. I wish they had more diners and really wish them the best. The food was unique, although not the most delicious food I have tasted.

My family and I came here to try what we have seen/​heard is an excellent Asian fusion restaurant. We were not even a little bit disappointed. Everything, from the drunken noodles to the Japchae was GREAT! Great flavors, good portions, and friendly people. Highly recommend! For the record, they make a solid Thai iced tea, as well. :)

I’m here due to other Unilocal reviews. Finding is not the easiest it is also not in the greatest location. Walking in the door the people were all extremely friendly, the owner had a huge smile on her face.
We had the pad Thai and mamas combo noodles. The pad Thai had a different flavor, very tomato like. The mamma noodles were just like a Vietnamese dish, quite authentic.
Overall a great experience, the staff was friendly and the food was authentic. The prices are super cheap as well for what you get.

I’ve never been to a restaurant as homey as this one. The owner treats everyone like her children, and the staff is like a family. The portions were enormous and we usually eat a lot. The ingredients are super fresh and you can definitely taste the difference. Also, fresh flowers at every table!

EAT HERE. Now you can end your search on Unilocal for where to eat for lunch or dinner.
Easily one of the top two best Thai restaurants I’ve ever been to. The food is incredible! Amazingly fresh ingredients, full flavors with perfectly blended spices, and real big chunks of chicken. I also love that the tofu in the curry isn’t fried — it’s cooked perfectly and soaks up the delicious flavors.
Additionally, after meeting the staff and the incredibly hard working, friendly owner Hope, I am so happy to support this restaurant. Everyone is warm and welcoming, and Hope has created a beautiful environment. She even has fresh flowers on each table!
To top it all off, the portions are HUGE and incredibly well priced. She could easily charge 50% more per meal. I will definitely be back, and I can’t recommend this highly enough.

I have been here several times now and Everything I’ve tried is delicious, fresh and with just the right amount of spice (and I love spicy).
Satya the cook and owner is a wonderful woman who values & exudes excellence when it comes to customer service and heart & soul when it comes to her food. She takes pride in what she does and truly enjoys her craft & it clearly shows in her delicious food as well as her attitude towards everyone who walks through her doors.
I fall more in love every time I go. Tonight she had a special Pineapple fried rice $ 7.50! It was amazing!
The value of her food far exceeds the price.
This is in my opinion the best restaurant in the area.

Go to here. Satya, the owner, greeted us with a larger than life smile when we walked in the door and was incredibly welcoming and warm.
The menu isn’t extravagant, but she has excellent variety, specializing in Thai dishes. So far I’ve tried the Drunken Noodles, the Pad Thai, the green curry, the Thai fried rice, the Thai hot wings, and the fresh spring rolls. Every dish was fantastic. She uses lots of basil and spice if you like it.
Her prices are low, probably too low to sustain because her portions are incredibly generous. I would pay much more for her food. For example, the appetizers are mostly under $ 4.00. They compare at half the price, double the portions, and better quality than most NOVA Thai places Ive tired.
The location isn’t great and they’re never really busy and I hope that changes because this is by far my favorite place to eat in Front Royal.