Ben's Chili Bowl — Attraction in Washington

Be prepared to wait. Be prepared to embrace the mediocre service and chaotic scene.

We visited Ben's on a Tuesday night around 7pm. There was a long line (wrapped around in the dining area) with about 20-30 customers waiting to place orders. There was only one cashier (and not a very friendly one). We got our order in, and then things went south.

You get your drink (bottle or fountain) when you place your order. Your receipt has an order number on the top; you wait for your number to be called before coming to pick up your food.

It’s an open kitchen, so you see everything going on in the kitchen and all your food being cooked right in front of you (if you choose to stand there and wait). We observed a very unorganized kitchen. They use traditional printed tickets to handle orders. And they didn’t seem to have any systematic way regarding who is doing what and what order is to be handled next.

There were about 6 people besides the cashier working to handle food while we were there. Based on my observation, each employee would take one ticket at a time, prepare the food to fulfill the whole order, hand out the food to the customer, then s/he goes to grab the next ticket from the printing queue. There didn’t seem to be a kitchen lead or any communication between the crew going on. And as each employee needed to fulfill a whole order, s/he needed to move around stations. This made the working situation become very unorganized as every employee needed to move around the whole kicken to get things done.

And with none of the employees seeming to have a sense of urgency, things were done slowly. And since no one was in charge of handling the grill station, from time to time, every few minutes, I would see some employees pass by the grill station to give some hotdogs a roll/push, give the burger patties a flip/press . I have never seen a kitchen run in this way. Everywhere else I have visited, they always have a dedicated person handling the grill station to ensure things are moving fast, as this is usually the most time consuming step while preparing the food (they should send someone to Five Guys and learn!).

We waited over 20 minutes and our number was still not called (just two chili hotdogs and fries). As many order numbers after mine got called already, I asked a few employees if there was someone working on my order. They went back to check and looked around, then went back to do whatever they were doing without returning to me and giving me an answer. Finally the 3rd employee told me she was working on my order (she had to look at the register and my receipt as they seemed to have lost my ticket). It was a total of a little over 30 minutes after placing my order, and finally I got my food.

The food was okay, nothing special, nothing made us go Wow! With this poor dining experience, and no one seeming to care about anything, this was likely our last time dining at this place (and the prices at Ben’s aren’t very competitive). We would be more than happy to take our business to somewhere else that provides similar food and provides actual customer service and care.

I would not recommend Ben’s to anyone unless you just want to have a one-time experience so you can brag about having...

I'm sorry DC folk, but I didn't see the amazement of this place. It was ratty, run down, filled w/ questionable ppl, etc. & the food took forever for what was just some dogs, and was meh at best.

We did both the original & spicy Half-Smoke, but were sorely unimpressed. The bun was falling apart on each right away, the chili had no flavor, it was way too messy, not just the chilly but mustard, too, and the sausage didn't blend the flavors together in any way. There was a little bit of heat to both sausages but nothing overwhelmingly hot worthy of calling one the spicy one & the other not. I would suggest making a more mild sausage to offset the spicy one so there would at least be a difference.

The fries were rather dry, and definitely needed a ton of catchup, even though it makes the meal that much messier. The flavor was essentially just Heinz. The cheese also didn't provide any flavor for the cheese fries.

The only really good part was the banana pudding dessert, which was a really nice layered crust, banana slice, pudding, whipped cream style pudding, but it's made from someone else, and was pretty expensive for a little dessert. If I were in DC more regularly, I would try to get it somewhere else if possible.

There are so many food trucks around the city in the daytime that make much better food than this, and if you're out making the rounds of the clubs, I'd find another place to eat than wasting your time on this.

I've been around and had a lot of the hot dog / chili dog / smoked sausage handheld encased meat variants that places make a claim to fame for and this wouldn't crack the...

Last time I came to Ben's Chili Bowl, it was 2017. I had never even heard of the place. I was just like, wow, this is a nice little local place. I hope it does well. In the years since, I've learned that not only does this place do well, it's a national legend that many people go out of their way to eat at. Egg on my face.

Anyway, so when I came to visit a friend earlier this year, I decided we had to get Ben's again. The only problem was that our timeline was so tight, we were forced into getting it Uber Eats'd over to our hotel room. So we loaded up the app, and placed our order.

I got an Original Half Smoke (Enjoy Ben's Original Half Smoke (mixed pork and beef) served on a warm steamed bun with your choice of condiments. We suggest mustard, onions and our homemade spicy chili sauce).

This dog was amazing. Such a nice snap on the bite, a decent size, and good flavor within. The thing doesn't even need to be smothered with excess. I, of course, did smother it, though, which added to the mess and the experience. That mustard was potent, so if you don't like mustard, skip it, but I had to try it as-is. No regrets. Tasted like a legend.

I also got a side of Cheese Fries (A generous portion of golden fries, topped with delicious nacho cheese sauce). Classic. Really a lot of fries, and absolutely obliterated with nacho cheese sauce. Just go look at the pic. You're gonna need some napkins. Amazing.

Overall, I'm so glad I got to try Ben's again. Even if I missed it, though, I saw that they have a Ben's at the airport now. But I think I'll just keep coming back every time I come...