Benin's Bar-B-Q (Westwood) — Restaurant in Cincinnati

First of all, the outside of the place makes its guests feel they've come home. The off-street parking is a pleasant respite from the speeding cars, unlike the numerous other businesses on busy Harrison Avenue. There are 2 handicapped spaces with an easy egress onto Montclair or Harrison.

The inside is cozy with comfortable booths, a few tables with lovely chairs, adorned with clean checkered tablecloths and softly lit by suspended golden globed lights.

The owner took our order behind the cold bar style counter, filled with potato salad, salad fixin's, and appetizing desserts like banana pudding. We're planning on returning later for dinner to sample these fares.

Next to the cold bar were the hot sides, easily seen behind the glass enclosure. We had their sweet and smokey baked beans, flavored with brisket (& according to the owner, sans pork), melt-in-your-mouth collard greens, and baked Mac & cheese that was cheesy, and while tasting good, similar to Stouffer's, did not have that extra crust of golden-baked cheese on top that would have given it a 10 instead of an 8.

The meal chosen was the very affordable 2 Meat Combo, Smoked Beef Brisket and Smoked Meatloaf, so we could try multiple offerings. It came with 2 sides and baked cornbread, butter upon request. The brisket was smoked well, and quite lean, and a sliver of the crispy bbq cap on one of the slices. By far the best was the bbq, smoked meatloaf, delicately seasoned with onions and peppers incorporated within, and bbq sauce baked on top. It was Amazing. And the portions were perfect. It was enough for 2 average eaters to share. Definitely a Huge plus in our rating! As stated before, we got an extra side because there were too many options to select from for one meal. In addition to the affore mention mac & cheese, greens, baked beans and potato salad, he offers fried cabbage, and green beans (that are seasoned with pork), tomato cucumber salad, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, and french fries (which unfortunately they were out of at the time of this visit. And sides are available in Sm. ($2), Med. ($4), and Lg. ($6).

The other meat options were pulled pork & pulled chicken (both of which can be made into a sandwich or burrito), Brisket Philly steak, smoked turkey ribs, rib tips, rack of ribs, and 1/4 chicken.

And all served with the cutest cup of hot, thick, sweet & savory BBQ sauce. (See pic)

An extra piece of cornbread, sweet like Jiffy only BETTER, is worth the extra $1.

Additional amenities were His & Her bathrooms, a drink station that only had a tea canister on it at the time of this visit. There's a hung flat screened TV next to the patio entrance and a medium sized speaker that played wonderful background music. There's even a small patio with picnic tables outside to the right of the restaurant, facing the colorful "Westwood" mural, adjacent to the parking lot.

Definitely coming back, probably for dinner, since today's special is beef ribs, that were about 35 min from being pulled off the grill as we were leaving.

Overall, this bbq was on par with Texas or Kansas City style BBQ and, for all the faithful that frequented Walt's BBQ (when he was there) that's no longer in Colerain, it is on par, YES! Right Up There with Walt's! High praise indeed!

(And can I just mention, again... Those GREENS were Slap-somebody's-mama GOOD!!!)

For those wanting to support minority owned businesses in the Greater Cincinnati area, PLEASE stop in here for a FAT...

I'm a Southerner from North Carolina and was craving barbecue. I got the ribs and brisket plate with fries and fried cabbage & my daughter got the ribs with fried cabbage and creamed corn. The ribs were not very tender and were very fatty and cartilaginous. Not very much edible meat at all. Good flavor though. The brisket (in the picture) was not tender either. I feel like was not cooked long enough to break down the tough collagen fibers because it was very chewy and still wouldn't break down while chewing. Couldn't even swallow the ball of meat it formed in mouth so I had to just spit it out. The flavor was good though. The fried cabbage was more like steamed cabbage. It had a lot of the hard white core-like pieces that weren't cooked as soft as the very few thin leaves. My serving had mostly the harder white pieces. The flavor of the cabbage was good but a bit salty on account if the huge chunks of salty pork in it. The fries were delicious though. Best thing on my plate! My daughter got the creamed corn on her plate and that was delicious too. I had a small sample of the brisket chili, which the owner had just made to add to the menu that evening (I may have even been the 1st customer to taste it!) and it was delicious. I wish he had brought it out BEFORE I ordered so I could've gotten that instead of the ribs & brisket. It tasted WAAAAY better than that nasty Skyline dog food chili 🤢 everyone raves about in Cincinnati. Benin's chili is REAL chili, thick with meat and beans, and is superior to Skyline! 😂 All in all, the food was just ok and it was too expensive for the amount of food I was able to eat and enjoy. My order was $40.72 for a rib & brisket plate w/2 sides and a rib plate with 2 sides and 1 can of Mt. Dew. If I go back, I will definitely just get the brisket chili, fries and creamed corn. The atmosphere was very much lacking. I understand that that particular location had recently opened but that's no excuse for still having some of the decor from the previous restaurant tht occupied that space (which looked to have been a Subway restaurant by the pictures of sub rolls and veggies on the wall). The cashier (the owners family member I assume) was taking up one of the booths in the seating area with her tablet and other personal items she was using while she had no customers to tend to at the register. Which was a shame because there was only 2 booths and the other was already occupied by other customers. The small 2 seater table I sat at was very wobbly. I ended up just sitting in my car in the...

I stopped by last week to try this place out. I ordered a BBQ sandwich. It was delicious. Moist and tender with lots of flavor. No sauce needed because it stands on it's own. I hated for the meal to end because it was that good.

I also talked with the owner. He is very friendly and outgoing. He told me how he got started and that he named the place after his oldest son Benin. He has a passion for making the best food he can. He is self taught and makes everything fresh daily. He has big ambitions for his business with plans to offer a breakfast menu with some unique offerings. He also has menu items beyond BBQ and brisket.

While I was there I got to sample his gumbo, pot roast and meatloaf. They were all delicious. I will be back to get more than a sample on my next visit. The food alone should be all you need to give him a try but if you also want to help out a new business and a heck of a nice guy then come to Benin's. You won't be...