Benjamin's Restaurant — Restaurant in Covington

What a great place! Hubby and I are on our way home from Peoria, IL (more reviews on that later) and we made a snap decision to stop and grab some breakfast! Hopped on Yelp and what do you know - Benjamin's popped right up.

Easy drive off I-74, headed in and was surprised to see there weren't more people dining considering the cars in the parking lot. All the staff was near the kitchen and after being "checked out", we were seated after being asked if a table was ok, which it was.

Our waitress came over, we ordered our waters, then looked over the menus - skillets, omelettes, French toast, pancakes, sausage, bacon all your typical breakfast fare was there.

The skillets and omelettes all sounded so good! The better half decided on the Hawaiian omelette and I, the Italian. All omelettes come with hashbrowns and your choice of toast with butter and jelly. I asked for homefries and wheat toast and the better half asked for a half order (2 slices) of the French toast. No problem at all!

Within 15 minutes, we were digging in. Huge omelettes filled with gooey cheese, homefries that were cooked just right (though they could have used a little more seasoning) and perfect French toast (hubby thought it needed cinnamon but I thought it was fine as it was!).

Loved the vibe of the place, kinda like Mel's diner minus Mel. Everyone chatting, catching up on the neighborhood gossip, you can tell this is the gathering spot. It was fairly clean, food was good, prices were excellent...

...and I saw the fried chicken!! Next time...

The atmosphere was fantastic, and the service was especially stand out however the food was lacking. The serving size was plentiful, which is good, however the quality was of a different element. The pancakes tasted like generic box pancakes and didn't really stand out as fluffy. However the corned beef hash was the saving grace of the meal. Overall a good experience, I recommend it however be careful about what you order.

Edit 7/4/21: after a few repeat visits my previous points still stand, however I'm willing to raise my review up from 3 to 4 stars based on quality of service as well as a few more meals. The chicken Alfredo is a fantastic option, the steak was a hair over medium rare however lacked any sort of flavoring coming from a lack of seasoning. My friend didn't receive her entire meal, but my girlfriend enjoyed her wrap(despite all evidence pointing to it being a burrito and not a wrap). The Pepsi is always toeing the line of being flat, but refills are plentifully doled out. So I'll reiterate my previous points. Careful on what you order, but you can rest easy knowing even if it's incredibly busy there's space for you and they'll treat...

There was a decently selection of food. Good ol country cooking. The place was packed, but they happen to sit our party of 7 no problem. Even for a packed house the server did phenomenal! She was a younger woman, I forget her name but I was blown away how attentive she was for juggling numerous tables.

The food had large helpings, and was very well prepared. Also if your wondering when we happened to go in they DO NOT use peanut oil for the fried food (for all thise with peanut allergies like myself) Usually in a packed house the cooks tend to get sloppier with there craft but not these guys. Nothing was overcooked, everything came out with the quickness. For a first time try for us while we were in the area is was well worth the gamble. Next time we go to pick up fireworks this will definitely...