Benito's Restaurant — Restaurant in Fort Worth

We are a family of 5 and were ready to enjoy a "night out" Keep in mind that you only get about one of these every 2 months so we felt confident in our choice of this restaurant. First the good. Great parking, well lit, incredible outside decor and ambiance. Once inside that changed and the restaurant's inside did not hold up to it's exterior. It was also a mid week night, kinda slow. The chips are not free but are great (Worth the $5.50 with a generous service of guacamole). Now the not so good. Service was curt and automatic, no eye to eye greeting of "good evening" or "Welcome to Benitos" We know rice. We know our beans and we were not impressed with the side dishes, We felt that the cook was mass cooking the side dishes and used too much cumin (a common restaurant problem we run into) as every side dish tasted of cumin. On my way to use the rest room I found at least 6 stacked pallets of canned tomatoes stored everywhere, so much for fresh. We can overlook these things if the main dishes are good. The tortilla soup was not edible. How do you screw up tortilla soup? I guess you let it sit or continually spice it. Usually we devour our tortilla soup and we sent back all three mini bowls. My wife ordered ceviche and that was not eatable. It tasted like it was stored in plastic and absorbed the taste of plastic. Her second choice was beef tacos. The meat in her beef tacos was more like mexican barbacoa (steamed cow face). If we wanted "tacos de barbacoa" we would have ordered that. My fajita tacos were served in the traditional hot skillet and were ok. I felt bad about my wife's plate so I ended up making her a loaded fajita taco for her. My kids did not complain but I could see they were grateful yet disappointed. My son did get some sort of fried potato balls that were good. Now the bad. We were the largest table the at the time. (5 people) Our bill (when handed to us) was for over $96.00. ??!! OK. We had been billed 5 alcoholic beverages. I looked around for the table that may have been given our tab and could not see 6 dinners with 5 drinks. (as I had the details of that table's order). Nope I began to feel like maybe this accident was not really accidental. The waitress was very evasive at first then suddenly without looking pulled our correct order out of her pocket. Needless to say we will not be returning. There are just too many great restaurants...

Let me start out by stating this WAS my favorite place to eat. I would eat here at least once maybe twice a month. We were seated as normal. Waitress#1( not suppose to be our waitress) took our drink order. Waitress #1 ended up taking our food order also and got it wrong. Waitress#2 brought me my queso & pico.Half way through my queso, I found not 1 but 2 hairs in my queso. I let the waitress#1 know without a making seen. Waitress #2 brought me another one. I waited for someone to acknowledge what had happen. No one did. The owner removed our dirty plates from the table. He ask if Everything was good. I explained to him that there was a hair in my queso. He stated that everyone wears hair nets in the kitchen and that he was sorry. Everything else was good. When I proceeding to check out. The male cashier( the owner) ask if I was going to tip. I told him no, and kindly explain to him that there was a hairs in my queso. He ask if the service was good. I explained that if he was willing to take the queso off I was willing to tip. I did not even get to the part where I suppose to a waitress who did not service us but before I could get the rest of my statement out. He proceeded to tell me that everyone wears hair nets in our kitchen and that the hair did not belong to them. I asked him why I would sabotage my food when I come here all the time. I proceeded to tell him that I ordered two bowls of queso one for my oldest and my youngest to share and one for myself and the hair was found in the one for myself, so if the hair was curly hair then I would understand( the hair was straight). I told him that I was very offended by him accusing me of putting hair in my food. I have worked in fast food for a very long time. And there have been several times where a hair does end up in people's food. Accidents happen. But as a business you have to be willing to compensate a customer when an accident happens. Not accuse the customer of sabotaging their food. I'm very disappointed in this business. This place used to be my absolute favorite I would go on birthdays holidays and any other occasions that I saw fit because I love the food there. I will definitely think twice about going to this place next time. I do not feel the customer service was grade A. The situation could have been handled better. If you choose this place, make sure you...

I was staying in the Fairmount Historic District on business, and my innkeeper suggested I check out the restaurants along Magnolia Street. I was captivated by the menu and look of Benito's and decided to try it. I'm SO glad I did!

Now, I'm a tough sell--I've lived in the Southwest most of my life, and my favorite type of food is GOOD Mexican food--and I was absolutely amazed by Benito's.

The first thing you notice when you walk in is the fabulous hospitality. Everyone--from the hostess to my server to the manager (who personally visited my table during the meal)--seemed genuinely happy to see me and have me dine in their establishment. The menu is marvelously diverse and has all manner of south-of-the-border offerings; much more than the traditional tacos and enchiladas that one might find in lesser restaurants. The manager told me they specialize in Pueblo Yucatan fare, but they also offer familiar Tex-Mex foods and even some Jalisco plates.

When my order was delivered to my table, I was astounded by the amount of food provided--not only the main dish, but rice, beans, tortillas, and a green salad with nopalitos. And everything was so, SO delicious!! I paired my meal with the house margarita (I'm choosy about those, as well) which was absolutely perfect--not too sweet, with salt on the rim and a lime.

So Bravo! Benito's--you have won me over for life! I may not even wait until my next business trip; it's worth it to take the drive to Fort Worth, just to eat at your place! Thank you so much for such a great experience. Salud!

(My apologies to Benito's; I thought I had posted this review shortly after returning home, but I had not. After many months, I still HAVE to share my awesome experience with other...