BenchWarmers — Restaurant in Fulton

I’ve been to Benchwarmers ans a couple times now. I would have given my review a 1 star for sheer disappointment in the owners response to a problem instead I’m giving it a 50% rating which is what the owner agreed to give me on an inedible meal. Fair right? The better point of the rating is worth the read.

The first time I went I had a bbq sandwich and sweet potato fries, it was a good lunch.

This time I went with my husband. We ordered a couple appetizers; I also ordered 6 boneless wings and my husband ordered sweet and sour chicken.

The photos we took are of the good food not the bad. While the appetizers were good, the chicken in both our meals was kinda - no it WAS yuck! His chicken literally tasted like cornstarch and mine was very rubbery to cut and honestly unable to be chewed. Neither of us ate our entrees.

I was disappointed and felt I had to let the server know. I demonstrated the problem with my meal. My husband didn’t even complain about his, it just sat there uneaten like mine. Brittany was quick to try to assist. She picked up my plate and took it back to the kitchen.

What I want to highlight is that the server (Brittany) dealt with a very hard situation like a BOSS — not like an empowered boss — but courageously and with a pretty great attitude given the messages she was to deliver to the owner, and worse from the owner back to her customer.

The owner apparently received the plate, tested the chicken with a knife herself in the kitchen and told Brittany to tell me “she cut into it fine with her knife, it must be mine that’s the problem.” The result of her test was she would be willing to give us a “50% discount on the boneless chicken plate.”

My guess is that it was because the owner counted and saw two nuggets missing and a third cut in half and to her that seemed fair.

The first nugget was indeed hard press eaten - not enjoyed - the second was spit into a napkin and disposed of separately because I don’t want a server to have to deal with something I tried to chew but had to spit out.🤢 the third was a mercy cut because I was trying hard to find something edible on the plate.

Anytime food is subpar it can be a bad moment. Food complaint does not have to cost goodwill and positive review. You can still gain revenue in the experience over all if you care about the customers dining experience overall.

Brittany made her best of a “really tough” situation and I applaud her for doing her best with something that could have gone a lot better but wasn’t her fault or responsibility. She did a great job waiting on us! And it was a couple bad meals that we paid more than the actual price of food and standard tip for because SHE was worth the price of admission. The owners attitude and response to a valid complaint about quality edibility - well it left a lot...

Went for an early dinner with a friend on a weekday. The place has the feel of a small sports bar. Music playing, but not too loud for conversation. Lots of tvs with no sound on. This one playing MMA, that one displaying an episode of Frasier... you get the idea. There was a pretty good crowd, but since Hu Dat is closed it wasn't too bad. I had a bacon cheese burger take away, and tried the dumplings as an appetizer. My friend had the crab rangoon. My dumplings were very good. Fired to a crisp, and seasoned very nicely. I'm told that the crab things were also deliciously seasoned, and quite addictive. (I'm not a fan of sea food. Especially the insects of the sea) Then I had the sesame chicken. It came with rice in ample portions. It was very lightly battered and fried, then covered in the sweet sauce. It was crisp and had a great flavor, but oddly the sesame seeds were black. I couldn't taste them anyway...for desert we had the chocolate cheesecake. THAT was the star! My taste buds are rarely wrong and I recognized this recipe. It seems that Jama, who once had a famously good cheesecake bakery here, is at the oven again. I was delighted to discover this, and would have made the trip to this restraunt much sooner had I only known. It was amazing! I don't use the word lightly, but literally. I also sampled the bacon cheese burger with sweet potato waffle fries. Tre burger was well done, as I like it, and still juicy. The bacon was broken up to provide better coverage over the thick meat patty. A very fresh brioche bun topped it off. The sweet potato fries were crispy on the outside, and all sweet, soft goodness inside...a thing of beauty! I hold back from a 5 star rating only because the service was friendly, yet forgetful, and the bathroom floor was sticky. Yuck! Note: I may have dug in before I remembered to take a picture... again. Oops! The dumplings come with 8 per...

OVERALL: My family and I dined here during a three-day vacation in Rockport at the end of the summer season. I enjoyed the meal, but half my family of four thought the food was too salty.

FOOD: The starters were excellent. The fried calamari was maybe the best I’ve ever had. Light crispy batter around fresh, tender squid. We also ordered fried pickles, which were outstanding. I went on a fried food binge and got the fried red fish with hush puppies and fries. The batter on the fish had some nice Cajun seasoning, and the fish was tender and flakey. The hush puppies were exceptional and the fries were crispy. My wife ordered the grilled red fish and could only eat half of it because the portions were so generous. She ordered the coleslaw as a side, and I shared my fries for a portion of her salad, which was creamy and fresh. My oldest daughter got the boneless wings and thought the chicken was a little tough, though the seasoning was spot on and ranch dressing had a nice touch of dill. My youngest daughter, a vegan, ordered the veggie lo mein and found it to be too salty. We all drank sweet tea and found it to be cloyingly sweet. It was served in disposable styrofoam cups, which was a drag.

SERVICE: Many reviews have complained about the long wait times, but our orders arrived quickly, though the place was packed. Our server was attentive and friendly. She was excellent.

ATMOSPHERE: A clean restaurant with a sports bar vibe. The Astros were on the big TV, and I enjoyed watching the game...