Benny John's Bar and Grill — Restaurant in New York

CHECK THE TRIP ADVISOR REVIEWS TOO! Overrated joke of a restaurant. We decided to try here for a special treat as we were visiting NY for the weekend. Looking at the Google reviews being good and the fact that it was a stones throw away from our hotel we chose here. Our 3rd visit to NY so have been to other much more superior steak restaurants in the city before after we'd been here we wished we hadn't bothered and saved a lot of money. The only plus point was our waitress who was lovely. We ordered starters of which were mediocre, french onion soup bland and the Canadian bacon which was a slab of a bacon and that's it, no garnish! We then had two fillet mignon with a side of steak fries (giant potato wedges) and a Bennie John burger. Our steaks came out looking like a bad cut of fillet with sinewy parts. Our side didn't arrive so we asked straight away but had to wait for the stroppy male chef/waiter to bring them, by then had eaten half the sinewy steak. My burger was so unbelievably dull with fatty greasy brown refried chips that I did say that I wasn't happy at the time so they bought another bowl out that didn't look much better. We were never asked at any point if our food was ok. At the end we did mention we were not happy overall and so our female waitress asked the manager to come over. This is where we nearly fell if our chairs with such disgusting customer service. We explained that we weren't after money off but mearly wanted to express our thoughts. He returned with an aggressive attitude blaming the waitress for not checking on us and no matter what we said regarding the bad food he just wasn't interested. He then mentioned that he could ask the authorities to come, at that point we just in shock of him even suggesting that said don't bother, we'll just pay and leave. All in all if you have a bad meal don't complain because you won't get far, expect a large bill and be gutted you even bothered. So sad, ruined our day and took a big chunk of our feelings for NY away. I expect if the owner replies to this he'll have the gift of the...

I rarely go into NYC, but we occasionally go in for a show or to see Rockefeller Center at Christmas time. On 12/28/2024 we did both. So I picked this restaurant because it was within walking distance of Rockefeller Center. The atmosphere of the restaurant seemed nice when we walked in. We were 1/2 hour earlier for our reservation, but the they were able to accomodate us immediately. There were 7 of us. My 4 daughters, my son-in-law, my wife and me. The meals were pretty pricey and the google reviews we 4.8 out of 5, so I expected a good meal. We got our drinks and appetizers relatively quickly. Most of the main courses came out in a reasonable amount of time. My son-in-law's burger was supposed to be medium rare, but it came out well done. He sent it back and took them 10 minutes bring the right order. My steak didn't come out until 1/2 hour after my son-in-law's burger. Not only that it came out cut up because they needed to cook it quickly and it came out medium rare. I had ordered medium well. I ate the little bits that were cooked, but I thought they would have compted me my entree since they obviously forgot about my meal, the guy who is paying the bill.

When I go to look at the check at the end of the night, the meal was not compted, plus they automatically put on a 20% gratuity and the bonus was if you paid by credit or debit card they tack on another 4%.

They also said they were out of the dessert I wanted. This was at 7 pm.

Also, the bathrooms. There are 2 toilets for everyone and a common sink in between the 2 toilets. One was locked with no one in it the whole time we were there. As the night went on a line was forming into the dining room. The poor people had to sit near that must of been none to happy. I finally knocked on the door of the locked toilet and nobody answered. I let the waiter know that there was nobody in one of them and then they finally opened that toilet.

I would avoid this place if you have large groups. It seems like they took care of the smaller tables better. I'll never...

The restaurant initially seemed nice, despite us not receiving menus after being seated; we eventually had to ask for them. No big deal. We ordered glasses of wine, which were good, and the portions were satisfying—not like in some places where the wine barely covers the bottom of the glass. The food was decent. We both ordered cheeseburgers, requesting medium rare, but they came out closer to medium. Still, they were pink inside. The service was also good overall. So everything was fine—until it came time to pay. We split the check and paid with credit cards. When we got the receipts, we saw they had charged us a 3.99% card transaction fee!

What? We’ve both lived in New York for years and have never encountered a restaurant charging a card transaction fee! When we asked about it, we were told it’s just their policy and that it’s written on the bill. Yes, it turned out there was a small note about it on the receipt, but who actually reads all the fine print? Most people only look at the total, the tax, and maybe any service charge.

If they’re charging a fee (and that high!) for credit card transactions, they should say so. Tell customers upfront, don’t hide it on the final bill where many won’t even notice until it’s too late. Clearly, this is a tactic to keep customers in the dark; they know people wouldn’t be happy if they found out before ordering.

It’s disappointing. It feels like the owner is not only charging high prices but trying to squeeze out extra from customers through hidden fees. We definitely won’t be going back, and if I ever encounter this again, I’ll deduct the fee amount from the tip—I hope then servers will reconsider working in places that use...