The Benson Brewery — Restaurant in Omaha

Benson Brewery was clean and yet the long narrow space was cold in character and ambiance. The lights over the bar looked like "bug zapper" lights and the lights with wooden strips looked like something from 1970 NFM. Outside seating was PLASTIC chairs ,yikes. The signage and outward appearance was nothing special, we drove past the place 3 times before we saw it.

If I was to spend this kind of money on a venue I would make sure it is visible from the street and did not blend in to the other store fronts.

We sat at the bar and a male bartender seemed occupied with everything but his job. The new menu, well looked out of place for Benson as did the prices. Indie Music played in the background ran by an Mp3 player, the music flat out sucked and should be thought out better. Never play what you and the staff like to hear.

The staff seemed enveloped in themselves vs the guests coming in. We met the manager ( she seemed proud of the title) wearing what looked like a 7th grade prom dress cut short ( ok it looked like a tutu ). Her words were I cannot wait to be on the other side of the bar to try some of our food, making me think she was not happy to be working. To her credit she was friendly and made small talk. Actually she was the only staff member that did talk or acknowledge us out of 10 staffers! The large kitchen seemed out of place for a "Brewery" with no signage outside letting guests know they had food.

Ok cant wait to taste the beer. I had the "hop" house beer. Try as I may I could not drink it and left 1/4 glass. Terrible after taste even two hours later. The taste reminded me of a Bar Rescue scene where a bartender poured a drink in his boot and drank it. I could only imagine the taste but it had to compare to this swill.

We were given a sample of the "Fruit" beer the nose was amazing and I could taste vanilla, lavender, and maybe a hint of pear? Not bad, should have ordered that.

We cashed out after having the Hop beer and a glass of wine to the tune of $14.00 and were give a five dollar bill and a one dollar bill, really? At least she did not ask " would you like your change back" so we asked to break the five dollar bill and left three for a tip. We were thanked for coming and left.

Once outside we looked at each other and almost in unison said "Pretentious" the only word to describe our experience.

I have to say the staff falls in line with this owners other venues that I have been to. Seems it is just a job to his staff, even though it is a...

DOGS.ARE.NOT.WELCOME! Contrary to numerous guides, promotions and reviews, dogs are not welcome here. Management decided to not pay the $100 annual fee in Omaha to allow dogs with customers in their patio area. They are not interested in customers with dogs. We drove from southwest Iowa and met family members there with one trained dog. The kind waitress seated is but the hostess then told us we were not welcome with a dog. She explained management hasn't renewed the permit that Omaha annually requires.

The profit from our party alone would have paid much of the annual fee so it clearly can't be a financial matter. Oddly the restaurant doesn't seem to want to update information that currently says they welcome dogs. This is an inconvenience to guests who travel there only to discover their policy has been changed but they haven't taken the time to update the information and let restaurant websites know they now are anti-dog.

Fortunately we found a whole variety of excellent restaurants in Midtown that love to host dogs and their owners. In fact, a new dog bar is opening soon - Omaha Dog Bar. Parking was far easier and the area and people much nicer. Lots of folks with their dogs and plenty of play areas too. Seems the Omaha permit wasn't too much for these establishment to manage either.

It's a shame and we'd love to hear them reconsider. We will leave up the negative review until they correct published web information they previously share that has their false information per dog policy. They did not seem to care about the inconvenience they caused...

We had a reservation for 15-18 people at another restaurant in Benson for our daughter's 21st birthday . We showed up and they did not have our tables reserved (even though they were made 2 weeks ago and we had an email confirmation). The person at the front just kept saying that he was sorry that this reservation wasn't communicated to him and there was nothing he could do. I asked him if he could suggest another place in the area that might be able to accommodate our party (since we had people that were already en route) and he said no....not empathic and not willing to do anything to make the situation better.

Luckily we walked into Taco Co. and it was a completely different experience. Here is the review that I posted for them: I spoke to Bailey and told her the situation. Even though they were extremely busy, she told us that she would make room for our party so that we could celebrate with our daughter and friends. She gave us a timeline, made a suggestion about where we could go until our table was ready, and even held our centerpiece for us, which was very much appreciated. Once we were seated, we had an amazing night. Ryan, our waiter, was TERRIFIC, fast service, friendly and a lot of fun! Food and drinks were fantastic and everyone had a great time. Bailey and Ryan, you saved our celebration - thank you both so much and everyone in our party was also grateful and plans to return in the near future!!

In the end, we found a new...