Bennett's Westside Grill — Restaurant in Rocklin

Saturday evening, September 14th, my friend and made dinner reservations here before heading to a concert. We were greeted right away and sat quickly. We were served by a waited named Jazzy who came to us quickly and was very friendly. Having never been to Bennett's before we had a few questions about the menu which she did a nice job answering for us. We ordered the 3 dip appetizer, a couple of Mocktails, and decided we'd have the bone in ribeye for 2 (no price listed on the menu) done medium along with a side of asparagus. Our drinks and appetizer came out quickly and we began to enjoy our food. The lavender lemonade was refreshing but could have maybe used a little more lavender. The appetizer was good and the chips were flavorful, however the pimento cheese dip was just a little too thick for our liking but had good flavor. Someone from the kitchen arrived shortly and had us pick from 3 large thick ribeyes for our entree. We continued on with our appetizer and ordered another mocktail (spicy dream) which was really good. Our entree came out one a carving board pre-sliced for us and smelled delicious. The asparagus was huge and roasted nicely. We began to eat and I took a small piece of meat to eat while my friend began eating the asparagus. The ribeye was very flavorful but as I was eating the piece I took I looked at the rest of the ribeye and noticed it was not done medium but medium well to mostly well done. Jazzy came to check on us and I pointed it out to her. She quickly agreed and said yes it was not cooked like we ordered and quickly went to get a manager to let them know. A friendly looking gentleman in a pink and green Hawaiian shirt named Matthew came over and spoke to us. He too agreed it was not cooked correctly and asked us if we wanted another one. We almost said no but decided since we were only 10 minutes away from the concert we could be a little late leaving and so said yes to having them redo the steak. Mathew took the steak away and came back to let us know it was being redone and that he was going to comp our drinks for us. We said thank you and continued eating the appetizer and the asparagus. Jazzy came over to apologize to us and also told us Matthew was going to comp our drinks. The steak came out after a few minutes and it was cooked medium to medium rare but it was fine. Matthew came over right away to check to see if we were satisfied and we were and told us he was going to take care of our drinks, the steak, and gave us another order of asparagus since we had pretty much finished the first order waiting for the new steak. We told him he didn't need to do all of that but he insisted. Jazzy came over again and checked to make sure we were satisfied and confirmed what Matthew said about taking care of the steak and drinks for us. The steak we had was easily at least a 50 to 60 dollar steak and he was going to comp us for it. It was getting late for us to make it to the concert so we were only able to have a few bites of the steak. We called Jazzy over for the check and boxes for the meal and she came over with the check already prepared. To our surprise Matthew comped our entire meal and we were not charged for anything. We were very appreciative and decided to give Jazzy a hefty tip for her attentiveness and hard work for us. In these times of inflation and soaring prices, it's good to see that a business is not afraid or focused on the money and do what's in the best interest of the customer and of their reputation. No pun intended but well done Bennett's Westside...

We often go to our favorite places on Friday night. We decided to do something a little special tonight for a nice change. Well, that didn't work out to well. My wife had mahi tacos, and I had prime rib at the strong advice of our server. We also got the triple dip appetizer. The highlight of the night was the triple dip appetizer.

The tacos: a slab of mahi versus minced or chopped. Menu said Chipotle aioli but I'm convinced it was lemon juice salsa (which hides a lot of sins). The tacos were served lukewarm and were overpoweringly lemon flavored. Completely masking any other flavors. Pretty awful really. She ate one of the two.

The prime rib: I ordered medium rare and was served something between medium well and well. I worked at a steakhouse and know that the roast is rare and you cook it up by soaking the slice in a pan of hot aujus to the desired level. So our server apologized and brought another serving. This one was indeed medium rare but the way they did that was to to simply not dip it in the aujus at all. So it was dry and actually needed salt. The outside of the roast was seasoned but that flavor didn't penetrate. It wasn't tender like prime rib should be, instead it was dry and dense. Not tough per se, but not enjoyable either.

Unfortunately this restaurant must think they season food perfectly and there is no need for condiments at the table, because tables didn't have any. So I couldn't salt the prime or pepper my salad or the mashed potatoes. The potatoes were actually pretty good. I ate about half my meal and pretty much lost interest.

When our server returned we subtly let him know we were not very pleased with our meals. Maybe next time he said. He quickly brought the bill and never asked us if we wanted any dessert. Just like, yikes, let's move these guests along. We did not really complain but I think he understood we were not very happy about our meals. Back in the day, when I was a server, I would take the appetizer off, comp the drinks, or offer a free dessert. Something to let the customer know I cared. In this instance, nothing. Just a quick $102 check. Did I get $102 value? Absolutely we did not. Will I go back to Bennett's? Not likely. Would I recommend it? Nope. Is the three star rating...

Poor experience. My wife and I came for Sunday brunch (at 9:15am they had just opened) approx. 10 other customer already seated. Staff were unorganized, everyone walking around with no urgency or purpose. Slow to get service, slow to get basic questions answered about the menu. My crab omelet arrived 20min after ordering and my wife's food arrived another 8 minutes later? Waitress blamed the kitchen “they are busy?” Every meal that came out of the kitchen was 1 plate at a time and the staff carried the food around to each table asking if they had order it? Never seen anything like it. The food; I ordered a new item Dungeness crab omelet with their house smashed potatoes -- just a basic looking egg omelet on a plate with potatoes = nothing appealing (could have been Denny’s) Really? -- I thought it was their special -- how about some appeal? Add some crab to the top, avocado or at least some green onions would have gone a long way? The omelet had good flavor but not fantastic, the smashed potatoes were soggy and bland…nothing special. Wife got the corned beef hash which was pretty good (a little wet almost stew like?). The bill came and our $44 special was written up as $54? Had to flag down the waitress for a correction. She again blamed someone else “I asked them to fix this” my question is did you proof it before you dropped it on our table and walked away? We are a neighbors and walked over for brunch and we were very excited and left disappointed. Good Luck Bennett’s, hope...