Ben Franklin's Taproom & Grille — Restaurant in Slippery Rock Township

Understaffed for a Monday night, waitress no concept of requested cooking terms, no prices or ounces per serving on draft list, soggy brown fries when I SPECIFICALLY requested golden/crispy. Decent prices, good food (except for limp soggy fries), SUPER BRIGHT WHITE FLORESCENT LIGHTING AT NIGHT made me feel like I was IN A WALMART! (FLORESCENT tubes totally exposed; no covers, etc). NO sauce with dry lamb tacos, no side with hubby's chicken/waffles, even if they were plopped prettily onto his plate (no garnish - nothing). Even after complaining NICELY, and explaining NICELY to the server, she said she brought it to the chef's ("cook's") attention, but cook/chef never came to check with us, nor any OFFER of any sort of for any kind of discount. It was apparent that the place doesn't mind losing a future customer, or was too busy to care.

UPDATE 4/2024 Hubby and I stopped for lunch. This was our 2nd (and LAST time there). I ordered a regular burger. Waitress asked me if I wanted fries, chips, or coleslaw for my side. I said fries. She asked me if I'd like ranch with them and I said no (because I feared a hidden charge for it). I ordered my burger medium rare. It came out well done. Whatever. I didn't say anything, and I ate it. Hubby had lamb tacos (no complaints).

We had ordered two beers from the happy hour menu sign that was on the table. When our check came, hubby noticed that we were charged full price for the beers, so we called the waitress over. She came back with a new check.

Then "I" looked at the check and noticed that I was charged $1 over the menu price for my burger ($13.95 vs. $12.95), so we called the waitress back again. She told me that $13.95 is correct because there's a one dollar upcharge for CHIIPS! Well, why didn't you tell me that when I ordered?! (Thank God I didn't order ranch - that might've been $2.00 extra!) I mean, they're both potatoes but chips are less bulky and thinner, so they cook quicker. WTH????

The least they could do is show the upcharges on the menu! If not, then when you order! I feel like I was taken advantage of, or "tricked". TIP: CHECK YOUR BILL CAREFULLY...

We were visiting New Castle, we tried out the Benjamin Franklin Taproom (Saturday, January 12), at around 5:45pm. It had some strange signs about, like a sign saying you will get kicked out for swearing. The server was nice and came frequently. She informed us that they were out of elk burgers and prime ribs, which was strange for an early Saturday night. But what was worse was the food. We ordered for appetizers the Hubcaps, which were supposed to be (according to the menu) "fried potato skins," but it was a breaded ball of mashed potatoes, which was OK. We also ordered "Syrian Bread" for $4.98. The bread tastes like a hamburger bun, they were room temp, and it was served with cold garlic butter. Not impressive. I ordered the Filet Steak sandwich, which was apparently "Syrian Bread" hoagies with very bland cubes of steak. We discovered all the bread was "Syrian." Unimpressive. My friends ordered different sandwiches and none of us really liked our food (fish sandwich, cheeseburger, and two other sandwiches).

What was impressive was their beer selection, which was very eclectic and very reasonably priced (you can buy to go). The only minus is that they are stocked in a horrible way with the lip (or base -- the bottom part that prevents the bottles from spilling out when the door is opened). The problem is that the lip is not very high, so it is very common for the bottles to spill out and break. This happened to us and the server told us this was...

We’ve ordered Togo twice before so decided to go eat at the location tonight for the first time. First, the one drink we ordered was absolutely disgusting. It was literally a watered down vodka slush. No flavor at all. None, the drink was replaced with a second which was also undrinkable. We had to ask for a water three separate times before receiving it. Had to ask for ranch twice and didn’t receive that till meal was almost complete. Needed a refill on sodas and also waited until the meal was complete before receiving but that’s not the worst. My 12 year old ordered the filet with double fries and no other side, temperature medium. The filet came out w one side of fries and one side of broccoli. The steak was raw. When we finally got the attention of our waiter to ask for it to be corrected, she brought the manager over. The manager took the steak and asked if we wanted medium or medium well. We reiterated medium. After 20 minutes and us completing our meals, my sons filet was brought back out. This time the filet was not only well done, but burnt. No where near medium. We left to get him McDonald’s. It’s absolutely absurd my child couldn’t get his steak cooked correctly and frankly receiving the burnt steak seemed like an insult. We were nothing but kind during the whole horrible experience. We not only will not be back but will actively encourage others to...