Benji & Jakes — Restaurant in Town of Bethel

I have NEVER been treated so poorly by wait staff...

My party and I were shocked by the dining experience we had at Benji and Jakes. We had one female middle-aged waitress (unfortunately I did not get her name) who served us - she proceeded to be down right rude when I attempted to order after ignoring me multiple times. When it came time to order another round of pizzas, she belittled me when I asked questions about the pizza sizes and then proceeded to information that contradicted information we had previously be given all while talking down on me (we had been previously told that the pizza we wanted only came in a size small. When I sought to clarify this with her, she told me that all pizzas came in multiple sizes in a slow tone as if I was not able to comprehend this despite what we were told earlier.) The cherry on top was that she got the order wrong, we ordered a margarita only to receive a large.

The pizza itself was ok but the treatment from our waitress put a damper on the rest of the dinner. We were a larger party of 14 but we were respectful of the other customers, kept to ourselves, and only order a few items for the whole table to keep the order as simple as possible for our servers. We opted to get our second round as takeout as we were uncomfortable with the wait staff's treatment. It is the first time I've been treated so horribly and I would NOT recommend this place...

Benji and Jake's is amazing!!!!! From the second you even see the exterior you get such a warm, charming feeling. Upon entering everyone is so friendly and greets you with a smile. It's decorated so well with so many cute touches. There's an upstairs and downstairs, both flows so well and extremely thought out. From the crowd it Seems really popular too (I can understand why). Upstairs has a bar, tables and an incredible outside deck area overlooking the water. The back even has a sandbox. Now, for the food part. The menu had some pretty phenomenal choices. My table ordered chicken, the onion soup, salads and lots of other sides. Everyone was making those food noises that you only hear when they're loving their food. Lol. Nobody looked up from their plates because they were loving loving loving what they got. The owner kept coming over making sure everyone was happy and satisfied. Like where do you get that kind of service these days. Nowhere. But there. It's such a great dinning experience. I highly highly highly recommend!!!! Oh and the onion soup is VEGETARIAN !!!!! It's incredible. Go try it. You'll be thanking me. The whole experience is sooooo wonderful!!! A+++++++ pic is of midway eaten food so it looked a billion times better before. Cheese is off soup etc. It looked so good Nobody could wait to get started for...

I came to Benji & Jake’s around 8:32 PM on a Saturday hoping to enjoy a drink and grab something to eat before their posted closing time at 10:00 PM. As we sat at the bar, which was fully seated including us, the bartender brought us drinks but never handed us menus or asked if we wanted to order food. Out of curiosity, I asked if the kitchen was still open, and her response felt dismissive—as if she had anticipated the question. She simply said the kitchen was closed and walked away.

Initially, I gave the benefit of the doubt, assuming we may have just missed the cut-off. But within minutes, we saw another group who arrived after us receive menus and successfully place food orders. Meanwhile, other patrons at the bar were being served meals, making our experience feel even more frustrating and awkward. We just sat there watching others eat while we were completely ignored when it came to food service.

This wasn’t our first visit here, but unfortunately, it reaffirmed a previous poor service experience. The bartender’s attitude seemed indifferent at best, and honestly, we couldn’t help but feel like our accents may have played a role in how we were treated.

If you’re not a local or don’t sound like one, you might want to lower your expectations. We won’t be coming back...