Ben's Next Door — Restaurant in Washington

I visited Ben's Next Door for brunch on 2/1, and unfortunately this was one of the worse experiences I have had dining at a restaurant. The initial experience was "Ok" at best. We were seated relatively quickly and received our appetizers and drinks after a short wait. As an entree I ordered the salmon and grits and my girlfriend order the catfish and grits which were subpar however the appetizers were good.

Upon receiving my bill I was surprised that the added service fee did not seem to accurately reflect the amount of 20% of our bill and requested our waitress to review it. The manager returned with our bill and was quite rude when I expressed my concern. Although I was proven correct and we were overcharged, she was quite short with us and had a negative temperament.

Nevertheless we received the revised bill, thanked our waitress and left the restaurant. Upon review of my bank account the next day, I noticed an extra charge of $40 added to our final amount and immediately contacted the restaurant to inform them of the discrepancy. The phone listed for the restaurant online was not answering any of my calls after several attempts, these calls were placed around 6 pm during prime business hours.

Upon entering the number in my IPhone, I noticed it was a cell phone number and proceeded to send a text expressing my concern over the bill. To my surprise, someone finally answered via text claiming to be a manager, showed concern and promised to investigate the matter after some initial resistance. I want to further note that the manager, Andre would not pick up the phone but continued to text promising to look into the fraudulent tip addition.

He eventually responded by sending me a picture of the recovered receipt which clearly showed a fraudulent signature added to the bottom of the bill along with the additional $40 tip. The signature was in a women's handwriting which leads me to belief that our waitress added the tip to the bill when we had to leave abruptly.

I expressed to Andre that the signature and handwriting was not mine, the signature was literally not even my name, as well as showed him proof of my ownership of the same card used to make the transaction. Andre promised to review the evidence with his "boss" and get back to me regarding a resolution.

It has now been 2 days, I requested an update on the matter and Andre has not responded to any of my messages or phone calls since. I literally do not understand how such an act can be taken so lightly. To have one of your employees literally steal from a patron after we visited and paid our bill in good favor and show no urgency to resolve it shows me that those in charge simply do not care about customers. To be black-owned, serving black people and to lose trust over these kind of shady things really puts a bad taste in my mouth.

I support black-owned business intentionally and faithfully. Unfortunately, I will not be giving Ben's Next Door or any associated business any more of my business. You lose trust and don't do right by honest people. You lose the people...

UPDATE:

I was finally contacted by the manager's at Ben's yesterday evening and I must say, THEY STOOD ON BUSINESS. They apologized for my negative experience, issued a refund for the extra $40 and ensured that a investigation would be done into the fraudulent tip issue.

S/o to Tia and Jay, they showed concern and understanding in a real way. They even offered two free entrees on my next visit. I can confidently say this place has good leadership. Looking forward to receiving my refund and visiting again in the...

TOURISTS AVOID THIS RESTAURANT Me and my partner decided to head here after trusting the reviews we saw yet we were hugely disappointed with the entire experience and regret this choice massively. We went for the supposed “happy hour deals” , the menu stated that draught beers were $5 however we received bottles even though other customers in the establishment had draught pint sized beers. We ordered the happy hour food, there were no burger sliders for my partner so the waitress explained there would be a burger as a SUBSTITUTE so he went for that, I ordered the chicken tenders and was told they come with fries.

Our food arrives on dirty plates delivered not by our waitress but another member of staff, everyone else’s food in the place was delivered in baskets along with serviettes. Ours looked like it had been quickly rushed and not served correctly on random plates. At this point our drinks had still not been served.The 4 chicken tenders I received were BURNT and tasted awful and arrived with no fries even though we were told they would. When we asked for the bill the total came to an extortionate amount WAY OVER the happy hour prices that were outlined on the menu, they tried to charge us around $70 for 2 tiny meals and 2 bottles of beer. My partner immediately flagged this with the waitress. He had to go inside to deliberate with them why the bill was so high as everyone was avoiding us, as I’m sure they were aware of the overcharging, the waitress refused to acknowledge there was a problem. She had charged us way over the expected price and was not willing to change this which was so disappointing. After much back and forth my partner managed to get some money taken off but not before the waitress physically PUT HER HANDS on his shoulders and told him “I’m not taking any more money off, understand?”

We find this to be incredibly rude, confrontational and like intimidation tactics we’re trying to be used to force us to overpay for our meal. My partner felt incredibly dismissed, embarrassed and fooled by the whole establishment. The food was absolutely awful, the drinks were late and not as advertised and the staff were not helpful. We truly believe we got fleeced as we were tourists even though we came here with great intentions.

Please avoid this place, they use the typical tactic of feigned ignorance and over friendly staff to disguise the fact that they are conning tourists. Utterly disappointed in the whole experience, don’t trust the reviews they clearly don’t treat all customers the same.

AVOID....

The word that keeps floating through my head is "overpriced." This applies to pretty much every aspect of this place. I understand that they are in a pricy part of town (I can't even imagine what their rent must be like), but for that very reason, a better bar should go here. This place requires VAST improvements (and it CAN improve, it will just take work). The food was sub-par, NOT worth what they charged. When I pay that much for food, I expect plating that suggests a passionate chef de cuisine is in the back, crafting art in his own way every day. I've had dishes at Denny's or Shake Shack that looked similar. The food itself left much to be desired. I had the meatballs (overcooked) and a dish of shrimp (boring). I could get the same food for WAY less at Subway. The service was absolutely abhorrent, worthy of closure. My bartender was okay (nothing to write home about), but the bartender of the woman next to me had a SERIOUS attitude problem. He did not speak a word to her, and actually rolled his eyes when she put in her order. This woman contacted the manager, and the manager's way of dealing with it was to send the bartender to the woman, not to apologise, but to make excuses for his terrible attitude. It seemed that all of the staff had an attitude. I can only wonder how this place has stayed open for as long as it has. Lowered expectations from locals, perhaps, or just the convenience of the location. Regardless, the only good things I have to say about this place are that the happy hour specials are good, and the drinks are alright. Maybe I went on a bad night (I went on a Friday night; Hint: you DO NOT have a bad night on a Friday night), but I don't think I can honestly recommend this place. The ONLY way I could ever consider recommending this place to anyone is if several things happen: 1) the staff are trained on customer service, 2) the chef de cuisine (if there is one) steps up his game for the prices they're charging with regards to presentation and quality, and 3) the floor managers are trained on how to properly handle situations with customers. Otherwise, I can only pray for the locals and patrons of The Lincoln Theatre that a better bar...