bennett's chop & railhouse

disappointed : /. we had driven over to st. paul on mother's day for a nice dinner, and sadly one of our all time favorite restaurants was full. we had read some decent reviews ofbennett'sc&rh as a "neighborhood gem" so we opted to try it and got there at 5:45 or so. we arrived, got seated in a quiet booth which was nice and our beverage order taken. that is the last really good thing i can say about bennett's, due to the service, other than my filet with bearnaise was very good when it finally got to our table -- that will be the only nice thing i will say about our experience there. it took at least 45minutes to get our appetizers. meanwhile, we were not offered our salads or bread in the meantime waiting for our apps to arrive, and they were decent fortunately but not great. then it took longer to get our entrees and more beverages and the service was slow, and not attentive to our table at all. even after waiting a very long time for our food for which our waitress apologized ( i felt sort of sorry for her), we were offered no comps at all after having waited over 45 minutes to get a morsel of food -- that is where they went way wrong imo. no management came over and comped a drink, a coffee or a dessert -- bad, bad, customer service and why these kinds of reviews get written. if i had been that waitress, i would have taken it out of my tips to provide a few small comps. if they had done that, this review would not have been written and we might have given this place a 2nd chance. we go over to that neighborhood a lot for other restaurants but we will not be returning to this "neighborhood gem" not because the food doesn't deserve a 2nd chance but because the service and the management does not. they don't know how to do it right - sorry and it showed.

best service around. i suggestedbennett'sto two friends who live nearby and had never been there. we waited a while to have our drink orders taken due to the place filling up fast. ben, the barkeep, jumped into service and truly was a fantastic waiter. the food was excellent and we felt we got special treatment, but you could tell this man was taking good care of everyone. often one is ignored and the genuine warmth is totally absent in a lot of restaurants. ben @ bennett's, excellent service is your middle name. whoever is in the kitchen, kudos to you too. we will be back.

recent visit. i have been tobennett'sabout 10 times, and, as is my policy, i will continue to go there until things at a particular restaurant are not great.

well, i look forward to my 11th visit, as my 10th was again outstanding, and finally felt compelled to write a review.

as for the place being musty/dark/etc...it is a neighborhood bar feel, but the food is amazing and i enjoyed the "home-y" atmosphere.

you could just order one of the great appetizers (hoser fries, anyone?) and be happy, but do yourself a favor and don't stop! the entrees (horseradish encrusted steak) are awesome!

so a summary--no, it is not an elegant surrounding, but it is very nice, the service and atmosphere were good, and most importantly, the food--some of the best i have had in a while. if you want a nice casual venue and be pleasantly surprised by the food--i give it 2 thumbs up!

food ok, shuttle/customer svc sucks. our group of 4 had dinner atbennett'sbefore heading to the u2 concert this past weekend. food was fine. shuttle driver told us he would pick us up after the concert right where we were dropped off. after the concert there were almost 20 people waiting for the shuttle back. we waited. and waited, and waited. well over an hour and a half. called the restaurant and they kept saying driver had left 15 min ago. when other riders called they got hung up on. well long story short, my husband and i ended up taking a taxi back....cost $40!!!! our friends finally found the shuttle, blocks away from where it was supposed to be. worst way to end the night.....given this extremely poor customer service i will never go tobennett'sagain, and will be telling all my friends to avoid the place too. in this economy, why patronize places that are rude and don't do what they say they will????????

great bar food, dark musty restaurant. i have enjoyed most of the food on the menu atbennett'sand found the family-run business to have good service most of the time. i agree with the comments about happy hour. the horse-shoe bar up against the wall of the tiny place is dark and cramped, and lends very little to a good dining or drinking experience. the policy of offering the specials only to those who suffer at the bar itself vs. the tables located 8 feet from the bar is senseless in light of the fact the tables are mostly empty most days.
there is no mistaking it for a fine dining restaurant, but the food is very good when there is no event going on.

the dining room atbennett'sis a large open space with several round and rectangular wooden tables adorned with white table cloths and a layer of white butcher paper in lieu of placemat

never disappointed and amazing service. my wife and i foundbennett'skind of by accident went we went to vine park brewery. during a break in the brewing we went across the street and i had a pint of guinness and their smoked salmon which is amazing. we've been back for dinner and i take clients there for lunch and i always have a great meal. it's cozy and the people are friendly. it's so unlike all of the "production" places out there.

so one day i took a business partner there and ordered the turkey open face sandwich. i was asking the waitress if it came with cranberry sauce. it didn't unfortunately and i joked with her that turkey isn't complete without cranberry sauce and i told her that everyone wonders why i love the plain cheap cranberry sauce in a can. it's just my favorite. would you believe that when the sandwich arrived it came with a complete can of jellied cranberry standing up on a saucer on the side. she went out and bought it for me!!! that's the kind of placebennett'sis. try it and you will not be disappointed either.

connie. this jhret guy must have went to shamrocks and thought it was bennett's. we use the shuttle for every wild game and if you listen to the driver, he tells you exactly how it works to and from the xcel/ and the food and service are always great. great value and nice people. maybe you had a bad day and blamedbennett'sfor your problems.

great place!. our party of four people chosebennett'schop & railhouse to dine before the fleetwood mac concert at the xcel center on march 3, 2009. the food was wonderful and the staff was fun and friendly. we used thebennett'sshuttle to get to the concert and back. it was a great experience and i highly recommend them. i will be going back there again for sure!

not great. we went tobennett'sbefore the wild game, and we found the food to be very sub-par. my wife had a salad with white lettuce (she expected greens), i had crab legs that were not crisp, the kid's menu really is a regular sized meal. my son's burger was not fully cooked and my older son refused his spaghetti. basically a $60 meal neither of us enjoyed. we did not have time to complain and ruin our wild game.

finally, the shuttle back from the game was at least a half hour after the game had ended. most shuttle are waiting outside after the game.

positive aspects included very friendly wild fans, friendly staff, and nice area.