Ben Moore's Cafe

This place is "kick your ass" good. The bacon blue cheese burger is a must. The fish and chips is amazing. The ambiance kinda blows. But compared to Spar Cafe McMenimens this place is awesome! The manhattan I drank was awesome too.

A note: Based on my most recent experience, Ben Moore's would receive 1 star. But I'm rating the restaurant based on the two times I've been there, which are described below.

My boyfriend and I went yesterday to check out a special they had - "Free dinner with purchase of alcohol". It sounded like a good deal. The food was set up buffet-style (spaghetti and meatballs, rolls and fruit) right inside the door. Hungry and thirsty, we walked into the bar to find someone to buy a drink from. It was crowded and there were no employees to be seen. After wandering around for a bit, trying to decide whether to sit down or wait at the bar for someone to come back, we ended up at the bar. Eventually an overworked, grumpy bartender showed up. He took the order of a woman who showed up after us, then the order of a man who showed up after us. When the man pointed to us and said "They were here before me", the bartender looked at us for a moment and then began tidying up the bar. There we about 5 other people in line, and we stood there for several more minutes. Then the bartender left. We went to look at the food again to see if it was worth staying for. I decided to try a piece of spaghetti to see if it was overcooked or not. Of course, I dropped it into my hand right as the disgruntled cook walked in with meatballs. He addressed me as though I'd stuffed a big handful into my mouth:

Cook: You have to have a plate to eat here.
Me: Oh, someone is finally talking to us.
Boyfriend: The bartender wouldn't take our order.
Cook: You have to wait your turn.
Boyfriend: We did, but there's no one to order from.
Cook: Just wait your turn.

So we left. I don't recommend going to "free dinner Monday", if they even still have it. They are highly understaffed and the staff they have are rude. If you're really hungry, patient, don't mind crowds and only have $5, go for it. But I thought I was all those things and it was a big flop.

We also saw 4 other people leave after trying to order, unsuccessfully.

--------------------------------------------------­-

Okay, on to why I'm giving this restaurant three stars.

I went here a few months ago and some of the food was really good (some, not so much). The salad was iceberg lettuce with watery dressing - yuck. I ordered chicken cordon bleu for an entrée and it was surprisingly good. 4 stars good. My boyfriend's dish was equally tasty, but I don't remember what it was. When we asked what they had for dessert we were told "today we have vanilla ice cream". It should have been a red flag, but we ordered it anyway. It tasted like it had been in the freezer for a year. Service was spotty, but the waitress was nice. We were seated in a room at the back of the restaurant that others have spoken of in reviews. It was dark with a fish tank and possibly some insulation rolls in the corner. I was looking forward to a return visit - until the "free dinner Monday". I will not be returning to Ben Moore's. Even if I like the food, I make it a point of not patronizing businesses where the employees are snobs.

We found Ben Moore's staff to be very rude and unprofessional.  We had purchased a $10 gift certificate online to be used at Ben Moore's.  The certificate said it was good for lunch, so we came on Saturday around noon, and the server informed us that this was "brunch", not "lunch", and therefore was invalid, in a very rude way.  We then came by in the early afternoon and was told that they "just don't accept gift certificates in electronic format, even though the website that we bought it from said that they would.  So, finally, we went and printed it out, and by that time, their "lunch" was over, and they STILL refused to take it.  We are never going to patronize this business, which is a shame, as it is such a beautiful, historic place.