Lunch Report: Bennigan's...

Years ago, I recall Bennigan's as being a leader in the Bar & Grill style chain restaurant, and you could always count on them as a good place to grab some food and a beer - in the same type of format as Chili's, Applebee's and TGI Friday's. I guess about two years ago or so, my wife had a series of bad experiences at the Bennigan's on Cinema Ridge near Ingram Park Mall, and aside from calling the manager as we drove to a competitor, to explain why he lost us as customers, we really had no need to ever call or set foot in the place again. Until this afternoon.I recently purchased one of those fund raiser Entertainment coupon books and figured, if anyone can get $20.00 worth of use in restaurant coupons, we could. So, Bennigan's got their long awaited, much anticipated, second chance from us and, I'm here to tell you, it wasn't bad at all.If you are familiar with this area, you know that right next door to the Bennigan's is Texas Road House. TRH is packed from the minute it opens until it closes, everyday, without exception. Benningan's on the other hand, was seriously empty. Fine by me.

My wife and I both ordered the Guinness Glazed Bacon Cheeseburger. They do serve up some huge burgers, but I have to be honest, I am usually leary of these specialty types of things. For eaxample, I think Applebee's has just totally gone overboard with all the wierd sauces and stuff they put on thier entire menu. At some poiint in time, you just want a burger with a little salt & pepper and some cheese, not all the extra syrup and such.So, we were both surprized when we got these bad boys and bit into them. I have long suspected that the burgers are simply microwaved or something, not actually grilled in the kitchen. Who knows? But however they were made, it turned out to be a pretty descent burger. My wife even started doing her little happy dance in the seat - thankfully no witnesses.

Other than it was good, the only remarkable thing about it was the Guinness Glaze. Good stuff on the burger, and especially good when used as dip for the fries.

The other really important point - and this may have had to do with the fact that aside for one or two folks in the bar, we were the only people in the restaraunt and we had awesome service. Not only did our server attend to our needs, several other people, presumably other servers or floor managers came by to ask how we were doing. Funny, had they done this a few years ago, they would have seen us back sooner.

You are officially free to end your own boycott and give Bennigan's a try.