Benny’s BBQ

Overpriced, cold, dry food. Got the feeling they were nickeling and diming me when I opened the menu and see «sharing is discouraged» and a $ 2.50 plate charge. After the meal I paid with a credit card for a eighty-​some cent premium. I’m surprised they didn’t charge me for electricity and water before I left.
Their website cantankerously complains about the sales taxes that I’m the one paying, and then they rip me off with more fees on top of it. Unbelievable. Screw this place for its mediocre food and grumpy atmosphere.
I don’t usually get so cheap over a meal, but when they bring it up in their freaking menu, they show that greed rules over a good time at this joint.

Overpriced, cold, dry food. Got the feeling they were nickeling and diming me when I opened the menu and see «sharing is discouraged» and a $ 2.50 plate charge. After the meal I paid with a credit card for a eighty-​some cent premium. I’m surprised they didn’t charge me for electric

There are vegetarian options! Which worked out great for me and my fiancé got to be a carnivore as well!
Staff is friendly!

I ate here the other day. I am a person that loves talk radio of all kinds and 1140 AM continuously advertises this place. I had to check it out.
This place had a number of good points. The first is that the place is very clean and I had no problem getting comfortable in the friendly down to earth atmosphere. The server was friendly and attentive making me wish that I could give it a higher rating.
The sides were very good. I had the french fries (crispy and very tasty but requiring salt), the Hushpuppies were very high quality and had full flavor. Finally the Green Beans were good having a nice flavor to them. I got the sampler plate which included a quarter chicken part of a rib wrack and pulled pork. The BBQ sauce was very good and had a unique flavor. The portions were plentiful and the taste was fairly good.
The problem is summed up in one word «dry». All three meats were super dry and required me to drink three gasses of tea and dip the meat in the BBQ sauce in order to better get it down. This is sad as the meat was clearly cooked waaaay too long.
I really wish it had been better. If you are going for the sides and the atmosphere go for it but if you are looking for good BBQ you will do better elsewhere.

We had a groupon for this place, so we took our kids here for some lunch last weekend. When we walked in, my first thought was that it was cute and homey. I was expecting it to be older and more dated, but it was actually pretty nice. They have booths and tables plus a bar. Someone was standing there when we walked in and immediately gave us a choice of where to sit, so we chose a booth. Our server was a sweet older woman (I forgot to get her name) who seemed to know just about everything there was to know about the menu and the place itself. She saw that we had kids, so she brought out coloring pages and crayons for them, then immediately took their order so their food would come out first. I can’t tell you how much waitresses like this are appreciated when going out with small children.
Anyway, on to the food. My husband ordered a combination platter that came with half a chicken and a quarter pound of barbecue beef, and with that he got hush puppies, baked beans, and macaroni and cheese. He said it was awesome, and from the little bit I tried, I’d agree. I ordered a barbecue pork sandwich with collard greens and potatoes au gratin. They have two different types of barbecue sauce at the table, one is a more traditional tomato based sauce and the other is a «Carolina Style» vinegar based sauce. They are both awesome, and as recommended by our waitress, I combined them for an even more unique experience. The collard greens were also quite delicious and the potatoes au gratin had bacon and cheese… need I say more? My kids got hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, french fries, and green beans. I have to say, I don’t expect much when it comes to the kids menu as far as quality goes, but the kids food was good. The macaroni and cheese was the same homemade kind they gave my husband as a side dish, the hot dog was grilled instead of boiled to death, and the french fries were some of the best I’ve had. I mean, ever. SO GOOD.
We decided to try some dessert when I saw they had bread pudding on the menu, because I’m a sucker for bread pudding. When I ordered it, our waitress asked me if I wanted bourbon sauce or lemon sauce with it. I asked which she recommended, and her exact words were, «you can’t go wrong with jack.» Lol. I went with it, and it was AMAZING. We’ll be going back again, for sure.

I’m not very picky with food, but I expected a lot more from this place. I ordered pulled pork with fries and baked beans. The fries were the only thing that I thought were good. The pulled pork was «ok» but really had no seasoning or smokey flavor whatsoever. It tasted exactly like it would if I put a piece of meat in my crock pot and slow cooked it all day and added nothing to it. It was moist but that’s about it. I tried adding the bbq sauce for flavor but that made it even worse. The baked beans tasted sweet and kind of strange. I was really hoping for some mac and cheese as a side but surprisingly they didn’t offer it (I thought mac and cheese was a staple at bbq places). Went because I had a groupon but probably won’t be back.

This is the First time I have ever reviewed on Unilocal,it’s that good. Great craft beer selection to go with some delicious BBQ!

By far one of the worst experiences of my life. I went in with a groupon and showed it to the person who sat us. She said it was still valid. We then put it on the table and the waitress came over and we ordered our food. Once we were done and asked for the check we were told by our waitress that our coupon wasn’t good. There were three of us and the groupon was 6 for $ 60. I will admit I should have been more aware of that so all of the blame is not on the restaurant, but they never told us in the hour or so that we sat in there ordering food, we were not told the coupon was invalid. Then even if that wasn’t enough my food was cold. I ordered the ribs and they were cold to the touch. I will never return and I advise that no one else does either. It was a waste of money.

Worthy. Got carry out at lunchtime, pork BBQ sandwich, fries and hush puppies. Generous portions, fresh food. BBQ is Carolina style, very good!
I noticed they serve local Virginia beers, too. Nice touch. Small, friendly bar area, quick service.

Onion rings were good. That was the highlight of the meal. The waitress forgot to put in out dinner order so we waited 40min before she came and told us she had just put it in. She did apologize which was ok.
The pulled pork lacks smokiness and the meet was dry. Well over cooked. No smoke ring present when long at the bits that has bark. The hush puppies were above average. Enjoyed the green beans but the potato salad is average to below.
My other guest had a BBQ cheese burger. Here the issue was the server not knowing what was on the menu as it had changed recently. The beef patty was over cooked. The bacon was burnt to the point it was a chocolate brown color. Top that with dry pulled pork, cheese, onion ring, cheese, lettuce and tomato. Oh and don’t forget the BBQ sauce on the burger. This was returned to the kitchen as it was not edible.
Overall we won’t be giving this place another chance.

This is an okay BBQ establishment. It’s small, it seems like everyone that works there is very close to each other, so it kinda feels like a family place but I think I’m wrong. I got the pork platter which comes with two sides and two biscuits. For my sides I ended up getting the baked apples and of course the potato salad. The pork was good, I decided to get it chopped instead of shredded. It was kinda tender and not too dry. I didn’t have to drown it in BBQ sauce. However I was just really disappointed with the potato salad. It really didn’t have any flavor to it what so ever, just really really bland. The baked apples were great though. Very tasty and a great combo of cinnamon and apple flavor.
Would I come back here again, maybe. I know I always see that they have a groupon so maybe if I had that I would definitely go. But it just didn’t wow me like some of the other BBQ places in Richmond. They need to step up, especially with their potato salad!

Mediocre BBQ at best. The brisket was more like a roast beef or a pot roast with all that juice; the sides are what makes this place. Large and southern style, just like Mom makes. Try it if you’re in town, if not, just go to Buzz and Ned’s or Alamo.

Now that I am back in Richmond, I am going to try all the BBQ Joints. The decision was made so we went to Benny’s BBQ for lunch. Walking in I noticed their décor is comfortable and nicer than most BBQ places I’ve been to.
I knew coming in I wanted to order the Pork Plate/​Platter (forget the rolls lets get to the pulled/​chopped pork!). I always taste the pork before putting he sauce on it and this pork was cooked just right. At that point when I added the Carolina Sauce things went sideways. I was not impressed with their Sauce. It just tasted strange. For BBQ Joints your Sauce is it, if its not good well… and you might want to offer several different sauces, not just two, Next time I’ll try the other sauce.
The fries were also unimpressive, and while the hushpuppies are tasty they serve them like they will run out by the end of lunch (2 on my plate) (4 I think on the appetizer).
Here is what you need to know, Their Onion Rings are some of the best I’ve ever had!
They could use more batter to cover the onion, but they tasted go so sweet!
Customer Service was excellent…

Popped in today for lunch after hearing about this place, never heard reviews, just that it was an old tradition.
Walked in to a pretty empty place and was seated immediately. Ordered a water and was brought a menu promptly, the woman who served me was polite and too the point. She got the job done. Ordered the pork sandwich, coleslaw on top with baked BBQ beans and hush puppies. Food came out right away. Everything that was going well ended right there. The sandwich was really small with a minimal out of slaw, added some sauce and took a bite. Wow, it’s dry and has zero flavor. All I tasted was bun and faint BBQ sauce. It’s really dry. Tried the beans, honestly a can of Bush baked beans have more flavor. Hush puppies are delicious though. I’d eat those again but I’m not going to go back so I’ll just forget about them. Didn’t finish the meal, it’s not wort bit to choke down the food.
Lastly, when I paid with my credit card I was billed an additional 2% for using a card. Come on! It’s 2014, get with it.
I’m giving them two stars because the place is really clean and the service was prompt, it really should only get one. A lot better BBQ in the city, this one needs to give it up.

I come here often. I always get the same thing… Barbeque platter. Service is always great and so is the BBQ. I think it is the best in town. I like the Carolina BBQ sauce. With hush puppies and country style slaw. You can’t go wrong.

I enjoy this BBQ restaurant. I think their sauces are excellent. It’s one of our really good BBQ restaurants. The BBQ is always consistent, it’s moist, not dry and always prepared well. Their sides are all good! Love the cold slaw and the greens are great. I have been there more than any other BBQ restaurant in Richmond. So, bottom line, good BBQ, terrific NC sauce and always tasty sides, what’s not to like. Good tea. Always friendly service!

After hearing several people rave about this place I bought a Groupon and finally went there for dinner with my son. Wow… I should have read the reviews of this place on Unilocal first.
1) Service: Was less than friendly. It took a lot to get the waitress and hostess to crack a smile. Maybe they’re worried about their jobs if this place doesn’t make it. It also took quite a while to get served; longer than I would have suspected giving enough time to fry the potatoes, throw a slap of ribs on the grill to heat up and put the items on a plate.
2) Food: We had a basket of onion rings ($ 7.75), bbq pulled pork sandwich combo (French fries and green beans) ($ 9.00), and a half a rack of ribs and pulled pork platter with fries, 2 biscuits, and sliced baked apples (~$ 22).
The onion rings tasted like they were home made. I think they need either a new recipe or go to Sysco and get better frozen onion rings. They appeared to be battered on premises. The batter was missing *something* but not sure what. It tasted like plain flour and water mix with NO seasoning at all. If they had some seasoning salt and maybe beer in the batter it would surely have helped. They were also pretty greasy which tells me either the oil was old or not hot enough.
I am very particular on my ribs. These were just not very good! Very chewy, tough, dry and not flavorful. I think most of us like ribs that fall off the bone but don’t taste pre-​boiled. These were far from ‘fall off the bone’ tender. There were about 6 ribs on my son’s platter.
The pulled pork on the platter and on my sandwich was tough and dry. There was a generous portion on the platter. The pulled pork sandwich was disappointing. The top of the hamburger bun was crisp as if it had been placed in the oven or on the grill. I don’t like ‘crunching’ into a pulled pork sandwich (except for the crunch of the coleslaw).
The green beans… not very memorable… I can honestly say there wasn’t much to remember about them compared to a place like Famous Dave’s or even Dickies.
The French fries came out steaming hot. These fries are battered. Some people like fries like that. I don’t. For me, just put the cut potatoes in the oil and get them crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. It was a generous portion both with the platter and with the sandwich.
There were two positives: the baked apples were very good and I really liked their bbq sauces… one being a Carolina mustard/​vinegar sauce with a kick.
Thank goodness for the Groupon. In *my* opinion there’s lots of MUCH better BBQ places around town than Benny’s. This would have cost about $ 40 and that was only with drinking water.
Based on some of the good reviews I’m wondering if something has changed over the year with the management, cooks (I hesitate to use the word chef), or perhaps something else.
With the disappointing food, what I felt were relatively high prices, and slow and not very friendly service I won’t go back.

Horrible customer service. After ordering my to go food and paying for it, I see on my final receipt that there was a 2% surcharge. I have no problems paying a surcharge if they list it or tell you about it prior to charging my cc.
After reviewing my cc I see there was a charge as minor as 50c. I asked the owner about the charge. He mentioned switching vendors and claimed that it’s a standard charge. I agreed but advised that this should be explained to the customer prior to charging my card. The owner held his ground. I will not be going back. Mediocre food.

This place used to be pretty good. Don’t know what magic ingredient they left behind, but its not the same. BBQ is ok. Service is ok. Sides are so so. Pork is pulled or chopped so thats different.
You can do better.

I came here for lunch today with some co-​workers and it was my first time. Apparently this place used to be located in another location that was very popular among the locals and it was a BBQ favorite. If my new job wasn’t located near this small shopping center, I would have never known about it or even found out about it online. It was fairly crowded and food had a wonderful aroma to it.
Lets start of with where I have had BBQ from before. I have had BBQ from Buzz and Neds several times and also some authentic pork BBQ sandwiches from North Carolina. I think this place has the BEST BBQ out of my experiences. I got the pork pulled BBQ with sauce, fries and baked beans. The pulled pork was very good especially with the sauce on it. The sauce was the most delicious BBQ sauce; it was sweet and a little tangy and too vinegar-​y. Also try adding their special hot sauce to it if you like it a little spicy.
The only downside to this place is their location (in Bön Air in South Side) which is a little far from where most people live and the service was extremely slow for us. The prices were about average, about 8 bucks for a bbq sandwich with a side. I will definitely try to come again here for lunch and try their ribs next!

Nice place, in a strip mall. Had onion rings for an appetizer, and they were the 2^nd best we’ve had in Richmond (O’Tooles are the best). My wife had chicken, and said it was a little dry. I had the ribs, and they were okay, from a taste standpoint. My idea of awesome baby back ribs are those where the meat will literally fall off the bone. You had to chew the meat off of these bones. The mac-​n-​cheese side dish was great. I might give this place another try.