Beno's Cafe Restaurant Lava Lounge

5 Average

Food  4      Ambience  2      Service  7      Value  7     

Breakfast at Benos on Sunday was pretty disappointing. The place was packed, so I wondered if the kitchen staff were struggling with the numbers, but other reviews seem to indicate our experience was pretty typical. Vegetarian big breakfast was fine, but I'm not that keen on a whole pile of fried onions to fill up on. Everything was a bit on the cool side, though their sautéed mushrooms were outstanding.

My companion's scrambled eggs came out with a bunch of shell in it. We didn't bother complaining, as he ate the rest and found them tasty (though also a little cool). Stacks of bacon, just a little under cooked. Overall it was a disappointing meal, but fairly reasonably priced if you're looking for something big and filling.

Apr 02, 2012 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  5      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  2     

Service was atrocious! Staff are condescending, rude, arrogant, have little to no customer service skills and frankly should not be interacting with patrons on a face-to-face platform.

Started immediately with waitress who took our order. My boyfriend asked for bruschetta for entree, parma and fish and chips for our main. Waitress asked whether we'd like the bruschetta to come first or with rest of meal. He said that was preferable however it wasn't a big deal - whatever was easiest for the chef.

This no more than 20 year old proceeded to give us a lesson on their ordering system. She said "well if I put a 1 here then it means it comes first... and if I put a 2 here then it means it comes after the entree... what do you want me to do?" Her tone was extremely condescending and that is honestly putting it lightly.

We finished our entrees, no one came to clear our plates or cutlery for at least 25 mins. It wasn't until our mains came that we had to move the dirty dishes ourselves and then this other waitress asked "do you want new cutlery?" - really!

We asked for another round of drinks - coke and lemon, lime and bitters. We waited at least 15 mins. By that time we had had enough! All in all; services was awful, food was nothing special, ambience was non-existant and it was very overpriced. Definitely do not recommend this "restaurant"!

Dec 11, 2011 

4.3 Below Average

Food  4      Ambience  2      Service  6      Value  5     

My husband's meal had a caterpillar living amongst the greens (lemon pepper calamari), and while we accept the explanation that lettuce etc is washed 3 times & sometimes these things happen, it leaves a very poor taste in one's mouth not to have been offered even a free drink. No-one likes to see live insects crawling across the table from a meal they've just eaten! But no... sadly... poor management.

Carbonara was overly rich; Chicken Risotto was quite bland and too gluggy; and as my husband said re: his fisherman's basket, he'd didn't want seafood cake! The batter was horribly thick. The Chef seemed to be having either a particularly clumsy night or tanty as pots went loudly flying on at least three occasions; and to add insult to injury, their eftpos wasn't working correctly. I had recommended the venue having previously had good experience but that will be the last time I dine there, and the Lava Lounge holds no interest for me, so I guess you can count me out as a future customer.

Aug 16, 2011 

2.5 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  2      Service  3      Value  3     

Unimpressed with breakfast at Beno's today. Mushrooms were charred to the point of inedibility and there was a spot of mould on the toast. We pointed these out to the waitress who took the plates away and eventually came back saying she 'checked and it's fine'. It wasn't fine! It was very disappointing. In addition to the terrible mushrooms and mouldy bread, the scrambled eggs were overdone and the tomatoes were floury. We were offered a round of drinks on the house, which we declined because the coffee was also only average at best. We paid full price and left very disappointed.

Jul 16, 2011 

4.8 Average

Food  7      Ambience  5      Service  3      Value  4     

Went to Beno's for my 22nd bday dinner a few nights ago, group of 16 girls and guys, service was terrible at first. The staff all had confused looks on there faces when I tried to organise a drinks tab, breads and entree dishes. My friend wanted a mocktail and they said we don't do that let me ask my boss.(what restaurant doesn't do non-alchoholic mocktails!) she returned to say we can do a fruity type drink.

The staff were young, some were friendly and others seemed spaced out. Its funny they got just under $500 out of us by the end of the night, they could have at least given outstanding services.

Mar 13, 2011 

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  3      Service  2      Value  1     

Been three times and each time it has gotten worse and worse! When we complained we were given a discount which we don't really believe we did get anything discounted and really what should have happened was that the meal (since we didn't eat it) was free!

Sep 15, 2010 

4.8 Average

Food  4      Ambience  8      Service  4      Value  3     

We used to eat here quite regularly, but lately the quality of everything has declined. The food isn't as tasty and the meal sizes seem much smaller. Used to be good value for money, but this is no longer the case.

Aug 18, 2009 

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  2      Service  2      Value  2     

What ever happened to the original Benos, years ago when the food was great, a tall chef that used to work at the old Dig Tree was running the kitchen, its never been the same. Get him back and I will come back to. p.s still alot better than others down the road.

May 12, 2009 

3 Below Average

Food  2      Ambience  3      Service  3      Value  4     

Disappointed in how steak was cooked - medium rare requested but received well done. Service was ordinary and husband had finished his meal (also ordinary but he was hungry) so the offer to cook another steak seemed pointless as I'd be eating alone. Refund given on the steak. Lacked ambience. Value - average.

Dec 10, 2008 

7 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  6     

Our group went to Beno's for lunch. The service and food were great. The alcohol prices were acceptable and I would recommend Beno's on these points, however, the soft drink prices were grossly over-inflated in our opinion. A snide way of separating cash from customer.

We could see no reason to justify a glass of 'coke' cordial costing $4.00, the glass held less than a can and was served from one of those pistol servers. The colour wasn't even right. $4.00 for a soft drink is a turn off for family groups and for those who are trying to be responsible drivers by partaking of the light drinks. One solution would be to sell soft drinks by the can for a 'fair' price and avoid losing the customers goodwill.

So go to Beno's, enjoy the food, ambience and alcohol, but avoid the soft drinks as the markup by Beno's is, in our opinion, inexcusable. I hope they adjust their prices soon. Thanks.

Jun 08, 2008