Goodbye, Bennigans

See Post #4.

And #7.

Well phuck. They had a really good chicken spinach salad. Admittedly I’ve only been there twice in the past decade, but they had a really good chicken spinach salad.

Enjoy,
Steven

And #24.

The company that owns them also owns Steak & Ale. My husband and I like Steak & Ale…nice date night restaurant.

:frowning:

Yes, but see, people weren’t taking it on themselves to want to wear more flair.

God, I love that movie.

I agree Bennigans’ made some good food, but I just can’t feel sorry for the demise of a chain where the menu is full of cutsie names for the food and drinks like “Bennigans’ Blarney Blast.” Oh, and the “Irish” designation. Please. Bennigans’ is about as Irish as the pope.

My wife and I went to a Bennigan’s once. It was so loud we couldn’t hear each other talk. We never went again.

It’s kind of funny, though, that this is that extremely rare thread where an apostrophe was appropriate, not to say mandatory, in the title - yet was missing. :stuck_out_tongue:

It’s Reverse Week here at the Dope!

(Of course, we can actually post, so that makes it reverse week all by itself. :smiley: )

That’s ok, Irish are the last group that can be openly mocked and nobody complains. I always wondered where the Ethinc Theme resturants were for everyone else when I was a kid. Why couldn’t you pop into Goldfarb’s and have some Cheezy Potato Yarmulkes or into LaQueesha’s and have some Double Bacon Ghetto Poppers. :wink:

I’m another one who liked Bennigan’s. They made a mean Loaded Potato Soup. Gawwwwwd, I miss that…

Well, we have Outback steakhouse, which is faux-Australia themed and you can get a drink called the “Wallaby Darned.”

And Max’s Italian Beef in Chicago has Ghetto Fries (fries with cheese hot wing sauce and onions on them).

I wouldn’t even know the difference between a Bennigan’s and a Houlihan’s.

Too young for Sambo’s I guess.

Dem’s fightin’ words at a Houlihan wedding!

Ugh.

I have a feeling I know why some of them might be closing. The Bennigan’s near my old apartment had the most notoriously bad service imaginable. I’ve had to wait around for a host to take me to my seat for five minutes at a time before. The bar is usually jumping, and it’s also one of the saddest places I know. I don’t know a lot of people around here who say to their friends: “Hey! Let’s bypass all the fun nightclubs and the good bars downtown and go have fun at Bennigan’s!” The only people who do are going to the single bar right outside county limits that still allows smoking within, with the result that it’s a bit difficult to see through the perpetual haze in the bar.

Naturally, the bar is where you have to go to pick up takeout food, which is pretty much the only thing I get there.

I tried eating dinner there a few times in the last year. Their fresh green beans were canned, their food was all even greasier than you could reliably expect, and many’s the time I’ve considered that the Denny’s next door might have been a better option.

However, their broccoli bites are a friend’s personal favorite dish and I’m going to miss their buffalo wings and potato skins. And the Monte Cristo, while I’ve never eaten one myself, always reminds me of an old departed friend. :frowning:

Hmmm. And they declair bankruptcy just before a payday.

Except for tips everyone’s been working the last couple of weeks for free.

The Bennigan’s Monte Cristo is indeed a gift from the gods. The gods of cardiac surgery, to be sure, but ohmigod! I’ve only had it twice. I ordered it when everyone else was there for ice cream, and I took home at least half for my teenaged son, and I still suffered heartburn for 12 hours. But oh, so tasty! I think I’m going to have to blow the diet one last time before they disappear forever.

It wasn’t until recently that I knew Bennigans was a real place. I thought it was a made-up thing used in Office Space and South Park.

I have a soft spot for Bennigan’s. When one opened up in my hometown back in the early-to-mid-'80s, I was about 14 and this seemed like the cool place to go for a fun meal. They had great nachos and chicken fingers and virgin frozen daiquiris and stuff like that. To our inexperienced, unworldly eyes, it felt like a “real restaurant,” and one that was affordable enough for a young teenager. This was not an easy thing to find in my upscale Long Island community, so Bennigan’s became the de rigeur joint for birthday parties and post-theatrical performance celebrations.

Haven’t been in one since college, but I kinda liked knowing they were around.

I swear to God, the next person who says “Bennigans” is gonna get pistol whipped!

Hey, Farva!