I arrived at the place during a power shortage. The manager decided to give the already-cooked food for free and the service was great despite the adversity.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Erlmae Blienchy
It was good 👍🏽
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Spicy Half Smoke
Emmett Angle
What a great DC institution! Had the Chili Half-Smoke and the French Fries, both of which were delightful. Service was super quick, and I really enjoyed the music too. The old-school decor was the chili (no pun intended) on top! Highly recommend.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
A. David
Hate me but here it goes: An extra star for the sake of supporting a DC landmark but the food is nothing special, especially considering the unenthusiastic staff and nearby options. A very small $10 burger on a stale bun with a barely a spoonful of their famous chili. Chili cheese fries consisted of a small $9 basket of cheap frozen fries topped with a generous amount of a canned cheesewhiz-like product and scant amount of chili that was barely enough to touch the top layer of fries. Overall, if you take away the nostalgia of the long gone founders, you’re left with a place far inferior to even the chains restaurants like Shake Shack or Five Guys. I honestly believe, IMO, that BCB could not win a blind test taste against any $10 or above burger place.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Rossa2m well
This place is beyond trash and I would never or recommend anybody coming here not only are the prices high the food is horrible trash the workers they are very rude and disrespectful and they look very dirty if you ask me it looks like they don't take a bath or wash their hands when they prepare the food doesn't make sense to me why this place is still open just thinking about this place angers me 🗑️🤔 🤢🤢🤮🤮😡🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾
Thomas Fahy
Had a great time visiting Ben's Chili
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Spicy Half Smoke, Chili Fries
Red Legend
Food was great as usual. Haven’t been in for 30 years….. My only complaint is that it’s gotten too white.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kaschet Ragsdale
I love a black owned establishment done RIGHT. The staff was on point, aware, ready, smiling and present. The music was perfect, a mix of old and new. The wait time was none existent. Food came out hot and quick and yes EVERYTHING WAS GOOD. Bacon PERFECT. Restrooms clean and fresh. If I lived in D.C I would be a regular here.
Went to the U Street location. The original location of "Ben's Chili Bowl". Had a Original Half Smoke, consisting of chili, jalapenos, onions, mustard, and ketchup. Took a few bites, and transitioned into. Consuming it, with more onions, Cheddar cheese, mayo, crushed Ruffles Original chips, and kept it southern with. Texas Pete Hot sauce. It was a awetastic, experience!!! 👍👍👍, 👌🤘🤙, 😄😎💯, ❤️😁😝. Also, had a Strawberry milkshake. Excellente, muah, 🥰. Bon Appétit, 😍. Delicioso, 😘.
Wheelchair accessibility: No, stairs.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Half Smoked Sausage
Shane Simpson
Regardless of the location, it is a DC landmark with historical significance and respect that. However, I have continually been disappointed by the food. I just don't get it. Whether it's DCA, Nats game, H ST, or U ST...same mediocre food. Go for the history, pics, or late night vibes and fun but don't expect to be blown away by the food.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 3
Andre Finney
Everything was pretty good
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Peter
I'm sorry DC folk, but I didn't see the amazement of this place. It was ratty, run down, filled w/ questionable ppl, etc. & the food took forever for what was just some dogs, and was meh at best.
We did both the original & spicy Half-Smoke, but were sorely unimpressed. The bun was falling apart on each right away, the chili had no flavor, it was way too messy, not just the chilly but mustard, too, and the sausage didn't blend the flavors together in any way. There was a little bit of heat to both sausages but nothing overwhelmingly hot worthy of calling one the spicy one & the other not. I would suggest making a more mild sausage to offset the spicy one so there would at least be a difference.
The fries were rather dry, and definitely needed a ton of catchup, even though it makes the meal that much messier. The flavor was essentially just Heinz. The cheese also didn't provide any flavor for the cheese fries.
The only really good part was the banana pudding dessert, which was a really nice layered crust, banana slice, pudding, whipped cream style pudding, but it's made from someone else, and was pretty expensive for a little dessert. If I were in DC more regularly, I would try to get it somewhere else if possible.
There are so many food trucks around the city in the daytime that make much better food than this, and if you're out making the rounds of the clubs, I'd find another place to eat than wasting your time on this.
I've been around and had a lot of the hot dog / chili dog / smoked sausage handheld encased meat variants that places make a claim to fame for and this wouldn't crack the top 25 of them.
The food was really good!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Spicy Half Smoke
Great 👍🏿
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I arrived at the place during a power shortage. The manager decided to give the already-cooked food for free and the service was great despite the adversity.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
It was good 👍🏽
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Spicy Half Smoke
What a great DC institution! Had the Chili Half-Smoke and the French Fries, both of which were delightful. Service was super quick, and I really enjoyed the music too. The old-school decor was the chili (no pun intended) on top! Highly recommend.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Hate me but here it goes: An extra star for the sake of supporting a DC landmark but the food is nothing special, especially considering the unenthusiastic staff and nearby options. A very small $10 burger on a stale bun with a barely a spoonful of their famous chili. Chili cheese fries consisted of a small $9 basket of cheap frozen fries topped with a generous amount of a canned cheesewhiz-like product and scant amount of chili that was barely enough to touch the top layer of fries. Overall, if you take away the nostalgia of the long gone founders, you’re left with a place far inferior to even the chains restaurants like Shake Shack or Five Guys. I honestly believe, IMO, that BCB could not win a blind test taste against any $10 or above burger place.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
This place is beyond trash and I would never or recommend anybody coming here not only are the prices high the food is horrible trash the workers they are very rude and disrespectful and they look very dirty if you ask me it looks like they don't take a bath or wash their hands when they prepare the food doesn't make sense to me why this place is still open just thinking about this place angers me 🗑️🤔 🤢🤢🤮🤮😡🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾
Had a great time visiting Ben's Chili
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Spicy Half Smoke, Chili Fries
Food was great as usual. Haven’t been in for 30 years….. My only complaint is that it’s gotten too white.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I love a black owned establishment done RIGHT. The staff was on point, aware, ready, smiling and present. The music was perfect, a mix of old and new. The wait time was none existent. Food came out hot and quick and yes EVERYTHING WAS GOOD. Bacon PERFECT. Restrooms clean and fresh. If I lived in D.C I would be a regular here.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Went to the U Street location. The original location of "Ben's Chili Bowl". Had a Original Half Smoke, consisting of chili, jalapenos, onions, mustard, and ketchup. Took a few bites, and transitioned into. Consuming it, with more onions, Cheddar cheese, mayo, crushed Ruffles Original chips, and kept it southern with. Texas Pete Hot sauce. It was a awetastic, experience!!! 👍👍👍, 👌🤘🤙, 😄😎💯, ❤️😁😝. Also, had a Strawberry milkshake. Excellente, muah, 🥰. Bon Appétit, 😍. Delicioso, 😘.
Wheelchair accessibility: No, stairs.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Half Smoked Sausage
Regardless of the location, it is a DC landmark with historical significance and respect that. However, I have continually been disappointed by the food. I just don't get it. Whether it's DCA, Nats game, H ST, or U ST...same mediocre food. Go for the history, pics, or late night vibes and fun but don't expect to be blown away by the food.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 3
Everything was pretty good
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I'm sorry DC folk, but I didn't see the amazement of this place. It was ratty, run down, filled w/ questionable ppl, etc. & the food took forever for what was just some dogs, and was meh at best.
We did both the original & spicy Half-Smoke, but were sorely unimpressed. The bun was falling apart on each right away, the chili had no flavor, it was way too messy, not just the chilly but mustard, too, and the sausage didn't blend the flavors together in any way. There was a little bit of heat to both sausages but nothing overwhelmingly hot worthy of calling one the spicy one & the other not. I would suggest making a more mild sausage to offset the spicy one so there would at least be a difference.
The fries were rather dry, and definitely needed a ton of catchup, even though it makes the meal that much messier. The flavor was essentially just Heinz. The cheese also didn't provide any flavor for the cheese fries.
The only really good part was the banana pudding dessert, which was a really nice layered crust, banana slice, pudding, whipped cream style pudding, but it's made from someone else, and was pretty expensive for a little dessert. If I were in DC more regularly, I would try to get it somewhere else if possible.
There are so many food trucks around the city in the daytime that make much better food than this, and if you're out making the rounds of the clubs, I'd find another place to eat than wasting your time on this.
I've been around and had a lot of the hot dog / chili dog / smoked sausage handheld encased meat variants that places make a claim to fame for and this wouldn't crack the top 25 of them.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Virginia's Banana Pudding
Excellent service and food
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Loading...