Popped in here for a meal before going to the theatre. Very enjoyable meal. Will go back. Staff very polite and helpful.
John C
We can neither rave nor complain. The food was average but presented well. The service was good. The cocktails were great. Our only gripes would be that the wine selection was grim and the atmosphere could have used some music! Otherwise, this was a reasonable choice of restaurant and, as we were a large group, the staff did well to cope with us and so we were perfectly satisfied with our experience. That's good value!
W2047VQyvonnew
Absolutely brilliant. Very busy on a Tuesday evening and slightly short staffed. However Owen and Lily were amazing - really professional, polite and happy to help. They even put the fan on for me ?. Portions are good, the quality of the food is really good and it's cooked to perfection
Nicky Dainty
I’ve written a review on Trip Advisor which goes into huge detail. Sadly our experience was very poor. If you look at the reviews, they are either very good or very poor. We went on an evening when the restaurant was a third full and the service was poor from start to finish.We sent the wine back as it was wrong. The next bottle arrived and it had an Asda label on!The starters arrived and having told them my husband has a mustard allergy they continued to put a salad dressing containing mustard on his starter. It was sent back.My starter was fried squid which looked like it was out of a bag frozen squid from Asda with tartare sauce which was tasteless.My main was good, pork loin but my husbands seafood tagliatelle was missing seafood and the sauce was like white water. It was sent back. He ordered a steak and chips, simple, no. It was served bleeding on to the plate, it was tough and the mushroom looked a week old. We again complained.The chef eventually came to the table but she was rude, very rude.It was a bad night, for us and she didn’t care. No apology. Nothing.Dietary restrictions: They paid NO attention to my husbands mustard allergy!!!
Tracy F
Absolutely beautiful food and the staff are all lovely and friendly. The owner was really helpful as well as being genuinely lovely and happy to chat with customers. I would highly recommend a visit to this little gem of a restaurant!
Roger Heale
Very poor overall experience. Drinks advertised not available. Slow service, food not served as a whole group, and then wrong dishes provided, which when corrected were of very poor quality. When issues then complaints raised, the manager would not come out from kitchen to try and resolve . In the end we paid what we felt was right without any challenge from the restaurant.
Navigator775174
From the moment we walked in the door we were welcomed in. We came as a family of five and two dogs. The staff were extremely friendly and gave the dogs biscuits. The food was delicious and portion size was generous. We had a lovely evening and was definitely the best meal of the holiday. A big thank you to all.
tomcat401
Rated a 2 because the service was amateur, the wine was labelled from Asda (which I’ve bought but for £6 not £22), some of our food was extremely poor AND they served a dressing with mustard in knowing my husband has a mustard allergy and the chefs poor attitude. It started as soon as we sat down, the wrong wine was delivered to the table, followed with us having to send my husband’s whitebait starter back because they’d served it with a shop bought salad dressing which once checked, contained mustard ? my squid rings were ok, the tartare sauce was tasteless. The replacement whitebait arrived and was fine. I had the pork with mushroom sauce which eventually came to our table after being taken to 2 other tables and being left on the bar. My husbands seafood linguine arrived and looked anaemic. The sauce was runny and thin and tasteless with very little seafood and the pasta was advertised on the window and menu as fresh but it was not so we sent it back. My husband order the steak, medium. When it arrived it was a plate of frozen chunky oven chips, a flat mushroom that looked a week old and steak that was bleeding on the plate and chewy. My husband normally orders a rare steak but this was a step too far. It was sent back. Upon calling the young waiter (in gym wear) he said “what’s wrong now?”. My husband left the restaurant in anger. The waiter took the steak and came back to explain to me that blood was on the plate because it was a medium steak. I asked for the chef, she was apparently busy, however, the other 3 tables had all got their mains. There were no other tables waiting. The chef, who is the owner, marched out of the kitchen to explain, as had the waiter, that there was blood because it was medium steak. I’m sure many people know, you need to rest meat before plating. The chef was rude and had an extremely poor customer service. In true Faulty Towers script she turned to a table next to us and in a raised voice said “how is your meal?”, the reply, simply was “good”. I don’t know what she thought she was gaining. It was a hugely disappointing evening after I had read all of the reviews but I have to say, the food served to us that night did NOT resemble any photos I had seen and wasn’t worthy of being cooked in our home kitchen let alone a restaurant. This is the first bad review I’ve ever written.
Debbie G
Looking at other reviews, it would seem as though it depends when You go as to what you will get. Unfortunately we went on a bad night. We were are party of 13, which had been booked for some time, for the second time running ( we had been last year) they had no beer. The tables were not set, no glasses on the table even though jugs of water were bought out. Wine was ordered, plus a bottle of Prosecco which they also didn’t have. Still no glasses. The order was taken, food bought out in cribs and drabs and not the correct order. The chilli that was eventually bought out was inedible. So sad, this really could be a good restaurant,
anonymousI288
The staff were great, very friendly and attentive. The food was delicious and the portions are big. It had a great atmosphere. One of the few restaurants in Shanklin that stayed open a bit later.
First course- calamari was so burnt it nearly broke a tooth. Nachos were flooded with watery tasteless salsa making everything soggy. We hoped for better 2nd course. Hey Ho. Mushroom tagliatelle was like an oil slick and featured home made foccacio turned out to be a slice of brown bread with no warning regarding this, just plonked on the table. Caesar salad from the 'Specials' board - no parmesan, no croutons and chicken so dry it was inedible. We fed back our comments to our waiter. From 3 meals, 1 happy customer with a nicely cooked gammon. That was it. Nobody came out from the kitchen at any time. No apology for full plates being returned.. The highlight of the evening was the complimentary chocolate mint! As residents of the IOW we will not be returning and will certainly not recommend to family and friends. Very very dissapointing
john baughan
A few days in shanklin and we f ound this great place. Couldn't fault service and food was excellent and portions were generous also keenly priced and a good choice menu. Certainly go again. Food was nicely presented and hot
Resort17305086835
I’ll keep this review to the point. If you like food that is over cooked, you don’t mind bad service and then have to pay at the bar because the owners won’t bring the card machine to the table this is the place for you.
Rob Page
The alarm bells should have rung when a) this place was one of the only places to have tables (lots) and b) 2 of the 3 beer pumps were out of order. During the meal they ran out of red wine (!!!!) and had no Coke (!!!). The food that we had was OK but pretty poor apart from that. Not going back
Colin Early
We were looking for a restaurant that offered a range of menu options and. That ideally would welcome us with a 20month old Labrador. Benjamins Bistro turned out to be the perfect choice. The menu offered a good mix of options and the choices we made were excellent ( sea bass and a gammon steak ). On arrival we were greeted and made to feel very welcome and our order was taken swiftly and arrived equally fast. It was delicious and just the right amount. Thoroughly recommended and fairly priced, we will be going back.
Popped in here for a meal before going to the theatre. Very enjoyable meal. Will go back. Staff very polite and helpful.
We can neither rave nor complain. The food was average but presented well. The service was good. The cocktails were great. Our only gripes would be that the wine selection was grim and the atmosphere could have used some music! Otherwise, this was a reasonable choice of restaurant and, as we were a large group, the staff did well to cope with us and so we were perfectly satisfied with our experience. That's good value!
Absolutely brilliant. Very busy on a Tuesday evening and slightly short staffed. However Owen and Lily were amazing - really professional, polite and happy to help. They even put the fan on for me ?. Portions are good, the quality of the food is really good and it's cooked to perfection
I’ve written a review on Trip Advisor which goes into huge detail. Sadly our experience was very poor. If you look at the reviews, they are either very good or very poor. We went on an evening when the restaurant was a third full and the service was poor from start to finish.We sent the wine back as it was wrong. The next bottle arrived and it had an Asda label on!The starters arrived and having told them my husband has a mustard allergy they continued to put a salad dressing containing mustard on his starter. It was sent back.My starter was fried squid which looked like it was out of a bag frozen squid from Asda with tartare sauce which was tasteless.My main was good, pork loin but my husbands seafood tagliatelle was missing seafood and the sauce was like white water. It was sent back. He ordered a steak and chips, simple, no. It was served bleeding on to the plate, it was tough and the mushroom looked a week old. We again complained.The chef eventually came to the table but she was rude, very rude.It was a bad night, for us and she didn’t care. No apology. Nothing.Dietary restrictions: They paid NO attention to my husbands mustard allergy!!!
Absolutely beautiful food and the staff are all lovely and friendly. The owner was really helpful as well as being genuinely lovely and happy to chat with customers. I would highly recommend a visit to this little gem of a restaurant!
Very poor overall experience. Drinks advertised not available. Slow service, food not served as a whole group, and then wrong dishes provided, which when corrected were of very poor quality. When issues then complaints raised, the manager would not come out from kitchen to try and resolve . In the end we paid what we felt was right without any challenge from the restaurant.
From the moment we walked in the door we were welcomed in. We came as a family of five and two dogs. The staff were extremely friendly and gave the dogs biscuits. The food was delicious and portion size was generous. We had a lovely evening and was definitely the best meal of the holiday. A big thank you to all.
Rated a 2 because the service was amateur, the wine was labelled from Asda (which I’ve bought but for £6 not £22), some of our food was extremely poor AND they served a dressing with mustard in knowing my husband has a mustard allergy and the chefs poor attitude. It started as soon as we sat down, the wrong wine was delivered to the table, followed with us having to send my husband’s whitebait starter back because they’d served it with a shop bought salad dressing which once checked, contained mustard ? my squid rings were ok, the tartare sauce was tasteless. The replacement whitebait arrived and was fine. I had the pork with mushroom sauce which eventually came to our table after being taken to 2 other tables and being left on the bar. My husbands seafood linguine arrived and looked anaemic. The sauce was runny and thin and tasteless with very little seafood and the pasta was advertised on the window and menu as fresh but it was not so we sent it back. My husband order the steak, medium. When it arrived it was a plate of frozen chunky oven chips, a flat mushroom that looked a week old and steak that was bleeding on the plate and chewy. My husband normally orders a rare steak but this was a step too far. It was sent back. Upon calling the young waiter (in gym wear) he said “what’s wrong now?”. My husband left the restaurant in anger. The waiter took the steak and came back to explain to me that blood was on the plate because it was a medium steak. I asked for the chef, she was apparently busy, however, the other 3 tables had all got their mains. There were no other tables waiting. The chef, who is the owner, marched out of the kitchen to explain, as had the waiter, that there was blood because it was medium steak. I’m sure many people know, you need to rest meat before plating. The chef was rude and had an extremely poor customer service. In true Faulty Towers script she turned to a table next to us and in a raised voice said “how is your meal?”, the reply, simply was “good”. I don’t know what she thought she was gaining. It was a hugely disappointing evening after I had read all of the reviews but I have to say, the food served to us that night did NOT resemble any photos I had seen and wasn’t worthy of being cooked in our home kitchen let alone a restaurant. This is the first bad review I’ve ever written.
Looking at other reviews, it would seem as though it depends when You go as to what you will get. Unfortunately we went on a bad night. We were are party of 13, which had been booked for some time, for the second time running ( we had been last year) they had no beer. The tables were not set, no glasses on the table even though jugs of water were bought out. Wine was ordered, plus a bottle of Prosecco which they also didn’t have. Still no glasses. The order was taken, food bought out in cribs and drabs and not the correct order. The chilli that was eventually bought out was inedible. So sad, this really could be a good restaurant,
The staff were great, very friendly and attentive. The food was delicious and the portions are big. It had a great atmosphere. One of the few restaurants in Shanklin that stayed open a bit later.
Restaurantji Recommends
First course- calamari was so burnt it nearly broke a tooth. Nachos were flooded with watery tasteless salsa making everything soggy. We hoped for better 2nd course. Hey Ho. Mushroom tagliatelle was like an oil slick and featured home made foccacio turned out to be a slice of brown bread with no warning regarding this, just plonked on the table. Caesar salad from the 'Specials' board - no parmesan, no croutons and chicken so dry it was inedible. We fed back our comments to our waiter. From 3 meals, 1 happy customer with a nicely cooked gammon. That was it. Nobody came out from the kitchen at any time. No apology for full plates being returned.. The highlight of the evening was the complimentary chocolate mint! As residents of the IOW we will not be returning and will certainly not recommend to family and friends. Very very dissapointing
A few days in shanklin and we f ound this great place. Couldn't fault service and food was excellent and portions were generous also keenly priced and a good choice menu. Certainly go again. Food was nicely presented and hot
I’ll keep this review to the point. If you like food that is over cooked, you don’t mind bad service and then have to pay at the bar because the owners won’t bring the card machine to the table this is the place for you.
The alarm bells should have rung when a) this place was one of the only places to have tables (lots) and b) 2 of the 3 beer pumps were out of order. During the meal they ran out of red wine (!!!!) and had no Coke (!!!). The food that we had was OK but pretty poor apart from that. Not going back
We were looking for a restaurant that offered a range of menu options and. That ideally would welcome us with a 20month old Labrador. Benjamins Bistro turned out to be the perfect choice. The menu offered a good mix of options and the choices we made were excellent ( sea bass and a gammon steak ). On arrival we were greeted and made to feel very welcome and our order was taken swiftly and arrived equally fast. It was delicious and just the right amount. Thoroughly recommended and fairly priced, we will be going back.