Another successful visit to BW! This was the final stop for my birthday outing! This is a close to home stop, and the food, drinks and service is always solid! Not to mention Heather is always a friendly face and we really appreciate her! We were joined by my 2 sons and my son's wife. The place is staying clean and organized unset the new ownership and I really appreciate the bright and clean feeling the new ownership has installed. The bathrooms are also being maintained and clean, which is a nice touch! My daughter-in-law ordered a jumbo pretzel $12 - and it was fresh, warm and enough to feed 5 people on its own! My son and I both ordered the wings $14 each, and they are very good here! My other son ordered a French Dip $14 - and he said it was excellent and would not share! This was all paired with plenty of libation from the well stocked and clean bar, with many great local breweries on tap as well as specials on the domestics. Our total bill came up to around $120 for everyone - I did not do the math - I just paid the bill, however I don't think my birthday drink was free! ??? This has always been a fun spot and since the refresh this is still a solid choice for a sports bar in Ankeny! Come check it out! Tell Heather Kirk and Kim say Hi! read more

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Good place to watch a game, staff was sweet and they had lots of non alcoholic options along with real drinks.. Lots of tvs and a party room.. read more

The food was wonderful we had the French dip with tots the Juicy Lucy and the cheese curds with marinara sauce The service was amazing pleasant fun and the food was out in record time! We will definitely be back read more

Benchwarmers - Cheese curds with marinara sauce - Sports Bars Near Me - Ankeny, Iowa

Was here last week on a Tuesday. Was greeted right away and provided ice cold beers within the first minute i walked in. This was the 3rd time I have been here and I noticed they recently remodeled. It looks great. I played darts in the back and surprisingly got service back there and that helped save me time from having to stop our league match to wait for food and drink. I got the chicken strips and fries, it was pretty good! I joined the clean plate club , I liked it that much! The other customers (regulars) in the bar were very friendly and made me feel welcome and even joked around with me. I will definitely be back read more

The staff were great despite dealing with multiple large parties! They accommodated our large group on short notice. The food was delicious as well! The prime rib grilled cheese is top notch! read more

New ownership with new menu and freshened up decor inside. Service was excellent, food was well prepared and arrived to our table timely after our order. Waitress was persistent but not in a negative way. Overall great experience. read more

Food was good bar tenders behind the bar were great. I wouldn't recommend going here unless you are cheering for the team that the female bartender sitting on the drinking side of the bar is cheering for (Vikings). Was told to keep our cheering down because it was a family establishment. Our mistake we thought ot was a bar. I wouldn't recommend anyone that is not a local to stop at this bar! If you're not the bar tender behind the bar you shouldn't be addressing paying customers! read more

Honestly a great mom and pop bar and grill. All the waiters are really nice and chill and do well with taking orders. Even on a Monday night the bar was completely full with regulars. TVs everywhere to make sure you don't miss any games. Also have casino games and other arcade games to enjoy your night. If you really want to do something, they have bingo night as well. Definitely the place to go if you want to have a small meal and enjoy some drinks. read more

Benchwarmers - Onion rings - Sports Bars Near Me - Ankeny, Iowa

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New makeover has minimal changes with a coat of paint and different wall art. Service was decent - pretty average post Covid. The menu was limited - pizza, wings, burgers, a few sandwiches, and a few apps. My partner ordered chicken strips and tots and the tots came out 10 minutes before the strips. I ordered a chicken ranch sandwich. There was no evidence of ranch at all. The chicken was maybe supposed to be Nashville style but the seasoning was so salty I could hardly eat it and I love my salt. It was probably my only visit. read more

While the food was good and the drinks were flowing we never had a waitress or waiter as the food was buffet style for the party we had. From what I could see was everything and everyone was satisfied with the food and drinks. That is why Insaid four stars instead of five read more

Recent experience was not good at all. The kids got their kids meals out in record time which was great but after an hour, we hadn't gotten our food. Apparently the printer quit working in the kitchen. I realize that flukie things happen. It's how we were treat afterwards. We asked for our meals to go as it was past the kids bedtime by now. They were not going to take anything off our bill. By the time we were ready to go, with food in tow, it had been 1 hour and 20 minutes. They comped us a whopping 10%. Really? Then we get home and all orders were wrong. I had a beef taco salad with olives. Was to be a chicken taco salad (that I paid extra for) with no olives. My daughter in law has a gluten allergy. Her burger was to have no bun. It was on a bun. My son was to have his plain. Came with everything on it. We will not go back. Too bad. We used to live going there. read more

Bad news, folks.....what was for many years an Ankeny without-question-go-to is not long for this world. No more Friday night penny pitcher with a pizza deals, otherwise overpriced and under quality menu.....a bit dirty.....last time I'll go there and spoken as a many, many year patron......perhaps a quality owner/operator can rescue this place from obvious demise. Best to avoid. read more

Saturday - noonish for lunch. Busy parking lot but there's a big game so that's understandable. Ordered and got drinks. Almost 45 minutes later and we STILL don't have food. Excuse? A couple of big parties with long tickets. Probably something that should have been communicated before we ordered. Will not be back. read more

The outside of the establishment looks old...and so does the inside haha. You can tell from the outdated decor they have not kept up with modern designs. You walk in and you'll seat yourself to a table, they have Tvs so you'll be able to catch your game. The server was very friendly and it was not busy, but service was on the slower side, but nothing terrible. Make sure you check out their daily specials to see if something sparks your interest. We ordered a speciality alcoholic beverage which I can't remember the name of, but it was very good! For the appetizer we had the Bbq wings which were a bit subpar in both taste and texture. We decided to get the Sunrise pizza? (breakfast pizza? Egg pizza?) I'm sorry I forgot the official item name. It was basically a pizza where they would replace the pizza sauce with eggs! It sounded amazing so we decided to give it a go, we got the eggs cooked easy. The pizza was good, initially. It was very new so it was good, the eggs were very easy in my opinion, the egg whites were basically raw and runny. After a few slices I had enough, this is where I regretted getting it easy, maybe ask for it medium or hard next time. Overall a descent experience, would definitely order other items in the future. read more

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The food is decent but they are typically short staffed. We were there last night and it was bad. They had one bartender and one server for the entire restaurant. The CO2 pressure must have been too high because every tap had a lot of foam. At one point the bartender said she had to turn the walk in cooler off because the door wasn't shut tight and things had frosted over. Waits at the bar for drinks we're long. Multiple food orders sat in the window waiting to be delivered numerous times. I ordered chicken strips but somehow wound up with a chicken philly. Pretty sure it took about 45 minutes to an hour to get some of the food orders. read more

Went in for drinks last night with some friends. When attempting to close my tab, the bartender that served us said she not only didn't have my card, but that I never gave one to her. As I try to work it out with her and figure out what happened, she immediately escalates the situation and starts yelling at me. This goes on for around 10 minutes, she's quite literally screaming at me in front of 20+ other patrons at the bar. Near the end of her meltdown, she tells me to pull up my credit card statements (fantastic idea!) and guess what I find? Yep, a charge from Benchwarmers, proving I gave her my card. I show her this and she still doesn't care - she's adamant I'm in the wrong and proceeds to yell at me some more. At this point it was clear there was nothing I could do but leave without my card and handle it the next day with management. Today I called in and did just that. I spoke to a manager (nice lady who was apologetic) and it turns out the bartender did in fact misplace my card - shocker. They found it and I was able to come in and pick it up today. I'm still dumbfounded how unbelievably unprofessional this bartender handled the situation. It also seemed as though she had been drinking, and perhaps that explains her unprovoked rage. Horrible experience, needless to say I won't be coming back in. read more

Tuesday after work I stopped in for a few drinks and some bar food that I have been craving. I can tell you this place satisfies both of those very well. They seem to have specials almost everyday and they had typical bar food and homemade pizzas. I had the large burger split with my guest and onion rings. Both of us were very happy and left feeling pleased. I do plan on returning to fill my bar needs. If you are looking for $25 plate of food and fancy dining experience to go with it, this is not for you. I think they do a great job at what they do.... A bar with good bar food. Keep it up Benchwarmers read more

Benchwarmers - I love daily specials - Sports Bars Near Me - Ankeny, Iowa

Staff was great. Bartenders/service top notch customer service. That's about as positive as I can be.

We eat to-go often at work. Today we decided to try Benchwarmers and will not be ordering from them again. I called the order in for pickup shortly after they opened and was their first order. The price I was charged was about $7 more than it should have been based on their online menu. On top of that, they charged me for bacon on a bacon cheeseburger and then didn't include the bacon for either burger. Food was average. The only good thing was their Sweet Battered Corn. read more

The outside does look a bit run down and plopping down into a booth i might guess the interior might as old. We visited on a Thursday evening. A restaurant coupon burning a home in our pockets. Emily helped us right away. Appetizer of the nachos and another of the chips with cheese and bacon. Nachos "were not bad. Simple and good." Chips. "Warmed chips with bacon bits and to much salt. " Beers order and received quickly. He ordered the Tradesman burger. Came with a fried on top. He really liked it. I tried it as well and also like the flavor and thick patty. The waitress said she liked the cavatelli. I had that. A nice combo of noodles all baked up and layer of cheese. I thought was good. Too much food and have to take it home. So i think previous comments of bad service might have made them step it up. Emily Was great and they were 3 waitress and one bartender full. Getting out of there was a just a bit of a challenge. Just got busy and took a bit to get the check. Other than that it was alright. read more

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Just left this place on a Sunday evening. No major games going on. Walked in no one was sitting customers. We sat ourselves at a table and just continued to sit. No one ever greeted us, or offered to take any kind of order. I would understand if it was a busy night. Waitresses were checking on every table around us. After getting ignored for so long we chose to leave. read more

Great pizza. Go on sundays and get the 2 for 20 deal..great party room. Rented it for me and my wife's 50th birthday party as well as my son's 18th birthday. They kept us stocked with pizza and we had our own bartender. read more

Benchwarmers - 50th bday with friends - Sports Bars Near Me - Ankeny, Iowa

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Solid place, lots of things to do - quick service even when they are busy. Very nice and attentive staff. Place fills up quick so can tell they are doing something right! read more

Underwhelming to say the least. Facility itself is not terrible, plenty of tvs and some bar games, but the food was terrible. Stopped in during the afternoon with a group. We ordered several appetizers and meals. We had two orders of fried pickles, 1 was undercooked and doughy while the other was extremely overdone making both inedible. We also ordered a basket of wings and pretzel sticks which were average. Two people ordered the buffalo chicken wraps and both were inedible because the sauce was too hot and overwhelmed the wrap. Two people ordered the cavitelli and said it was good but very watery. The french fries were the highlight of the meal and very crispy and delicious. I can't see myself visiting this place again anytime soon. read more

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We enjoy going here every Tuesday for karaoke night! It's like one big family coming in to eat, sing, and enjoy hearing others sing! The karaoke hostess is very nice to everyone. Food and drinks are outstanding. We especially like the wraps and the French dip sandwich! Chips are homemade and the chicken quesadillas are wonderful! Service is great all evening long! read more

Been to Benchwarmers more times than I can count. My husband played softball for them, we live in Ankeny so it's a well-known place for friends food and fun. Stopped for a quick bite while my son was at basketball practice. It happen to be $.75 wing night, which is great! We sat at the bar, as we regularly do, And it took several minutes for us to be acknowledged. Ordered drinks and requested a menu, the drinks were brought promptly. We ended up having to flag down Wait staff, to ask for a menu. We decided to keep it simple and just ordered a side of fries with wings. It was not very busy, less than half filled. Monday night football was on every screen, we asked for one TV to show the baseball game. This never happened during the entire 45 minutes we were there. 40 minutes into our visit we received our food. We ate one wing each, and the fries were cold, she offered to get us a new order of fries but we didn't have time. We promptly asked for our check and to go boxes since we had to pick up our son from basketball. The fries were taken off of our bill thankfully. We asked for lids for the sauces, twice Before they were brought. This entire visit was very discouraging, we loved benchwarmers as it was in the past, the new staff is less than adequate. Changes need to be made ASAP otherwise I don't hold a lot of hope for Bench! read more

Favorite place to get wings and beer. Service and food never disappoint! Love sitting outside on their patio or inside. Great atmosphere.

Benchwarmers is a fantastic bar for people of all ages it's got really good food and the bartenders are amazing.

So I want to like this place so much. I have ha some good food there, but I have had more bad food and bad service. Actually, I have yet to have good service. They are always out of stuff, and always mess up the order. Then, after they fix it, if they have enough ingredients to fix it (happened twice), they destroy the bill, or double charge my card. The time my card was double charged, the owner made it right. One not so sober bartender told me that they can't keep people in the kitchen. How is that? They are right down for a culinary school full of college kids needing jobs. I hope they get it together. read more

Food was good once we received it, Sevice was poor, overall not impressed as a place to go for lunch read more

Benchwarmers - Veg wrap - Sports Bars Near Me - Ankeny, Iowa

Decent sports bar place with the usual burgers, pizza, and apps. Nothing amazing but good solid burgers and beer. Lots of TVs too

Worst service I've experienced anywhere in years. Multiple fails, didn't get anything right. Will not revisit

Pretty decent bar food and a friendly hometown feel make Benchwarmers an good place to hang out with friends and catch a game. After a long day of meetings in Ankeny, a group of us decided to end the night at Benchwarmers. The place itself is a bit dated (they bill themselves as the oldest sports bar in the area), but the decor (and the menu) does pay tribute to a lot of the local sports legends - coaches and players from the different high schools in the area, and that gives it a nice homey touch. We started off with a round of wings. They have a number of different sauces here. We went with mild, BBQ, Jamaican jerk, chili, and garlic parmesan. The wings themselves were nicely fried and a crisp outside and juicy, tender inside. The sauces were fine - I like my wings simple so the mild and BBQ were probably my favorite. My only complaint - no celery or carrots on the side! What?! I was pretty hungry and was eyeing their pasta dishes. They have a signature cavatelli dish that features sausage and beef covered in marinara and mozzarella and served with garlic bread. You can order it as a full order or half. TIP: Order the full. It's only $1.50 more. Two guys in our group ordered half portions and they looked kid-sized. Throwing caution to the wind, I ordered the Italian Club: Pepperoni, ham, and sausage on a hoagie roll, dripping with marinara and mozzarella. It absolutely hit the spot! The bread was nicely toasted and the tart/savory sauce mixed with the cheese made me feel like I was eating a loaded slice of pizza. Exactly what I was looking for. The sandwich is served with one side: I went with coleslaw, which turned out to be ok. The beer selection is little on the light side - don't expect a lot of craft brews here. The service was friendly and efficient. I wouldn't hesitate to come back if I ever found myself in Ankeny again! Enjoy! read more

Came for lunch and left stuffed. The tenderloin was delicious (without the bourbon sauce). Loved the toasted bun. Husband got the Fontana and he was very impressed. It was huge. Don't bother with the cheese nuggets, they are expensive and not worth the price. Service was great. read more

Actually, Zero stars. Absolutely terrible. Walked in a 9:30 pm and ordered ice teas & menus. It was the worst tasting iced tea I have ever had... Fast forward to 9:55... have not had a revisit and still have yet to order. Once we got up to walk out, that's when the server came rushing back. I told her that we were leaving and the tea recipe should be revisited. read more

Busy busy busy this place was on Friday night. Had to round up a table in the way back, but we did have a party of 4 adults, 2 teens and 2 children. Took awile for waitress to get our drinks to us. They were out of Shiner and had run out of Bud Light (keg was empty my guess) but eventually got a pitcher on the table. The iced tea took forever and maybe because they were trying to find the smelliest way to brew it. Gross. Wings were ok & fried pickles mediocre. Teens had supreme pizza which was decent. Ordered cheese quesadilla for kid and got some chicken quesadilla thing. I had the grinder with sweet peppers, which was pretty good. Mediocre at best, but they were busy and it looked like it was pretty common. So I suppose its a good problem to have. Oh, tons of tvs to watch the games which is very nice. read more

Great place for pizza and the burgers are pretty good too. Menu has a a wide variety of choices. Several beers on tap. Feel free to bring the whole family for dinner. Plenty of seating available. Staff is friendly. The Sunday pizza special cannot be beat, 2 for $20 and it is thin crust and delicious. read more

Atmosphere is fine. Service was good. Food and drinks were not. Guinness tasted watered down. Nachos are made with that cheese you get from a concession stand. Since the cheese was warm and the meat was warm, the nacho plate as a whole was not so the nachos were cold. Did get the chicken quesadilla and that was fine. Forgot the ownership changed and with that, the quality of food, unfortunately. read more

Have been here several times. Once they double charged us and it took over a week to fix. Another time the tops of the beer cans tasted funny (and smelled funny, like chemicals). It's always loud either from the sports on the tv, the karaoke, or the live music. Which is fine since it was expected. The seats & tables are in medium condition. We had a wobbly table once, we fixed it with a coaster. Their bloody mary's are delicious. They have specials every day. I love the buy one get one free pizza on Sunday. I've never had bad food here but it's never speedy. And, they charge 1-2$ more per drink here than any other bars in the area. They offer prizes on Karaoke night (Thursdays) if you sing. We've always had friendly service. My biggest complaint is they're a sports bar but were closed for the Super Bowl. Really annoying. Otherwise; overall great food, good drinks, loud, slow service, and not very clean (except the bathrooms). read more

I don't know what it is about this place. The food is good but the service is hit or miss, more times lately it has been a miss. The last time we were here, we watched 5-6 other tables that came in and then ordered after us receive their food before us. We both ordered sandwiches, nothing that would take 45 minutes plus to make. Our beers sat empty even though we were a few feet from the bar. We flagged down our waitress and when we asked her if there was a problem with our food, she just said "I'll check on it" and then avoided us. Fifteen minutes later, a different server brought us our food and asked us if we'd like another beer which we happily said yes! No one came to check on us after. We had to wave a server down just to get our check. We just wanted a few beers, a couple sandwiches and to relax. I think it's time to throw in the towel with Benchwarmers. Peace. read more