Four of us ventured into Benaim on Saturday evening. The operation is not immediately clear from…read morethe front entrance. There is a food truck near the entrance that serves beverages, but you have to wander back a ways to the kitchen and ordering/pick-up station.
First impressions, ambiance and operational description: 2 stars
---- The place is very linear and extends quite far back.
---- There is nobody who greets you.
---- The ambiance is sort of like a German beer hall, but accommodated in an Argentine house. Kind of quirky.
---- There is outdoor seating along the right side, under cover of a canopy and there is indoor seating on the left. Seating amounts to long picnic tables and benches, so you end up sharing your table with others, which is perfectly fine, except groups of either 2 or 4 occupy a spot, leaving only room enough for two. Needless to say, most parties are 4 or 6, leaving everyone a bit frustrated and having to shift around so others can squeeze in and get seated.
----The place to order and pick up your food is a ways back from the front. Once you arrive in this incredibly bright space it's not clear/intuitive who is supposed to take your order. (It's the person you face as you walk into the space.) There are no servers.
---- The menu is located up rather high, above and behind a series of blinding lights that make looking at the menu uncomfortable. Also, it's not behind the person from whom you order, but over the kitchen, which makes it confusing as to whom you are to give your order.
---- You pay the for your food (not your drinks) at the time you order it and they give you a claim check and a receipt. They tell you to return to pick up your food in 10 minutes.
----This arrangement is a bit crazy because the counter is filled with plates of food waiting to be picked up and the room is packed with people staring and the menu and ordering food AND other people trying to get through to grab their food. Then those people have to negotiate their way through the crowd to get out of the room and too their tables. It's chaotic and poorly thought out. Or should I say, not thought out.
---- Once you have ordered/paid, you trek back to the food truck at the front to buy your drinks and then search for a table. The place gets incredible crowded. I saw several people sitting on the floor, next to full tables, because there wasn't enough seating for their entire party.
---- Once were were finished, it wasn't clear whether you are supposed to leave your trash on the table or if they clean up after you. Finding no place to deposit the plates and trash, we left them behind, which made me wonder what the next group would do, being faced with our pile of trash.
The food: 2 stars
From what we could determine, the menu is limited to sandwiches, but a large variety, and french fries. I ordered pastrami with everything that they offer to put on it. The pastrami is nothing like that which we're accustomed to Chicago or New York. It's not peppered, not thinly sliced. The flavor of the pastrami was perfectly fine, but it's thickly sliced and on a thick onion bun that had the texture of Wonder Bread.The others in my party all liked their sandwiches, but we all had the same complaints: The sandwiches, which are supposed to be hot, were cold, as were the seasoned french fries. Personally, I think they should be embarrassed serving food in this way.
The service: Other than interacting with the people taking orders/payment, there is no service.
The price is reasonable, but they need to impose some sort of rational organization/flow; overcome the frustrating seating issues; and, for cryin' out loud, serve the food hot.
