Bennie’s Thai Cafe
“Whether you're getting take out, delivery, or eating in house the food is ALWAYS great!”
“I've been working in the Financial District for two years, and finally last summer I found my favorite lunch spot.”
“They also gave us tofu instead of beef, and they were nice about delivering the correct order but it took 40 minutes.”
Bennie’s Thai Cafe
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Ordered Vegetarian pad thai ($11), my friend ordered shrimp pad thai ($13)
Pad thai:
– super soggy
– on the salty side
otherwise, it is decent I would say, would come back to try other food, but not pad thai.
Been rolling through here like a stone for about 15 years. My picky side would have me eating old good reliable chicken with garlic sauce. (This was all I ate when it came to Chinese food, so I carried it over to other cuisines, safety was it).
I am no longer that picky dude (different picky dude now :), and went with a Chicken Curry which I enjoy at other Thai restaurants, also because the garlic chicken wasn't on the lunch menu. My friend also ordered a Chicken with Basil from the lunch menu. The meat was subpar, either fatty or dark meat where as we also ordered a garlic chicken off the full menu so he could try it and I could continue to try it :P, and the meat was all white meat and cleaner/leaner.
It seems Bennie's may be using the eh chicken for lunch, which I guess would save them some money. I'm sure folks don't mind, but for my companion and I it was two different worlds. It bothers me that it's not consistent across the board, lunch and dinner. Shoot I ordered them at the same time. At least mention it on the menu, maybe charge more for the option of white meat? Also it'd be nice to get a salad with the lunch special, this would make it more special.
About the value, as it has been years since I've been popping in it seems the costs has gone up (to be expected with real estate, etc) but you're not getting anything more than you would some where else.
I ate at Enthaice on the Upper East Side yesterday and the lunch special alone was $7.95 for a protein with your entree and an appetizer. Both restaurants have Thai staff. Definitely feels like the better value and quality is with Enthaice and other restaurants. I will still pop in from time to time for the chicken with garlic sauce (Pad Gra-Tiem Entrée garlic sauce) at Bennie's, but those times may not be as frequent as they once were.
Lets start with the fact that this place is on the lower level of the street, which makes it a bit difficult to find. I was standing right on the front and i could not see it. Eventually i remember somebody mentioning that when you are at 88 fulton you must look DOWN!
So there it was in sub cellar level of te street. I walked in right at the opening of lunch 11 am, i didnt even bother to see the menu. I just wanted pad thai and a thai ice coffee. I can see the waiters waiting eagerly for customer to come into the restaurant. Within 10 minutes i had a nice serving of noodles with crush peanuts and large shrimps. It was more sauce than usual but i went for it. At first i tasted the sauce it waa a bit too sweet for my taste. I had it at other places and they seem to put much more garnish than at bennies. The shrimp had a nice bite to them and they were very well seasoned. Overall it was good, lets talk about price..Given that this is Manhattan and we are near the financial district I have to say it is a bit expensive $14, the ice coffee was good but the waiter brought it out with the condense milk already in it. For ny taste the coffee was very sweet. It could have had less condense milk but for coffee i defintely will return. As foor food, i will have to come back and specifically check the lunch specials of the day. The table next to me commented that the lunch specials are the best bang for the buck…
Call in your order. Get it here and take it out. Eat it here. Whatever. Cash or AMEX. Refreshing that AMEX is the only card they accept. That's sort of different, but in FiDi maybe it really isn't all that surprising. The prices aren't that cheap either considering it's pretty much underground and hard to find at first.
I can only speak for the pad thai and pad see ew. It's solid, but for $13 for thai food that's prepared fast (some are skeptical) I just wish I got a little bit more or a side egg roll. Anyways, location is hard to beat and the staff is friendly, but otherwise hard to say much else. Your FiDi neighborhood thai spot. Woot!
Pretty fast delivery, and it was for like 8 people. Red curry was good, and good variety of ingredients. Decent amount of meat, and the sauce was tasty. Had a stick of beef and it was alright with peanut sauce, but to be honest it really just tasted like peanut sauce with beef flavoring. Could potentially be 4 stars, but came with the smallest rice container I've ever seen… and I love rice. Especially with saucy foods so that instantly disqualifies it from the 4 star club. Won't stop in for food, but might join in the take out club if we cycle back here again.
Perfectly reliable Thai take out food. Never been to the restaurant. But order in a variety of dishes like green curry, pad Thai and they are always fantastic and perfectly Thai-spicy!
Stopped by Bennie's for a quick lunch after flying in from Chicago. The space is pretty good for a NY FiDi lunch joint and service was very quick. I was seated immediately and chose to order off the menu rather than one of the lunch specials which are served more of a fast food Chinese buffet way with ready made dishes on display and you choose your entree. I started with the tom kha gai soup and the cashew chicken with brown rice. The soup was tasty, a slightly different broth flavor than what I'm used to with tom kha. My only complaint is that the chicken and vegetables were cut in huge pieces and strips that it was hard to eat from a soup spoon. I realize for efficiency they use the same vegetables they keep cut for the entrees but it wouldn't be the worst thing if they had some smaller cut soup friendly veggies to prevent having to use a fork and knife to cut them up in your soup bowl. Same thing with the chicken. Props to it being served in an authentic shallow stainless steal bowl with handles – somehow added to the flavor (in my head).
The cashew chicken was a nice treat and further confirmation in my theory that east coast Thai is different from the midwest and the west. In western states they serve cashew chicken with pineapples and everything is more soy heavy. East coast doesn't use pineapples and they make their sauces more authentic without soy! I just wish there was more sauce in the dish. Servings are definitely big for the $11-12 entree portions.
Overall Bennie's is trustworthy and quick but not exactly special. The Financial District is hurting for good Thai and Bennie's is one of the best in the area.
I'll swing by here again next time I'm visiting our NY office but more for proximity than anything else.
I had been looking forward to eating here for a while since my friend had mentioned that they had really spicy jungle curry. If you know me, you know that I am a huge fan of spice. The spicier, the more heartburn I have, and the more cleared my sinuses feel the better.
They are located half way underground, so that it feels private and quiet, a feel that is quite welcome in the heart of NYC. There are small windows that span the upper half of the wall, so that you can spy on the legs of people who are walking by the restaurant.
I ordered a jungle curry, extra spicy and was asked "are you sure", which made me all the more excited since it usually indicates that the spice level is through the roof. They serve the curry in a small metal bowl and some rice in a separate bowl. I was surprised to see that the curry is not the standard green thai curry or red thai curry that I think about when I see the word curry. Rather it looked like some sort of broth with an assortment of meat and vegetables in it. Extra spice just meant that they added a lot more of those dried red peppers in it, which I did not feel made it more spicy, just more of a nuisance to eat since there were way too many.
It is a nice meal for a cold winter day however, and I did enjoy the subtle burn that dish provided. It was well flavored and the price was decent for NYC.