Benny’s Chop House

There are so many steak houses in River North that it’s hard to find distinguishing characteristics. Some of the things I liked about Benny’s were:
1. It’s not a chain.
2. Very extensive (if pricey) winelist.
3. «Lyon» salad is an unusual offering for a steakhouse. It’s basically a French bistro-​style salade Lyonaisse.
4. Meat is all prime.
5. Meat is available wet or dry aged. I actually prefer wet aged meat as I’m not a fan of the gamey aroma dry aged meat can develop.
One thing I didn’t like was the audio bleed between the live piano player in the bar and the background music in the restaurant. Both were excellent, but not at the same time!

Took my boyfriend here for his birthday this past Sunday. The steak was okay, but we’ve had better. The macaroni and cheese was okay. The stuffed ravioli was sooooo nasty. Our waiter was nice and our food came out at a reasonable time. The only thing that I really didn’t like was those screaming hollering children. Next time I will choose a restaurant with no children allowed Just a little side not we went at 6:30pm

Five stars for amazing food, tempted to deduct a star due to price. Every element of my meal (lobster Mac, asparagus, filet) was incredible! Sides were plentiful enough that my dad and I got steaks and we got three sides and this fed us and my mom (who did not get a steak) quite well, making it at least a little more cost effective. So decadent and fresh and delicious! We split a piece of banana cream pie three ways at the end and it was a truly special dessert too. My new favorite restaurant in Chicago and amongst my top 5 meals ever (give me this on death row pls!)

Went for dinner and really enjoyed it. The service as outstanding and the food was very good.

Great steakhouse in downtown Chicago. I was there to celebrate my birthday with my family. Food is great. Definitely try their oysters and dry-​aged steaks.

Service is awesome. Very good wine list and the dry aged NY steak was cooked perfectly.

Absolutely incredible steakhouse! Very accommodating to our needs and had 5 star service. Will definitely be returning to Benny’s the next time I come to Chicago!

Five stars hands down. Impeccable service by Nicholas. Truly knows each steak cut and it’s origin. Never upsells the customer. 10 oz filet mignon was truly incredible. Manager James makes the rounds without bring intrusive and the whole team makes your dining experience so pleasant and relaxed. Being an out of town visitor I have many dinner choices but always choose a fine dinner at Benny’s each visit to Chicago.

Absolutely fantastic. Stellar meats and amazing service.
Unbeknownst I celebrated both my 21^st birthday and college graduation at Benny’s and had an amazing experience on both occasions. My parents surprised me on the location and Benny’s made sure it was a special experience, even though I definitely felt less excited about graduating than they were about me choosing to celebrate at their restaurant. But two amazing experiences with complementary desserts and a personalized menu for whatever occasion. Plus you can’t get service like you do at Benny’s anywhere else. Almost like a pre-​dustbowl all-​service gas station. They really know how good service works and that actual cloth towels are amazing to dry your hands with after using the restroom. Can be a bit noisy but well worth it for the delicious food and the amazing service. You absolutely get what you pay for.

The hostess are very sweet and accommodating. Our server was the sweetest and very knowledgeable! She went above and beyond to make the occasion special as we were celebrating my boyfriend’s graduation.
It is a low light, classy place for romantic dinners and special occasions. They also have a live band performing Wednesday-​Friday evenings.
We ordered the Japanese Kobe Steak Tartare which has been the best I’ve had! Lobster bisque, Filet Mignon, Very rich Lobster Risotto, Mashed Potatoes, and awesome Mac and Cheese (the sides are shareable! 2 – 3 people). Finished off with the crème brûlée.
I do recommend coming in about 5 before the rush because it does get busy! ALL of it was AMAZING! We will be back soon!

Where do I start!!! This restaurant is in a class all on their own! My husband and I were celebrating our 5^th anniversary and planned a trip to Chicago. Ahead of time he sent an email to make a reservation and with a confirmation call we were set, little did we know that we would have the most amazing service and the most delicious meal we have ever had! They even printed «Happy 5^th Anniversary» on our very own menus that we got to get for memories and then the dessert was beyond exquisite!!!
If you are in Chicago and looking for the most romantic place to celebrate this is where you need to go!!!
The experience literally brought tears to our eyes! What a special evening!
Thank you!

My husband and I has an amazing, magical anniversary dinner at this classy, high-​end yet intimate steakhouse last night!
This was a surprise from my husband and what a wonderful surprise it was! It literally was one of the best meals of my life and was hands down the best steak I’ve ever had.
After checking in with the hostess and being wished a happy anniversary, we started at the bar for a cocktail and the chop house maple-​glazed bacon appetizer — which was a perfect, decadent slice of heaven. Lots of places are doing the bacon thing nowadays but this was on a whole new level.
After being escorted to our corner booth, I was surprised again to see that our menu’s were personalized with our names and wishing us a happy anniversary! James, the manager, came over to greet us and after asking us what we liked, made some very helpful menu suggestions and explained how they source their beef and the dry-​aging process. We ended up splitting the dry-​aged t-​bone, a lobster tail and an order of sautéed garlic spinach.
Who would have thought dry-​aging would make such a huge difference!(James mentioned their steaks are dry-​aged longer than other restaurants.). I’m usually a lobster freak but I couldn’t get past the unbelievably flavorful beef that melted in your mouth.
In summary, the staff was extremely attentive and professional and the food was exquisite. I would not hesitate to recommend this establishment. Thank you for making our anniversary special!

Firstly, I was surprised to find out this business is only 5 years old. Nonetheless, it’s a classy steakhouse in ritzy River North and as one might expect, with excellent, friendly, and knowledgeable service. I also learned a bit about the street parking locations (same $ 4 per hour as usual) on this relatively unfamiliar stretch of N. Wabash just north of President Trump (jk) tower. Wife had their $ 22 pp 3 course RW 2016 lunch offering — comprising of a winter greens salad, beef tenderloin medallions, and a tropical fruit dessert concoction. The medallions were done medium and were butterknife tender. All three courses were nicely done and delicious. Thanks to a heads-​up from my ol’ Unilocal buddy Mike O, wherein I read about his lunchtime burger meal here for $ 10 (in 2012), I decided during the drive in that I would try their USDA prime beef burger if it were under $ 15. If above $ 15, I would go for the presumably better valued $ 22 RW lunch. Anyway, the large (turned out looking to be about ¾ lb) juicy burger was $ 11.99 and came with a generous side of fries, and that is what I ended up having. It was a very nice burger indeed, well worth trying, and a great value. Looking back though I didn’t taste any cheddar despite the menu saying aged cheddar. Nonetheless, it might well have been the best burger I’ve had at a $ 12 price point. I noted that their regular lunch menu also had an enticing 2 course $ 17.99 «Urban Lunch». It was also kinda fun to page through their 31 page 1500+ wine list. I LOOKED at a listing for a $ 7650 bottle of wine — yay, a new personal best (meaning high $$). Knowing we were first time visitors, our friendly and fun server Luisa also gave us a little history on the place as well as some insights on their more popular menu items. The partitioned dining rooms were comfortable and elegant. For celebrating a special occasion, I wouldn’t hesitate to return to this classy steakhouse.

Lunch at Benny’s during the #RestaurantWeek in Chicago. Nice setting, well kept bathrooms.
Lunch was delicious; specifically the prime rib and the dessert a variation of Pavlova with passion fruit ice cream.

Came here for restaurant week with wife and in-​laws. Wife and mom-​in-​law do not eat beef and we had chosen Benny’s for the sea bass offered on the menu. Disappointed to find that salmon was substituted instead.
However…Alex (I believe our host/​server) told us due to the huge winter storm they were not able to get seabass. Wife dislikes salmon and asked if she could substitute a white fish, which they accommodated.
Beef tenderloins were delicious and cooked as I requested (medium rare). Soup and dessert (mushroom bisque, very creamy) and dessert (some sherbert concoction, good not a personal fave) were well executed.
Salmon was actually really good. Wife wishing she had ordered that instead (a rare feat for Benny’s indeed).
Service was impeccable. Setting classy. As mentioned above, they took steps to at least explain what happened and accommodated even though they didn’t have to.
Will definitely come back for the real thing as we’ve heard great things about the actual steaks.

Came here for drinks and oysters (I don’t eat oysters but my friends wanted them). They originally thought the oysters were .25 each, which is why we came here in the first place. They were definitely not .25. More like $ 2 each or something like that.
This restaurant is extremely expensive and the service wasn’t that great (plus we were one of maybe 3 parties in the entire restaurant at this time so you’d think the service would be pretty good, especially since it’s a fancy steakhouse). The cocktails were $ 15 and mine was not worth it. Our server was not very knowledgable on the menu either. I asked her which cocktail she would recommend between two and didn’t really give me an answer so I just chose one myself (and ended up wishing I had gotten the other one).
Everything that we (my friends) asked her about the oysters, she seemed to know nothing about because she didn’t eat oysters. I totally get not eating oysters but I feel like if you’re working somewhere that serves oysters frequently, you should know a little bit about oysters or at least find out from someone. She WAS willing to go ask a fellow employee but didn’t seem very nice/​genuine about doing so, so we passed. I am a server as well so I always try to give them the benefit of the doubt but this lady just was not the friendliest or the most helpful.
I’m sure if we had stayed for dinner, we would have had a better experience but we were kind of in a rush and everything seemed to be taking a long time.

Only because the tables are very wobbly when I want to cut my steak.
Worthy of a five but don’t get the dry aged rib eye, get the natural. Tastes just as good or even better.

I normally go in order with my reviews, but Benny’s Chop House is an exception. I easily made reservations through open table for 2 to celebrate my boyfriend’s birthday. I was called the day of (I think the day before as well) to ask for my boyfriend’s name, which I didn’t think much of and just thought oh, they’ll probably use it on the dessert plate.
Upon arrival we were greeted and seated within minutes at a spacious booth that could of easily fit four. We were offered water by the busser then greeted by our server who present the boyfriend with his own personalized menu and wished him a happy birthday! KUDOS to Benny’s for making the night extra special by doing something simple as printing a personalized menu for the guests. We had a surprise dinner guest join us whom they easily accommodated.
Our server, Dan F., was fantastic, he shared with us the current specials that they had going on and gave us his opinion on what to sides to ordered with our meals because we couldn’t make up our mind, which we ended up ordering! He always checked on us and made sure our entrees was cooked to our liking and our waters were always filled.
I decided to give their house merlot a try and enjoyed it, even though I’m not a red wine drinker. It was a good pick for the skirt steak I was about to have.
We started off with the Tuna Carpaccio, which was refreshing, but lack a bit of flavorful. The lobster bisque and clam chowder are both more of a orange/​red soup not your typical white/​cream. Of the two we thought the clam chowder was the winner with tender clams and flavorful broth.
For our entrees I had the wagyu skirt steak with frites (french fries, essentially). Just thinking the word wagyu has me drooling. It was cooked to perfection: rare to medium rare, great portion and juicy. The frites didn’t do much for me, a bit too salty, I would of preferred some sort of potato instead. I’m having leftovers for lunch and the flavor is so tasty I don’t even need a glaze or sauce. The boyfriend and surprise guest both had the bone-​in filet mignon, one with bleu cheese topping. Their eyes were popping out of their sockets upon seeing what a generously thick cut piece of meat they were getting. They both claim it was the best steak they’ve ever had; tender, juicy, melt in your mouth cuts. Our sides were the perfect fit: seasonal mushrooms (shitake) and mac and cheese with smoked bacon. In a dream world this is exactly how I would want my steak dinner, absolutely delicious. The mushrooms added great flavorful to the steak, although bit over powering while the mac and cheese had a tasty smokey flavorful thanks to the bacon and was just the right blend of cheese and gooey-​ness.
Our bellys were completely on cloud 9 once we stuffed ourselves. The birthday boy even opted for no dessert, but Dan insisted on getting him something small based on what kind of dessert he liked so he said ice cream. Out came a personalized plate saying happy birthday with 3 different scoops of ice cream: chocolate, coffee and vanilla. I think the birthday boy enjoyed it because the plate was completely cleaned!
Thank you Benny’s Chop House for making this birthday extra special by going out of your way. We will definitely be back on our next celebratory occasion!

it’s a 5 star steak house coming from a business traveler whose eaten all over the country including the best steakhouse in the USA — Manny’s in MN. Benny’s is awesome and a great treat for a special occasion or wooooowing clients.
If you’re in the windy city, come here and get blown away!
p. s. keep the 80’s tunes blasting!

Came here for restaurant week with my sister and it was great! Decided to grab a couple cocktails which were all very good. The Moscow mule was amazing and my bourbon. Well you can never go wrong with good bourbon.
Ordered the pâté plate on the normal menu for an appetizer which came with a bunch of different sides and spicy peppers and pickles which I highly recommend. Then some stuff from the restaurant weeks menu which I don’t remember much of but the dessert was sooooooooooo good! Defiantly will be coming back here to try some other stuff on the menu. Have some drinks and eat some good dessert! Service was also outstanding!