Family Dinner at Benson Eating Station

My family and I celebrated our parent's anniversary at Benson Eating Station, just a few blocks from our house. Apparently this restaurant has been here quite some time and has an extension into next door for extra dining area. This wasn't my first experience at Benson Eating Station, but the restaurant is mid-sized, decent space, and bright. I would suggest that it's good for a small family dinner, but if you're looking to host a party here I wouldn't recommend it.

We arrived at 6PM and there was a lot of tables available, but a few that were reserved for a special dinner for later. They had napkin cloths for us, but the waiter took and stored our cloths away which is completely unsanitary. I didn't want to give my cloth away so I hid it on my lap. I didn't really enjoy the area we sat in because there were just flies or mosquitoes everywhere and Will and I are mosquito magnets. They were also flying throughout dinner too.

Fish Maw Soup

We started off with the Fish Maw Soup which happens to be one of our favorite soups now. It was very tasty!

Lobster with Ginger & Scallions, Crispy Chicken, and Broccoli & Shrimp with Walnuts

After the soup, we had the Lobster with Ginger & Scallions which was mediocre. My parents said the ones at Fu Kee (at Bay Parkway) are a lot better and bigger. The  crispy chicken was meaty and delicious. I really love the Broccoli & Shrimp with walnuts , but the broccoli was extremely bitter. It was definitely not fresh and had a lot of black dots around it. The sauce they used for the shrimp tasted slightly different than the ones I've tried before. It had a much sweeter taste to it.

Ong Choy, Toisan Cauliflower, and Oysters with Black Bean Sauce

We also got a plate of Ong Choy with bean curd sauce which I really enjoy eating, love this vegetable! I've recently started liking Toisan Cauliflower. It's quite delicious and has a nice crunch to it (if cooked right), but the chefs definitely used too much oil on this. I'm not a fan of Oysters with Black Bean Sauce, but dad got it any way for the others.

The service was decent, but I felt the quality of the food wasn't great. I didn't enjoy biting into the bitter broccoli or having flies flying around as I was trying to enjoy my dinner. Hopefully the restaurant will do something about the flies and find a better vendor for their broccoli. Apparently they have a two star rating on Yelp which is NOT a good sign at all, but I'll be submitting my review on them soon.

Once again, I would only recommend coming here for a small dinner and/or dim sum.  If you're looking for a better quality small dinner, I would suggest going to Fu Kee.