We're on a roll with popular Rice village restaurants.  Prego's a few weeks ago and now Benjy's.  We made a reservation for 9:00 on a recent Saturday night.  Forty-five minutes after our appointed time, we were seated.  We didn't mind sitting at the bar, but there's nowhere else to wait if you are not inclined to have a drink.   (For those who are interested, we were not offered anything other than the insightful explanation that they were very busy.   Perhaps things would have gone more smoothly if the guy at the door didn't stop every five minutes to canoodle with his wife who was seated at the bar.)  Once we were seated, the service was quite good.

Probably we're a little cranky because Benjy's has been a favorite place for calamari which, as those who read this website know, is a favorite dish of ours.  The calamari was not up to snuff this time around.  It has  changed for the worse -- the very slight sweetness in the coating and the chili aioli dipping sauce are gone.  We didn't like the sambal cocktail sauce, and the pieces were a little chewy.  We both enjoyed fish dishes as entrees  -- sautéed striped bass and wood oven roasted salmon in a shrimp beurre blanc.  Nothing exceptional but well executed. 

The food was good, but it didn't wow us to the point where we'll deal with the reservation issues again anytime soon, at least on a weekend.  Saturday and Sunday brunch is another story.  We've always had our reservation honored on time, and the food is very good.  We'll stick to brunch and let others enjoy the dinner scene.

2424 Dunstan
713/522-7602
http://www.benjys.com/home.html