Dinner Saturday night at Benny's on the Beach

I had a friend visiting from out of town on Saturday. He currently lives in Port St. Lucie and is a recent transplant from Michigan. Put on my thinking cap for a place other than the usual downtown restaurants I frequent and remembered that Benny's on the Beach is open for dinner now and sent him the menu; he like the idea and decided on Benny's. I knew they started the practice last year during the season and decided to continue serving dinner during the off season. It has become a very popular place.

Since I rarely drive to the beach a parking permit never made sense. Mostly ride my bike there to use the pool or walk around the beach. So we took his car and because we didn't have a permit sticker and did the parking dance. We checked the upper area for parking and ended up using the turn-around at the north end of the lot and found parking on the lower level. There was a large wedding going on in the Casino building but parking was plentiful in the south area of the lot.

Benny's was busy and they had live entertainment going on at the bar as you walk toward the restaurant area. There was a large crowd on the lower deck and headed upstairs. It was also crowded there but were able to get a table with a great view of the ocean at the southeast corner of the room. Here are some partial views from our table.

The area is screened in but still a wonderful view.

Clearly it is one of the most oceanfront restaurants of any in Palm Beach County and it is one of the few places you can eat inside with a fresh sea breeze that isn't air conditioned. The views are unobstructed except for screens. People were still swimming in the water by the time we finished around 8:30. The food was excellent, portions were ample, and one order (the "Triple B" burger) needed a container for the ride home. The pork tacos were nicely done and so was the seafood grill. Service was good but a little slow in coming out. We were in the far corner of the second floor and it was clear the kitchen was busy last night.

By the way, it seems that the fire of last weekend is a faded memory now. The staff told us after it happened Lee Lipton gave an inspirational speech and told them the restaurant would be "up and running" in an hour after it had to shut down (it turned out to be a minor electrical fire behind the kitchen). And they did it! There seemed to be a good mood among the servers there.

Tonight you can have your chance to check out Benny's yourself by attending the After Rafter Party. See the announcement below:

While we were there, we talked about the vacant second floor space in the Casino building that may, one day, be home to another restaurant. It was our conclusion that the feel of that space would not be nearly the same quality as the one at Benny's. Remember, the railing along the east side of the second floor of the building is solid; when seated it blocks your view of the ocean. You have the logistics involved in increased deliveries to the building for one example. There is also the problem of where to store tables/chairs for banquet-type functions in the ballroom. Maybe the best idea is to connect the ballroom and planned restaurant space into one area and creating a storage area west of the northern part of the second floor. That would mean more expenditure of funds that the City doesn't have to correct an ill-conceived plan. Much easier to change plans before they are built than after.

There was a wasted opportunity early on to have Johnny Longboats as a tenant using the entire two stories but that was considered "too commercial" at the time. After all this time we are still trying to fix all the problems at the Casino complex and find a workable business plan: what a shame.

Below is a video of Lee Lipton, the owner of Benny's on the Beach at a city commission meeting recently. He has ideas about what the City could do to make the Casino complex less of a burden for the taxpayers.