What a great little,place. Good home cooking, awesome service, and the portions are great. When I am back there, we will have to put it on the stopping list. read more

Was visiting UConn with my son and decided to eat here based on other reviews. Classic diner feel with attentive but busy waitstaff. We each got an omelet and had to share the breakfast poutine- how can you not try a breakfast poutine? Everything was served hot and was really delicious. There was about a 20 minute wait for a table and the food did take a little longer to come out, but was to be expected for a Saturday morning. Definitely recommend and would go back if we were in the area again. read more

Up early Saturday morning doing errands and needed breakfast. We have driven by this place so many times, we figured we would try it. Pulled in the parking lot and it looked like a mechanic's shop. We parked and went inside, there was 2 couples waiting to be seated and walked up to counter and signed in. We waited for about 10 minutes all the watching the staff work and the customers, all kinds of interesting people. We were told a table opened up and were told to go ahead be seated. Waitress brought menus (lots of breakfast options) and took our order. 2 walnut pancakes and a large breakfast poutine. The pancakes were larger than expected, a little thinner than homemade but they were awesome, the wife liked that the little containers of butter sat on the pancakes thus the butter softened and easy to spread, the syrup was in a bottle on the table and could be accessed if a little more syrup was needed. The poutine was a hit, it was huge, definitely a 2 meal or meal to be shared with fellow table members. Scrambled eggs, cut up sausage links covered with home fries like potatoes, cheese curd and brown gravy all it needed was a little salt and pepper and it was better than expected for someone that never had cheese curds. The price was not bad for breakfast, it was a meal and entertainment for earlier Saturday morning, we will come again to try out lunch. read more

Love the food service everything is so good, perfect potion, ambiance a down home feel.

The food is good but I have a hard time getting past the lack of cleanliness, the place needs a deep clean, booths are filthy, I didn't want to touch the menu ... read more

I haven't seen many Canadian restaurants near me, and Chez Ben did not disappoint. I had the poutine there my first time and now I help but order it every time I go. People I've gone with had very positive experiences of the other food they make, but I am in love with their poutine. :) read more

Awesome breakfasts! Coconut French Toast is just to-die-for delicious. Their Hash is tasty and crunchy. Best coffee in the area. Waitresses work HARD and deliver great service. This is a MUST PLACE TO EAT. read more

I may have mentioned in other reviews but when we're looking for something new to try while out on an adventure I always Google 'poutine near me' because even if we don't find poutine the suggestions are always great places. In this case, I found the poutine mother load! Chez Ben has a mix of Canadian (Quebec) and US foods, heavy on breakfast and diner themes but with a ton of poutine options. A whole page is dedicated to the very unique poutines you can purchase. They also have French Canadian items like meat pies. When we went, the diner was super busy. Once we got a booth, we ended up with a really nice waitress who appeared to be working the entire area and graciously put up with being yelled at by some jerks for who knows what reason. We heard and felt bad for her. Really rude people. Food did take quite awhile to come but again it was incredibly busy when we went around lunch on Saturday. We went with the breakfast poutine for me. I got a large and it was huge. Eggs, ham and home fries with curds and the proper brown gravy. So good! I couldn't finish even half of it. It also came with very delicious and buttered perfectly rye bread. My dining partner was thrilled to see liver and onions. He forgot about his poutine craving and went that way (although he had to finish my breakfast poutine so I think he got the best of both worlds). It looked good but liver and onions really isn't my thing so I didn't try it. One of the sides was beets which was pretty unique. Price-wise it was a steal. We ended up paying in cash because it was just so busy that we didn't want to wait and there was a line at the counter for people paying with cards. Not a bad location and plenty of parking even though full so I'd recommend stopping in if you're craving poutine! read more

Chez Ben Diner - Breakfast poutine - Diners Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

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Still one of our favorite breakfast spots! Can't get past the breakfast poutine it's so comforting and tasty. read more

Chez Ben Diner - Small breakfast poutine - Diners Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

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First time there. Ordered a take out club. sandwich. Food & service great. People friendly as well. Will definitely go back again.

Chez isn't hidden per se, but it's still a gem. This restaurant is across from Cheney, next to a tint business. Driving by, it's pushed back a little bit & in your peripheral, it looks like another industrial type business, in my opinion, so I never paid much attention. I finally tried them for takeout after years of unknowingly driving by them on a regular basis & seeing them in my search results for breakfast places in Manchester. I could never make it over there before they closed. Mostly because I like sleeping in on the weekends. My first time, I arrived around 10a on a weekend & it was packed, with people still arriving. Luckily I called ahead, so the wait in my car wasn't too long. Upon walking in, they provide sanitizer, a plus, & a row of chairs against the wall, leading to the hostess/takeout counter, if you need to sit while you wait. As I waited on line, to pick up my order I glanced around. The dining areas are to the left. Main one right in front & a smaller area towards the back/side of the building. The restaurant was buzzing with movement & people enjoying their meals. The kitchen is behind the counter & I could hear the cooks communicating the orders. The waitresses were scurrying around delivering food, checking on tables, & pouring drinks. I was so relieved to see they used Florida's Natural orange juice & not some questionable juice poured into a plastic pitcher. They have the good stuff. Now, since I'm writing this review days after this visit, I can't remember exactly everything I ordered so forgive me. However, I did get a classic breakfast rather than the poutine. What can I say, I'm a creature of habit in the morning. What I can say is that I do not remember any errors that were made & I prefer my eggs over medium. This place got it right, which apparently is difficult to do for most. The second time I had take out, I arrived around 12:30p on Sunday & it was less packed. This time I waited inside & sat on one of the four chairs. This wasn't pleasant because a group came in & they had no choice but to stand right in front of me. Their wait was about 5mins. I survived. My take out consisted of 2 french toast stuffed with cream cheese & strawberries, hash browns & bacon. When I opened the container, the french toast was 2 slices Texas bread on top of each other with filling in the middle. I don't know if this was right. I'm wondering if I was supposed to get a total of 4...Anyway, moving on, the strawberries were actually on the side in a separate container. Probably so the french toast doest get too saugy. They are also from a jar. I don't mind this, they were delicious, juicy & syrupy. The amount of cream cheese filling for me was perfect. The healthy chuncks of hash browns were done nicely as well. Some were crispy some weren't. I think anyone would be pleased. No salt or pepper, but easily remedied. The thin curly bacon was crispy but not browned. I inhaled it all. There aren't too many breakfast places in Manchester & even less that are homestyle. I'm happy I was finally able to give Chez a shot & I wasn't disappointed. I do wish they'd stay open just a little longer though. Hopefully, I can get back their & force myself to order the poutine. read more

Had to get the poutine! With philly cheese steak on top. I got a small which was huge! My husband got a tuna club. Next time, I'll have to try the meat pie. read more

Chez Ben Diner - Philly Steak poutine! Very good. A small is enough! - Diners Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

I love this place on the weekend, HOWEVER this is the second time I have come during the week (Wednesday& Friday) I sent my Omelette back because the egg was still runny (Yuk) then it came back burnt.... I definitely wouldn't come back during the week. The waitress who is normally sweet as pie was overwhelmed and short mannered. Maybe they should have more than 1 waitress during the week. read more

This was our second visit, so I knew what to expect (and wasn't disappointed!). It was a busy Saturday morning, but we were seated quickly and received timely service from the staff. Our party had a couple of breakfast poutines - very good (with so many poutine options, there's something for everyone). We also had a breakfast sandwich with creton (our server helpfully explained that Quebecois breakfast meat). Our meals came out quickly; coffee was good, hot and always topped off. read more

Tried Chez Ben today for lunch. My wife and have been saying we need to try them for poutine for a while now and we were not disappointed. My rating is entirely based on the poutine. My wife is French Canadian and her family is mostly in Quebec so we are no strangers to authentic Québécois poutines. I can tell you this is as close as you can get to a Québécois poutine in the US. The cheese and gravy were very much on point. We will definitely be back again and my wife is looking forward to trying a few other items on the Canadian fare menu to see if they hit home from her childhood spending summers in Quebec. We both had sandwiches, grilled pastrami and onions on rye for me and grilled turkey and cheddar for her and they were both average, but again our main goal was a poutine and that was a home run! read more

Chez Ben Diner - Classic poutine - Diners Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

6.12.22 What a great place. Our 1st time and we loved it because as soon as we walked in we were greeted and seated. Our coffee and breakfast came out fast and hot. The waitress did check back a couple times to see of we needed anything. We stuck to traditional food but they do have poutine on the menu etc. The stuffed French toast was yummy as were the other items. read more

Chez Ben Diner - Stuffed French toast with strawberries, eggs, bacon, toast, home fries etc. - Diners Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

This gem is right around the corner from where we are and is our to go breakfast spot when we're craving some good fries, cheese, and coffee in the morning. The pouting here is absolutely delicious and served at a good price. It gets really packed here in the morning. The restaurant isn't that big so be prepared to wait. I've tried the philly poutine and the all dressed, both are really good. Give it a try and you'll never stop coming back for more ! read more

Cute little place to have breakfast. Enjoyed our omelettes. The grilled blueberry muffin was delicious!

Excellent breakfast. Pancakes were the fluffiest I've ever had. Eggs were delicious and the corned beef hash was perfect. read more

Chez Ben Diner - Diners Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

So my knowledge of Canadian cuisine starts with Molson and ends with Labatt. I've heard of poutine, of course, but hadn't tried it. That is until today. The Chez Ben Diner is very well...diner like ... with stools at a counter and two adjacent dining rooms. The menu is very cool -breakfast is served all day -and their breakfast selections are plentiful. four kinds of French Toast (plain, cream cheese & fruit stuffed, coconut, and almond joy), and a myriad of egg dishes, egg sandwiches, omelettes, and pancakes. Lunch service starts at 10:30, and you'll see a lot of soups, sandwiches and burgers on the menu. But to me, the real story of Chez Ben is the Canadian dishes, that's what I came for and that's what I got. They have a menu section named "Canadian Fare". Ever hear of "Tortiere" before? It's a Canadian meat pie. The meat stuffing was ground very fine into a smooth texture- not at all what I expected. It tasted fine, the crust was fine, it was a solid dish. But the star of my plate was the poutine style fries. Just pour hot gravy and cheese curds over your fries, and voila! you have poutine style fries. What are cheese curds? Damned if I know-it was dollops of something half-way between ricotta and mozzarella. After a while, it started melting into strings of cheesy goodness. My dish also came with a vegetable- choice of peas or beets, or slaw. I went with the slaw and didn't care for it much at all. My lunch and a can of Diet Coke (yeah... I know) ran $13.78. Now that I've satisfied my curiosity about Ben's, I'm happy. read more

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This is a bit nostalgic for me. I used to live in Montreal and Chez Ben serves up dishes I ate up there, north of the wall lol. I can't lie, I've come to Chez Ben for poutine for breakfast lol. Makes me happy to hear people speaking French as well. Don't worry, all of the servers speak perfect English but it's sooo charming to hear the French. The Québécois poutine is my favorite but next time i want to try the "all dressed". The creton, toast, coffee combo is one of my favorites as well. (In fact i wish they were open so i could go have it now!!) :) I've gotten Christmas presents here too! My stepdad loves meat pies so I'll pick up a few for him and creton and he's all smiles. Definite crowd pleaser to eat now or keep the pies frozen. read more

Ooh yes! The only time I have had poutine in the past is in Montreal & Quebec City. We found this diner by chance when we were looking for brunch places in Manchester. We tried the philly poutine, the veggie poutine & Guedile (From the Canadian fare menu). The poutines were delicious and so was the Guedile which was something new for us. A good experience altogether! read more

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I have to say after going to Canada for our honeymoon a couple weeks ago, my husband and I were in a severe need for a poutine fixing. Our search led us to Chez Ben Diner. The gravy was phenomenal and the cheese was very good! My main concern was their fries. They were not very good nor seem fresh. Many fries were hard as a rock and did not have much flavor. I think their poutine would be 110% better with hand cut fries but that is just my opinion. Kinda killed my meal for me. My husband got a slice of their meat pie and absolutely loved it! Only thing is that it did not come with a side of gravy which I thought was odd. Service was very slow but the staff was very pleasant and welcoming. Their breakfast menu seemed very extensive so if I were to come here again I would try those items out instead. read more

OK, the only reason I go to this restaurant is for the poutine. It is the one unique dish that no other restaurant in this area serves. I have been to Canada and tried poutine from different areas. Chez Ben has the best poutine I've had over any other restaurant. read more

Great breakfast selection. They are always courteous when you go in. Depending on what time of the morning you get there, there might be a short wait, but nothing too long. read more

It was the service that prompted me to write a good review today. Chez Ben was almost full and yet we recieved our breakfast hot off the grill faster than I expected. Very good coffee, pancakes and bacon. Eggs and potatoes were fine. The couple of baked goods we tried were excellent. The frosting on the cinnamon roll was perfect. Delicious blueberry muffin, maybe a few too many berries inside. read more

We wish we knew about this place sooner. The food was delicious! I cannot recommend the fried Canadian cheese enough. While our food overall did take a some time to get to our table from the time we ordered, it was still warm & so tasty. What we loved most was how their staff was happy even given that they were short staffed. The waitress we had was actually called to see if she could cover, she was happy to do so but had to bring her daughter, the team had no issues with that & her daughter even helped her mom with bringing us our menus! It seemed like such a wonderful work family that truly supported each other. read more

I came here on a Sunday morning for breakfast with friends. We arrived at 10am and there was a bit of a wait, so you have to put your name and phone number on a pad inside. You wait outside and they call you when your table is ready, it made sense since the waiting area was a little small given Covid requirements. Our waitress was quite friendly, she also was funny and chatted with is a bit. She was really great. The food was really good,the breakfast poutine in particular with bacon was tasty and definitely filling. The veggie omelette was also good and filled with a lot of toppings. I will say I felt the prices were a bit high, and they charge extra for a lot of things so I felt a little nickel and dimed. Also their side of creton was $2.50 and came in a tiny condiment container which I felt was a lot. The food was definitely good though. I'd recommend a visit in! read more

The food was good but the poor girl had the entire place to herself to take care of. I think a waitress didn't show but having only one waitress have to do the entire diner was a bit much in my opinion. We had to wait awhile to sit awhile to eat and I get that with the circumstances I just hope they get help so it doesn't burn that waitress out read more

Poutine is in the list of world's 50 tastiest foods. That's how I googled and found this place. I have to agree that poutine tastes awesome. I generally take their Philly poutine. Poutine is basically gravy, cheese curds and meat over French fries. Generally they start their frier only at 10. Till then they may try to replace home fries for French fries in poutine. This is not as good as French fries. If you insist they may start the frier early for you. Please do insist. You can replace French fries with onion rings for $2 upcharge. Trust me. It's worth it. I love their almond joy French toast. read more

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Going to keep this review short and sweet - you are not going to find a more authentic Quebecois breakfast, or poutine, within a 200 mile radius. We've tried poutine at places ranging from the Big E to famous Montréal spots like Chez Tousignant, La Banquise or the Montréal Pool Room. The gravy is on point, the fries never undercooked and the cheese curds squeak exactly as they're supposed to. But that should come as no surprise given the history behind the restaurant and its owners. It's one hundred percent true to form. Get there early. Order a small poutine and a Quebecois breakfast sandwich with creton. It's worth every second of your time. read more

Chez Ben Diner - Diners Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

Not from the area, so found this gem directly from Yelp reviews. Breakfast poutine was delicious, service was excellent and atmosphere was cozy/inviting. If I lived closer I would definitely return. read more

Don't let this small place fool you it's filled with amazing food. My husband and i drove from Farmington to try the poutine as it was highly rated on Facebook "a must try!" The poutine here is amazing very authentic. The gravy is thin not too thick with a darker consistency. Wasn't salty or overbearing in flavor. The cheese was really good too nice and stringy when melted between the fries. I added onions and peppers they were diced up into tiny pieces which i loved! I was able to get them in every bite. They had a whole page on their menu dedicated to poutine with over 6 different options of poutine plates. The large is $10 and enough to share between 2 people it's served in a bowl. Customer service is 5 stars everyone there greeted us with a kind smile. They really made us feel like regulars. We will go back! read more

Pretty good diner. I got the triple b breakfast combo. Everything was pretty good. Pancakes were especially good with their syrup. The home fires were also pretty good. Slightly above average read more

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Get the poutine! The chef made us the shredded buffalo chicken poutine even when it was off menu (we referenced a yelp picture that looked awesome) and they had no problem whipping it right up. Low key, but extremely busy diner so don't mind waiting but you'll seriously enjoy a reasonably priced breakfast or brunch that hits the spot. read more

Chez Ben Diner - Buffalo chicken poutine - Diners Near Me - Manchester, Connecticut

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Found this diner by chance on a Sunday. I was intrigued by their menu because they have poutine and I am from Canada so I'm always looking for some authentic Canadian food in the USA! I have to say it was a mediocre poutine. There wasn't enough gravy and the amount of cheese curds was really cheap. A real poutine is smothered in gravy and cheese, it seems as though they counted the curds they put on this poutine. The gravy was okay, lacking some flavor. It wasn't terrible and I would go back because it's not everywhere you can get a poutine in CT, but it was definitely forgettable. read more

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There isn't a better place to get breakfast than Chez Ben. Period. I've been going here for years and I literally will skip dinner the night before so I can eat more in the morning. Friendly staff, cute environment, and the food speaks for itself. It's a authentic style diner, what's better than that? read more

I've been to almost all the Manchester breakfast spots. I often try to order my home fries extra crispy. This is the only place to actually get them crispy! :) Everything was prepared as ordered (my easy egg was in fact cooked easy). The service was super friendly. My food came out lightning fast. The coffee was great. The prices are what one would expect from a diner. I will be back! read more

This place is a very cute, retro diner that made me feel right at home! I came here with my wife on a rainy Sunday morning and the place was packed. There was a lot more space inside than you'd expect just looking at it from the outside, but all the tables were full. Luckily, the bar still had empty seats, so we got lucky I guess. After sitting down, we noticed that the atmosphere and breakfast menu really give this place the retro diner feel. Breakfast foods here are rather inexpensive too, which helps the wallet. They also had Canadian fare, so that means I just had to have the poutine. I got a small chili poutine and it was a whole meal itself. I just barely finished my meal and found myself very full. Fries can do that to you. Also got a cup of bottomless coffee that our waitress was quick to refill. They even let me switch it up to try out the pumpkin coffee they brewed without charging me another cup! My wife got a big breakfast plate. The waitress said that the pancakes that came with it were small, so we were thinking along the lines of a silver dollar size. These were maybe twice as large? Definitely a lot more than we expected. Overall for the food, i found it to be a great deal for breakfast food. Poutine is a little expensive, but even the smalls should be enough for a single person's meal. As far as the service, this place was pretty hopping and the waitresses were still pleasant and attentive. read more

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Had to wait 40 minutes to be seated. Then, 10 minutes to get the menu, 25 more to get the order in, and then 40 more minutes for the food of party of 3. The place is old and the menus super dirty, the waitress are rude and are very good at ignoring people and the line of customers waiting. Prices are good, but of course the food is nothing of great. Nothing great here, just like any other diner. ** read more