This Florida girl loved her half smoke with chili! So good, but the highlight for me was the banana pudding! Worth every single penny!

This place is a classic DC staple and everything I could want from a place called Ben's Chili Bowl. The Spicy Half Smoke was fire! It was a spicy sausage with great chili and small chopped onions. The cheese fries were incredible with the best liquid cheese. The regular chili with Fritos was classic and so good. The cheeseburger was fresh and had a lovely charbroiled flavor. The decor looks like a classic diner with fun pics of celebs that have visited. This place lives up to the hype.

The burger is a good fast food burger. I like it. Option to choose the type of cheese which I like. Good size too. The cookies and cream shake is really really good! The order came really quickly! The potato salad is not very good. Dry but that's not so bad... they added what seems to be green onions or something similar in there. Not good. Changes the taste too much. I can handle a dry potato salad, not my favorite, but not with onion, shallots, or chives. The original potato salad would have been much better. Maybe a little creamier too. I would get the burger and shake again! Pass on the potato salad. I cannot review on the cleanliness or ambiance of the place as this was a delivery.

Ben's Chili Bowl is an institution & when in DC you gotta try it! Ben and Virginia Ali opened Ben's Chili Bowl in 1958. All the famous peeps, both political & celebs, have been here & Ben's has been featured on numerous tv shows. They are known for their half-smokes and they have been a pillar of the Washington, DC community for years. They cook everything old school & the decor has not changed a bit so you literally feel like you have transcended back in time. In recent years they added a location in NATS Park & you can find them stocked on the shelves of your local Giant Food grocery stores or they ship nationwide - just go on the website & order directly from there: benschilibowl.com The food is delicious, the staff is efficient & friendly, the ambiance is unparalleled & it is a must stop if you visit our Nation's Capital.

The Chilli here may just be the best I've ever had. There's a smoky slightly spicy flavor profile that doesn't burn your mouth off. My only regret was not ordering the larger size and that I don't live nearby so that I could get this well everyday. I had the small Ben's Famous Chilli Bowl with cheddar cheese, onions & sour cream. I also had a bit of the Original Half Smoke Dog. Honestly, nothing special about the dog itself but the chilli is just so delicious. I could eat this stuff on the daily. It's also cool to know you're eating at the same place as famous people like all the photos plastered around the walls. Ray Charles & Tina Turner, music royalty. The jukebox playing tunes was just icing on the kick. Service is straightforward. Make your order at the counter, pay, pick up your food and go to your seat. We also saw the co-founder Virginia Ali but she was busy taking photos with people. It goes to show how special this place is.

We visited this iconic establishment during a recent trip to D.C. I was intrigued by the legendary history of this institution. I literally spent time walking around & admiring all of the photographs and articles on display. I enjoyed learning about the family of the owner and seeing all the marketing items. But more importantly, and quite surprisingly, I was able to meet the actual owner of the establishment. She was in the restaurant, eating and chatting, amongst the customers! Wow! Of course, we ordered some hot dogs and drinks, but the real star is the story behind this historic landmark that has stood the test of time. This was and is an anchor in the community, especially during the Civil rights era of our country. Parking was really hard to find but definitely worth the effort. Don't skip out on this iconic spot!

I lived in Alexandria Virginia from 1980 until 2005. Ages 10 through 35, and had never been to Ben's Chili Bowl. Fast forward to the year 2024, and my family of four traveled from Las Vegas to, Nevada to the DC Metro area. One day we went to the zoo and the family wanted to go somewhere for a late lunch. Enter daddy's suggestion of Ben's Chili Bowl... Arriving by subway was a great idea, very short walk from the train station to the restaurant. The artwork on the outside of the building, I could just stand and stare at it. Inside you'll see an array of pictures of celebrating the celebrities who have been there and the local history. The staff was some of the best we have ever received when going out to eat. Mrs. Ali (owner) was very accommodating for anyone who asked her for a picture. Being a hot July day, she was quick to suggest drinking water and staying hydrated over anything else on the menu. Food was good, ambiance intriguing, staff was awesome. Some may say it's just "another place" to eat. I for one am very pleased to have been there.

Hearing this is a Washington, DC staple, I walked the over a mile trek from my hotel to visit during lunch time. During lunch on a weekday, it was not too terribly busy. I ordered the beef dog, came with chips, and a cookies and creme milk shake. The cost was about $18. I ate inside. My order was ready fairly quickly. The staff was friendly and checked in at my table on how I liked the food. The beef hotdog was delicious. I did not try the chili (I know I should have), but the taste of the hotdog was really good. The milkshake was super thick. It had lots of pieces of cookie in it. It was very creamy and a decent shake for a hot summer day. I liked taking in all the signage within, and it's cool to see the diner counter within since that's not very common.

If you've read my reviews, you'd know I'm a sucker for a chili dog. Ben's Chili Bowl was our first real meal in DC. It was so good that we came back another 3 more times. I guess the unique part about this spot is that they use spices from Trinidad in their chili. They have a mild one which I had and a spicy one which the hubs loved. I ordered a Chili Cheese Dog which was delicious every. single. time. On one occasion, I ordered Chili Cheese Fries. It tasted a tad bit spicy so I ordered plain Cheese Fries on another sitting. Those hit the spot, granted it was a bit heavy. Hubs ordered the Half-Smoke which was displayed all over the menu. It was supposed to be a spicy chili dog with mustard and other stuff. He loved it. Since we dealt with a heat wave during our stay, hubs and I ordered milk shakes after our meals. It was a nice way to cool down while site-seeing. The strawberry milkshake was delicious. Nothing special... but it hit the spot on those warm evenings. The one con about this spot is that they do not have prices anywhere on their menus. One chili dog was roughly $8.49. I almost wanted a small cup of chili but found out it was also around that price. And the other issue was that sometimes your $8.49 chili dog came with chips. Sometimes it didn't. All in all, I enjoyed my chili dog. We also met the owner who is in her 90s. She was super friendly and swung by twice to see how we were doing and to let us know she was "getting off of her shift for the night." Haha. The restaurant looks small when you enter but has 2 more rooms which contain an ample amount of seating. Definitely a must when you're in DC. Cheers!