Ben's Chili Bowl Is Simply Not Good

WaPo - The side of the original Ben’s Chili Bowl on U Street in Northwest D.C. got a fresh coat of paint Tuesday, just in time for the NBA playoffs. A new, temporary mural featuring Wizards guards John Wall and Bradley Beal now adorns the wall that had been bare since January, when the restaurant painted over five-year-old portraits of Bill Cosby, Barack Obama, Chuck Brown and DJ Donnie Simpson.

Appropriately, Washington’s backcourt mates are sporting the ‘Stars and Stripes’ alternate uniforms that the Wizards will wear for every home game throughout the playoffs.

Painting over Bill Cosby is good. Brad Beal and John Wall are good.

HOWEVA.

This has been brewing within me for a while. But honesty is the best policy and this is a tree of trust called the Internet where opinions are valued. So here it goes:

Ben’s Chili Bowl is perhaps the most overrated thing I’ve ever had. It’s true, it’s damn true. It’s not even “not as good as people say it is”….it’s simply…bad. Like, not good. Like, would not eat there on purpose ever again. I sampled the cuisine. I had the half smoke. I had the chili hot dog. I had the chili cheese fries. To say that any of it was even above average would be nothing short of a fib.

Many people in the DMV swear by Ben’s Chili Bowl. But I’m positive people hype it up because it’s one of those “institutions”, one of those landmark places, rather than because it’s one of those places with you know, good food. Give me a billion other places, give me Applebees, give me cooking for myself at home, before you give me Ben’s Chili Bowl. It’s the truth.