Outside, the long, low exterior gives off a different look than a typical shotgun-style dive bar wedged between businesses. Benny’s is instead a shotgun layout turned on its side, red cinder blocks stretching across three neon-filled front windows. While it does say Benny’s on the awning above the front door, framed, weather-protected, street level neon reads Q Street Bar & Grill. In a nice twist, string lights exist here not just inside but outside as well, a red strand playing against the red neon and red cinder blocks to create a pretty uniform face.
The space inside is bright by dive bar standards, wood slat walls painted two shades of brown (light and dark, of course). A long narrow room stretches the length of the space indicated by the windows outside, bar stools complemented by a thin row of chairs along a beer-friendly ledge along the opposite wall. Immediately noticeable are the stapled and taped dollar bills that aren’t so much densely packed as they are loosely strewn about the space. These dollar bills can be found in pockets behind the bar and more prominently around the windows on the opposite wall, but they also pop up sporadically around the bar’s TVs, along side walls and elsewhere.
Q Street Bar & Grill is a cash-only dive bar, meaning an ATM takes up prominent residence in this front room in addition to a chalk drink board listing out available tap beers and daily specials (the Tequila Mockingbird is a delicious-sounding pun). A small window just to the left of the bar opens up to the kitchen in back where bar standard options like burgers and wings can be procured. Potato taquitos and an assortment of other pleasantly fried foods can be had here as late as midnight.
