Benihana

Don’t bother. We had reservations for 7:30 and didn’t get seated until well after 8:00. Overall, our Benihana experience lasted over 3 hours, not by choice. Our party spent most of the night with empty cocktail glasses and hungry. The food is ok but not worth 30 bucks and 3 hours. It took over 20 minutes just for the server to ring up our bills… Yes it was busy when we got there but that’s why we had reservations. Either understaffed or incompetent staff, maybe both. Don’t waste your time with this place.

So my family and I went to this restaurant and ordered our food. Although the food is pretty good, the service was awful. When we finally did get our food, almost 2 hours later, my steak was not how I ordered it, and it was cold. I wouldn’t recommend coming here.

I don’t really care for this restaurant. I would rather have a quiet conversation with my friends and family. That said, many people like it, especially on their birthday.
We went here for a family member’s birthday. The chef was very skillful and funny. The food was excellent right on point. And the service from the waitresses was perfect. We all had a great time.
The restaurant brought the perfect ice cream dessert complete with candles for the birthday girl. And they took three pictures of all of us and put them in little Benihana folders. The birthday girl was so pleased.
I realize most restaurants do not want to seat you until everyone was there but unless we stepped into the bar there really isn’t room for 9 people to wait for the 10^th person. It would be better to seat us when the majority of the party is present. Maybe they wanted us to going to the bar and order drinks.
All in all it seems like a lot of former problems with this restaurant certainly have been addressed and fixed.

I have to say this was probably one of the better dining experiences I’ve had as of to date! The ambiance at Benihana’s is great. The service was outstanding! And the food was absolutely perfect!
The whole table side service and gourmet show that goes along with it was impressive and my young son was very entertained. Chef Brandon did a fabulous job of making him a part of the whole dining experience. He magically turned 1 egg into 2 under a bowl on the grill and held my child’s attention the entire preparation of dinner! It was really well done on his part! :) The manager also recognized me from my work and gave us 10% off our meal which I thought was awesome of her!
Overall, this place was a little on the pricey side, but for the experience you gain it was most definitely worth it to me!

If I could give it NO stars I would!!! NO TASTE!!! over priced and horrible!!! COME AT YOUR OWN RISK

Beware. Before going to this fast food Japanese wanna be restaurant. We decided to go for a family dinner with 2 tables at 630pm on a Sunday. I first book the reservation via open table and called for the additional table. Spoke to a lady that’s have no customers service background training. The lady was rude and not very accommodating. They would rather turn away guaranteed sales for the evening. We are from out of town visiting from Las Vegas and thought it would be fun for our nieces /​nephews. I don’t even eat at this place at home in Vegas but here in anchorage your choices are very limited.
Vegasvip

Final update! Returned to Benihana’s one last time before we move and it was the best chef we’ve ever had! And the food was equally good! I guess the entire experience really depends on the competence of the chef! We will miss you Benihana’s!

The management clearly does not care about the employees. Our cook told us he had worked over 11 hours with no breaks at all. Everyone working there was miserable and it showed, ruined the vibe completely. The food was good which is why I’m giving it 3 stars.

Our reservation was for 630 pm. A little after 7 pm the hostess called us, she left after she called our name and we didn’t know what table to go to. We had to wait for someone else to bring us to our table. The other couple at our table also had to wait over a half an hour. I found a hair in my salad, the manager asked if I wanted a new salad. Uuumm I said no. I didn’t want another hairy salad. Our chief was awesome. We didn’t get a discount for the hair in the food. Overall the chief was cool everything else wasn’t up to pair. Don’t think I will return thanks to the manager that was working tonight. Happy New Year.

Sorry, we were very disappointed. Service was dreadful. They tried to make up for it and said they’d give us a free appetizer and 20% off the bill. Instead, they took 20% off including the appetizer and our discount was $ 1.86 on a $ 95 meal. We will never be back!

I just happen to really like Benihana but mainly for lunch. I get practically the same meal at lunch as I can get for dinner less a salad, for @$ 10.00 cheaper. Who don’t luv dat?!
My only issues are is that it’s a bit slow for hour lunch. And I’d just as soon they not play with my food. But I can live with it.

I loved the way the chefs sauté your food right in front of you and provide a lot of entertainment for the kids. But for the four stars instead of five? I just don’t think Japanese food is all that and quite frankly, my least favorite of east Asian cuisines. It’s pretty and sophisticated, but other than teriyaki sauce, ginger, miso, and wasabi, not many other seasonings are used in the Japanese gastronomy. Plus I’m not a big fan of mushrooms and shrimp. And the clear Japanese whiskey I had was $ 10 and barely had any kick to it. However, the beef Yakisoba I had was very good, the onion soup, just okay and the salad had an overwhelmingly pungent ginger flavor. Our chef was very witty and attentive, but he got my wife’s order wrong and accidentally splattered an oil drop in her face. But she got the order for free, thanks to the very professional staff!

The food was delicious. We clearly had a ROOKIE chef because he kept dropping the utensils in the show. Other than that he could have cooked my steak a lil longer to actually be medium rare instead of a couple pieces rare but the scallops we cooked beautifully.
I would suggest a reservation if you have a large party cause it was busy on a Wednesday night.

If our visits to Benihana could always be like today’s then it would be awesome. Our experience on this visit was wonderful and we actually had a good time.
Our server had great communication with the chef and pretty attentive. Jonald was the chef at our table and he made our visit so much more entertaining. The tricks he would do with the food were much more coordinated and actually made sense (unlike last time). The way he cooked was like a little symphony of its own and truly made it feel like a work of art. He even made a chicken out of the scrambled eggs mixture (see photo)…very cool!
Hopefully we can have great service like this in future visits. If you like ginger I would recommend using that sauce for your shrimp. In my opinion it compliments the shrimp so nicely. The salad also comes with it and it’s adds a refreshing taste to the food.

I admit, I went to this place as a joke when I was on vacation. I was totally shocked that it ended up being a sort of wonderful and delicious experience. We walked in without a reservation and were seated immediately. The chef was fantastic, engaging, and fun. The food was actually delicious and the service was A+. I’d go back in a heartbeat if I find myself in Anchorage again.
Note: I’ve been to other Benihana locations and this is the only one that isn’t a total epic failure.

If you’ve never been to Benihana’s the show is fun, but once you’ve seen it a couple of times it sort of loses its thrill. The food is just okay. It’s good but nothing really amazing, there are certainly a lot better places you could go eat for the money, but again you’re not paying for the food anyway you’re paying for the cooking entertainment. If you just want to have a little fun with dinner it’s a cool place to check out. It is expensive though. For three of us tonight it cost about $ 145 with the tip and that’s with no alcoholic beverages. If you’re really looking for good food for your money then I would go somewhere else.

My boyfriend took me here for Valentine’s Day. Super cool place! The chefs have great sense of humors and they totally make the experience. The general manager that day was walking around and made it her personal goal to greet customers and give them a kiss (the chocolate kind).
We sat at the bar to wait for our reservation and shared a fish bowl. Super amazing delicious drink. It was a lot of fun… not very private unless the whole table is reserved for your group of friends but I still enjoyed the people we sat around/​next to.
The tricks the chefs perform are really awesome and they give you such HUGE portions of food. One of the girls at our table had a gluten allergy and they were able to accommodate her as well as everyone else. I don’t eat red meat, so I was a little disappointed there weren’t many options but all in all its a great restraint.
Also if you register for the chefs special on their website you’ll get a 30.00 coupon for your birthday month. Pretty neat :)

Oh Benihana how you have just gone downhill in the past five years. You use to be my most favorite place to come to for drinks, sushi, appetizers just at the sushi bar and with your awesome chefs. However, this is NOT the case anymore, what happened to you?
The chefs use to be fun and entertaining, instead I get an old guy who doesn’t talk or smile and just cooks food, nothing fun about him, I might as well have fallen asleep! I gave you a second shot in the past month and although the guy was way more entertaining (he even made an I heart U out of the rice and a smiley face) the food just was okay, nothing exciting, your yellow sauce has even changed.
All this place has done is gone up in price. You make me angry with your «All you can eat sushi» from your menu but there are so many stipulations and they change to whatever is convenient for you to NOT offer it. Ie…“oh that is only M-​W from 3 – 5 or one time it is only on Tues and Thurs from 4−530″ MAKE UP YOUR MIND! or just don’t offer it all.
I’m not sure what you did with Mr. OH but he was by far the best sushi chef on the planet!
Please go back to how you were around 2010 timeframe, you will have much more business!

I was never really a fan of Benihana, but for some reason, ever since I moved to Alaska it has slowly started to grow on me. My first experience at this location was wonderful. We came here celebrating my birthday and another birthday. I love how they send you a $ 30 gift certificate for your birthday if you sign up for the chef’s table. This was the second year that i’ve received it. It basically covers one hibachi meal (depending what you order of course). For the surf and turf type of meals you’re probably gonna end up putting a few more bucks towards it out of pocket.
It’s a very fun dining environment. The chefs are usually pretty entertaining. The food is pretty delicious as well. I always get a steak and either shrimp or lobster. Never any complaints on my food. I loveee the dipping sauces especially the garlicky one for meats. I think prices are pretty reasonable for what you get. Soup and salad is included with many of the entrees and they always give you shrimp off the grill as an appetizer to start, with some grilled veggies as well. If price is an issue for you, come during the weekdays for their lunch specials. You get the exact same meals for almost ½ the price you pay during dinner. I also love that they take your photo and print it out for you, for birthdays. Its a very nice touch and something to help you remember to always celebrate at Benihana’s during your birthday month.
So everyone, be sure to go onto their website and sign up for the chef’s table. A $ 30 certificate will be emailed to you at the beginning of your birthday month and you get to use it anytime during the month of your birthday, for dinner only – except Fridays and weekends. What a great deal! :)

Great experience, good food, good service. Overall, I’d say that Benihana appears to be very adept and delivering a consistent product. I wouldn’t hesitate to return again in the future.
It seems Benihana is the place to go for special occasions, at almost every table there were birthdays, anniversaries and in our case, engagements, being celebrated. That makes the whole shared seating thing even more fun because it’s not JUST about the food, but a celebration of life. What a fun concept for a restaurant to capitalize on! I loved the commerative photo. In an age of digital photography, it was nice to leave with a tangible image in my hand. Very cool.
All our food was perfectly prepared. The steak was butter tender. The food was very good, but didn’t knock my socks off. Solid 4 ½ star meal. We’ll be back for anniversaries, I think. Good times!