Benihana

Came here for my birthday 2 years ago. Writing a review now because we plan to visit again Soon and that time I had not written reviews for restaurants. One of the best teppanyaki experience I’ve ever had. It was definitely very entertaining and the food is very good as well. The price is very reasonable. Definitely a very unique and different experience. If you have never been you are missing out and must try it!

What a fun dining experience! This was my first time at Benihana and it was very entertaining to watch the chef do all of his amazing tricks.
The reason why I only gave 3 stars is because of their reservation service. I booked a table for 7 people three weeks in advance for my fiancé’s birthday. The reservation was for 7:30pm. When the first two people got there 10 minutes early, they said they couldn’t seat them until all of us were present. That’s understandable. However, the rest of us arrived promptly at 7:30 and we checked in with the hostess in the front.
30 minutes later, we are still waiting for a table because supposedly our table was still being occupied by a family that took longer than expected. They didn’t tell us anything during the thirty minutes to keep us updated. So I had to approach the hostess a couple of times to ask. The thing that was most upsetting is that we saw a few tables that were empty! Anyway, we got seated around 8:10pm and after that the experience was great.

Your typical Benihana– no surprises or deviations. I arrived at SJC, tired and hungry, and in need of watching my football team play on TV. This was a convenient find right down the street of my hotel.
For an early evening on a Sunday, this Benihana location became very lively. I enjoyed happy hour in the bar, which had just about every seat occupied. Decent specials on American-​style sushi rolls as well as drinks.
Benihana…the Olive Garden of Japanese cuisine. That’s not a dig, just an accurate analogy =)

Can you really go wrong with Benihana?
For a chain teppanyaki style restaurant in the U.S., I’d say its pretty good. Decent but nothing spectacular.
I went with the Ocean’s Treasure entrée that included lobster, jumbo shrimp, and scallops. The lobster was good but not great. Rigo, our chef, was entertaining but I wish the zucchini and onions were cooked at the same time, as opposed to the zucchini in the beginning and onions at the very end, after the meats.
Server was attentive to our beverages and clearing of dishes.

My husband loves this place. I think this place is average. The food could be a 4 depending if the cook doesn’t over cook the food. The extra garlic butter is clutch. Even if the food isn’t good, garlic butter saves the dish. The service here is pretty average. Nothing to rave about, nothing bad, nothing great. Although, the ppl working at the bar are really nice.
I’m not going to lie, the chicken fried rice is a 5 star! Of course you would need extra garlic butter!
Usually a mixed crowd, at this particular location it gets pretty ratchet. Maybe we are ratchet, considering the fact that we come here at least once a month.
My one complaint about this place is the operator service they have when you call to make a reservation. You have to call at least three times to get through. Whatever you do, don’t press one for reservations. It will disconnect you. Press zero, if you get disconnected just call back and keep pressing zero. You’ll get an answer sooner than pressing one. The wait isn’t worth it if you don’t have a reservation. Without a reservation you aren’t guaranteed a seat. So, just make a reservation.

First time eating at Benihanas but not an open fry/​hotspot style restaurant.
Food was ³⁄₅ — I ordered the lunch boat that included salad, miso soup, sashimi, julienne beef, 4 pieces of a California roll and steamed rice. Beef was cut into small pieces and almost burnt not even close to medium rare. California roll was standard nothing standard. Miso soup was horrible. It was like water with 3 mini cubes of tofu and an I recognizable leaf that didn’t look like seaweed, spinach, cabbage, bok choy or lettuce but was rather slimy and green.
Wait Time ⁴⁄₅: This type of restaurant has you wait around just to give the waitresses and chefs more time to prep without having people feel like they are waiting for food. The tables were all open and the waiting area was past the front door making the restaurant feel a little too cold. We had a 12pm reservation and showed up around 1130. We got seated around 1215, but totally our choice to show up early.
Staff ⁴⁄₅: The waitresses were very at tentative and came to clean the table and refill the drink every chance they got. We requested vegetarian than chicken cooked first as we had a vegan and allergy to seafood request for 2 people. Instead chef cooked chicken fried rice first causing the vegan in our party to not want his food as he does not like meat to touch his food whatsoever. Other than that little mishap staff was always asking if we needed anything and if we were happy.
Bonus: You get a framed picture of you and your partner or family for birthdays, anniversarry, or engagements. No charge and it’s pretty fun to listen to their little chant.

Came here on a Friday night with a large group of about 11 people. It was a tight squeeze and I had to eat with my elbows tucked in (not the restaurant’s fault haha). A party of 7 – 8 would probably have been a more comfortable fit. Luckily we made reservations at 5pm, because when we left (around 7:30pm) it was majorly packed.
There wasn’t really anything mind blowing on the menu. I opted for the yakisoba meal. Honestly, the food was just a cut above Panda Express. I assumed the food would be more Japanese but it was essentially just white-​washed Chinese food. Here’s my breakdown:
Soup: ³⁄₅. I didn’t detect any msg, so props to Benihana. However, just scallions and mushrooms in the soup made it look rather pathetic. Adding a little tofu would’ve probably made the soup more substantial.
Salad: ²⁄₅ The lettuce was crisp, but I didn’t care for the dressing.
Yakisoba: ²⁄₅ The noodles were rather hard and dry and didn’t taste fully cooked
Green tea ice cream: ²⁄₅. Not the best as it didn’t have much of a green tea flavor, but passable.
The show: ³⁄₅. Onion volcano. «Beating heart» fried rice. Tossing the shrimp into the chef’s hat. Meh, meh and meh. I probably would’ve upped the rating by 1 star if either the food got better (Benihana needs to revamp their recipes) or the cooking was more unique (ex: can you throw a cooked shrimp into my mouth?).
Overall, kinda pricey for what it is. I mean, I didn’t find any hair in my food or anything like that, so to be fair Benihana isn’t bad, but there just isn’t enough spark to keep me coming back.
2.75

The food was not bad but the presentation and timing was bad.
We had a fairly new chef I think and she cooked one thing at a time so our meals trickled in and she waited until last to cook the vegies and by then we were all done with our proteins.
I had not been to this place in years but I remember the chef was funny and he cooked everything at once so you had your meal all together but that is not what happened this time and for the price it should be done much better. We had to guys at our table that got so upset that they did not eat there steak and got up and left and another couple that ordered a tuna dish that the chef waited until the very end to cook so they just boxed it up and took it to go, very strange they need to work on this, dining here is supposed to be an experience in a really good way and it is lacking for sure.

I came here for lunch most of the time. First time for dinner and the front desk guy does not know what he is doing. Have to wait almost an hour for ax table for two. Heard a few people complaint abt having reservation but not able to get the table when they were here.
I like the food bug the front desk service need to improve.

This Benihana is located at Valco mall (specifically near JCPenny). We came here on a Saturday night to celebrate a friend’s birthday, and this place was packed!!! It is highly recommended to have a reservation in advance if you are going to sit in the teppanyaki area. Even though we had a 7:30pm reservation, we actually didn’t get seated till closer to 8pm.
I noticed that a lot of groups made reservations with 8 people, so they can have the whole table to themselves. If your group is less than 8, expect to be seated with strangers.
After we sat down, a waitress came by to take our drink and meal order. About 10 minutes later the chef came out to start making our food. I find it very entertaining to watch the chef cook. The fried rice is really delicious. I liked the chicken dipped in their special sauces, too.
It seemed like every single table was celebrating a birthday.lol. I kept hearing the waitress sing Happy Birthday.
Overall, this is a fun place to enjoy lunch or dinner.

I love benihanas but my last experience here was kinda off.
The food here will always be great since it’s just mostly lemon garlic butter on everything but it’s the service there that made me irritable.
Our waiter was this old Chinese guy. Barely could understand anything he was saying. He sounded like he forgot his dentures. I had to asked him to repeat himself a few times but still wasn’t able to understand. On top of that, he got our orders wrong.
Our chef was a lady, her name was Hilda I think. Really nice but I think she might be a new chef, because she didn’t seem to look like she knew what she was doing.
All in all I love benihanas but can’t expect service to be great all the time lol

Pleasant visit! We went around 4:30pm. Light crowd. Had our table to ourselves (4 ppl) and had a great chef. Very entertaining.
Also didn’t have a reservation but they let us have a table anyways since it wasn’t busy.
Would come Back again.

Come on really?
How hard is it to remember and bring the cake that i brought after we finished eating?
I came here last night with my wife to celebrate her birthday. Food is always good since i come to Benihana every year to celebrate birthdays. This review is about the service. I had a reservation for 9pm and i dropped off a b-​day cake earlier so I could surprise my wife.
When we came in to eat, i had reminded the cashier as well as the server a few times so they could give us the cake after we were done eating. The server totally forgot about it as well as the cashier. I even reminded him once more after we had finished eating. But a different server showed up with an ice cream and started singing the birthday song. They just ruined the whole surprise. I guess i am not coming here again.
Thank you for ruining the surprise party.

Benihana is supposed to be an experience like no other. The Chef entertains & puts on a show while they cook your dinner. For some reason, this specific day, was a disappointment. I’ve been to Benihanas a handful of times & each dining experience has been different.
This time… our chef was about 30 mins late, not to mention, he was not that spectacular. Granted that they were probably behind schedule & maybe he was having a bad day, but as a paying customer, I believe that this is something you need to leave at the door. Our chef was not as engaging with his customers & seemed a little sloppy (not to mention his volcano toppled over). I’m usually not one to complain but for future reference, I hope that my next visit (if there is one) would be more interactive.

The food is bland, the cooks are kind of boring, reading off a script, and clearly not having fun with the customers. The teriyaki chicken was… weak at best. There was absolutely nothing to make we want to go back. I prefer Sapporo over Benihana’s.
In addition, the table we sat at had an incredibly disgusting uncleaned chunk of food that we had to stare at during our meal. The food was between the edge of the cooking surface, almost bent up. I’ve added a picture to show this. Yuck.

Benihana is where you come to celebrate special occasion, most popular occasion, birthdays. People come to Benihana to be entertained with their teppanyaki style entertainment.
For dinner, highly recommend making a reservation. Expect to wait 10 – 20 minutes, even with reservation. Plan to dine for 2 hours. Definitely not a place if your short on time.
The food is always fresh, restaurant grade meat and seafood is always fresh. My recommendation is the filet mignon and lobster. You can upgrade to chicken fried rice for $ 2.75 but I just stick to steam rice or else, you end up eating too much rice since fried rice is served first. 5 *
Value — I really think you get good value. You do get a lot of food, salad, soup, shrimp appetizer, entrée, rice, hot tea, ice cream and the entertainment. Entertainment can range from ok to entertaining depending on your chef. The kids always enjoy the show. Come during lunch for a better value, much cheaper than dinner. 4*
Service — The service is always slow, even with reservation, you still have to wait. Ordering your food takes a while, chef arriving to the table takes time, getting your check also takes time. I always expect to dine for 2hrs for dinner and 90 minutes for lunch. 2.5*
I do enjoy the food here, fresh, quality meat and seafood. Great place to celebrate special occasion. The service is slow but overall experience has been good.

Made reservations for my birthday. Despite the reviews I was super excited to try it out.
My reservations were for 7:00 pm on a Thursday. We checked in and sat and waited and waited some more. We asked how much longer it would be and all we got was a shrug of the shoulders and some looking around.
We were taken back to a table around 8:00 pm where we were crammed with other people. We barely had any elbow room. There were plenty of other tables available. Then we waited and waited for a chef to come to our table.
A chef came to our table about 45 minutes later and my kids were restless, shoot, I was restless. I really considered just walking out at one point.
I had hoped to have a good chef that would be entertaining for us. One that would have turned this whole experience around. We were sadly disappointed. Despite my kids enthusiasm the chef was just «doing his job» of cooking.
The entire experience was disappointing. I really wish I had enjoyed my birthday dinner. We were made to wait way too much and our chef was blah.
The food was pretty tasty and our waitress was friendly. 3 stars for that.

Drove 30min just to ordered a pint of salad dressing to go. Received half a pint. Told host that its half a pint, he said, «No, its a pint.»
$ 4.50 for half of my pint. Not cool. thats 8oz.

This is my third time coming here. Made reservations for my little brother’s birthday. This place is good for going in groups about 7 to 8 people to celebrate birthdays or any special occasions. The reason why? Cuz if you go on a date or a few people, you will end up sitting with random people which is kind of uncomfortable lol.
The chef give a great show case. I especially liked how he did the volcano and made the egg yolk into a chicken. Also, liked how he juggle the knives! The food I ordered was filet mignon with fried rice and onion soup.
Like I said before, great place to go in large groups for special occasions, but not too much for the food.

For as much money that flows through Cupertino, I was pretty surprised with how low budget this Benihana is.
Apple is legit across the parking lot and this place is kind of in shambles. In fact, the whole shopping center here is pretty janky with its backwards parking lot, little to no street signage. To be fair, we did just come for Happy Hour, which is always a good deal, but their presentation was pretty poor, at least in comparison to the Benihana Happy Hour I came to know and love back in the suburbs of Chicago.
The bar area here is really uninviting and with the clanking of pans and the bartender incessantly dropping those metal cocktail mixer cups (seriously happened no less than 20 times) on the tile floor while trying very poorly to practice bar tricks, the happy hour deals almost weren’t worth the headache… almost.
My white peach sangria was light and gets a thumbs up but my friend’s coconut mojito was borderline undrinkable. The red plum sangria was ok… a little syrup-​y tasting but for the happy hour price it was fine and put me in a real mood to take a nap.
Our server was attentive for the first hour and then all the servers because grossly attentive after our first hour and half there, despite the bar having plenty of open tables and seats and not being busy, as if to push us out… and it worked. We had several drinks, we ordered a bunch of sushi, it wasn’t like we were just sitting there freeloading a table.
Our rolls all seemed a little sloppy and they were mighty stingy with the wasabi. The quality of everything just wasn’t up to the same levels that I’ve seen at other Benihana and the whole bar area and tables could probably use a good scrub down. Everything was just a little bit sticky for my tastes.