Benihana

Defiantly over rated habachi spot. Wait was about an hour after set reservations. Chefs lacked understanding of how to cook food… as noted by undercooked steak. They gave complimentary water at the end of dinner… I guess so you could order up on thier mediocre drinks. :/​… overall not satisfied with service or food for its cost… Sorry Benihanna fans!!!

Came here for my sisters 18^th birthday. We had a great time. We made reservations online and we were seated quickly. It was pretty pack for a Wednesday so I highly recommend making reservation. The food was good and the cook was very entertaining and funny. I do want to mention that you receive your soup first, than your salad, than your served some veggies and shrimp (shrimp portion is very small), and than some rice, and finally your choice of meat. Nothing is served all at once. We all left pretty full nonetheless, overall I would highly recommend coming here at least once.

We had dinner in the restaurant. The room where we were seated was really cold, we had to wear our coat like outside. On the top of this we were waiting there more than 30 minutes. Food was tasty, chef made a good show. My lobster smelled fishy, so i sent it back, manager took it out of the check, good. Despite next morning we were sick, all the three of us, even the others who did not have lobster! AVOID this place!! their food is obviously not fresh…

Went there for a hibachi experience… Do Not expect anything. the people who serves just stands there and cooks. nothing special at all once served… u feel u could have got a better dish outside in a mama papas restaurant. Absolutely no good. not recommend to spend your buck

My first experience at Benihana in December was awful. Even though I had a reservation, I still needed to wait an additional 1.5 hours past my reservation time because «they were backed up». The hosts were not honest with the customers regarding the wait time. They repeatedly told us «just 10 more minutes.» Due to the fact that I had tickets to see an evening performance, I was forced to leave without eating in order to make my show. I filed a complaint with their corporate office and was contacted the next day. The manager asked if I could give them another chance and provided me with a $ 40 certificate to the restaurant.
I decided to give Benihana a 2^nd chance tonight. What a mistake!!! Once again the restaurant overbooked (which I heard one host admit to another customer) so I had to wait an additional 45 minutes past my reservation before we were seated at a table. Once again the host lied to customers repeatedly about the wait time, telling everyone that «they’re clearing a table right now. It’ll be just 10 minutes. To add insult to injury, Mike who is a host, decided to let a couple who did not have any reservations skip ahead of me. I know this other couple did not have a reservation for a fact because I was right beside them when they were having the conversation about not having a reservation and Mike being able to slide them in with the next group. When the next table became available, Mike allowed the couple without a reservation to go upstairs but I, who had a reservation, still had to wait. When I confronted Mike about the incident, he proceeded to boldly lie and say it did not happen, though there were multiple witnesses. To try to get back at me, Mike tried to say that I didn’t have a reservation, which was another bold face lie because I made one through OpenTable and it was in the restaurant’s system. He then brought his manager, William, into the conversation who also swore it didn’t happen. William was on another floor during the initial incident so he had no real authority to say what did or did not take place. William treated us like idiots and liars and with little respect.
Benihana’s NYC location has some serious issues with service and the staff clearly needs to be retrained. They also need to space out their reservations further from each other to accommodate the longer table times of a hibachi style dinner.

Worst Service in all NYC !!!
Dont even bother to visit this place, long story short I left befote they give the menus.

Second time coming to this location, both with medium size groups (6 – 8). Definitely recommend making a reservation in advance — I made one online a week in advance for 9pm and was able to call 3 or 4 days in advance to change it to an earlier time successfully.
Teppanyaki is food + entertainment! They usually do more or less the same stuff, so if you’ve been here before it won’t be much different, but all of the chefs add their own little flair to it which is fun.
In addition to the food, which is tasty (but doesn’t blow you away) and more than ample, we also got multiple of the Ocean Punch Bowl (one per 2 people), which was a fun experience.
Bottom line: It’s the only game in town (well, Manhattan) for Teppanyaki, and I’ve had a great time and eaten well both times I’ve been there. You could definitely do a lot worse.

* I WILL TRY TO SHORTEN THIS LONG BOOK*
This review is about 3 months old however it still stuck in my head.
WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!
I’ve been a Benihana fan for years. Loyal customer.
I took my girlfriend to visit NYC for a week. She decided she wanted a sense of home as she gets home sick so we went to beni’s.
Many complain about the long wait. But c’mon its nyc what do you expect. Even with a phone
reservation, You will run into some sort of delay. Okay.
My complain is our waitress, the manager and the soup (lol)
The waitress was nowhere to be found when my table ran out of our first round of drinks.
flagging her down would help only we couldn’t find her. So we asked another waitress who did not look to pleased with having to fill the role of the other waitress,.,… she never came with out water… the chef (once he came to cook) went on a quick search for the waitress, she brought us water 10 minutes later…(yes I counted).
By this time the family of 5 sitting on my table were a little bothered… They called for the manager and they make their complaint… I sit quietly.
The manager approaches me if everything is ok… and by this time I am holding my anger given that his response to them was a shrug with words… So I answered no.
He asked me what was wrong and so I told him. I was very blunt. I was very vocal and very upset. I told him the service was S*** I told him the soup was S**** and I told him his customer service was S****…he did not like this… His response to me was… «Well if you don’t like Benihana then why come» … I lost it. and could not hold it any longer so I expressed my discontent in a stronger language form. using curse words to add weight to my complaint (when it comes to my food I will get A***. no hold backs!)
needless to say the embarrassment afterwards seeing that Tracy Morgan was sitting in a table behind us with his family … Sigh. I looked like one of those assholes.
The Indian manager needs a little lesson on customer service.
The Waitress needs a little lesson on… well waiting tables
and I need to lower my expectations of Chain resturants in NYC

my collegues and i have been going there for a while. Each time, we say we will go there one more time and give it a chance, maybe it will get better.
regardless on whether it is busy or slow, the service is a disaster. The manager is not capable in running his staff nor is anyone very attentive to the guests., the food comes out cold and you can wait till eternity for your drinks. You need a good two hours on any given day.
Not worth it if you are intending to escape the stress of work

It was ok. The show wasn’t that exciting. Came here for my cousin’s bday, she wanted to try it. The food was meh, but fillibg. The plum wine was good. My cousins say the margaritas could’ve been a little stronger. I also had a «passion fruit» lemonade which didn’t taste like it. I had the surf something 5 course meal. Shrimp, scallops and something else. Chef was funny.

Come here for lunch only. Reasonable Hibachi lunch special (including weekends) and no wait! Always a fun show and good food. Benihana’s isn’t what it used to be like when I was young, but I still like the experience.

El ambiente en donde están las mesas de Tepan nada que ver con otros Benihanna del mundo, los extractores de humo no funcionan como deberían y las mesas están demasiado pegadas. El humo y el olor a frito se impregna en la ropa y el ambiente no se hace agradable. La comida es muy buena tal cual como en todo el mundo y el show del cocinero es idéntica con trucos idénticos. Sin nada novedoso.

Fun spot to go with a big group! All about the experience! Remember that! — Its all about the experience haha
Interior: First floor had normal seat down areas and a bar. You can just pop in the first floor for lunch if you don’t want the crazy chef experience. However the fun happens in the second floor where there are about 4 long tables and 3 full circular tables. Each table has its own chef.
The Wait: The wait time here is very very long but should be expected. First they sit you down, they take your drink order, then they take your food order and then the chef comes and does a fancy show. This whole prequel probably took around 30 minutes with a large group. So don’t expect to come for a quick corporate lunch lol. Enjoy yourselves and don’t look at the time and have fun!
The Show: The chef will do a fun slice and dice show with some fire lava onions. Sometimes they squirt wine in your mouth or throw a big of meat in your mouth so get ready!
Filet Mignon Hibachi: Very tender meat. The sauces they have are perfect for this and the mixed rice is a great combo for this meal too. However the portion is pretty small and pricey so I was still very hungry after the meal.
Overall: Great fun spot to go for a pre-​birthday meal or a fun gathering of co-​workers. Overall for lunch time I paid around $ 23 with tip and tax and left hungry so not super great but in it for the show I guess lol

My 3^rd time coming to this location.
We were a party of 8, we were sat in a private room.
Our server was very nice, he made recommendations and took our order while we waited for the chef. We waited for about 20 – 25 mins for the Chef.
Our server noticed we were still waiting and apologized and went to see what was going on.
A few moments later Chef Richard arrived. He was great, he did many tricks while cooking which had my 3 year old daughter laughing every time.
Onion soup was good, salad had way too much dressing, Benihana delight with fried was also good.
I would recommend.
*Women’s bathroom was very dirty, with paper overflowing on the stall floors.

Went on a Saturday night with a reservation for 7:45. We waited an hour only for them to tell us it would be another hours wait
Do not go here they are scum!!!

There was wait time even though we made reservations. Yes, it was my friends birthday. We grabbed a couple drinks by the bar. For the long wait time they gave us free sushi rolls. We were finally seated (P.S the seating is really tight). We waited a while on the drinks & food. The host was friendly & made conversation throughout the wait time. The chef did their famous volcano flame trick. The food was delicious, I had the chicken & steak (there really were no vegetables). For the birthday girl, they did sing happy birthday & brink her a piece of cake. I will come back for the food, not the service.
If you are celebrating a birthday, get the private room!

Sadly, it seems as if the magic has left good ol’ Benihana. The food is still solid (filet hibachi meal w/​fried rice) and the chefs have knife skills paired with poor jokes, but it doesn’t feel fun anymore. To be fair, it was a packed Friday night during my visit, but when you’re eating a big meal with ‘entertainment’, it’s nice not to feel rushed. Plus, the chef ‘interactions’ with guests have ceased entirely. No more shrimp tosses. No more sake squirts. They even took the scorpion (or volcano) bowl off of the menu. Nothing fun and personal for the table; just a few knife tricks and your food being served. Waitresses were OK with bringing out items, but felt cold. Overall, a yummy, but disappointing experience. Probably won’t be back.
Protip: best to make reservations. Place gets PACKED and the waiting area is tiny

I usually wait to I leave the restaurant to leave a review. However the customer service is awful here.
We came for a 7p reservation, didn’t seat until 720. We sat down ordered drinks and appetizers. Never have I had an appetizer come to the table before the drink. I ordered a water and soda. The soda came, it took twenty minutes and at least five times of asking for water for it to come. Unacepptable.
We had a birthday coupon, gave it to the waiter for the bill to be adjusted. We have been waiting over 20 minutes for the bill amd pay. You would think they would want to turn the table over.
Food is decent, but customer service is poor.

I love Benihana, but this New Year’s Eve was a let down. I made an 8 pm reservation several weeks in advance. When we arrived the place was packed and needless to say, they did not have a table for us, nor could they even give us a beeper to tell us when a table would be ready (they were out of them). Despite the overpriced/​underwhelming drinks at the bar, my gf and I had a great time exchanging cards. :)
It took forever to be seated and we did not get any food until well after 9 PM (obliviously they were overbooked and care more about making money, packing people in, than respecting their customers… insulting). Once we were seated, the waiter was incredibly nice, but clearly overwhelmed and drinks/​salad/​soup took a long time and only came after we reminded him several times. I don’t blame the waiter, he did the best he could under the circumstances.
The chef was great and the food was good (but definitely not as good as usual). I had asked that some special dessert be brought out for our special occasion, but those instructions were forgotten… half melted ice-​cream was all we got.
Understaffed and overbooked is a recipe for dissatisfied customers; this restaurant has been around a long time and knows better. Unfortunately, our New Year’s Eve tradition of Benihana may be moved to another hibachi place.

All show, and the show isn’t that good. Worse, I just felt really gross afterwards. Like I had ingested a weird cocktail of oils and butter and lighter fluid and my body was confused and disappointed.
Pros
Private room set up well for a group.
Weird take-​home mugs with cocktail purchase.
Cons
The food is atrocious.
It’s a thin veneer of «fine» dining over a very cheap, almost industrialized approach to hibachi.
Notes
We were about 15 people for a birthday dinner and someone ordered a few bottles of Moet to celebrate. The champagne came out warm — room temp at best, probably a few degrees warmer even. Let’s just call it hot champagne because «warm» makes it sound subjective, like how some beers are served at room temp. I pointed this out to a staff member and they were apologetic and said that shouldn’t have happened and they would take it off the bill. I was actually happy with the response and figured it was a mixup and they were making good on it. A few minutes later, a manager came running into the room with bags of more free take-​home mugs and started giving them away to everybody. Turns out, this was his attempt at misdirection and trying to distract us from the fact that he wasn’t adjusting for the hot champagne.

This was my first experience at Benihana, a place I’ve wanted to try for a while. It was mine and my friend’s birthday, and Benihana did not disappoint. In fact, it was really awesome.
We had already planned to go here with 7 others (9 total), and the night before we went, I found out that if you sign up for their email club, they’ll send you a $ 30 gift certificate to use Monday-​Thursday. It excludes alcohol FYI. It said it takes up to 10 days to receive it but my friend and I both woke up to the gift certificate in our email. That was awesome. The only annoying thing was that they made us wait to be seated until everyone in our party was there, but other than that, it was great. The 9 of us got our own private table secluded from everyone.
Our chef, Roy, was awesome. He was funny and made sure it was a fun and special experience for our birthdays. The prices of entrees are mostly between $ 20 and $ 30 but it comes with 5 or 6 courses depending on which section it’s under. I got the chicken and steak combination with the filet mignon upgrade. First we got delicious onion soup, then a salad, and then Roy came to do his show. Tip: try the apple sake. So delicious! The show was fun and we all had a great time. After, they brought my friend and I ice cream with a candle and sang us happy birthday in Japanese. They even took two pictures of us and printed and framed both of them for us to keep!
I seriously recommend coming here for a birthday celebration. We left so stuffed and so happy. It was my favorite birthday dinner ever! I’ll absolutely be coming back.

Pour une première visite dans ce genre de restaurant, je né suis absolument pas déçu ! Une cuisine excellente et un chef vraiment pro :) bonne ambiance et show au Rdv ! Une chose est sûre j’y reviendrai :)

Ce restaurant japonais ou on vous accueille avec le sourire, on vous place sur une table qui peut contenir huit personnes et la serveuse mets en route la plaque. Allez après avoir passer la commande on est pressé de voir le spectacle. Passer un bon moment et que dire de plus que c’est bon et cela vaut le coup de revenir. Allez surtout le midi car un peu moins cher que le soir.

Restaurant ist eine Franchise Kette und dort werden typische japanische Gerichte a la Karte serviert oder man nimmt Platz am Teppanyaki Grill. Wir haben am Teppangrill Platz genommen nach dem Motto Essen mit Show und für 30 $ bekam man zu Mittags einen kleinen 5 Gänge Menü was sehr zu empfehlen war. Ich werde wohl öfters in London nun das Benihana aufsuchen…

Restaurant ist eine Franchise Kette und dort werden typische japanische
Gerichte a la Karte serviert oder man nimmt Platz am Teppanyaki Grill.
Wir haben am Teppangrill Platz genommen nach dem Motto Essen mit Show
und für 30 $ bekam man zu Mittags einen kleinen 5 Gänge Menü was sehr zu
empfehlen war. Ich werde wohl öfters in London nun das Benihana
aufsuchen

Vous né connaissez pas? Benihana, c’est le temple de la cuisine-​spectacle, avec cuisinier-​jongleur qui prépare les plats de façon acrobatique devant vous sur la grande plaque. Par tables de huit, vous êtes médusés devant la crevette qui sauté dans son chapeau de cuisiner ou dans sa poche de veste, par le volcan d’oignons, par le poivrier qui vole et quelques blagues distillées au bon moment. En plus, c’est bon, copieux, aussi peu asiatique que possible tout en étant asiatique, mais est-​on venu chercher l’Asie ici, ou le spectacle ?
Une attraction où il vaut mieux réserver le soir, ou encore mieux, astuce, venir à midi sans réservation pour des prix deux fois inférieurs !