Benihana

Yummy food, great service, fun night!

We came here on Saturday night for a double date. The earliest reservation we could get was 8:15 so we had a few drinks at the bar while we waited. We asked the bartender if he could put the Warriors game on and he did which we really appreciated!
Our chef, Tam, was hands down the best we’ve had and our history dining with Benihana is quite extensive. Our waitress informed me that the miso soup had fish broth, which was never brought to my attention before at other locations when I clearly stated I was a vegetarian. She gave me two salads which was nice. Minus one star because my boyfriend was not offered ice cream (which was included in his meal) and our table was not offered hot green tea after our meal.

My husband and I decided to spend the night out to celebrate and find out the sex of our baby. We wanted to be together when we found out. So, we had our doctor out our results in a sealed envelope to give to the benihana staff. It was so nice that they included our special moment in their dinner routine. It was even a greater surprise to find out were having a BOY!!! Thank you very much benihana staff for making it a fun experience. Also, we got the opportunity to meet some great other couples.

Always great and accommodating my daughters favorite Restaurant! Everything was great!!!

DELICIOUS! Benihanas is DEFINITELY a once a month restaurant. Live action cooking, sitting with random ppl, interesting convos and a couple of drinks. Been at this particular location a few times and the quality is always excellent. Only thing is I wish they would change up the cooking shows a little bit. Other than that this place is dope!

We took our Dad for his birthday dinner here the other night. It was so much fun! There were 7 of us + my little 1 month old niece. Stephanie was our chef and she was awesome! She put on a great show and luckily no knife tricks! (Being that we had our little baby with us… that was a relief! Haha!) The soup was yummy and the salad was fresh! The vegetables were crispy and delicious! The shrimp appetizer was really good too! I ordered a spicy dish (wish I could recall the name!) it was a mix of shrimp, scallops, and calamari steak with noodles and a very tasty, spicy sauce. Yummmm!!! I also enjoyed the mango lemonade. For desert I had sherbet. We all really enjoyed our time together and Stephanie made my Dad feel so happy and special on his birthday. He also really appreciated the family picture they took for us! Thank you all! We will be returning! :D

Came here for my birthday the other night. We were able to sit in the lounge area for dinner (plenty of seating). Food was amazing! We ordered a ton of sushi and we had nothing left by the time we were done. I also got the chicken dinner (didn’t know it came with a couple of pieces of shrimp as well). Waitress was very friendly and the manager came over to see how we were doing as well.

Keeper of the flame
Planner of family traditions
Oh how I love thee
This Benihana and the Mission Valley location have long been a family tradition among us to celebrate each member’s birthday. We could fill up a huge photo album worth of birthday pictures. I know what your thinking, it’s the same show and the same food each time. Oh contraire I say! The show’s do vary as the chefs learn new tricks. The food is still amazing and I try to sample something new from each menu category every visit.
This trip for Mari’s birthday I had the salmon with avocado sauce. Wow I’m not sure which one had more flavor, the salmon or the avocado sauce! Not a drop went to waste, it was thoroughly enjoyed. The grilling really brought out the natural flavor of the asparagus, onions and zucchini.
They have an extensive Wine and Sake list. Or if you prefer a beer or a cocktail they have those too. My personal favorite is the Plum Liqueur.
Joining the Chef’s Table (adults or kids older than 13) or Kabuki Kids (12 years old or younger) is really worth it. Each participant receives a birthday certificate worth $ 30. Awesome huh? The kids receive a free souvenir mug and free kids meal. We have a few or possibly more, wonderful souvenir mugs.
We all look forward to the next birthday celebration at Benihana. Such a great tradition we have forged over the years.

Came here for a birthday celebration. Reservations were at 7pm for a party of 13. We arrived a little early and was told the table would not be ready for 15 – 20 minutes. Not a problem. A half hour goes by and our table is still not ready. Problem! We sat in the bar section patiently waiting and was told by the hostess that appetizers will be ready once we’re seated and that they would be comp’d. We ended up waiting nearly an hour for our reservation…
Besides the wait, the overall experience gets an A-​OK 3 stars. I don’t usually go to teppanyaki places because I crave it. I go because it’s an occasion or a reason for a social gathering. I’ve always felt that you don’t get your monies worth and that you pay for a chef to cook your food in front of you. It’s too bad that the cooking routine has been the same for countless years. And when I say cooking routine, I mean the same artsy hand work, jokes and tricks. There were a couple awkward moments since my group was fairly loud and conversations were bouncing back and forth, table to table. So the chef tried to get our attention with their tricks.

We decided to do a Holiday lunch for our company at this restaurant after hearing some coworkers have never been to a Benihana’s before. Since we were dealing with a small budget and wanted to break from the normal lunch and just starting at each other thought this would be a great choice.
Boy was I right! Service was amazing and the chef was great and the food hands down everyone loved! We had an issue with the bill but I will explain further. We got a great deal buy by using an online promotion with buying some gift cards we got extra gift cards on top of that! Amazing!
Got a great show from our chef and was very spot on with getting our food right. I think this time was much better then my first visit years ago at a store in Mission Valley. Once we left we were amazed at how cheap our bill was for 20 of us.
Bad news was once we returned to our office I had a voicemail from their Manager. They did not include our bar purchases when we waited for group to finally make the trip there. The tab for that was just under $ 100. This was due to an error with not transferring the bill to our table as requested. Jen the Manager on Duty apologized and offered to make it right and comped the mistake. This is not a easy pill to swallow for any company and they have earned our companies business for a very long time!
We can not wait to plan another company lunch at this location and make sure to tell Jen hi!
Highly recommend this place for lunch dinner or company getaway. Great food for a very great group price!

when the manager is compelled to tell you, ‘it’s not Denny-​Hana’ (when you’ve waited 20 minutes for 4 waters and one beer, and no one taking your food order), you know you’re getting simply the best of customer service. had it not been my 11 year olds birthday, I would’ve left immediately. I’ve never worked in the service industry but I do eat out a lot, and something tells me, that’s probably not a great way to diffuse a dissatisfied customer.
That manager, Scott Baldwin, is a real professional.

Went back to one of our favorite places. Took friends who were in town. By far, from start to finish, worst visit ever to a Benihana. Thursday night, not over crowded, but plenty of people, 30 minutes wait for table is not the issue.
Once seated, took 16 minutes for drink order, another 10 to get them. Just too uch confusion with this waitress, unorganized. My wife got up to talk to her after we ordered, to add a touch go meal. Well, she canceled my wife’s order and they started cooking the to go order. My wife lost her soup and salad because of this, but we did not really catch this until food was being prepped.
Waitress tried to make up for it, had chef make a special batch of fried rice and then salad to go.
Chef’s name was Dong, he has prepared for us in the past, normally great personality with magic tricks and fun. He seemed irritated and not happy with the confusion of the waitress. My friends were not impressed, embarrassing
Need to get consistent here

Absolutely delicious meal at Benihana tonight, amazing experience and loved our chef David. The entire staff is very welcoming and friendly but David is an absolute star, especially if you speak Spanish! He makes the whole experience hilarious and even more enjoyable. Great food, great chef and an overall great time. Highly recommend the spicy tofu steak, fried rice and spicy Hibachi chicken… And David and his jokes! Enjoy!

First time here for happy hour.
Potstickers: it was good. Sauce was delicious.
Teriyaki Wings: a little salty but really good.
Chili shrimp roll: the shrimp was good but the roll could use more rice.
Habachi fried rice: this also was salty.
Waitresses were very nice and prompt. I would give this place 3.5 stars.

Overall, a very nice Benihana compared to the other locations I have been to. I came with a large group of people and we had 2 tables. The food was delicious and the service was alright but the chef we had that particular evening was not that great. He was very kind but he was kind of old and pretty slow. The other table we came with finished their dinner service about 45 minutes before us (not an exaggeration at all).
We also told our waitress that two of us were vegetarians and nonetheless she served us the soup. We found out later that the soup was meat based. The servers should be more attentive.

This Benihana is the closest to us, and definitely the nicest exterior-​wise between all of the other locations we’ve been to. There is plenty of parking nearby, and it’s 2 minutes right off of the 5 freeway.
We did have to wait 45 minutes once for a chef’s table, but we gladly sat at the bar for their happy hour and enjoyed some drinks. If you haven’t signed up for the chef’s table, you get $ 30 on your birthday which is cool. I personally haven’t found a favorite chef at this location, but they’ve all been friendly enough and put on a good show for my wife and I.
Great location, can’t wait to go back soon!

Preface: I was sitting there with a salad and no fork. disgruntled. Then… duhhh. what are those two pieces of wood for… ??
It’s part of the experience. Know or learn how to use chopsticks. If you don’t see them, they’re probably hiding under the napkin.
I live in the area and I usually come here for my salmon fix. This place is very quiet when I usually come in which doesn’t bother me.
The service is great, staff is very attentive. You can pick to either watch your meal cooked in front of you or you can pick to sit in another area that has a traditional restaurant setting.
They have televisions to watch the news or sports. Just a very quaint asian set up with fresh and excellent food.
I usually like switching up my restaurants but this place is a staple with me as I am close by and love their food.

First impression — Made reservations for dinner and a table for 11, took about 15 to 20 minutes from our actual reservation time to be seated. Was at the bar area ordering drinks and the bartenders make some good drinks, but they could use a t.v. in that area.
Service — The cook was an older guy who did an alright job and kept the kids entertained (If it was all adults wouldn’t be ok.) The server didn’t bring out our rice till halfway into the meal.
Taste — Food was pretty good and well prepared as any other benihana I’ve been to.
Venue — Huge location with plenty of seating, and a very nice courtyard outside in the middle of the restaurant.

While entertaining hibachi style meals is not my cup of tea, this location is not a bad choice for those who do enjoy this type of setting.
My husband tends to drag me here every couple years so he can get his fix. The last time we were here, we couldn’t sit at the hibachi grilling tables and ended up near the kitchen. And the portion sizes were very small– overall very unappetizing.
But today, it was a big improvement– There were 5 of us at the table and 4 ordered a hibachi grilled meal and I ordered the lunch boat (which includes a teriyaki protein, tempura, and several slices of sashimi, along with the usual miso soup, green salad, and rice) It was a nice presentation and surprisingly good for a simple meal.
The hibachi cooking– well– it was the usual attempt at being funny («Do you like low sodium or high sodium?» as the chef holds the soy sauce bottle low and then raises it.)
The portion sizes of the proteins and fried rice were generous. The flavor is not bad. But, considering it’s all cooked on the same grill with the same oil and veggies and sauces– it all tastes the same. But if you’re not into sharing, it probably doesn’t make a difference. So, ironically, I would come back for a casual sushi lunch, but probably not the hibachi.
If you like to be entertained, this might work for you!

Benihana’s is a totally fun experience, especially if you have kids. It’s not a 5 star experience but many of the negative reviews are over the top ridiculous. I mean, did you really think this was the French Laundry?
Lots of folks who have coupons in hand come here. I have no problem with that because prices are generally high. So the $ 30 birthday coupon you get by joining the email club is a smart move for anyone. Don’t be shy – use it.
Yes, the jokes are hokey. Yes, the chef’s tricks are pretty much the same from table to table, and never seem to ever change. Yes, some chefs are far, far better than others. Yes, yes, yes.
The chicken fried rice is delicious. The miso/​onion soup is delicious. The salad can be safely skipped entirely. The grilled cucumber is good. The chicken is kind of tasteless but the shrimp is pretty good and the teriyaki steak is really good. The grilled onions and mushrooms are damn good. The ice cream is solid (Haagen Dasz, I believe) and the umbrella drinks are decent, too. Plus, you get a staggering amount of food so you will not leave hungry, no way.
It’s a blast for the kiddies and I saw a ton of families (all dressed way down). And I also saw a lot of young folks on dates (and seriously dressed up for a big night out). So there’s a healthy, interesting mix of people. And everyone I saw seemed to be having a great time. They weren’t just have a good time – they were having a great time.
So, ignore all the negative nincompoops, join the email club, grab your coupon, leave your hang-​ups at the door, and go have a silly but fun experience and eat a lot of good (but not great) food once in awhile.

Wenn man in Carlsbad jemanden ganz groß zum Essen einladen will, dann geht man ins Benihana, so hat man es uns in unserem Hotel erzählt.
So sind wir also in das Restaurant gefahren. Wie in den USA üblich, wartet man am Eingang, bis man platziert wird. Im Benihana ist es noch etwas komplizierter. Im Restaurant steht eine ganze Reihe von Tepanyaki Tischen, dass sind die mit der integrierten Herdplatte.
Der Gast wird erst dann platziert, wenn ein Tisch voll oder fast voll ist, da die Amerikaner meist in größeren Gruppen dorthin gehen, hätte es schwierig werden können. Doch wir hatten Glück, da schon eine kleinere Gruppe auf einen Tisch wartete. Wir wurden gefragt, ob wir uns einen Tisch teilen würden, was in den USA nicht alltäglich ist.
Kaum saßen wir, gab es es schon die Speisekarte, wir wählten erstklassige Sushi als Vorspeise und danach Geflügel und Steak von der heißen Platte. Unser Koch hantierte geschickt und mit viel Show mit Messern und anderen Geräten.
Das Benihana wird offensichtlich oft für Geburtstage genutzt, da in regelmäßigen Abständen das Licht flackerte und alle Köche und alle Gäste gemeinsam «Happy birthday» sangen.
Im Benihana wird neben der guten Küche auch die Unterhaltung groß geschrieben. Die Cocktails sind übrigends auch super lecker.
Im Verhältnis zu japanischen Restaurants in Deutschland ziemlich günstig.
Dass das personal freundlich war, ist in den USA (fast) selbstverständlich.