Benihana — Restaurant in City of Industry

They forgot to give me my $11 fruit drink slushee. They instead gave me the identical $5.50 one I also ordered. I picked up my order when they were closing at 11pm. I didn’t call them back the next day because I had other things I needed to do. However, I am letting it be known, I ordered a $240 meal, had to wait 45 minutes past my pickup time. My pickup time was 10:03pm. I arrived late at 10:13pm. I didn’t get my food and incorrect drinks until 10:50pm. I asked if they could remake my drinks because I had one ice cream milkshake just sitting there in front of me for over 40 minutes. They said sure, only to give me the wrong beverages I ordered and they gave me ones that even costed less (half the price). On top of all this, they held up my entire order because they forgot to cook this $5 appetizer side, which apparently was also already included in my 4 person filet mignon meal, which were just an extra side order of sautéed mushrooms.

I feel I was wronged by this business plus they did give me just a mango lemonade when I ordered the strawberry slush specialty drink that I never got. My order was for me and my fiancé and my 5 year old son. It cost $240. The Benihana worker asked if I was DoorDash or some similar service since I looked like a regular guy, they probably didn’t think I would be the one who spends this $ for a dinner on a Tuesday night (weekday, I forget the exact day but it’s within 10 days of this review.). This is for the city of industry location. The chefs didn’t show an ounce of respect for one’s time and feelings, and the manager had not an ounce of sympathy or ability to see an imbalanced customer situation and have the empathy or moral to balance it out.

There was only one, yes one and only, one female employee who was genuine, concerned, compassionate, and aware of the wrongs of inefficiency and incompetence being committed upon my customer experience and my order. This lady should be the manager for this location. If she was, she would’ve made it right with me and do me right. She saw that my order was on the higher price side and that I was standing out in the awkward open for well over half an hour. It’s just she probably didn’t have any control of the higher ups who failed miserably.

If someone from HR or Steve Aoki reads this, please promote the very beautiful, slender, supermodel figure of employee who was even more beautiful on the inside because this person is aware and isn’t a sheep like the rest of her coworkers n cooks. I don’t know her name, but i hubby doubt there are that many supermodel body/figure/vibe/look Asian employees at the city of Irvine location.

Please reach out to me as I would like my strawberry slushee drink. It tastes oh so good yet I never got it when I was hoping to try it again for the 2nd time. Please re evaluate and up your service standards as a restaurant. Please promote the super beautiful Asian supermodel employee to save your restaurant and look good when doing it. Benihana is a visual sensory experience. Let’s hope if I try you guys again in Vegas or somewhere, it’s a more pleasant experience that I can feel good about and ultimately be happy and satisfied and...

My first time going to this location. First impression from the front of the restaurant ... "does anyone sweep the front to look descent? Anyways, I hope the food is good". Going inside to use the ladies room, filthy. I should have left at that moment, but decided to give them the benefit of a doubt. Food was good, what we had of it at least. Here's where my experience gets messed up. The waiter took our order and asked are there any food allergies in this table, I raised my hand and said "yes, me, to shrimp" he asked if I would like my food cooked in the back kitchen or on the side of the grill, I said side of the grill is fine, that's the whole point of going there to see your good get cooked. I then ordered an order of hibachi chicken for my girlfriend and I. He asked if we would be sharing and have half and half on our plates, and I said, "yes". We also ordered the chicken fried rice and noodles. Cook comes out, cooks the shrimp and throws them on my plate. I said "no, no, no!" I'm allergic!" He looks at me annoyed and says "why you don't tell me!!!" I responded, "I didn't think I had to, I gave the waiter my order and instructions , he even asked if I wanted it cooked in the back or on grill" at that moment the waiter happened to stop by and saw what went on, he apologized and asked to get me a clean plate, I didn't want to make it a big deal so I just swapped with my girlfriend. Then when hibachi chicken was cooked, he throws ALL of it on my plate and I said "oh, it was supposed to be half on my plate and half on hers", he looked at me again annoyed and yelled at me, "why you don't tell me!!!?" And my response again, " I don't have to, I gave my order to the waiter " and the ladies that were at our table agreed with me and explained to the cook, which by the way, his name is "Long". Ok, no big deal I'll just separate it myself. The last one, the waiter I guess had forgotten to bring out my noodles and I saw him kinda begging the cook, but didn't know what was going on until I saw my noodles on a plate in his hand, I called him over and said "are those my noodles?" He said "yes I'm sorry I'm trying to get the cook to cook them?" I didn't want the noodles anymore but my girlfriend did, so I kept them. Then Long yells at me " I can't cook your noises on grill anymore, I turn off the grill!!" And I'm there sitting like why is he yelling at me the whole time like it's all my fault? So my noodles got cooked in the back but we didn't even end up eating them. Horrible experience, food was great, what we had of it it, but never again will I go to this location or I can take my business where I've been having wonderful experiences all this...

If there were an option to give zero stars, I would absolutely do so.

I just returned home from dining at this restaurant tonight, and I cannot wait to share my experience.

The service began poorly. My husband politely asked our waitress for some paper napkins. She initially said she would bring them but never did. When my husband looked toward her to follow up, she raised her voice in an impatient tone, saying, “Give me one minute, okay? I’ll bring you the napkins.” We eventually received them 10 minutes later, when she abruptly dropped them on the table and walked away without another word.

Unfortunately, things only got worse once our chef began cooking. He did not bother to clean the cooking surface, even though there were small scraps of paper on it. Instead, he tossed ingredients directly onto the unclean table and started preparing the fried rice. He seemed more focused on performing tricks than on actually cooking, which left the food unattended and poorly prepared.

As a result, he forgot to serve my husband’s scallops but mistakenly gave the other two guests at our table extra portions. When he realized the mistake—only after we were about to ask him—he admitted that the others had received three extra scallops each and that he would have to get more. Meanwhile, the food he did serve was consistently overcooked or undercooked.

Despite my quiet reminder for him to add a bit of oil so that my chicken would not burn, he ignored it, and the chicken came out charred. I had to take it home, rinse off the burnt coating, and attempt to salvage it myself. The scallops, on the other hand, were not fully cooked—the inside was still semi-clear because he was rushing. When I pointed this out, noting that scallops are not sashimi-grade and should never be served raw, he defensively responded, “You told me not to burn the chicken.” That comment was both unprofessional and illogical. Asking for properly cooked food does not mean serving raw seafood is acceptable.

We ordered three meals: the Trio ($58), the Benihana Delight ($47), and the Land and Sea ($51). These are not inexpensive dishes, yet the quality and service we received were unacceptable. After eating so much burnt food, both my husband and I developed sore, dry throats. I also swallowed a bite of undercooked scallop and can only hope I won’t experience foodborne illness as a result.

This entire experience was beyond disappointing—it was frustrating, careless, and downright unsafe. I would never return and strongly recommend spending your...