Benihana — Restaurant in Concord

We had a reservation for 5:30pm. There were a bunch of people standing around the check-in desk, and I asked if they had already checked in, they said yes, so I went to the front of the desk. I was told rudely by staff that "um, there is a line" and I said "oh, sorry, everyone said they had already checked in..." So I stepped to the side and waited 2 seconds for him to then say he could help me. I told him that we had a 5:30pm reservation. He asked if our whole party was here. I said yes, but 2 were still parking the cars (they were inside in 2 minutes). He said I had to wait to check in until the entire party was here. I said "they are...just walking into the building..." So the 2 minutes later when they came in from parking, I went back and officially checked in. Maybe 5:40 at this point. He says they will call us when the table is ready. At 6pm, a full 30 minutes after our 5:30pm reservation (on a Thursday), they seated us. Another 10 minutes pass before they took drink orders only. We said that we knew what we wanted to order, but she said drinks only first. Another 10 minutes before the drinks came, one of which was wrong. Another 20 minutes before they took food orders. We had 4 children with us, and when we ordered the hibachi chicken for 2 of them, she said "fried rice?" which I thought meant she was asking if the kids wanted fried rice with their meal, so I said sure. I later found out that she was asking if we wanted the hibachi chicken meal or the hibachi chicken fried rice, which is a side dish only. We had to completely change the order to ensure they had meals. The other 2 children ordered chicken tender meals, and the chicken tenders came 20 minutes before the chef arrived for any other portion of the meal or for anyone else's food. So the 2 children who had hibachi chicken ended up sharing the chicken tenders of the other 2 since they were so hungry at this point. So while we are waiting and waiting for our chef, we ask the waitress to go ahead and bring 2 more chicken tenders for the other 2 kids since they are waiting so long. Then the chef finally arrives an hour after we sat down, which was already 30 minutes after our reservation. The kids have all eaten chicken tenders by now and are only in it for the show at this point. Our chef was lackluster; kept dropping the spatula and fork when trying to do the "tricks" at the start. Never did any other tossing like other chefs do. Lit one onion on fire, but that was it. Otherwise it was just watching a cook make mediocre food on a grill. The hibachi chicken was plain and the sauces didn't help. The shrimp was tough. They brought the steamed rice out after the other food was entirely served and almost all consumed. The bill was almost $500 and those 2 extra chicken tenders that we ordered because the timing was off so badly? They cost us an additional $46 because they charged as a full "meal" of the tenders despite the fact that our kids already had the other meal ordered (and paid for) of the hibachi chicken that came with the soup, rice, and veggies and we did not get extra soup, rice, or veggies when we ordered the additional chicken tenders. So no additional sides, but still $46 for maybe 8 chicken tenders. And only because the timing of their food delivery had 2 of the kids eating 20 minutes before the others. I had great memories of Benihana from years ago, but this...

Went here for the first time and it was an okay experience overall. The highlight of the entire dinner was the showmanship of the chef; that was fun to watch and our chef was joking around with our table and having fun with us - shout out to Ernesto! However, I think if you’re coming here to eat you’re mainly coming for the show. The menu is very expensive for the quality and preparation of the food they give. You can expect anywhere from 29-47$, now this does include steam rice, onion soup, salad and a shrimp app but again I still personally feel it’s over priced. Breakdown on how I felt about everything I tried: spicy edamame, this is very spicy I loved it. Only order if you can handle very spicy food. onion soup, this was a bland broth included a very few pieces of mushroom and some fried onions. no comment on the salad because I did not eat it. Presentation is awful though the dressing on it honestly looks like vomit, which made it look unappetizing to me and why I didn’t eat it. steam rice, the steam rice they serve is sushi rice which does not taste good steamed as this type of rice is meant to be cooked till sticky. I wish they went with a classic jasmine rice for steam rice. fried rice (tried from a friend at the table), tasted overcooked and burnt. Minimal veggies, chicken and egg included. shrimp appetizer, had the potential to taste good I think because they put down very fresh looking shrimp. However this was over cooked and tasted rubbery. salmon entree with udon noodles, shitake mushrooms and asparagus. The salmon was overcooked, which made the texture hard. Udon noodles were flavorless, minimal shiitake mushrooms and asparagus included. I honestly did not eat very much because I didn’t enjoy the food enough to really eat it. A lot of it tasted overcooked, burnt, and the food was not well seasoned. Except the spicy edamame that was quite good. Also one thing I noticed leaving Benihana’s was that I smelled…like the smell you get on yourself while you’re cooking at home, and I didn’t really like that. I don’t think I would come here on my own again, unless it was for a friend’s birthday...

I’ve been eating my entire life. I thought I knew how restaurants worked. Customers sit and order food and you bring it to them. Sounds simple, right? Well, not at the Concord Benihana. Here you’ll sit for 90 minutes without so much as a shrimp to satisfy your hunger.

Oh, don’t worry though — they’ll offer you app’s while you wait… and then never bring them out. Oh, did you want to eat? THEN YOU CAME TO THE WRONG PLACE. The Concord Benihana kitchen can’t handle more than three customers at a time. They get backed up and can’t cook chicken and basic rice. You know… the thing THEY ARE KNOWN FOR.

On February 15th, I visited Benihana for the first time and I was so excited to try the food. It’s been twenty fours since i left and I’m still excited to try the food. Know why? BECAUSE WE BARELY RECEIVED ANY FOOD AT THE CONCORD LOCATION.

Their kitchen died and was running so behind, we were only able to sample their water and —ick!— onion soup. We waited for a good 20 minutes before our server apologized and blamed the kitchen for “being slammed with a 10-top.” No bother. We were willing to wait. Our disgusting soups finally appeared and another twenty minutes went by when our server returned to tell us he’d made a mistake and mixed up our tickets. It would be ANOTHER 20 MINUTES before we got our food.

Could he make it up to us? Sure, we said. He offered to bring us some chicken fried rice on the house while we waited another 20.

No more than ten minutes later, he returned to tell us the kitchen had run out of rice. HOW THE HELL DO YOU RUN OUT OF RICE? There’s a WHOLE FOODS ACROSS THE STREET. Go buy some!

But no, the Benihana server looked defeated at this point and didn’t know how to rectify the problem. So, now, we’d been sitting for close to an hour without so much as an appetizer. Just some nasty onion soup — who the hell dreamed that up?— and some mediocre salad and some water. We were starved at this point and wanted to eat, so like sensible people we walked out of Benihana and went to a real restaurant that was able to do what they couldn’t: SERVE US FOOD.

Avoid this...