Benihana — Restaurant in Conroe

Update to a previous review: the Manager, Kelly, reached out to us because he wanted to make things right. We returned and had Andrew as our server and he was amazing. He was super friendly and attentive despite being very busy. Our chef was Marcus. The portions sizes were spot on and consistent with other Benihana experiences from other locations. Marcus seasoned the food well and cooked all the proteins to right amount,. My family all ordered their steaks medium rare and were pleased with the temperatures. This was a complete opposite of our first experience at this location. We all left full and thoroughly enjoed our experience. I can tell the staff who served us today took a lot of pride in serving their guests and will definitely be back and request them next time. Thank you Kelly for inviting us back and giving us a great dining experience.

1st visit: My family and I went to Benihana to celebrate my mom’s 70th birthday. We have been to many hibachi restaurants and frequent another one that is also located in Conroe, but thought we would try out the new Benihana. We decided that we felt like it had been open long enough to have all of its kinks worked out from being newly opened. I knew the menu was a little pricier than our regular hibachi place, but figured since we were celebrating a special occasion, we could splurge for possibly a better hibachi experience and more quality. Our server came to the table quickly and greeted us, and was very friendly, and probably gave a little more information than needed when first sitting down. But I figured she was new and just trying to stick to a speel. We got our soups and salads in a timely manner after ordering. It went downhill once the chef came to the table. He seemed quite inexperienced, which I understand but I don’t believe he was ready to be working a hibachi grill, at a Benihana restaurant, when you’re paying that much for your food and experience. Several times I thought I was going to be hit with the spatula and fork he was attempting to swirl. He didn’t do any any of the “normal hibachi” tricks, instead just started a series of dad like jokes. My 7 year old even called him out a few times for not doing any “cool” stuff. He would tease us like we were at a “Dicks last resort” type restaurant which was a little unnerving to me since I was trying to treat my parents to a nicer hibachi experience, now realizing I should have taken her to our usual place. He did not bring enough rice and vegetables to the table so ended up cooking more at the VERY end of the meal, when most people were done. I was one of the people in my party that did not receive my fried rice. He let the server know that he was short a serving of fried rice, and she came out with a fully cooked one, and he told her to take it back to the back. He told her to bring him materials to make more. After waiting the whole meal to finally get my rice I wondered why did he not just give me the cooked rice that she brought out so that I could enjoy it with my food, instead of having to eat it after my plate had already been completely finished. I also found several large hairs in my daughters overcooked shrimp and made sure that the chef could hear me say several times “oh, here’s another hair and another hair hair”. It didn’t seem to faze him enough to tell the server, or anybody for that matter, that we were finding hairs in our food. It’s as if he just tried to pretend like he couldn’t hear me so he wouldn’t have to address the situation. We also expressed concerns throughout the cooking that he was overcooking the steaks that we asked to be medium rare. He assured us that they would not be overcooked. One steak ended up being well done, and the other one medium well. He then told us because the steak is so thin, it’s hard to cook to the right temperature…..It seemed as if he could only focus on cooking one item at a time as the shrimp was over cooked as well. He struggled with serving equal amounts to the table when it came to the shared items(vegetables,...

We've been to several Benihana locations many many times for well over 20 years, today was a first.

The food was not good. The service was not great. The management was non existent.

Soup came out with salad. Soup wasn't hot, it was warm. Maybe it sat there for a while, while salads were made? Vegetables were odd. The zucchini and onion came out from the kitchen presliced and combined. It burnt pretty easily which was weird but again the pieces were sliced thin, not like Benihana usually does it.

The rice was the worst part. You never think you are going to get bad rice at Benihana but we did, as did others. First the cook said they were out of rice, and it would be about 30 minutes before the rice was ready and he would cook the rest and then go back to the rice at the end when it was ready. In a couple of minutes later someone came from the back with a plate of rice supposedly ready so he went ahead and made the fried rice. Our party had all ordered chicken fried rice and the other party all had ordered veggie. Oddly, the portion size was way off but no one said anything because the guy was nice. Then we tasted it. The rice was at least 5 minutes undercooked, hard and crunchy. There were 2 parties at our table, ours and another family we didn't know. We all felt the rice was undercooked. The cook had the kitchen prepared 6 replacements When they came out 2 of the chicken fried rice went to the other party. The rice was still way undercooked. Unpleasant; hard. The waiter had the kitchen prepare another round. Was the rice cooker malfunctioning or did they have a different kind of rice today they didn't know how to cook? Nobody ever said. The rice wasn't available when they needed it yet they were sending it out anyway to be served. We could see other tables also having rice come in from the back. It was so odd. We ate some of it and it just came to a point you where you don't want to get sick from eating hard undercooked rice. That and the rice was getting stuck in our teeth. Not only did it not get eaten (that's never happened with us, we always eat the rice it's our favorite) but we didn't bother taking the rice to go, it wasn't salvageable, and I hope we don't get sick from how much of it we did eat of it. Do you know after all that the 3 chicken fried rice was on the bill? Even the cook said to make sure they don't charge us for it. I was shocked the waiter did and I had him take it off. He apologized. Our meals were to come with ice cream and hot tea. I was the only one who got tea and oddly the tea tasted and smelled fishy? First time it's ever tasted like that. Of course I didn't drink it and I didn't bother sending it back because of what was all going on. My husband said it tasted like pond water. Again, we've eaten at other locations at least 5 or 6 times a year and this was a first. We ordered our ice cream but only one of us received. The waiter even said a few times he was bringing it but never did and instead brought the corrected bill and a togo box. While running my card, he asks if the GM stopped by. No. No presence of a manager while we were there. You would think with the issues in the kitchen the manager would have come to check in on us. The manager whoever they were, were nonexistent. We never met or even saw a manager This location has been open for at least a few months now, you would have thought they would have gotten kinks out by now. We will go to other locations, but this one, we won't be back unless they get it together. That was a waste of money. I still tipped 18% because it wasn't all his fault but the service was...

BENIHANA CONROE,TX....I love Japanese restaurants and hibachi cooking, and to my surprise, my recent visit to Benihana, Conroe Texas location, was my FIRST visit to any Benihana restaurant. While I've heard of Benihana, and their great reputation, this was my first time as a customer, since this location is closer to my home. I went Sunday, with my daughter, to celebrate my birthday. We went shopping first, and I was concerned, because we went mid-afternoon, which can sometimes, be a less desirable time, to visit any restaurant, for good service and food. WOW! I was happily mistaken! The host greated us immediately upon arrival, and offered seating in both the lounge, along with the hibachi service. It was important to me to experience their hibachi table service, and we were not disappointed! Joseph was our server. He was spot on everything! Drinks were brought quickly and refilled often. He took away unnecessary plates, and even offered to-go containers early, for salad and soup, when he sensed our needs, and that we were saving room for the main course. We ordered the Lotus Sushi Roll as an appetizer. My daughter loves crab puffs, and it is a sushi roll, with crab and cream cheese with lotus crisps on top. So incredible! Next, we both decided on the land and sea specialty dinner. Our hibachi chef, was Jack. He was awesome! He engaged us, and the family sitting beside us with their young child. He made us all laugh, and we were very impressed with his skills, especially since he mentioned that he was one of their newer chefs. I took many photos and videos, and also just decided to sit and enjoy his presentation. I've seen other hibachi chef presentations, and although Jake replicated a few of the "traditional" moves, he added his own unique personality style, that made it be both fresh, new, and entertaining. Entertaining aside, Jack also cooked all of our food to perfection. The steak filet, and scallops were both melt in your mouth tender. We requested noodles instead of rice and he offered a few cooking options, and the udon noodles were a highlight accompaniment. I also noted that he cooked our zucchini perfectly al dente, which is a deal breaker for myself. The manager, Kelly Martinez, visited our table several times, including to take a photo of my adult daughter and myself, that I will forever treasure. As a preschool teacher myself, it warmed my heart, to see him spend extra time with the family next to us, to make them, and their young preschool aged daughter feel extra special and valued, as well. I'll close with a big comment. This was the BEST Japanese hibachi meal and experience, that I've EVER experienced ANYWHERE! I'm sold on Benihana! Thank you to the entire staff, for making my birthday so very special and memorable! P.S. The ladies bathroom was...