Benihana — Restaurant in Cupertino

My family and I had the worst experience here yet. We have been coming here together as a family almost every year and enjoyed the experience every time. However, this visit was different.

We first were sat down on dirty seats where we waited 10 minutes for a server to come and ask what we would like to eat. Another 20 minutes later, the drinks came. Another 30 minutes later, an extremely salty salad arrived. My family and I had been coming for at least a decade and never has it been so salty. Another 20 minutes later, a salty soup came which was really not even that good. By now, almost everyone at the table had finished or were almost finished with their drinks. Yet not a single waiter came to stop by to refill our drinks. Another hour later the chef finally arrived. (We had waited over 2 hours just for the chef to come)

Having come to Benihana countless times, we kind of knew what to expect. Our chef did everything we expected to do but simply 10 times worse. The chef started with a "show" which included of spinning the meat fork and occasionally dropping her other utensils on accident. Keep in mind everyone at the table had waited over 2 hours and were not in the mood to see the chef dropping cooking utensils all over the place, instead of cooking the food.

She attempted to "spin" a hard-boiled egg as part of the show, which previous chefs had done perfectly. But as she spinned the egg, it started rolling everywhere. She then cracked it by absolutely crushing the egg with her hand. As she mixed the fried rice it flew literally everywhere. Instead of feeding us the food, she spend at least five minutes making "figures" with the rice as it literally burned. In previous experiences, they simply made the classic heart shape with the fried rice and served it immediately. However this chef proceeded to making a heart, human, and dolphin.

Even at this point, the last thing which we had eaten was the salty soup and our drinks were still not refilled.

Usually, putting fried rice into a couple bowls is not that hard. The chef absolutely shoved the fried rice in the bowl flying everywhere looking as if she were angry at the fried rice. The medium-well steak and chicken I had ordered was basically overcooked and burnt.

And as the chef finished with the iconic "volcano" I was exceedingly unimpressed at what I saw. First of all, the onion "volcano" was simply a two layer one as she failed to place the rest onto the two base ones without falling. At this point, the "volcano" was literally just an extremely short "mound." As she moved the "volcano," the lighter fluid leaked out and fire was basically all over the place. She ended by putting her meat fork into the center of the onion "volcano" and twirled it around mentioning "tornado." The onions flew everywhere as she hastily tried to clean the mess up.

Just as I thought my experience could not have been worse, as I was finishing with my ice cream, the cleaners kept on trying to take my things away. As I tried to peacefully finish my ice cream the cleaner constantly asked me "Can I take this." "Are you finished with that." I felt extremely rushed. At one point, the cleaner took my spoon away that I was using for the ice cream. I mentioned that he had took my spoon and he simply looked at me and proceeded on taking my other family members plates. Because of this, I asked a waitress for my spoon, only to end up waiting 2 minutes for her to come back asking, "Did you say you wanted a spoon?" and waiting another minute by which my ice cream had all melted.

Throughout my dinner, my drinks had been refilled only once, I had spend 90% of the dinner waiting or watching the chef play with the food as it burnt, and had only several minutes to peacefully eat without worrying about fried rice flying at my face or an employee stealing my plates and utensils.

I've had many great experiences at Benihana (besides the fact I waited for 2 hours every time), but how could an ill prepared chef be allowed to served food? Do not plan on ever...

My family and I visited Benihana Cupertino to celebrate our son's birthday. We have a long-standing tradition of coming to your establishment whenever we have a family member's birthday, and we have always cherished the special celebrations that have taken place during our previous visits.

However, on this particular occasion, our experience was far from what we have come to expect from Benihana. When our waitress, Celina(on the receipt), asked if we were celebrating a special occasion, we enthusiastically mentioned that it was our son's birthday, even pointing to him. We also informed our chef, who was introduced to us as "Karina," that it was our son's birthday party.

Regrettably, there was no celebration for our son. Typically, we have enjoyed the tradition of having a candle placed on our ice cream while the staff sings a birthday song, along with other guests celebrating special occasions. This absence was disappointing, and it made the day less memorable for our son.

Furthermore, we observed some concerning incidents during our meal. Our chef, Katrina, appeared to lack experience and professionalism. She dropped her cooking utensils, such as her spatula and meat fork, several times during her cooking show. Although nothing serious happened, it did make us feel uneasy, as there was a risk that these utensils could have flown towards us.

Additionally, the filet mignons we ordered were supposed to be cooked to medium and medium-well, but it ended up being well-done and very dry. We also noticed that she served scallops to a family member who had not ordered them, and there was no acknowledgment or apology for the mistake. Furthermore, a shrimp tail accidentally ended up in a customer's drink, which was not addressed promptly.

Towards the end of our meal, a staff member began clearing our table while we were still enjoying our ice cream. This made us feel rushed and uncomfortable, as we felt the need to hurry to vacate our table.

In light of these issues, we were disheartened that our son's birthday celebration was overlooked, and our overall experience was far from what we had anticipated. We believe that Benihana should take the following steps to improve its service:

Ensure that chefs are adequately trained and experienced in handling large, sharp cooking tools for safety reasons. Provide additional training to chefs on cooking meat to the correct temperature and timing to maintain the desired taste. Reinforce the importance of acknowledging and rectifying mistakes promptly, such as serving the wrong food. Avoid rushing customers to clear tables, especially when they are still enjoying their meals.

Sadly, we have decided not to revisit Benihana in the future. We have noticed a decline in the quality of service, which is disappointing as we have cherished our past experiences with your restaurant. We hope that you take our feedback into consideration to improve the overall dining experience for...

Drove from San Francisco, based on, what i can only assume are paid reviews ...spent way too much money for subpar service from the start and ok food.

Had a reservation for 6pm and the person at the front was openly staying he wasn't supposed to be there, had an attitude, and I realized after 20 mins and watching him seat every single person who came after us who had a 6.30pm+ reservation before us.

I reminded him 3 times that we are still waiting [only 3 people] and he kept saying he'll let us know..until I could no longer sit quietly.. and luckily the manager or someone came, to whom he again complained thar he wasn't supposed to be working that day (this past Sunday evening).. When I said to manager that we've been here for over 30 mins and had a reservation for 6pm and we being ignored, the person attempted to jump in and say we're being seated next blah blah blah, but the manager was kind enough to Apologize on that guy's behalf and also get us seated next,.. no help from the guy at the front.

the excuse the manager gave for the unreasonable delay was that they're overbooked... which isn't the customers problem :/ and also doesn't warrant the attitude and dismissive behavior from the guy at the front.

The guy needs to be removed from the front. He's ruining the image with terrible attitude and service. He is playing favorites trying to be all friendly and flirty with certain guests, and rude to others. If he's the first thing customers see, it won't help for long. Pick a better person to greet guests As they enter

Got seated at 6.45pm AFTER asking again and again and when the manager showed up.

The food was ok... I've had way better at many other hibachi/Teppanyaki restaurants... and even other benihana locations. The place is also dark and dingy. Really outdated Our server was seen a Maximum of 3 times but suddenly became nice and present when it was time to pay and give a tip but barely around. My son needed water or soy sauce for his sushi and we were left just waiting until after 15 mins, we asked anyone for help.. but still had to wait until the server eventually showed up. Forced to pay a tip for subpar service [forced tipping is such a stupid concept :/ ] Dirty bathrooms The price isn't worth it. Way too expensive for basic food I wasted too much money on it and doubt I'll be returning. Don't waste over $200+ here. Go to in n out... way better food and service...CONSISTENTLY.

The ONLY good part was the chef who was super nice and funny. He actually was the only person who turned our experience around. But yeah... don't come here. Find a better place.

I definitely won't be coming back. And would recommend you don't waste your hard earned money...