My reservation was for February 27, 2024 at 7PM for a teppanyaki side dinning experience with my girlfriend on my birthday (TLDR, would not recommend).

The following is a list of positives & negatives from that evening:

Positives *Seated promptly on time for my reservation *The food tasted great & the compound butter Benihana uses is delicious *All allergies & dietary restrictions/requests were respected to the fullest *The staff were polite & courteous (to my partner & I at least) *If I am in a position where I have to go again, there are regular non-teppanyaki side tables available *They didn't sing for my birthday. Honestly, I don't know if it was their oversight on their part (my partner told the waiter it was my birthday) *There was a parking lot

Negatives *Seriously, I cannot stress enough that we were there for 2 hours just for dinner service alone. We sat down at 7PM & didn't leave until 9PM. We were there for 2 hours & we were not just hanging around the bar or anything. The teppanyaki chef finished cooking, we paid our bill, & left. 2 hours of waiting, sporadically sampling food, & then leaving. That's way too long. *During this time, I ordered a Diet Pepsi. Over the course of 2 hours I received two refills. My partner ordered a cocktail & had to request water half way through the meal (I only recall that they may have gotten their water topped off once, maybe twice?). This would have been acceptable if the meal service was half as long.

• The restaurant is loud & I feel like the staff spoke softly. *So you are going to Benihana's, you have seen the commercials or been to a teppanyaki grill before. You are expecting a cheerful teppanyaki chef to dazzle you with cool utensil flips, quickly prepared food, & some entertaining bits? Yeah...me too. What we got was a teppanyaki chef that started the night with maybe 3 or 4 spatula flips, he made a smiley face with cooking oil, lit some alcohol on fire on the grill surface, & then made two onion volcanoes (one would not light). That was maybe the first 5-10 minutes he cooked & that was it. From then on out, it was like a switch turned off. The chef made no attempt at being entertaining afterwards. Seriously, I get it. Anyone may have an off night but that was my experience.
• The chef engaged in some banter with the lady sitting next to me...I don't think the banter was mutually friendly though. She expressed concern that she wasn't going to get her entire order/side sauces (more on that later for me). The lady was direct but polite. The chef's responses were dismissive & he kind of laughed it off as if she was being unreasonable? Honestly I think she was being quite reasonable & I don't think she wanted to joke around either. Experiencing the chef interact with her was uncomfortable & embarrassing. *I did not get all the food I ordered. The teppanyaki steak meal I ordered came with rice. I ordered white rice & was never served white rice. At one point the chef asked after the first or second batch of fried rice (more on that later) if I was getting rice. I thought he meant if I was getting any fried rice but maybe he interpreted that as I didn't order rice at all? Though, during one of the batches of fried rice the chef did give me a small portion of fried rice that was leftover. I didn't know when to expect white rice or if it would be be brought from the back kitchen since it wasn't being cooked so I didn't bothered to ask before the meal ended. *They are great with dietary restrictions but they cook everything on the grill. Usually if there are restrictions, I would expect some of it to be cooked in the back & brought out. The reason service took so long was because they were juggling 3-4 individual dietary restrictions at the time. Everyone should enjoy a good teppanyaki experience regardless of restrictions but, it took so long that people were taking their entire entrees home to eat instead. *The meal before tip or coupon was $110 dollars between my girlfriend & I. I have spent way less for way better food & service at our local restaurants.