Benihana — Restaurant in Houston

I wish that I could give this place a negative rating. I attended this establishment for my birthday with a friend of mine last night. Being that I received my birthday voucher from Benihana. We were seated in between a lovely couple to the right of me and two ladies to the left of my friend. Upon arriving at our table the lady that was seated closest to my friend proceeded to invade our space. Leaning over so close to the point of touching. She was slurring words of compliments towards our appearance. She also clearly stated multiple times that she was very drunk. Even after that, the woman was served another glass of wine. We tried to ignore her behavior and continue to have a good time. In the midst of the chef serving our food, the woman not only decided to continue to invade our space but took the initiative to dig her chopsticks into my friends rice and take a bite out of her food. At that point, one can only imagine that it got pretty heated. The manager came over to our table to ask was there a problem and me and my friend clearly expressed the situation at hand. At this point the staff and the other lady who was with the intoxicated lady was assisting in getting her escorted out of the establishment. The lady that was with the intoxicated lady came back to me and my friend and said, to apologize for our experience that her friend caused, she was going to pay for our food to make up for it. We agreed to that, thanked her and she went her way. Well long story short, it was brought to our attention that she didn’t pay. We requested the manager to see what he could do to rectify the situation. The only thing that he decided was right to do was take the amount for the rice,$10, off our total check. Which is pretty much a slap in the face after all we had been through. As an establishment, they should have been mindful of the state that their customers were in. Not only did they continue to serve her wine but it was told to us by one of the hostess that the lady actually drove herself home. At this point not only did we as customers have a complete ruined birthday experience but now other lives were put in harms way by allowing her to drive home in that state of mind. After they had served her those drinks. There is a complete lack of accountability on their behalf and it needs to be addressed...

I've always known about Benihana's, but have never been. Went to so many different hibachi spots in different states, and yet never found myself in one of this caliber. Today, I had to perfect excuse to indulge, as it was my wife's friends' birthday. I just have to say, they did not disappoint.

I made sure to order a couple of different things to really get a good gauge of the quality of the food and service.

Started with spicy edamame. Definitely great flavor in the sauce they use. Beans cooked to produce the most perfect burst of flavor. Great level of spice. Lingering but not overwhelming.

Followed this with some amazing soft shell crab. Absolutely worth every last penny. Being that we're right in the middle of softshellcrabseason, it's everything I expected and more. The sweet crab meat pairs perfectly with the salty soft fried exterior, to make the perfect bite.

Then the hibachi began. Of course there was the usual choo choo train steaming onion with the train whistle, and because it was my wife's friends' birthday, the chef shaped the fried rice into a heart and did the beating heart trick with the spatula. I ordered the hibachi supreme. Best. Decision. Ever. Next to proposing to my wife, of course.

The center cut tenderloin literally melted. Cooked to medium rare perfection, chewing was effortless. Seasoned so nicely, didn't even need to use dipping sauce. It was almost an insult to dip steak that good.

The cold water lobster tail was the truth. Tastes so good that I'm currently daydreaming about eating again. It's so easy to over and under cook lobster tail, and hats off to the chef for finding the perfect spot.

Also with the meal there was a salad with ginger based dressing, very delicious, as well as a chicken broth based mushroom soup, which had excellent flavor.

All finished off with a cup of piping hot green tea. Just. Perfect.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this restaurant 15 times out of 10. Service to match the food, if you're wondering. It was quite busy in the restaurant, but never really found myself asking for water because a refill always came ahead. It's the...

This is such a head scratcher for me. How can a place that serves such bad food can be so popular?

We arrived at 9:00pm on a Friday and the place was loud and packed with a lot of birthday celebrations on different tables. We got seated around a cooktop and had to wait 20 mins before there were enough guests for them to get started. Then our white lady chef (name redacted) arrived and found that our cooktop had not been turned on. She turned it on and we had to wait another 15 mins for it to get hot. All those while we were making hungry small talk with other guest, every person getting more getting fidgety wondering when their food would be served. With the loud noise in the restaurant and the vent on it was difficult to hear fellow guest or the chef at our table.

Then the coking started. The lady chef could not do any of the tricks. The few she tried bombed. The floor around her was filled with spilled food. The food we were served was oily and flavorless. They only use garlic butter and salt/pepper for seasoning, so no wonder the food tasted bland.

The lady chef served one guest her fried rice and realized that the guest wanted mushrooms in hers. The chef had the guest pour back the fried rice from her used plate back onto the cooktop. We were wondering if that is health and safety violation or not. Also, while having to talk loud to the guests above the din in the restaurant, she inadvertently spat in the food that she was cooking (yikes).

The vent was not working well (we think), and everyone had food smell on their clothes. The prices for the quality of food and service you get were insane. We did not expect high quality food here. But we're not prepared for something this bad. Maybe if our chef was able to do some tricks we would have enjoyed the experience more. I don't think management should have allowed her to serve guests yet since she is not ready.

After a disastrous dining experience the chef has the gall to come and ask us to follow her on ticktock. She clearly was clueless how less we enjoyed our dining...