Benihana — Restaurant in Los Angeles

We have dined at this establishment for many years, last night during our meal. Unfortunately, the chef knocked over a wine glass. The glass shattered all over her plate, my toddlers plate, and onto my food. Unfortunately, as many parents know, it is quite difficult to get a toddler to eat while my daughter was enjoying her meal. I was ecstatic, after the incident she refused to eat. My friends Mom was extremely startled as the glass pieces had broken onto her thigh, and hit my two-year-old.

The chef proceeded to clean up the mess, and the server. My friends mom went over to talk to the manager, who informed her that the situation would be taken care of. After our meal we received our check and there were some discrepancies that we went over to discuss with the manager. The manager named Dean informed my friends Mom that he did not care if the glass hit my daughter.

Upon hearing this, I went over to ask him what the situation was if he had taken care of the unfortunate incident. He was very rude and disrespectful immediately became very aggressive and told my friends Mom that he took care of her meal. He comped to her meal, and cleaned up the mess and made new food for us which at this point it was 10pm and no one at or enjoyed this experience as many of you can imagine.

I asked him why he proceeded to tell my friends mom that he did not care if the glass hit my child. He was extremely aggressive and said he never said this, he became angry and started to shake his head and told me that he took care of the situation and what more did I expect. I said listen Dean coming from somebody who’s worked in retail her whole life. This is not how you speak to somebody especially customer you should’ve done was walked over to our table and asked if we were OK if the baby was OK to ensure that you would take care of the situation for us it’s not about taking care of the bill. It was the principal in the matter how he handled the situation he became steadfast on refusing to do anything more, and said why didn’t we tell the chef when it happened. When it was the chef’s mistake that this incident occurred. I told him that we did tell the Chef when we expected the manager to come handle the situation.

The way this manager Dean handled the situation was beyond disgusting, I was standing or distraught and shocked at his manner his tone his mannerisms the way he was speaking to two women, saying that he did not care if glass hit a two-year-old. At this point, I was so shock. I raised my voice and I said I do not care how much the bill is we’ve paid thousands of dollars here at this restaurant, we’ve paid thousands of dollars at other restaurants. This is not the first time we’ve eaten out, we will gladly pay the bill. It’s the principal and the tone of his voice the way he is handling. The situation is beyond disgusting for human being to treat anyone this way at this point. He threatened to call the police cause I said I refused to pay this bill, it was wrong. At this point it was a comedy show, I became frustrated while my husband went to speak with him. And informed the server to take our meals off the check, he was kind enough to correct the bill as it had other discrepancies on it. We paid our bill and walked out, I am truly devastated by this awful experience and we will be in contact with other management personal. Also, I asked Dean for his information he refused and gave me a black card for the restaurant. I’m not sure if this man has ever had any other job especially in management but he needs better training, a new position and...

Rocky Aoki would roll over in his grave. What a disgrace to a once amazing dinner experience.

First let me say I totally understand the necessary changes that have to be made due to COVID. My expectations definitely accounted for the fact that I was ordering take out from a Shogun type Hibachi Grill. The experience simply isn't going to be the same, I get that. But there were way to many simple failures from the staff that just cannot be overlooked.

Where to begin. We ordered through the mobile site and place an order totally nearly $160. We ordered 45 minutes in advance before arriving to receive "Curbside Pickup" To say this restaurant offers Curbside Pickup, is a blatant lie, they simply don't do it. Upon arrival there is no signs directing you where to go, and the entrance to parking isn't easily seen. We arrived and parked wondering how the staff would know we were there. I assumed due to covid we would not be allowed inside, so I called the restaurant. It took nearly 6 tries to get someone to answer because it immediately forwards to a prerecorded message. Finally upon getting a staff member on the phone I asked about curbside pickup and was told. "we only do that if you request it in advance" um...what? In lieu of arguing the point I just decided to go inside.

Upon entering the building the horde of people waiting, and lack of organization was outstanding. One clearly overwhelmed hostess stood behind a desk attempting to manage the Chaos. A table to the left of the podium near the kitchen was lined with the classic red Benihana bags. I waiting almost 15 minutes in the entrance before being able to speak with the hostess because of all the "Karens" in the doorway who were just as furious as I was. I gave the hostess my name and was told the order wasn't ready yet (an hour after ordering)...I decided to take a seat on the outdated musty bench near the doorway and continued to watch in amusement as the "Karens" continued to berate the host. It was like watching an episode of Jerry Springer. As I waited I felt a tickle on my leg and looked down to see a spider crawling up my leg. ARGHH

Finally after about an hour and 10 minutes I received my order and rushed home to eat. We ordered the steak/chicken for 2 combo, as well as the "sashimi platter" To call the mangled fish we received Sashimi is a disgrace to all Japanese cuisine. See the picture below.

The rest of the food, was honestly delicious but the before-mentioned experience simply left a bad taste in my mouth. We wont be returning.

RIP Benihana, you will...

This establishment is a perfect example of where NOT to go if you want to experience the following; warm atmosphere, a kind and attentive staff, a warm delicious meal and last of all, great service.

It's unfortunate to be leaving this review but customers should understand what they're getting into when entering this location specifically. On top of waiting for our meal for over an hour, in a section that only included 2 other tables plus my own - our food was not exactly "fresh from the fire" as our waitress put it but rather, straight from the North Pole. All the meals we ordered were cold and when we advised our waitress of our (constructive) complaint she explicitly stated "Oh well I have no idea how it could be cold" and continued her way into a corner and took out her cellphone, leaving us confused as how to move forward with this issue.

Fast forward to the "end" of our meal, and I say "end" loosely as some of us barely ate our meal to begin with...due to the lack of attention from our server because obviously her cellphone deserved more attention than the customers of this location, I decided to take it upon myself to go to the main reception to request to speak to manager. In the midst of my request up front, my mother who was at the table also put in a request for the same thing with our ever-so-busy server, who was so kind to inform us that "the manager was currently busy and couldn't come to the table." Please note, as I was dealing with my request upfront, I can, in clear sight - see the manager walking towards me.

And when you thought the service couldn't be anymore disappointing, they really had to provide a manager who was equally as terrible if not worse. Upon discussing our issues with the service/our server and our overall experience, this manager had the audacity to put the blame on us stating "well if your food was cold, why didn't say something to the server". And continued to be dismissive and complained that the onus should be on the customers to voice our complaints to the server.

So please, if you prefer; terrible service, cold food and cold attitudes...