Benihana — Restaurant in New York

DON'T DO IT FAM!!!

My friend and I made a reservation for 9 pm. Got there 30 minutes early and were told to go upstairs at 9 pm. That was the only "good part" of this experience. Once upstairs we were bombarded by at least 4 other groups of people waiting to be seated. A server asked us for our name then told us to wait in the corner. He then, at the speed of light, walked past is and 2 other parties and "told" us to follow him. He didn't repeat any names, he didn't look anyone in the eyes, NOTHING!! No one knew what to do. We all assumed we were to follow him and were luckily correct.

We SQUEEZE into the area and are all quiet af because we don't know each other and wait for the server. A different guy comes out with menus, hands everyone one and ask if this is anyone's first time there. One person answer and before anyone could say anything else, the server went to help the person. (This is only important because it was my first time there and the server was shorthanded and distant when I tried to ask for assistance too) He leaves, comes back with water and ask what everyone wants. I wasn't ready so he took everyone's order and then STARES at me until I order something. I find it really weird that this random server took the order and not the person who would be coming but it ain't my job so it ain't my problem!

Another new person, the chef, appeared. He seemed not amused by our table. He said something under his breathe and "began the performance. So, I'm a music teacher. I'm use to loud, unnecessary painful sounds, but the noice at this establishment is TOO MUCH! I was more than happy when it was over.

Each table sits about 9 (which I find weird) but we had 8 people. Throughout the whole dinner each server and the chef seemed completely confused by the empty seat. They placed food there for nooooooo one. The chef also didn't listen to anyone. My friend told the chef multiple times that she only only ordered sushi but he kept giving her food. The chef must have been confused and didn't remember who got what because my friend got another lady's meal. We didn't know this until the end of the meal when the other woman complained about not having everything she ordered. The chef apologized and we paid and gtfo.

The food is basic. Your local Chinese place could give you better for cheaper and with less of a metalic, off beat scrapping, headache creating racket. The seating is trash. I'm a bigger person and saw skinny people having problems with people trying to pass them. The establishment is not well ventilated so smoke fills this place quicker than a hookah bar and barely leaves. There's an elevator right at the front door to take you upstairs (it smells like burning tires though so be careful). That is not a sushi place. Again, THIS IS NOT A SUSHI PLACE!!!!!!!! They have sushi as an option but don't go here thinking you're getting an amazing sushi dinner. This is a performance space for people drunk enough to eat expensive basic chinese food made at the volume of a fork in the garbage disposal by satan screaning at you with 509 crying babies surrounding you like the 9th circle of hell.

You could literally do better anywhere else BUT if you have to go here:

Make reservations before hand and get there early Don't order the lemonades unless you want diabetes WATCH YOUR FOOD: if you don't get something you ordered, say something to the chef before he leaves Wear ear plugs!!!!!! Trust me on this. You'll be out of hearing if you don't Order hella water or whatever you're drinking before the server leave CAUSE THEY AIN'T COMING BACK

I'm obviously not going back! It will never...

This place doesn’t even deserve 1 star. I would give them a 0. Visited on 8th December 2023.

First of all, my boyfriend and I reserved a table for 2 at 8pm. After walking around the restaurant, we noticed we got cramped onto a teppenyaki table with 10 people while every other table had 8 people.

Second of all, we ordered Spicy Chicken Gyoza but after biting into them we noticed that they weren’t spicy and questioned whether they were pork gyozas instead. Our server was nowhere to be seen so we couldn’t even ask him and gave the restaurant the benefit of the doubt, assuming they’re still chicken gyozas AT LEAST but without the spice. We also know our waiter didn’t mishear us because he repeated our order to us to make sure it was right. Upon receiving our bill, we saw Pork Gyoza on the receipt and confronted our waiter Saul about it. We kindly waited for the rest of the table to leave before settling the bill and we could tell he knew we were not happy. He then proceeded to lie to our faces and tried to reassure us that we were given chicken gyozas by saying there would have been green jalapeños (we did not see any). This was extremely disgusting to find out as my boyfriend is Muslim and doesn’t eat pork and I find this to be extremely disrespectful. We would have liked to received an honest apology but instead we were dismissed without any compensation.

ALL of our food was lukewarm, the sushi was not fresh and the fish was rubbery I couldn’t even swallow it and had to spit it out into a tissue. The waiter said he’d come back with soy sauce for our sushi - he never did. We ordered an entree to share, which he also got wrong - ordered the Benihana Special but instead we received Splash ‘N Meadow. It was supposed to come with rice and we asked for it but we never got it until the end of our meal. The meat barely had any seasoning and our medium steak was served to us well done. The next time we saw our waiter he had come to collect everybody’s payment. The entree was also supposed to come with hot green tea and dessert, which we never received and at this point we just wanted to leave so we didn’t even bother chasing it up. And to top it all off, I got diarrhoea for the night as soon as we got back to our hotel.

Not impressed at all. Absolutely nothing about this experience was enjoyable and not worth paying $154 for. Only reputable for entertainment. Save your time and money for a restaurant that actually serves good food and provides...

I love Benihana and go many times a year, however this last experience was so bad i'm never going back. I don't typically write reviews or complain, but this experience was disgusting and I couldn't resist. Besides the slow service and the time to be seated (which in typical Benihana fashion was extremely subpar), the food was actually pretty good. After a long wait for our chef, he finally comes and starts his presentation. A few minutes later he begins to sneeze into his mask. At first we just thought it was allergies or something minor, however he had one big sneeze the splattered on to forearms. The sneezing got worse and the chef repeatedly tried to hide the sneezes into his elbows and forearms. The sneezes did not go directly into the food from what we saw at our angle, and we did end up eating the food, however we were quite disgusted and we asked to speak to the manager at the end of the meal just to let them know what is happening. The manager, Hussein came over and listened to complaint and then left. 2 minutes later, he's pointing to our chef halfway across the restaurant and screaming to ask us if this was our chef. We said yes and then the chef rapidly approaches us at the table and begins yelling at us and pulling his mask down right in our faces screaming that he was not sick and that we are liars. At this point I could completely forgot about the health sneezing incident because the way the chef yelled at us was horrible. Him and the manager both left and the manager returned and insisted that we were delusional and making up a complaint for free food. We said multiple times we were not looking for compensation, we just found it disgusting that the chef was still cooking food for other guests. The manager gave everyone in our party a measly $10 gift card which could not be used at our current meal and expires in a week. I said this is a complete joke and the manager began laughing in our faces. We were are shocked at this and on the way out left the gift cards to a random person which were basically a slap in the face. Then we left in the staircase while leaving the manager once again chuckled at us as we left. We did not get the chefs name as he took of his name tag once he approached us and he refused to tell...