Benihana — Restaurant in North Little Rock

Came hungry, left hungrier. I had to visit a client nearby and came here 30 min before opening as I was super hungry and excited to see that they opened for lunch at 11am. I received the menu which I added a picture of here. I love teppanyaki cooked meals so I eat at Hibachi restaurants regularly. They are quite popular in my home area. I only eat the filet and salmon meals but mostly filet. I ordered the filet and “hibachi vegetable rice”. This really made my stomach happy because I do not like chicken. I will stomach the scrambled eggs because typically, it’s not too much and I can just pick most of it out. I paid no attention to anyone else’s order as it’s not my business and I was in my own zone responding to work emails. There wasn’t any engagement from the chef and no typical hibachi experience with the fire, tricks, etc but not a big deal. When he slapped the bowl of rice on my plate, I immediately noticed a square of chicken but I just thought a piece got mixed in. Again, no big deal. I picked it out. Then I noticed a few more and started to look around at others. They had chicken friend rice. So, I’m thinking the server just made a mistake. No big deal. I waited a little bit but didn’t see her for awhile so I had to ask one of the bussers to grab her. I informed her that I did not order chicken fried rice. Her exact words were “we only have chicken fried rice”. (I’ve been frequenting Benihana’s forever - just not in Little Rock but most locations have similar menus. The chicken friend rice is a staple but I can always get vegetable fried rice if it’s not on the menu.) This location has it on the menu at the top and the chicken fried rice is at the bottom as an extra side for an added cost. So, I mentioned that the menu had vegetable rice. She said that it did not and that they can remake it but at the cost of the extra side of chicken fried rice. I’m guessing the look of confusion on my face prompted her to offer to grab a menu for me to see that they only have “chicken fried rice” as she stated. I took her up on that offer. I’m far from perfect but I finished schooling all of the way through doctoral level and been in the education field for over 20 years -with a great deal of success. So I do believe that I can read fluently. It took her a rather long time to return from grabbing the menu. When she finally did, she held it in my face and covered the “hibachi vegetable rice” with her hand while saying: our owner believes we should just have chicken fried rice during lunch so that’s why everyone gets chicken fried rice but I can have him make you some without it.” My expression is still confused as I just looked at my plate. She asked if I wanted him to make it without the chicken and l asked if it would be prepared in front of me. She very rudely said “no, he’s already made you some so he’s done here”. (He was still finishing up the rest of the food!) Then she said “we will make it in the back”. I just turned away. In less than 5 min, a lady brought out a bowl of what looks like “egg” fried rice. 😐 I’ve never seen that amount of egg in a bowl of fried rice. Feeling defeated, I was just ready to pay and go. Btw, she did offer a new plate for me but I was fine without it. I didn’t plan to each it as there was no way to pick even half of the eggs out. I had scraped most of the chicken and egg out of the original rice anyway. I tried to enjoy what I could but I was just disgusted. The server didn’t apologize one time although it was her who either didn’t know the menu or lied about it. Either way, an apology goes a long way especially when you’re wrong. The vegetable fried rice is at the top of the menu. I did not leave a tip on the receipt because typically, they are split between the chef and the server but I did go to their cash box, get change and as I walked out the front, handed a $5 to the lady and informed her that it was for the chef. I’ll figure out something new to eat. Pics show menu, my plate with chicken an eggs picked out. What I left at the table and the...

Our first time eating here, and now we understand the hype. It's just hype, no actual reason for it.

Atmosphere: I didn't eat at the actual hibachi, but ate at a table. The decor, and setting is nice, suitable for a date. Wouldn't call it too fancy, but nice.

⚠️ Warning ⚠️: If you have any allergies, make sure to specify up front. We ordered our food, appropriate to my wife's allergies. The menu did not state that it came with shrimp, but both plates had shrimp on it. Mild cross contamination can be expected. But this is a major cross-contamination, and we could not eat it. Luckily they took it back and remade without any issue. But they should have noted on the meal that it had shrimp.

Overall impression: We called, and did not get an answer. My wife booked a table online, and it was available immediately. When we showed up, the place was near empty. Should have been our cue to leave, but...

Hostess will not unfriendly, but wasn't what I would call a good hostess. Set yourself wherever you like, and menus were just set out in a pile. Very casual for somewhere that is supposed to be "nice".

Waitress was friendly, but not quite as attentive, as one would expect from a higher-end restaurant. I think the wait staff was a little under staffed.

Bland bland bland... There is much better sushi in the area, and much better hibachi food. I did not go to the show, but sat down and at a table. Maybe the show makes it worth it, but that would have to be one impressive show, above any I've seen.

Tuna roll: literally only seaweed, plain white rice, and little strips of tuna - the seaweed actually overs powers this tiny little roll. Taste more like eating seaweed and rice than it does an actual tuna roll. Very bland.

Spicy tuna roll: Again plain white rice Rice, smallest sliver of cucumber, and what appears to be tuna paste, (maybe ground tuna?), and seaweed- Little spice, and little flavor. Luckily you can taste a hint of the tuna, and a hint of the seaweed, but overall very bland.

Tuna hibachi: It's a good cut of tuna, but no added flavor. They threw onion, avocado, fried onion, edamame And what appears to be shredded carrot scraps. Kind of makes the flavor and texture all over the place, and confusing. Does not flow together. Everything is good in and of itself, but on the bland side. Together, I have no idea what they were thinking. Very disappointing.

Chicken hibachi: Smells like it should have incredible flavor, but the taste is just weak. Maybe it's because the chicken was overcooked, and dry.

Fried rice: rice was good on flavor, but a little dry and hard. Definitely not what I expected from a restaurant with this much hype.

Steamed rice: Exactly that, steamed rice. Zero salt, zero flavor.

Benihana's plum wine: Excellent, if all their food had this much flavor, I would understand the hype.

My restaurant interpretation of the 5🌟 rating system (feel free to use): 1🌟 = DUMP…. NEVER AGAIN I DON'T CARE IF IT IS FREE (wish there was a no star option). The food you would feed a prisoner, only if you didn’t like them. 2🌟 = Crap, fast food...... Only for If you are in a hurry, tight on $, and/or in a rush. (Think big chain places with $1 menu, not HORRIABLE, and sometimes a decent food comes out). 3🌟 = Okay, worth going on a regular, but has room to improve (Think frequent work lunch spot, Rarely less than Okay, usually Good to really good food) 4🌟 = Very good, favorite "common" places. Nothing EXCEPTIONAL. (Think casual date, Nicer Chain restaurants usually, occasional surprisingly good Fast food) 5🌟 = Reserved for EXTREMELY high quality and/or Exceptional, and  Places that surprise me. (Think first date to impress, anniversary, special occasion) GREAT flavor, great food, ambiance, service, etc...

I started using this because I don't like seeing standard restaurants with 5🌟. If I see 5🌟 I expect more than standard. Also adjusted for type of business. Sit down restaurants are skewed and critiqued accordingly in comparison to fast food. My wife kept getting on to me for being...

My wife and I went here on our anniversary dinner. I made a reservation through open table. I had heard good reviews about the food at Benihana and we both love sushi - I thought it would be a good night out. We were about 10 minutes late, but I called the restaurant to let them know.

The customer service is why I rate this low. I imagine the food is great. However, I do not believe it would have been any better than any other sushi steakhouse (Fuji, Sekisui, etc.). The lady that answered the phone was not necessarily rude, but seemed like she didn't care much about our reservation or who we were to look it up and verify things for us. We got to the restaurant and we were immediately taken to the hibachi side. (Note: We were a couple that walked in dressed pretty nice and obviously on a date) I would have at least enjoyed being asked if we wanted to be seated by ourselves or join in the hibachi fun. If I were asked, I would have explained that we had reservations AND under that reservation I wrote that this is supposed to be our anniversary dinner and we would prefer a table seated in a secluded area.

I didn't wait long to go find the hostess. She barely sat us down and was far away from us. We actually didn't even sit down and turned around and she wasn't there. I asked if we could be seated somewhere a little more private and she just pointed around and said "sit anywhere you want."

All I'm saying is ... if you're going to have reservations through open table, at least try to abide by the reservation details. If not, then don't worry about reservations. If all I wanted was a hibachi grill with a bunch of random strangers then I would have just showed up and not bothered with the reservation. We ended up leaving. Not really because of the horrible service from the very beginning, but when we did sit at a table, there was a fish tank with a fish that had probably been dead for a couple of weeks at the bottom...