Samurai — Restaurant in Palmetto Bay

This was the worst dining experience in a long time!!! When we came in, my son almost immediately had an asthma attack that required my husband to go for a walk with him so he could freshen his lungs and use his inhaler. While we waited for them to come back the waitress came twice to ask us if we were ready and when we saw her impatience, finally I told her, my husband and son are out and we are not ready. She jerked her head away in what looked like annoyance and didn’t return until we called her back much later. We didn’t think much of the asthma, as my son does have asthma and the smokiness might have been a trigger. However, once our cook came to the hibachi table, we quickly realized there were no extractors at our table. My sister, daughter, and I were in the direct track of the grill’s smoke. I’m not talking usual hibachi steam and smoke… this was full out, thick barbecue style smoke. My sister and I spent the whole 40 minutes of the hibachi show with napkins covering our faces and our eyes literally burning and watering. My brother started getting sinus issues and my poor daughter had a dry cough the ENTIRE dinner while trying to cover her face from the smoke. Our cook (excellent and charming) was apologetic and said the air from the main area pushes the smoke our way, and admitted the fact that there were no extractors was the true culprit. After almost an hour of shielding our faces and eyes, and my daughter’s cough worsening, our meal was done and we asked for the manager. The manager came over with a very serious face and we explained how we had spent our entire dinner. He quickly cut us off and said it was because their was a new air conditioning unit that pushed the smoke towards us… after those exact words, he continued by saying “I’ll give you guys something.” We tried to continue describing our experience and our daughter’s cough and he just repeated “I’ll give you guys something.” He DID NOT EVEN ONCE APOLOGIZE or seem sincere or concerned. He walked away while our waitress continued to serve us… several other workers agreed the smoke was unbearable and our cook even had on a mask to prevent his own discomfort. Some employees told us that our table and the one behind us had customers who felt the same and the extractors hadn’t worked since before the pandemic. While we waited for the rest of our service, my husband, concerned with my daughter’s now bronchial cough, went to speak with the manager again. He explained everything again, and how half our table spent the dinner with napkins in front of their face, eyes watering, and coughing from smoke inhalation. The manager told him that at our table that has never been a problem, it’s the fault of the A/C, and the only thing he could do is put in a work order to higher management. He did say again, he’d “give us something”- 25% off. My husband asked if he felt that was fair, considering we were extremely uncomfortable the entire dinner show and we paid for a specific service and show and didn’t get to enjoy it, but still had to pay $500 for three families. In the end, he took off the 25% and NEVER SAID SORRY or asked if our daughter was okay, much less if our our overall physical discomfort was improved. As I type this, over an hour later, my daughter is still dry coughing, my eyes still burn, my son still has asthma, and my sister’s eyes won’t stop watering. I know this may sound petty, but it was TRULY a miserable situation that the manager on duty showed little to no remorse or understanding. If I had a business that people went out of their way to dress up, come out, order drinks, and eat fine food (spend money) and due to MY business’s neglect they were having physical health symptoms, I’d be embarrassed, concerned, empathetic, and try AT THE MOMENT to comfort and make things right!! It’s a shame, that a south Florida staple, like Samurai has...

The only reason im rating today’s experience one star, is because our server Heather was amazing! I brought my mom for lunch and we had the weirdest encounter with the man who runs the valet. As I pulled in, I parked my own car, because about two years ago.. I had my car scratched by a valet driver at this location. As soon as i started backing my car into the space, I could see him coming toward my car. He proceeds to tell me in Spanish that this is a valet only location. I explain to him that im willing to pay for parking, but I don’t feel comfortable with anyone driving/parking my car because of what had happened the last time I let valet park my car. He then tells me (in Spanish) “eso es imposible porque yo abrí este valet ase un año aquí y nunca e tenido quejas” to which i responded that my family and I have been coming to this restaurant for the past 15+ years and we have never had an issue with staff. I again tell him I don’t mind paying for the parking spot, but im not allowing anyone inside my vehicle, much less to drive/park it.. I couldn’t believe what came next. This RUDE and CONDESCENDING man tells me that anybody who wants to park their own car, can park at the mall. You mean to tell me I have to park across the street? I am literally offering to PAY to park my own car and that’s your response? I said, well I guess we can go.. when I said we were leaving my mom tried to reason with him to which he responded that he would give us a parking ticket (a ticket we never got).. but I could tell by his demeanor that he was mad he wasn’t getting his way. I stepped out of my car and said I was going to speak to the manager (even if this meant that were wouldn’t be dining here today.).. when I got to the front the young lady greeted us very politely, as I asked to please speak to a manager… we sat about 1-2 minutes and she came out. When the manager came out, I proceed to tell her what just transpired and her response was that parking was complimentary and that if I park my own car, I’d be responsible for any damage done to my vehicle, that the valet company had an insurance that would cover any damage. I then tell her about what happened to my car two years ago, and she gives me a look as if I’d seriously sit here and make this up (I couldn’t believe I was seriously fighting to PAY TO PARK MY OWN CAR!) and starts telling me that they switched valet companies after the pandemic, that I had nothing to worry about. I really should’ve walked out and taken my business elsewhere, but my mom really wanted to dine here, so we stayed. I’d like to highlight how amazing our server heather and the chef (I believe his name was Alex) were.. but I can’t deny that this encounter with the valet guy really ruined our dining experience from the beginning. When we walked out, as I sat in my car he even smirked and waved at me, again zero respect. Samurai is an amazing restaurant and the food is amazing, it’s really sad to see the quality of staff ruining it’s family-oriented reputation. We will not be returning, and I hope that if this reaches anyone in leadership, that they pull cameras to take a further look into what happened and how we were treated. Below you can find a photo of the valet guy who gave us such a hard time and good luck, because apparently he owns the...

Extremely disappointed, my first and last time going. My friend and I visited Samurai at 7:00 PM and were deeply disappointed by the service and treatment we received. From the beginning, the experience was frustrating. We waited an unreasonably long time to be seated, and once we were, it took over 30 minutes for our server to bring out the salad and soup. The wait for the chef only added to our dissatisfaction.

What truly left a bad impression, was the misleading and unprofessional behavior surrounding the use of our birthday coupon certificate. Each of us had a birthday coupon clearly stating it required a minimum $30 purchase of food and non-alcoholic beverages to receive a $30 discount.

The server insisted we had to spend $60 to use the coupon and claimed this policy had been in place during her seven years of employment. It's truly disappointing that customers have been misled about this policy for so long. We then asked to speak with a manager.

The manager arrived and instead of providing clear clarification, appeared confused while reading another guest’s receipt and printed version of the coupon. He misinterpreted the terms, focusing on the phrase “additional $30.” I explained that “additional” simply meant the purchase needed to exceed $30. Despite this, he claimed he couldn't override the system to apply the discount.

When I asked to see the system, he went to the register and called us after five minutes. He attempted to input my coupon code but computer seemed like it froze. I asked him to try the coupon on my friend’s $50 bill, it worked without issue reducing the total to $20. After he just manually deducted $30 from my $39 bill, bringing it to $7 without my code.

This situation was not only frustrating but unnecessary. We were being misled and denied a promotion we were rightfully entitled to. To make matters worse, my friend is due in four weeks and the added stress was completely unwarranted.

As a customer, I expect honesty, clarity, and respect especially from a well-established brand like Samurai which is under Benihana's Corp. Unfortunately, this experience fell far short. I hope management will address this issue so that future guests aren’t treated the same way.

The only positive part of our visit was the complimentary valet team. From the moment we arrived, they greeted us with genuine smiles and professionalism. They were so kind and courteous that we ended up giving them the birthday cake we had brought but didn’t end up eating.

A word of advice to other customers: know the terms of your offers, and don’t be afraid to advocate...