Benihana — Restaurant in San Diego

*Wonderful reply, addressed nothing

Walked in the door, 2 employees at the check in desk. 1 was helping a guest. The other was just staring off into space. Like not acknowledging me standing there. Once the other lady was checked in I walked to the right then the one staring said may I help you? Like I just magically appeared. It was quite odd.

Ran in to my neighbors as they were celebrating a bday. They were seated promptly at 4pm and already had drinks when we were seated. I went to use the restroom before we had any food or drinks and they had their appetizers already, both 4pm reservations.

2 in my group and 2 other groups of 2, 6 people total.

Had a reservation at 4pm, didn't get seated until 10 minutes after. We didn't get drinks (ordered at 4:20 with an appetizer) or soup until 4:30pm.

Ordered a sushi roll as an appetizer, it didn't show up.

Other tables seated after us were getting drinks, appetizers, soup, and we were still just sitting there.

The chef came out at 4:35 pointed at each group and said chicken friend rice, I nodded yes as the menu said rice was included.

He read off everyone's order, and asked if the sushi roll had been out. I said no it hadn't. He said he would call for it in 5 minutes. The server said she forgot to put it in and asked if I wanted it, I said yes that I had ordered it. It finally came out after the fried rice was done.

The zucchini was way over cooked and just mush. The onions were cooked perfectly. The rice was good. The 2 sauces seemed to be watered down and just not adding much flavor to anything. The 2 other groups received a creamy orange sauce in to go type cups. I asked the chef what that was (it looked good) he just said sauce. I was like that is a correct answer but not very specific.

The steak was way under-cooked. 1 lady did have her steak cooked more after being on her plate.

The chicken was way overcooked as it sat on the grill for a long time, adding butter didn't make it any better.

It was difficult to get drink refills, 1 couple asked 3x before they got a refill.

The chef left and said the server will be back shortly. We all were ready for the ice cream and bill. It was another 19 minutes of us all just staring at each other. Then the owner or manager lady in a suit came over and asked how we were doing. Both other couples asked for to go boxes and the bill. She left and brought back to go boxes.

We still waited another 5 minutes for the bill and ice cream.

Then another 5 minutes for her to swipe our cards. I took pictures to check the time stamps also.

I was going to leave a cash tip (lower than initial due to the long wait and poor service). I paid with my card on the machine. I asked what the 2x $7.50 was for, she said for the fried rice... I said the chef should ask if we wanted to upgrade to fried rice and not just say friend rice and move on. She said the fried rice is no extra charge for lunchtime.

She watched the zero tip, she grabbed the presenter and went to leave. I asked for a receipt. She handed me the bill. I said a receipt that shows I paid in full. She said not today and left. So no presenter and a bad attitude after poor service means she didn't want the cash tip.

Been here many times before and never had such poor service. Both other groups were just as annoyed with the extended wait to get drinks/food.

Our chef was Cal, he was alight but other chefs were much more entertaining even from a distance.

On our previous visit the chef rarely spoke a word and it was just not entertaining. Part of the premium cost is dinner and a show. The food was spot on and very prompt for everything.

When I made my reservation I even added a note to have an entertaining chef.

It seems they just lumped 3 groups together and assigned the new chef and a server that must of had other tables.

Will we be back, maybe, but there are plenty of places we can get great food, excellent service, and value for our money. Nearly $150 for 2 should come with a bit better service.

Most other tables were filled with smiles and laughs,...

We had a terrible experience at this location last night, basically a "Murphy's Law" situation. Each instance/complaint on their own would not constitute a poor experience, but all of them combined made for a terrible Friday night.

Summary: We had a 9pm reservation, sat at 9:10, no soup or salad until 9:45, no hibachi chef at all until 10:40, the chef was rushing, the food was not good, and we were stuck with a very expensive bill with no comps.

Breakdown: The parking lot is split into two. One half is self-park, the other is valet for no reason. The self-park was full, so we had to pay $8 for someone to take my keys, drive my car 20 feet, park it, and give me my keys back because the valet wouldn't be there when we left. Ridiculous. We arrived on time for a 9pm reservation and didn't get seated until 9:10. Our server was overwhelmed, it was clear that the restaurant was understaffed - on a Friday night. The server was doing her best, but even so much as asking for a water refill was met with "You need to be patient with me I have four tables." I get that, I've worked as a server before, and this isn't on her - it's on management for not having enough wait staff on a busy Friday night. We didn't get soup or salad until 9:45. Still not chef. By 10:10, an hour after being seated, we still didn't have a chef. Nobody had come by to apologize or give any sort of explanation, so I got up and asked someone if we would be served soon. He said he would ask someone, so I sat back down. A Manager (I assume, he didn't introduce himself) came by around 10:15 to apologize to us for the wait and he would see what he could do. It is very frustrating that it took me getting up and asking someone for help to get any sort of attention. About ten minutes later, he came by with some spicy edamame and said he was still working on a chef for us, so we could have this in the meantime. It was cheap, microwaved edamame that none of us ordered or asked for. Finally around 10:30 we learn the chef at the table adjacent to us would be helping us when he was done with them. This chef had been there cooking since before we were seated, and they were clearly having a BLAST. They were chanting his name, there was fire, he was cracking up, slapping the fan above the stove to make noise, etc. It was a party so we thought, "at least we're getting a good one." He didn't get to our table until 10:40; We were told they were short-staffed on chefs as well. He clearly didn't want to be there as late has he was. He wasn't rude by any means, but all of the energy he had at the last table we were sitting there watching for an hour and a half was completely absent. He did the typical flipping tricks with the spatula and was very good at it and entertaining. After about 10 minutes, however, he was basically just cooking in front of us. There was very little engagement and long awkward pauses. At one point he filled a silence by asking us if we were Padres fans. The showmanship wasn't there, he was just going through the motions. The fried rice was delicious. Everything else was either "fine" or "bad". The shrimp and chicken were egregiously overcooked and the steak was egregiously undercooked. He didn't do an "onion volcano" for some reason, so he said he was going to try something he's never done before. So he basically sprayed oil all over the grill and lit it on fire for a giant flame. Cool. But when he went to put it out by moving his spatulas over the grill, some of the hot oil splashed onto my shirt. After this whole experience, we never saw the manager again. Nothing was comped, we only had that microwaved edamame. My wife and I paid a $160 bill for a terrible dinner and experience, and another $8 for dumb unnecessary valet parking.

This restaurant is egregiously mismanaged. Both the wait staff and the chefs were understaffed which led to a horrible experience for us. We had a 9pm reservation - I feel so bad for the people at another table who had an 8:30 reservation and were still there...

I have always come to this location in the past because I loved the food, the service, the atmosphere etc. I recently had 3 important people in my life reach milestones worth celebrating or have simply a birthday to celebrate and I told them “You know what!? You guys haven’t ever been and I always talk about it, let me take you to Benihana to celebrate!” So I took these celebratory first timers.. I had my girlfriend make reservations and we got there only to find ourselves waiting outside for 20 minutes despite our reservation. It was cold, one of the people in my party is elderly and in a wheelchair. We all had been saving our appetite for the meal we were excited to have. We bit our tongues and endured the wait because the two women at the front seemed to have a sense of urgency and seemed to be doing their absolute best. We finally were able to move inside out of the cold after 20 minutes but only to wait another 25 minutes. We were seated but there was still a delay. An hour had passed and we still didn’t have our drinks. We looked around and the staff ALL seemed in a rush.. the chef at the table next to us was cooking quickly and all still trying to put on a show.. others were scrambling but now this experience is just going downhill. My son is telling me that he’s starving, others as well. It was more than disappointing. Then I look over and I see that the general manager was nearby walking around so I got up and went over and kindly tried to bring the matter to his intention in hopes he could at least assist in getting us drinks and he absolutely brushed me off. He asked where I was sitting and I told him and then I never saw him again. He didn’t come to our table later to ask if things were ok or to apologize. I understand things happen but this was absolutely not something I expected from a restaurant of this caliber. The chef we had for our table seemed as though he may have been new or maybe he too was just rushing but the tricks he kept trying to perform weren’t working. Everything he tried to throw or catch fell and broke.. the fried rice was dry and burnt, our steaks weren’t cooked properly.. we said nothing and remained supportive because at this point it was hopeless and again we noticed everyone seemed to be trying their best but in all the years I’ve seen these chefs cook never have I had one miss everything the way he did. So now not only was the entire experience delayed.. they still don’t know what it is to experience Benihana at its best and that’s what my biggest disappointment is.. that I spent $600 and they STILL didn’t get the experience. The next time I volunteer to treat my family to what will be over a $600 dinner I will go elsewhere. P.S. staff is amazing.. thank goodness for our server I wish I remembered his name it might have been Morgan or Mason. He had a bit of an accent and he had a really positive attitude considering the fact that everything seemed to be chaotic. I believe the staff is phenomenal but management could use improvement in regards to the support and planning that they set forth for their team in order to ensure that business is not just smooth...