Benihana — Restaurant in Wheeling Township

All I can say is wow. That's not a good wow. This place is a frustrating waste of money, calories, and time. My kid had vomiting and diarrhea within an hour of eating here!!! I've never been here before but I thought I'd give it a try. I regret it so much because this place ruined my kids graduation.

This is the most bland simple food which is not even of high-quality. No sauces or seasoning go on the grill whatsoever except soy sauce on rice and a dash of salt on steak.

They only had three sauces available and two of which you cannot have if you need to be gluten free. So I personally was stuck with bland food all dipped in soy sauce.

I ordered wine from the bar and it clearly smelled musky and metallic, a sign that it's been open way too long or been in a way too warm environment. If you're not a person who knows wine and this was the first time you had wine you would think wine was absolutely disgusting and never want to try it again. The guy did open another bottle for me and that one was significantly better, still warmer than it should be. Any bartender should know the temperature range for storing and serving wine and this place clearly doesn't.

What was with that super plain chopped "salad" which was just some poorly chunked iceberg? The salad wasn't even evenly distributed. My salad had no tomatoes in it and I had only the white lettuce. Also, I couldn't have the only salad dressing they serve so I was given vinegar and oil. Clearly the vinegar had been left sitting out open and was also skunked like the wine.

The vents at this place don't do too much to actually take the smoke away either. We left with eyes redder than a person smoking weed.

Literally everyone who worked here except for the hostess was Hispanic. My family is half-Hispanic but not everyone speaks Spanish. So I found it really annoying that at a Japanese restaurant in America there was a consistent language barrier or my chef and my waiter couldn't communicate with me.

The chef never smiled or interacted with anyone. He also had poor skill to because he was dropping the spatula while cooking. He also messed up the onion trick and instead of keeping the oil that you light on fire in the middle of the onion rings it was also all around it.

What made things even more annoying was trashy young teen girl who came in booty shorts and a tank who wouldn't stop f** talking. I sat across the opposite side of her on the table but she kept yelling cuz she couldn't hear how loud she was with the vent. So another downside of this place is you can't control the trash that you're paired with.

Literally the only good thing about this place was the green tea ice cream. For $120 for two people it's really not worth it and apparently there's a 50-50 chance that you'll get food poisoning.

I COULD HAVE GONE TO ONR OF THE BEST STEAK HOUSES IN THE CITY....

Coming in for a special Birthday celebration.

We have been to Benihana many times, mostly this (Wheeling) and the Schaumburg locations. In the past, this location has had better chefs and comparable food to Schaumburg, but not this night.

The menu is creative and somewhat varied within a Hibachi style. We didn't try the sushi.

I ordered the Salmon, and my wife ordered Scallops. She enjoyed one of their White Peach Saki Sangria's, and I a glass of pinot grigio. The sangria was tasty, but the wine, at $9.00 / glass, tasted like it came from a box. NOT recommended!

The scallops were nicely done, and a tasty meal. The salmon was also well prepared, and very good with shiitake mushrooms and asparagus. The tartar sauce which came with it was mediocre, but passable.

The disappointment came from the chef, Jose. He was just barely friendly, and only did a little of his show in the beginning of his time with us. After flipping the spatula a few times and making a very basic volcano of onions, he got down to simply cooking the meal. No extra flair, no eye contact with the diners, and most surprising, no response to our encouragement! We've been to Japanese steak houses enough (maybe 3-4 times per year since... many years) to know what to expect, and how to have fun with the chefs. He also continually looked around the room as if he were watching for someone to enter. Not just watching the door, but everywhere EXCEPT at our table, and I was trying to make eye contact and have some fun. He was by far the least engaging chef, even of those who shared they were new, in my memory. It's also good to note that our other 6 table mates were pretty flat and non-engaging, barely saying 'boo' to us, but a good chef will bring people together - I've seen it happen many times!

Another point for the management is to NOT put two tables / chefs back to back at the same time. Each table pairing had two chefs working at the same time, which meant that even if one wanted to have fun, he couldn't because of the crowded conditions. PLEASE set up one side at each pair and rotate around the room!!!

Overall, for a $80+ meal, the food was OK, the service was decent, but chef sorely lacking. MANY other good places to go for the same or...

Ask not to be served by James !!! One of the worst experiences in my life dining in a restaurant. Made a reservation for a birthday celebration. The server James (based on the receipt from the restaurant) should not work at any restaurants. Older guy with glasses and white hair. (best description ) to be identified. First poured water into the glass and spill the water on the table and left. I had to use the cloth napkin to wipe it off if I wanted to have a clean surface. The chef Ricky was great, no complains with his service or the food. But this server was terrible. we asked 3 times for some sauce and he will come without it or went somewhere else to serve other tables. Never asked us if we wanted anything or if everything was ok. He didn't explain what the menu includes and what not...not only to us but also to the other side of the table which was at the same station. He brought the bill and also had a wireless charging machine which was fine. He gave to me to include the tip (gratuity ) and it only had on the screen from 18% to higher ... I choose the 18 because I didn't see the custom tab.(my mistake).The problem with the server James is that he changed the tip to 25% and then printed the receipt and give it to me. I didn't check it in the restaurant because we had a conversation going but I realized it when I got home. It's not about the money but is the principle. How can a person do this ? This is stealing. If the service would've been good I would gladly give more... I tipped with cash the chef Ricky because he deserve it but not James... I realized that something was not right when the people at our station also gave him cash to pay and when they asked for change he would not came back to the table and when he got back after 10-12min he told the guy that he splits the tips with the chefs and its not enough, How rude! also the peopled already tipped the chef. This is not admissible in a restaurant. I will not come back to this place to eat or recommend it to...