Benihana — Restaurant in Winchester

We were guided to a group hibachi table after asking if we could just order sushi. We ordered sushi (deluxe and sushi/sashimi combo dinner). Salad and soup came with the meal. The soup was supposed to be miso but they were not set up to serve it. We accepted the normal soup that is served with hibachi meals.

The soup arrived. Hot water with mushroom, chewy chive like greens, and some sort of bread or soggy cracker. For a restaurant of this size in Las Vegas at Westgate, it was a sad and tasteless first impression. The overly cold, 33 degree F, salad followed with what was supposedly a ginger dressing. White chunks of leaf lettuce covered in an orange-ish potion of what had to be mayonnaise, finely minced onions, really bad vinegar, and ginger essence. The dressing was shocking and tasted mostly like vinegar. Again, a big letdown based upon our expectation.

Then the sushi and sashimi dinners arrived. The fish had a little lemon mixed in between which I can only imagine was used to hide fishy smell from the older than reasonable assortment of raw seafood. The tuna roll was actually chewy - not the seaweed, but the tuna. The rest of the fish had a somewhat dry appearance and a much fishier (and lemony) taste than typical for sushi.

Maybe we should have known better than to eat sushi at what probably is mostly a hibachi experience restaurant. The filet-mignon and steak on the grill looked fantastic and probably was a better bet. Speaking of the grill, the photo with hot oily steam was indicative of the lack of exhaust. The exhaust hoods seam to be making noise but the exhaust did not appear to be working as everyone was shrouded in a steamy fog of cooking vaporous byproducts.

I rate this one star for the meal tonight, but the actual entrance and timeless decorations make this still one of my favorite restaurants in Westgate to visit. Next time, hibachi - and skip the...

This 1 star rating refers to the service we received on 3-3-22 by Esther, a seater.

Esther, who sat us, was incredibly mean and rude. She tried to separate our party of 4 (2 kids and 2 adults), and when we got moved to a new table so we could all sit together, she made it a point to come over to the new table and separate us again. When we reminded her that we had been moved to the new table so we wouldn't have to be separated, she tried ignoring us and having us move anyway. When we reiterated that we wanted to sit altogether with our children, she got an attitude and walked off.

I should also mention here that there was barely anyone in the restaurant, so it wasn't a matter of overcrowding and needing the space. By then I was ready to leave. But the server came out and was warm, and our chef, Henry, was funny and amazing with our children, so we obviously stayed. As we left, we saw Esther along with a short older woman and another woman - all of whom worked there as seaters - standing at the front desk gossiping about patrons as they left the restaurant. We were waiting for someone in our party to come out of the restroom and they didn't see us. It made an otherwise beautiful restaurant seem tacky and cheap.

At the end of the day, the food was the same you'd get from any other Japanese restaurant. That's not why people come here. I think people come for the atmosphere and the ambience, and servers/seaters like Esther take away from that. We don't spend money where people are rude and mean to customers, so we will not return. But many thanks to our...

Let me start off by saying the restaurant had very beautiful decor. I've been to other Benihana's, and this location was the best I've ever seen as far as how beautiful it was. We stayed at the Westgate resort for a dance convention, so it was really convenient to have dinner here. My daughter made reservations for a party of 9. The staff was very nice and we were seated as soon as all of our party arrived. NOW, we were taken all the way in the back to the last room on the left, which was a private room. As the host seated us and stepped away, I noticed something moving on the grill😬 after a closer look, It was Tons of tiny ants crawling around the grill🤢. After bringing to their attention, the host quickly took us in an elevator to the upper area of the restaurant and seated us there. It was busy up there, and the grill looked clean. I have to say that they tried to make up for us almost eating cooked ants 🐜. Our chef name was June, and he was terrific! Our food was impressively delicious! We did have to wait a whole hour before June came out to cook, which was a huge inconvenience because our little dancers were very hungry and tired. And besides, we made reservations! They gave us 15% off our meals, which we accepted and appreciated, but personally, it didn't make up for the ants and LONG wait. Although June the cook served up some of the best food ever, I will not go back here again. I was going to add the video that I took with the ants crawling on the grill, but it's a...