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Benihana
Categories: Nightlife Restaurants Japanese Restaurants Sushi Bars Nightlife, Japanese, Sushi Bars [Edit]
477 Camino Del Rio S(at Glasoe Ln)
San Diego, CA 92108
(619) 298-4666
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11:30 am - 2 pm
Mon-Thu 5 pm - 10 pm
Fri-Sat 5 pm - 11 pm
Sat 12 pm - 2 pm
Sun 11:30 am - 9:30 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Music:
- Background
- Best Nights:
- Fri, Wed, Thu
- Happy Hour:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Smoking:
- No
- Coat Check:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Good For Dancing:
- No
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
241 reviews for Benihana
Review Highlights
"The fried rice is always awesome too."
(in 78 reviews)
"And definitely get the green tea ice cream."
(in 8 reviews)
"Love love love the garlic butter."
(in 13 reviews)
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241 reviews in English
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Review from Darryl M.
San Diego, CA
2/9/2012
Beni's is the spot! The Mission Valley has been my choice of Benihana's around San Diego county for quite a while now. The restaurant currently revamped their whole restaurant with modern-style dining areas and cool accents around the sushi bar and front desk.
I'm always gonna be a sucker for Beni's because it's a total package. The only issue is if you get a boring chef, which usually doesn't happen. Beni's is a good date spot if you find yourself anxious to start conversation with your guest. The dining experience brings up some form of conversation and it also helps keep the date fresh & fun.
Not usually the best first date spot, but maybe I think Beni's is a good spot once you've solidified the dating status with the person. I like going to Beni's in big groups too because you get the table to just you and your friends. It makes the experience a little more fun, a little less awkward -
Review from Barron S.
San Diego, CA
2/5/2012
Having been going to Benihana for the last 20 years, I can say that I have had many fond memories there, however, I can also say that service has taken a turn for the worse. For the last several years, service and management at Benihana San Diego has continually been downgraded by the corporate company, to my understanding. Since long time employees: Mr. Abe (regional manager) and Hideko san (restaurant manager), left the company several years ago, I have seen many adjustments to their management team. Tim, a former bartender who worked his way up within the company was promoted to general manager (as far as I know) at their Carlsbad location and then San Diego. The restaurant was remodeled with him as the chief and I was not impressed with the service. I saw many new, young faces among the servers and the chefs during his tenure. Whether corporate was behind the changes, or not, I do not know. As I remember it, service used to be excellent at Benihana- an upscale Japanese steakhouse. Now, though it's probably been forced to adapt to the times, I find myself not enjoying it nearly as much as I used to. Management, as it exists now, seem to be new every time I go.
Mr. Jesus Lopez was recently relocated to their Ontario location (so I've heard) after a VERY brief tenure at their Carlsbad location. Before Carlsbad, Jesus worked his way up in the company at their San Diego location, finally ending up at general manager. I'm perplexed at why he was moved to other locations after having so many extraordinary relationships with customers in SD. All I can say is that it's a great shame. Jesus was as good as, or better, than the extraordinary managers that I remember from years and years ago.
The positives that I can add are they have introduced a good happy hour and the food quality has remained superb. I know of no other place that you can get a complete meal, including a good size chateaubriand (at least choice cut) for $31!!
Make sure to try the Banana Tempura for dessert. -
Review from Mark H.
San Diego, CA
Updated - 2/2/2012
Had a great meal as usual however the cook "Eddie" spoke English so poorly that we could not understand what he was saying. At one point he asked if I wanted or liked mushrooms (I do) and I thought he said something about mustard and I said "no thank you" and ended up not getting mushrooms on my plate.
I asked others after the meal if they understood him and they all said "not one word".
I think that these chefs make a decent salary and they could find enough who speak English especially since they are working with guests directly at the table, not behind a wall in a kitchen somewhere.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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8/12/2011
I can't get enough of this place.
The soup comes, then the salad, then the chef arrives and puts on… Read more »
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Review from Abby W.
1/31/2012 1 Check-in Here
There's just something about watching a chef prepare your dinner before your eyes that makes the entire dining experience absolutely amazing. The chefs at Benihana do more than simply cook, they also entertain. I know if I tried to flip my utensils around like they do, someone would lose an eye or finger or some other body part. But these guys are pros. I love watching them recreate a volcano or a puffing train with onions.
My boyfriend and I recently ate at Benihana's for his birthday in December and everything was delicious. The chicken fried rice is definitely a highlight of the meal and worth the extra $3. I ordered the teriyaki chicken and while it was certainly passable, my boyfriend's steak with even better and I'll be ordering that next time.
One thing I know for sure is that I'll never go home hungry from Benihana. Between the ginger salad, soup, rice and entree, I'm stuffed by the end of the meal and usually end up bringing some food home.
We both signed up for the Benihana newsletter and received $30 vouchers for our birthdays. This basically covers the price of one meal (depending on what you order). Great deal but it's unfortunate that our birthdays are within a month of each other. I'd love to spread the joy throughout the entire year. -
Review from Kate G.
1/19/2012 1 Check-in Here
Oh, Benihana. You have always been one of my favorites. I LOVE the show that the chefs put on in the middle of your table! Unfortunately, the restaurant I once loved has gone far down in quality.
I think most of us know what Benihana is, so I won't really go into that. I'm just going to list everything that made this last experience annoying.
- Reservations. We called in advance to try to get reservations for tepanaki (where the guy cooks right in front of you). No luck. They were apparently booked far in advance for that particular day (not a holiday, mind you.. just a random day). Since we were going to be celebrating a special occasion, I asked if there was ANYTHING they could do.. absolutely not. I called back a few times during the next several days to check for cancellations. No luck. So we ended up sitting at a regular table.
- The regular table. The table was fine, whatever. But oh sweet baby jesus, it was LOUD. I couldn't believe it! There was terrible pop music playing and tons of buffoons trying to talk over the music. We barely were able to talk to each other at our table and ended up just not talking at all because we couldn't hear each other. I actually ended up TEXTING the person next to me because they couldn't hear me talk. And for anyone who knows me, I'm not a quiet individual.
- The food. It was fine, whatever. But my entire dish was wrong. I ordered the yakisoba noodles with tofu and ONLY broccoli (no other vegetables). They brought me out the yakisoba with TONS of vegetables. Ugh! I'm really sensitive about the vegetables that are in my food and while I eat just about all vegetables, I only like certain ones prepared certain ways. That's not the point, though. Benihana isn't a cheap restaurant. And even if it was, I'd still expect my food to be made right.
- Basically mandatory valet parking. There is barely any free parking in the parking lot. The majority of it is blocked off and unless you want to leave your car on the street in an unfamiliar area and walk quite a bit in nice clothes, you have to pay to park. Stupid.
The only good thing that I have to say is that the waiter was very friendly. I can't believe the awful experience that we had here. Because this was my first terrible experience at Benihana, I did still give it 3-stars.. but my god. I don't know if I'll be coming here again. -
Review from Sandra C.
1/15/2012 1 Check-in Here
Mission Valley's Benihana has happy hour, ends at 7pm (1/2 of wide selection of sushi rolls like caterpillar, crunchy, and other popular ones) as well as other items like wings, gyoza (which are just okay). In general the sushi (raw and non-raw) is good but not 'wow' and the first place you would think of.
If you sign up for newsletter and register your birthday, you get up to $30 off (Mon-Thurs only, not valid on HH other offers) off your meal. Make sure you tell your server and bring the birthday print out with you plus valid id. You can use it on tepanaki (reservations are a must) or just order off the menu (and eat in main dining room where prices are same but if you don't want to sit/eat for 2+ hours for the "cooking show.)
Parking is sometimes hard to find if you don't want to valet for $5. Park on the street. -
Review from Barb B.
12/28/2011
Yum! It's been about 5.5 years since I've been to Benihana. I forgot how good it is.
We were there for lunch and Hector was our chef. He was really good and added Hispanic humor to our Japanese lunch. Which was pretty funny.
The price of the meals makes this a special occasion restaurant. We came to celebrate belated Christmas with family so we didn't mind. There was five of us and our bill, for lunch, was about $75. And 3 in our group drank water.
BUT.... You do get enough grub to take some home for later. -
Review from Chad P.
Santee, CA
2/1/2012
Eating at Benihana is always an enjoyable experience and last night was no exception! We decided to sit at the Sushi Bar and order the "Endless Sushi". It's not actually "Endless" though. You get to order a certain number of rolls and nigiri sushi and they will do it all at once or in 3 separate servings. I was absolutely stuffed and satisfied after ordering the limit and definitely could nor have eaten anything else so the "not-so-endless" was just fine. I certainly ate double the cost of the meal!
The sushi chefs were very nice as always, but I think we got a noob at the restaurant because we were asking questions and he kept having to check with the head sushi chef on some stuff. I ordered all my "Endless Sushi" at once so I had a HUGE plate and a couple small plates of all kinds of sushi rolls and nigiri. I was able to try everything that I wanted to and it all seemed to be very fresh and full of flavor!
The waiter was a very nice guy, but also seemed to be new as he didn't know the full menu quite yet either!
I will definitely return to this Benihana, but hope that our future waiters/waitresses and sushi chefs will be a bit more knowledgeable of the entire menu and how things work around there! -
Review from Gabe H.
Came in for a New Year's day lunch. Had an outstanding lunch.
The Benihana lunch menu is definitely a hidden gem of their menu. They have done an excellent job creating a menu that delivers on their flavor and experience without the high price the typical Benihana dinner.
For this visit I called in and made a late lunch reservation. We ended up showing up about a half hour early so we went and sat at the bar for a drink. After a few minutes they came and told us they had a table for us. If you aren't familiar with Benihana's seating arrangement. Their tables seat 8 people. So if you have less than that you sit with other people. Not a big deal really but as we approached our table we were being seated with a couple that had 4 kids under 10. We politely let the host know that we'd prefer not to have lunch with that many children and that we'd be happy to wait for another table. They were very friendly about it and happily obliged. We returned to the bar and waited just a little longer before we were seated at a table with adults.
We kicked off the meal with two of their new signature cocktails. The Strawberry Saketini and Mike had the Benihana mule. Both were outstanding and both were under 190 calories. We shared a Las Vegas roll as an appetizer (see pic). I has some heat, but boy is it delicious! Our chef, ARMANDO came to the table and greeted us. He wished us all happy new year and made it a genuinely fun experience. He made a mickey face out of the rice!!! (see pic) For lunch I ordered the lunch duet which came with beef julienne and hibachi shrimp. Mike had the filet mignon. Their lunch menu comes with salad hibachi rice and your main item. It's very similar to their dinner menu except dinner includes soup, shrimp appetizer and hot tea after. I felt that the main item portions were just as good as the dinner size. My one recommendation is on the hibachi rice. For $1 extra you can upgrade it to their hibachi chicken rice. It's well worth the $1.
Throughout the meal service was outstanding and very attentive. Empty dishes or glasses didn't sit on the table long. If you ordered anything additional it was at the table in minutes. I am a fan of Benihana, the food was delicious and the service was great. I can definitely see this becoming a new year's tradition. -
Review from David R.
Costa Mesa, CA
1/16/2012 1 Check-in Here
So here's a little Benihana news for you, go the night after Thanksgiving and there is zero wait. We walked in, sat down and placed our order!!
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Review from Kay S.
San Diego, CA
12/13/2011 1 Check-in Here
I've been in this location only twice, and both times i had a great time. My first visit was my birthday and my 2nd visit was for my sister's birthday. Service was great and the food is SOOOO GOOD!
The chefs are very entertaining and their servers are very helpful. Our drinks are never empty they keep 'em coming and i really appreciate that. Benihana Trio and Ocean Treasure are my favorites.
Make reservation, come on time and come hungry! -
Review from A M.
San Diego, CA
1/16/2012
$1 sushi night was rocking! We meet Tony Hawk there-AWESOME!
We went every week. The service was great! food-Yummy! -
Review from Aj H.
San Diego, CA
10/16/2011
Everyone who rated this place 2 stars or above lost all credibility.
Got a certificate for a free meal for my birthday and decided to try this place out since I've never been to Benihana's and I've heard good things about it.
I don't think it was even worth it for free.
Everything was disgusting, including the highly praised fried rice.
Even the service was practically non-existent.
Benihana is a disgrace to Asian culture.
No...just. No. -
Review from Zack P.
San Diego, CA
12/27/2011
We decided to skip the wait and go for restaurant style seating. We ordered teppenyaki off the menu and received much smaller portions than I would have expected for the money. Generally I think you are paying money for the show and then some for the small amount of food you get. The biggest redeeming factor was the chicken fried rice which was delicious. I won't be back to Benihana any time soon.
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Review from Benjamin S.
San Diego, CA
12/14/2011 2 Check-ins Here
Still a lot of fun and a great meal! We were seated quickly, food was delicious, and our chef was a lot of fun. The original is still awesome!
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Review from Lisa W.
10/19/2011 6 photos
HAPPY HOUR:
Decent selection on rolls and prices! My friend took me here because of the happy hour and the all you can eat for $30, but we didn't do that, we just ordered from the menu. It was decent sushi, pretty fresh.
The drinks were good too, my friend and I shared the benihana blue ocean drink, that literally feeds/drink for 4 people. We could not even finish it! We finished half, it was really sweet but if you drink it on an empty stomach, you will get a little buzz. -
Review from Heather W.
San Diego, CA
9/5/2011
2.5 stars
Hmmm...So of all of the places the boyfriend wanted to go for his birthday, he chose Benihana. I am a bit late with my review...So in late June (for an early July birthday) I started making plans to get his birthday cake delivered early and to talk to the staff about bringing it out, etc. etc. I take events very seriously-especially birthdays.
I am basing this review on overall experience.
We arrived and waited around 15-20 minutes to be seated. Okay, wasn't thrilled, but it was my first Benihana experience and I guess you have to wait for your seating time (they should have explained that when I booked the reservation).
Moving on... we get in and they seated us next to the MOST miserable family on the planet. Why in the world, when I have been planning a happy occasion-for two adults, would you sit us next to a family of five? These three miserable children did nothing but complain the entire time. And of course because children are a product of their parents, the parents did nothing but criticize. It took everything in me not to say something.
Our chef was awful. The other tables were clapping and cheering. Our guy did the stupid heartbeat thing and took two seconds to make an onion train. That was it. Nothing else. He RUSHED through everything. It was so disappointing.
They brought the cake out and it melted a bit because they sat it right on the hot plate the chef had just turned off. I moved it, and thank goodness the cake was saved.
Our sever was very nice. The food was tasty. Other than that, I wouldn't pay for such a mediocre time. We'll stick to George's and the view for birthday lunches and find elsewhere for dinner.
Final word: Disappointment. -
Review from Jacqueline P.
San Diego, CA
10/4/2011 2 Check-ins Here
Always a fun plate to eat. Food isn't amazing, but you come here for the experience.
**If you're having a hard time deciding what to get. Get the sushi boat lunch special and you will seriously get a little bit of everything. -
Review from Johana T.
San Diego, CA
Went here for the very first time and I was really excited to see the cook do his thing in front of our table... my excitement disappeared when upon arriving, they told us the wait was an hour and a half.. On a monday! I was starving so I decided to skip the whole show thing and just sit at a regular table.
Soon after we sat, a nice waiter came over to take our orders. It was like 2 or 3 minutes past the end of happy hour and when I asked him about the time, he was nice enough to give us our first drinks at the happy hour price :) yeyyy!
So I hate seafood... and 99% of the menu is sushi and seafood..so I was very limited to my options but I ended up ordering filet mignon. It was $23 I believe and it came with onion soup and rice. I upgraded my rice to the chicken flavored rice so that was an exra charge of almost $4 :( [and the waiter never told me that this would be extra, he just asked me to pick between the 2 and that it "came with it"].
So the soup comes out. Its a light brown broth that has floating pieces of mushroom on top. It looked a little weird but it was good.
Then my rice and dish came out. Yumm! The rice was reeeeally good! And the filet mignon was great as well, but that came with mushrooms as well (I'm not a big mushroom fan) and shrimp. But no biggie, my bf was more then happy to eat that off my plate.
So all in all, it was good but it was pricy. I do want to go back one more time though, with a reservation so that we can see the food cooked in front of us :) -
Review from Julia L.
8/16/2011 1 Check-in Here
TIP: Make sure you sign up online on their website to get your $30 birthday certificate during your birthday month!!!
Reservations? HIGHLY Recommended - we walked in around 1:15 p.m. and they were PACKED on a Monday afternoon. And they close at 2 p.m.! We had to wait about 20 minutes before getting seated which was fine.
Came here with boy toy for our August b'day month. There was a fine print on the b'day e-mail for the $30 certificate that said only one per party but they were kind enough to let us both use our certificate on one check. (5 stars!!!)
I got the Land & Sea (filet mignon & scallop).
Boy Toy got the 3 Specialty something something (filet mignon, jumbo shrimp & hibachi chicken).
Everything was just okay (3 stars) except for the shrimp which was juicy & tender.
Fried rice w/ garlic butter - okay
Standard onion/mushroom soup - hot and light tasting - okay
Garden salad w/ radish/ginger dressing - crispy lettuce - okay
Filet Mignon (medium rare) - cooked correctly but meat wasn't that flavorful - okay
Scallops (slightly over cooked) - a little stringy - okay
Hibachi Chicken (over cooked) - dry - meh I've had better
Shrimp appetizer & Colossal Shrimp - juicy/tasty - Yay! I'm a fan! (4 stars)
I guess a lot of your experience at a Benihana location will depend upon your Teppanyaki Chef. Ours was friendly but he looked a bit harried w/ the lunch specials that some of the other guests ordered (non-teppanyaki standard specialties like ours) so I think that's why he overcooked my scallops & the chicken.
Again, service was really better than average - (4 stars). For some reason we sat there waiting a long time for our chef to arrive so they comped each group a cali roll per group (4 pieces) to munch on to tie us over...and I don't recollect anyone complaining about the delay of our chef's arrival so kudos to Benihana's pre-emptive service!
I'd only go to Benihana maybe once every year or two for a special occasion with the $30 b'day certificate. Otherwise, without those two $30 certificates, our bill came out to over $100 (plus 2 bottles of large Asahi Super Dry) which is too pricey for the way the food was cooked for us. -
Review from Natalie M.
San Diego, CA
8/23/2011 3 Check-ins Here
Benihana is the perfect place for any occassion...whether a date, birthday, family gathering, or dinner with friends....everyone will be impressed with the dinner and a show!
Recommendations:
-reservations are a must for dinner
-friend rice vs. steamed (can request vegetarian)
-ocean treasure (shrimp, scallops, lobster)
Cons:
-parking is pain at this locations (valet $5)
-always a wait even with a reservation
If you are disappointed after leaving here....you must have no taste buds or enjoy being entertained, which sounds more like a personal problem:) -
Review from robert m.
San Diego, CA
12/21/2011
2 specialty drinks and an appetizer=50 bucks,not worth it,but you know what your getting before you arrive.
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Review from Mitch K.
7/27/2011 1 Check-in Here
Have you ever been to Benihana? Well if you've been once, you have seen it all. If you never have gone go!
I have been to this Benihana about 5 times in 3 years. That's too often. Do you remember those days in economics class? Decreasing marginal utility. For example, if you love snickers and I give you one, your in heaven. I give you two still happy, 4 starting to get full, 7 your eating just because I'm asking, and 10 your hating snicker with a passion. That's like Benihana!
If this were my first time there, this would be a strong 5 star rating. But it's not.
Anyways, the nearly all hispanic "Japense" teppanayki grlll cooks perform identical routines. In fact it's soo identical you can see what your guy is going to do by looking over to another table... Last nights cook Hector had no sense of enthusiasm. He just wanted to go home. Our server was really nice and looked just like Shakira!
As far as food goes, it's alright nothing special. The chicken fried rice is really good. It does tend to be a little on the salty side, but it fitting for the dish. The sushi here is marginally decent. I had the Las vegas roll and a spicy tuna roll, not impressed with either.
If you do order from the Benihana's specials section. You get a lot of food. Soup, salad, shrimp appetizer, entree, and desert.
If you choose to drink you tab can shoot up really fast. Also fyi you will not have an empty glass for more than .4 milliseconds at most! They keep you drinking at light speed.
But not everything is fast at Benihana. By this I mean don't come very hungry. We were seated at 8, our cook came out at 9, entrees around 9 45. And then get this we were out of there by 10. Our delightful server came by and boxed all of our stuff up and wished us a great night.
IN CONCLUSION
This is a fun place to go to if you have never been before. The food isn't amazing, but the show they put on is fun to virgin eyes. -
Review from Natalie S.
San Diego, CA
8/24/2011
We went last night to celebrate 3 years (dating)...we are dorks, we celebrate everything.
I didn't want to go at first because of the mixed reviews but I had a blast!!
We got there early so sat at the lounge and had a drink (I had a lychee martini which was amazing)
The service was great all around, the "show" was entertaining, the food was good and the price wasn't bad.
We ordered the chicken and steak for 2 deal, $45 and TONS of food!
I will definitely go back! -
Review from Michelle T.
San Diego, CA
7/20/2011 7 photos
I definitely recommend coming here if you're going with large groups of people (and making reservations while you're at it). You come here for the laughter, entertainment, and socializing, not how good the food tastes. Be warned if you are doing otherwise. The moment you walk into the restaurant and see the lack of Japanese people, you will know that this place is anything but authentic. However, if you keep an open mind you can surprisingly have a good time.
Food:
The food here was pretty good, though I have to admit I wanted something slightly better for the price we were paying. Nevertheless I was able to enjoy my meal. I don't remember what I got exactly but it was some kind of steak with vegetables and fried rice. The steak was really good- juicy and tender. The vegetables and fried rice were okay, nothing to write home about. I also ordered a Wild Tokyo Tea- not bad, though it could have used more alcohol. And definitely get the green tea ice cream! The green tea flavor was strong and it was not too sweet- definitely a good dessert with which to end our meal.
Service:
Servers and waiters were very nice and accommodating to our large group of about 24 people, which took up two grills. However they did mess up our order- they gave appetizers only to one table. While that table was munching on delicious-looking tempura, my table sat quietly and jealously.
Entertainment:
Definitely the best part about coming here. If you have never been to a teppanyaki demonstration, it is something you should check out. The servers cook your food in front of you and perform fun-to-watch tricks. We got demonstrations such as the Pac-Man fried rice, the beating heart, and the onion volcano. That got us a couple of good laughs among the group- in my case this was especially good because this was my graduation lunch and I wanted to make sure everyone was entertained and had a good time. By the end of it we all had big smiles on our face going out the door. -
Review from Jerahmeel B.
San Diego, CA
Benihana is a great restaurant to bring a date, or a very small group of close friends. Please note, that it's not ideal if you're starving cause, I will tell you now, you're not gonna get your food immediately. Trust.
Location is very secluded, though parking is an issue. Valet parking is available, but if you're not bringing Taylor Swift, it's not really necessary. Just park along the street and walk to the restaurant. I went on a Thursday night and it was rather unusual, in my opinion, to find it so packed. NOTE: Make reservations ahead of time! Trust me! This is definitely not the place to go in sweats and flip-flops. It's semi-formal, though it can be formal. It's a pretty classy place.
The awesome thing about Benihana is that you have a personal chef that cooks on a hot plate which is surrounded by one big round table. Kind of like a sushi bar set up, if you know what I mean. It took us about an hour for our food to be made because it's more of a presentation. Luckily, the chef we had was Japanese, there are some that aren't, and he was pretty funny. He did tricks with his spatula and pitchfork; it was just an overall enjoyable atmosphere. It's a plus if the random people you're sitting with are fun and outgoing.
Benihana is pricey! I didn't expect it to be that pricey, but hey it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. NOTE: Everything the chef makes for you, save it until he actually makes your entree! First thing our chef made was the fried rice, which he did in a very tasteful way (a.k.a. cool chef tricks). I loved the fried rice because it had garlic butter, which smelled SOOOOOO good every time he mixed it in. He even made it into a heart and a Mickey Mouse. Next, he grilled the zucchinis, mushrooms (with a special sauce, unless it was BBQ sauce, I can't remember), made an onion tower, and cut the shrimp with superhuman speed. It was beyond crazy, my eyes were O.O the whole time. Then, he started making everyone's order. I ordered the Spicy Hibachi Chicken $18 (second cheapest entree). This is dinner time, btw. So no lunch specials, if they have any. Highly doubt it.
Just to emphasize again, save everything until the end, but you can eat some of your fried rice while it's hot. Make sure you control yourself though. Unfortunately, I had no control. I ate a majority of my fried rice and all my shrimp so I didn't have that much variety when my chicken came out. But the spicy hibachi chicken was so good, very tender and juicy, and a 7.5-8 on my spicy scale. It was pretty hot and I have an over-average tolerance for spicy food. He put extra hot sauce on the side for me, but I didn't even need it. I like that the chef pre-cuts your chicken/steak for you. HE CARES!
Total was just under $23: Spicy Hibachi Chicken comes w/onion soup (gross), salad (typical), and all that grilled food; and a side of fried rice (roughly $1.50, which you MUST have). Their dessert selection looked promising, but my wallet was aching in pain.
Food took about an hour to cook, but I definitely had fun. The staff is very nice, so make sure you tip good. I'd go there again, but it'd have to be for a special occasion. -
Review from Tamara L.
11/3/2011 1 Check-in Here
It's Benihana, it's a chain, it's not that special. Never been? Go once in your life, get it out of your system, laugh at the jokes of the "chef/cook/hibachi artist" cause they're real (achem) original. Ooh and Ahh over the hibachi tricks he does. Go home smelling of everyone in the restaurant's food orders. If you choose to go back, you really need to expand your food culture. (or you're invited there for someone's birthday party, so you're obligated)
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Review from Lewis G.
San Diego, CA
12/1/2011
very good food... fried rice, shrimp appetizer, onions and zucchini appetizer, steak isnt as good as it used to be, probably better off getting the filet to make sure it's top quality meat.
they also have happy hour after 5 everyday in the sushi lounge... surprisingly good prices and good draft japanese beer -
Review from tam p.
San Diego, CA
8/11/2011
Seeing other reviews doesnt seem like the servers last long here. We had a new server, so I was very forgiving..
The portions are dismal, and the quality of food with the portion you can get at some chinese fast food place. you pay about 25$ for 50 grams of meat and a big bowl of rice with oiled to death veggies.
Make a reservation if you want to go. -
Review from K P.
Los Angeles, CA
8/27/2011
Excellent decor at the sushi bar where I sat. I loved the dark ambiance. Even the restroom was pretty impressive by my standards. No problems with customer service...everyone was friendly.
I ordered the Spider Roll, vegetable tempura, and two glasses of red wine...all good, but average. There's just something about these large chains that lack in quality over the smaller hole-in-the-walls. Nevertheless, I would definitely return to this place on my next trip to San Diego. -
Review from Macy S.
Chula Vista, CA
7/19/2011 2 Check-ins Here
If it were possible to give 0 stars, I would.
I've gone here twice in one month due to two birthdays and on each occasion, my experience got worse by the minute!
First visit to Benihana:
Would have received a 3 star review. Our server was polite, somewhat attentive, and when I inquired about a spicy steak sauce for my hibachi steak, at first she was confused. But later on she realized that this sauce DID exist and brought it out promptly.
But this second time around will keep me away FOREVER. (and I mean it!)
My second visit was on a Monday night:
Not too busy, it was an early dinner. Our server already had a bad attitude to begin with. I'd rather not deal with their inconsistency with service. The server never brought out my rice, even after I asked another server. And had no idea about an advertised deal -_- so wow. Never again! Our server had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what to do, and swore she knew everything. ugh. -
Review from Van L.
6/30/2011
We love going here for someone's bday. It's an interactive dinner experience. If you've never been, you must try.
Love love love the garlic butter. Put it on EVERYTHING.
My favorite is the ocean treasure. You get scallops, colossal shrimps (and they are HUGE), and LOBSTER. My 3 favorite food of the sea. For red meat, always get the filet mignon. You can't go wrong with that. When the waitress asked if you want fried rice say "YES YES YES!!!" Best fried rice ever, hands down.
Sign up for their club and you get $30 for the month of your bday. It's free money, why not? They also have monthly specials for 2. -
Review from Jessica L.
Fair Oaks, CA
Benihana, why do you look down upon me?!
So I come in at 8:45 P.M. wanting to devour some of that endless sushi with my bf and apparently you had to look decent here? We were in gym clothes but still why does that matter? I could immediately feel the hostesses judgmental eyes upon me when I entered and immediately said that their endless sushi ended at 8:30 P.M. TOO BAD i called them a week before asking them when the endless sushi ended and they said 10 P.M. SUCKAH! So i put him in his place and walked to the sushi area.
I had to flag down a waitress to give us a menu and some drinks because apparently we only had till 9:30 to put our last order in! I was panicking because I was about to throw down 30$ for bottomless sushi and I wasn't going to get the endless at all! Finally the waitress comes and hands us our menu, takes our drink order and eventually brings us the salad and miso soup. Then we waited another 10 minutes to get our order in. I was starving at this point and was glaring at the ONE sushi chef that was working on all of the bottomless sushi orders out of the FOUR sushi chefs (Two of the sushi chefs were staring aimlessly into the air).
We finally get our sushi and devour it in seconds.. I actually do not remember how it tastes like (hence the three star review). What I do know for sure is that it's way better then Todai's sushi (which isn't saying much). Our waitress was really nice and even let us order past 9:30, it's just the slow ass sushi chefs that ruin your lives.
Sushi is okay, for endless it's pretty good. I'd say just go to Sushi Ota and leave happy with a light stomach. -
Review from Connie G.
6/22/2011
I came here yesterday for my Birthday and I want to still be there haha. I had so much fun! Our Chef (Erik) and Waiter (Alex) were super nice! I had smiles all night! There was 7 of us that went and they added a couple at the other end of our table. So the tables seat 9. They took two photos of my group, which I received during dinner for free! I ordered:
*Pinot Grigio
Coppola 'Bianco' - California $7.50
*Sbarro
Las Vegas Roll Full
Salmon, avocado, cream cheese, jalapeno, spicy sauce on top (deep fried)
Boston Roll 1/2
crabstick meat, avocado, cucumber, tuna $5.50
Seafood Diablo
Sea scallops, calamari, shrimp, assorted vegetables and Japanese udon noodles with a special homemade spicy sauce. (I opted out of the noodles and got fried rice mixed instead) $20.25
It also came with a salad, tea, and I received some green tea birthday ice cream!
I was way too stuffed and had to take a to go box for sure. I love how you can order 1/2 a roll of sushi so that your not forced to limit yourself to one kind. This place is pricey but way worth every dollar! Parking was horrible but again was worth the 5 bucks for Vallet!
At the end of the evening I even received a gift :) A statue Samurai guy with a sword! Way Cool haha! I have it on my kitchen table! By far this is my favorite place to eat on that special occasion! Love! Love My Benihana's 5 stars without a doubt! -
Review from Nette B.
4/11/2011 1 Check-in Here
I've been here a few times and the best chef I've ever had is MOY. He's so awesome! TIP: Request to sit on his table. He will make you laugh the entire time you're there. I think he's the only one that speaks English.. LOL..
Benihana is always entertaining for me no matter what city you're in. Basically it's all the same everywhere. -
Review from Christopher J.
San Francisco, CA
6/30/2011 1 Check-in Here
=Benihana=
First thing's first, join the chef's table club on their website, because during your birthday month, you will receive a coupon for $30 !! Best thing ever :)
I'm going today because my birthday was yesterday. Last day for it to expire. lol
I've been here once again and I had their steak and lobster combo. It comes with a choice of steam or fried rice. DO get their fried rice. It's delisssssssss! The steak was so-so. It could use more BAM to it. The lobster was pretty good. It wasn't chewy or anything, just right.
The chef's do cook and do little tricks in front of you, but I feel it lacks presentation. I was expecting more circus type acts to give that WOW effect. Don't get me wrong, him tossing the spatula around is impressive. You'll have to experience the little tricks yourself by making a reservation.
Haha. And if you don't mind hearing 100 birthday songs when you're here sitting with strangers, then give this place a try :) More or so on your birthday!!!
Oh yeah, leave your nice clothing at home unless you want everything to smell like Benihana :) haha -
Review from Mellani M.
San Diego, CA
11/8/2011 1 Check-in Here
When you reserve the the table in the back. Expect to wait an extra 30 mins after your reserved time to get food going or any kind of interaction with the people who worked there. Service sucks bug the ops is great. Only reason why this is getting four stars. Your food saved u
-
Review from Obei M.
Los Angeles, CA
7/21/2011 1 Check-in Here
I am a fan of Benihana and this one in San Diego is no exception! The place is "hidden" but is always packed! I prefer that the chefs would be a bit more asian or Japanese specifically (no offense to the awesome non-asian chefs of Benihana)... only because it adds to the character and experience. I've always had a Japanese chef at the Beverly Hills location and it just feels right. I mean, how'd you feel if you were eating at a Mexican place and you are being served by non-latin person? Kinda unauthentic right?
Great food as always and very hearty too. -
Review from Amanda H.
San Diego, CA
3/25/2011
Three specialty sushi rolls for $11 at happy hour? I'm in!!
Also, stop being a pansy and just park across the street in the business lot. Your car will not get towed. -
Review from Melissa V.
San Diego, CA
11/7/2011
Best to make a reservation!! Even when you do make one, sometimes you might have to wait. The food is really good, and they put on a good show (teppanyaki style). Good for groups; Birthdays! Sign up through their site and receive a $30.00 b-day meal voucher to spend during the month of your b-day! The drinks are delicious here too!! :) I would suggest Benihana over Shoguns (same style of food). I have had food poisioning both times I went to Shoguns.
