Benihana

Fun birthday spot

by twincities at Citysearch

I've NEVER written a review of any kind so this will be an interesting experience. I read so many divergent reviews of Benihana's that I thought it would be worthwhile documenting our recent experience.

Let me just say from the start, that we had a great time! Food was great and the cooking performance was a lot of fun.

My wife wanted to go to a teppanyaki BBQ for her birthday so we went to the Golden Valley, MN Benihana's on April 2, 2011. We had a party of eight and reservations at 6:45 PM. I didn't know that eight filled a table so that worked out well. We arrived at 6:40 and were seated around 6:50. The restaurant was very busy which is always a good sign. My kids all ordered various flavors of the lemonade which were all fabulous (plus free refills!). My wife ordered the pomegranate margarita which was tasty and strong.

The drinks came promptly but there were a few lags in service between the early courses. Once our chef (Heri) showed up, the timing of the food picked up. Our table ordered: Filet Mignon, Teriyaki Steak, Hibachi Steak, the Chicken/Shrimp Special (for 2), Hibachi Shrimp, Hibachi Tuna Steak and Yakisoba (noodles with chicken). Heri has been working there for just over one year. He worked fast and had a great sense of humor. When he was cutting the shrimp, the knife and fork were moving so fast, I couldn't see the shrimp tails being cut off.

Everyone really liked their food and the dipping sauce made all of the food taste even better. For example, It turned good fried rice into GREAT fried rice. I wonder what the heck is in that sauce!

At the end of the meal, the staff brought out a free ice cream sundae for my wife and sang two songs (happy birthday in English, and another song in Japanese). There were at least five other birthday celebrations that night. Our hostess took our picture and gave us two prints before the check was paid. There was a lot of food left over which made for easy cooking today.

The only negative thing I would comment on is the noise level in the restaurant. The restaurant was quite busy, the cooking is pretty loud and people were having a good time which made conversation across our own table challenging at times. However, relative to the overall positive experience, this was fairly minor and we will definitely go back!

If you like your dining to be like Russian Roulette...

by Pitoui at Citysearch

A quick glance of the responses on here give you a good idea of what to expect. If all goes well, the food is good and I highly recommend you poor "the yummy sauce" on everything. If it doesn't go well, you can expect something like this: You will be told you will be seated in 15 minutes. You will be seated about an hour and 15 minutes later. You will be told that the "special" of the day is filet mignon, shrimp, and chicken. You will tell them you would like the "special". Little known to you, there happens to be the acual menu item called "the special" which contains lobster and steak. They will put lobster and steak on your plate. When you clarify with the cook that you ordered something differently than lobster and steak, he will call over the person who took your order. That person will argue that he never called the "special" he offered "the special" in spite of the fact that everyone else at the table heard him. When you state that regardless of the cause of the miscommunication (which was his!) you wanted something else and don't care for lobster, he will go ask the manager and come back and tell you that it cannot be changed. You will not eat the food. You will drop the argument as to not make a scene among strangers and post a review online as I have here. The food is good, but you will receive better service at Burger King. At least while you are there, you can "have it your way".

• Pros: Yummy Sauce / Original Experience / You will be stuffed
• Cons: Terrible Service / Unrealiable reservations and wait times

Try Kabuki

by macvision at Citysearch

Overated and average. They couldn't wait to clean our table and get us out the door. They might want to check their competition to see how un-commercial others are.

• Pros: Quickly seated
• Cons: Felt we were rushed to finish our food so they could turn over the table

Service: you get what you give at Benihana

by Pookareena at Citysearch

My husband and I live close to Benihana in Golden Valley and we dine there about once a month (in fact, we were there last night). I agree with a couple of the other comments about lackluster customer service, as they don't have the most accommodating staff. That said, I think people need to go here expecting to have all members of your party ready to be seated at the same time; it makes sense to me, if you show up with 5 people and are waiting on 1 more, don't expect the other couple at your table to sit there and wait for your 6th to show before they can order...welcome to communal eating, folks. Benihana is usually a hectic place, so I guess I understand why they are a little rough around the edges when it comes to seating people. My husband and I go as a twosome often and NEVER have a problem getting in, even when it's busy. We've also gone dozens times with large groups, which, on occasion, is a little more complicated. Overall, I've found that if you're extra nice to the staff and expect that things can move a little slow here, you won't get all bent out of shape. My opinion is that the food and the chefs are totally worth any drama you get from the hosts or servers. And here's a hint, act like you're interested in the show. Clap for them when they do a trick! Give them a little something to let them know you're engaged and they'll pay you back in spades. The food is consistently very good, and believe me when I say we've had just about everything on the menu. Here's another hint: be assertive with the chef. Let them know how you like your filet cooked or if you want extra shrimp sauce. They'll take care of you! Feel free to joke around with them and you'll have a lot more fun. My favorites include the fried rice, shrimp, scallops, filet, lobster, the onion/zucchini side dish, tuna steak, and of course, the SHRIMP SAUCE. My final hint: pour the shrimp sauce on your fried rice...you won't be sorry=)

• Pros: Great food, fun dinner show, lots of free parking, nice bar area to wait in
• Cons: May have to wait for a table, have to be patient with host staff

Watery drinks, barely average

by sunshine_coffee at Citysearch

We were here in a group of 10 on a Monday night. First, we could not get reservations until 7 pm, so we thought they would be busy. There was hardly anyone there when we went in. Inspite of this we were not allowed to seat ourselves until the entire party arrived. Our drinks (specaility sake drinks) were extremely watery. The chef was indeed good but not spectacular. I have been to two other Hibachi style places in NY and the chef there was more creative than this one. Most importantly, the chef kept cooking items for people one by one, which is not how it was done in NY,as the chef made at least 4 -5 things at the same time. Due to this, some of us had to stare at the ones who were eating with an empty stomach. I had ordered seafood diablo (udon noodles - extremely tasty) and received my food when everyone else at the table had finished theirs, which meant, I had then to rush to finish off whatever I could and pack the rest as they were closing. The portions were small for the price charged.

Most importantly, the waitress gave us poor service. She had an irritated expression on her face and no smile. She only told one side of the table that ordering fried rice would be extra bucks, such that only 2 people heard. The rest of the table had no idea about this and she kept asking everyone at that side whether we wanted fried rice but never once said it would be extra money. I had asked that the seafood diablo be made without calamari and instead substitute shrimp. Instead of substituting, I got charged for extra shrimp, which was later adjusted with a very irritated demeanor by the server. However, I have to say that the manager came up to us after hearing all the problems that were occurring and offered us a coupon for 4 complimentary fried rice sides with our meal in the next one month, if we chose to go there again, which we certainly will not.

• Pros: Tasty food
• Cons: Lacking service, Overpriced food