Benihana - San Diego, CA

Review summary

1. J

   Julie

   VIP

   San Diego

   3 reviews

   4.0

   3 reviews

   Dined today

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 4

   Make your reservation an hour earlier than you actually want it. When we arrived for a 7pm. reservation, the lobby had over 60 people waiting for their seats from reservations. I asked the hostess what time reservation she was seating, she said, "I still have 3- 6 pms, 3- 615pms, 2- 630, 2- 645 and 3- 7pm parties to seat." This is not the first time this has happened to us. So my feeling is this is the way they run thier busines. This is insane! We brought a friend in for her birthday, so we decided to go into the bar and have a drink and an appetizer and just decided to eat in the bar. It was great service and the food was good. Plan ahead, people, if you want the show.
   

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2. M

   Miguel

   San Diego

   15 reviews

   4.0

   15 reviews

   Dined today

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 3

   Food was delicious, had to wait 1hr for a chef though.
   

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3. D

   David

   San Diego

   2 reviews

   4.0

   2 reviews

   Dined today

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 3

   Great food but we had to wait an hour before being seated even with a reservation then another 45 min to and hour before the chef could serve us. The staff was great but they need more chefs
   

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4. C

   Carol

   San Diego

   25 reviews

   5.0

   25 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 4

   We enjoyed a wonderful fun meal that was well prepared by our chef who was engagingly polite and friendly. He incorporated the kids into his magic preparations and was extremely polite. Our server was also excellent and stayed on top of our refills and overall service. Thank you for a special dinner for our family.
   

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5. a

   arturo

   VIP

   San Diego

   2 reviews

   2.0

   2 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 2
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 2

   We had reservation at 8:30 pm, got seated at 9:40 pm, chef arrived 11:10 pm. We waited 2.5 hours to get our food when we had reservation 8:30 pm and arrived ag the restaurant to check in 8:25 pm. Horrible waiting times. They actually brought green peas on the house for the wait time, pff.
   

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6. M

   Maria

   VIP

   San Diego

   1 review

   1.0

   1 review

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 1
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 1

   Waited forr 1:30 hours to get seated and the waited over one hour to actually get served anything. It was a horrible experience we where there for over 4 hours
   

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7. N

   Naj

   San Diego

   7 reviews

   1.0

   7 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 2

   Our reservation was at 7.30pm. Upon check in, the host told us that we are all checked in. Half hour later, more guests check in and the host told them that they were running behind and just now sitting 6.30 reservation?!?! This was not informed to us when we checked in. An hr went by, more guest checked in and the host told them the same thing, this time they are sitting 7pm reservation and they are welcome to hang out at the bar area while they wait. Why was this not offer to us?? We ended up getting our table at 9.20pm!!! Chef finally showed up at 9.45pm and we left a little after 11pm. Food was expensive and the charge to upgrade to fried rice is ridiculously expensive. Okawa in Santee has much better value of their food and much faster service as we went to Okawa the next day and were in and out of the restaurant within an hr 15 mins. Benihana should have offer complimentary appetizer or a round of sake to all this guest that was waiting for 2 hrs past their reservation time. They should not have overbooked the restaurant if they are short staffed rather than blaming the guest taking their time eating and chatting at their table. Very disappointed and won't be going there again.
   

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8. K

   Kira

   VIP

   San Diego

   10 reviews

   1.0

   10 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 3

   Running 1hr behind on reservations with no notice prior to arriving and still showing reservations available on OpenTable. We ended up in the bar paying the same $$ without the real Benihana fun ambiance. Server in the bar was good at her job but no personality at all and acted like we were bothering her by being there.
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded today

   Hi Kira, We're sorry to hear about your recent experience at Benihana - San Diego, CA. We understand that waiting for a reservation can be frustrating and we apologize for the inconvenience caused. We're glad to hear that you enjoyed the food and the server in the bar. We value your feedback and will work on improving our service. Best Regards, The Management Team
   

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9. M

   Michael

   Orange County

   1 review

   1.0

   1 review

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 3

   Besides the food, worse dining experience of my life!
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded today

   Thanks for visiting us, Michael. We're truly sorry to hear about your disappointing experience at Benihana - San Diego, CA. It's unfortunate that our service did not meet your expectations. We strive to provide top-notch service to all our guests and we're sorry we fell short this time. We appreciate your feedback and will use it to improve. We hope you'll give us another chance to serve you better in the future. Best, The Management Team
   

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10. J

    Jose

    San Diego

    8 reviews

    3.0

    8 reviews

    Dined 1 day ago

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 3
    4. Ambience 3

    Teníamos reservación a las 6 pm, nos dijeron que iban retrasados con las mesas les pedimos un aproximado de tiempo de espera pero aparentemente tiene órdenes de no dar aproximados (si me hubieran dicho una hora me hubiera ido), entramos una hora después y el cocinero llego a nuestra mesa otra media hora después. No es culpa de meseros ni del cocinero, la administración y la gente que les maneja la logística no tienen ni idea de lo que hacen. Yo había ido muchas veces pero nunca me había pasado esto. Ni siquiera una disculpa! No regreso
    

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