Benihana - San Diego, CA

Review summary

1. D

   Daniel

   San Diego

   1 review

   1.0

   1 review

   Dined today

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

   They were over 45 minutes behind on reservations. We were there 2 hours before we had a chef at our table. They left things out of our order which they had to cook at the end. We were a party of nine at our own table and no manager or anyone had anything to say about how long everything took.
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded today

   Dear guest, thank you for sharing your experience. We regret that we didn’t meet your expectations on this occasion. Your feedback helps us improve, and we’d be grateful for the opportunity to make things right. Please contact us through our “Contact Us” page on our website.
   

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2. L

   Linda

   San Diego

   7 reviews

   3.0

   7 reviews

   Dined today

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

   Hello, I took my grandson to Benihanas for dinner to celebrate his College Graduation. The noise level was so loud, disorganized and my reservations didn’t matter…a 45 minutes wait, ridiculous. And the food was marginal….my chicken fried rice was cold and mushy. Like, it had been sitting for a long time. It wasn’t made for me. It isn’t like it used to be. Wow. It has changed, and I don’t think I’ll be back nor will I refer anyone to this restaurant. Good Mornimg
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded today

   Dear valued guest, thank you for your review. We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced and would appreciate the opportunity to learn more. Please contact us by visiting our "Contact Us" page on our website
   

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3. P

   Patrick

   VIP

   San Diego

   3 reviews

   3.0

   3 reviews

   Dined today

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

   The food was outstanding! However, having an early reservation it was still a 30 minute plus wait. The restaurant appeared to be grossly understaffed and had great difficulties accommodating their reservations.
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded today

   Dear valued guest, thank you for your review. We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced and would appreciate the opportunity to learn more. Please contact us by visiting our "Contact Us" page on our website
   

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4. l

   lisa

   San Diego

   1 review

   5.0

   1 review

   Dined 1 day ago

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

   Great experience! Great show! Delicious food! Friendly staff!
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded today

   Dear Guest, it’s wonderful to know you had such a great time at Benihana. Your feedback truly brightens our day! We can’t wait to host you again for another unforgettable experience.
   

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5. C

   Corrina

   San Diego

   1 review

   1.0

   1 review

   Dined 1 day ago

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

   The wait was long no point in using the app we waited for aprox 1 hour our reservation was at 8:15 Got sat literally 50 mins later.
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded today

   Dear guest, thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We’re sorry to hear that your visit didn’t go as expected. We value your feedback and invite you to share more details with us. Please visit the “Contact Us" page on our website.
   

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6. A

   Alma

   San Diego

   6 reviews

   3.0

   6 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

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

   We've been going to Benihana for decades and last night was the worst experience. We had a reservation at 7:30. We arrived at 7:20, there were dozens of people waiting both inside and outside of the restaurant. At around 7:45 we overheard the hostess telling other patrons that they were running at least 45 minutes behind and were barely finishing to seat the 6:45 reservations. Their excuse was "people aren't leaving their tables." We finally got seated around 8:40 pm. The server came to take our drink order and also asked if she could take it for orders. All the tables around were full, only one chef was cooking. People loudly cheered when they finally received something. We were served the soup and salad and our drinks had still not arrived. When they came to serve the salad we were informed they were out of carrots. Still no drinks. We finished the carrotless salad and finally drinks came, minus one drink. The chef finally came out and we were eating our meal at 9:50 PM. The server never came back to check on us, and when she did appear, it was to inform us she would be going on break and someone else would tend to our table. The food was fine, the typical garlicky flavors and extra sodium.... When it came to dessert, the portions were tiny, maybe half a scoop of super soft ice cream. We finally left after 10:30. We'll definitely come back, but we'll never again go in that time slot on a Saturday when they're clearly unprepared, unmanaged and out of carrots.
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded today

   Dear valued guest, we’re sorry that your recent visit did not meet your expectations. Your feedback is important to us, and we would like to understand more about your experience. Please reach out to us by visiting our “Contact Us” page on our website.
   

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7. E

   Edward

   San Diego

   4 reviews

   3.0

   4 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

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

   Our reservations were for 7pm, but we stood outside waiting to be seated until 7:36pm. We then sat at our table until 8:45pm before our chef showed up. Yes, we had drinks, soup and salad during that time, but to wait almost two hours past our reservation time for the chef to appear was not good at all. Our chef, Jesse O., was awesome. Very energetic, funny, engaging, and our food was delicious.
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded today

   Dear guest, thank you for your comments. We regret that we did not provide the level of service you anticipated. We’re dedicated to improving and would appreciate any additional details you can offer. Please contact us through our “Contact Us” page on our website.
   

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8. L

   Leopoldo

   San Diego

   1 review

   3.0

   1 review

   Dined 1 day ago

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

   Got an OPEN TABLE seat for 6:15pm, we arrived at 5:35pm so we report to the front desk and we proceed to the bar to wait, by 6:25pm I asked for our table and they told me it will take 10 more minutes, by almost 7:00pm we finally were called to wait in another area until the rest of the table was ready, finally we sat down and server took our drink, this around 7:15, drinks came and then we have to wait around 10 more minutes for the first course (soup), then after finish it we wait a few more minutes for a second course (salad), from that point we wait around 30 minutes until the cook appear at our grill and that's when the fun begins, food portion were small in compare with other places we known, plus more expensive, the setting is the same but was really crowded and extremely noisy, we understand the place was extremely full but the organization was kind of bad, everybody running to accommodate the new arrivals even though they should have schedules programmed beforehand, we should try again in a no so busy season maybe? And I should ad, this is not a kid friendly place, especially if you are the type of parent that let your kids run all over the place, the pace is too fast for the employees and also to dangerous with hot grills all around too!!!
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded today

   Dear valued guest, thank you for your review. We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced and would appreciate the opportunity to learn more. Please contact us by visiting our "Contact Us" page on our website
   

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9. C

   Curtis

   San Diego

   2 reviews

   5.0

   2 reviews

   Dined 2 days ago

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

   It is always a great food experience. Unfortunately we were not sat down until an hour and 15 minutes past our reservation time. To make things worse we sat and had to wait over an hour for our chef to arrive to the table. Our reservation was at 745p. The chef arrived past 1000p…we finally started to eat at 1020p. The waitress was nice but told us we had to order our food as soon as we were sat down so it could be added to the long line of orders. She said we could not wait.
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded today

   Dear Guest, thank you for choosing Benihana for your dining experience. We’re grateful for your review and pleased to hear that you enjoyed your visit. We look forward to having you with us again!
   

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10. S

    Stacey

    VIP

    San Diego

    2 reviews

    3.0

    2 reviews

    Dined 2 days ago

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

    6:15 reservation, seated at 7:00. No chef to our table until 8:10. Chef Luis was fantastic but waitress was rude and made judgmental comments to our group about requests. We’ve been big fans in the past but wait times have gotten ridiculous and the restaurant feels run down.
    

    Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded today

    Dear valued guest, thank you for your review. We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced and would appreciate the opportunity to learn more. Please contact us by visiting our "Contact Us" page on our website
    

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