Tal B

Review of Benihana

Upon approaching the restaurant, it was appealing ...

Upon approaching the restaurant, it was appealing from the outside. The area was clean and furnitures were arranged neatly. One can order a drink and be seated outside or on the first floor near the bar.

The meals are served on the second floor. Raw food is brought to the table by a chef who prepares the meal in our presence. Our chef made the experience fun. He had lots of jokes like butter fly when he threw the butter from a container to the grill. Another one was onion roll as he rolled the flaming onion. Overall a pleasant chef and server.

We were seated at a table with two other parties (a party of two-mother and son, and a party of three-grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter). The party of three were having family issues and could not agree with staying versus leaving the restaurant. The mother made a huge fuss about a change to the menue to fit her need and demanded the manager. She did not get the response she wanted from the manager so she left and later the remainder of her party also left. Good riddance. The server was extremely pleasant and kept his cool.

Pros:
~Great for family, large groups, and children.
~Moderate size meals ( we order for 2 persons and split among 4). We don t eat a lot because we are always watching our figure. If you eat a lot, you should probably get your own meal. We had two 6 course meals (trio, and another one with shrimp).

Cons
~Loud with children screaming or throwing a tantrum.
~ No music
~A bit unorganize (we had to remind the server that our meal came with ice cream and he never brought us Japanese tea which came with our meal)
~Felt rushed to leave as we waited for our ice-cream and tried to consume it. This offended my husband because we waited so long for a table and was rushed out of the restaurant after paying $130.
~ We were not told that we would share our table with two other parties. It was assumed that we would know the restauarnat s culture and this was my first time. My husband had visited 6 years back, with a larger party size so it never occurred to him that we need 9 people at our table in order to be seated.
~ Workers do not appear happy.
~ My husband was uncomfortable, because he was crammed and could not stretch his leg.

NB. We visited on a Saturday evening at 4:00pm.

Near by trains are N,Q, F. The restaurant was easy to find.