Benihana

My husband took me to Benihana’s for my 23rd birthday and I got to enjoy an enormous amount of sushi for a reasonable cost. For those of you that aren’t familiar with or haven’t been to a Benihana’s, they are a Japanese style restaurant known for having a chef who uses a teppanyakiI grill to cook your food in front of you. It’s also important to know they have a happy hour Monday-Thursday’s 5pm to 8 pm where their sushi is half price. Anyway my husband and I preferred a more intimate setting so we sat in their bar/sushi bar area. I was a bit hesitant about spending a lot of money for just one dinner since I am cheap so I opted for the sushi menu because it was happy hour. My husband and I looked it over and decided to get 6 different rolls to share. Each roll contains 5-6 bite size rolls. To get specific we ordered a California roll which contains avocado, crabstick meat, cucumber and roasted sesame seeds. Then we ordered a Philadelphia roll which is marinated salmon, cream cheese, avocado and cucumber. We also ordered a dragon roll, which is one of my favorites, and contains eel, avocado, crabstick meat, cucumber. A tuna roll and a yellowtail roll, where a tuna roll has real tuna fish and rice wrapped with seaweed around it. The yellowtail roll is yellowtail fish with rice wrapped in seaweed. Lastly we got a shrimp tempura roll which is shrimp battered and deep fried with crabstick meet, cucumber, rice and instead of being seaweed or rice wrapped its rice paper wrapped. We also ordered two bowls of their Benihana’s rice which is pretty much chicken fried rice but it’s delicious. We got all this plus our drinks, hot tea and an ice tea, for $55 dollars and that was including our tip to the waitress. I ended up being one satisfied customer because not only was the price reasonable but the taste of the sushi and rice was delicious. I compared this experience to another place where we have gone to eat sushi called Got Sushi. I thought that they had decent food and sushi as well as friendly staff but they were really expensive. We ordered a large plate of their chicken fried rice to share between my husband, myself and our two year old daughter and it was a suffice amount of rice for us three but I don’t think I would order it again because it didn’t taste all that great. We also only ordered two rolls of their sushi, again a dragon roll and then a California roll. They were fresh and great tasting but since it wasn’t happy hour at this place they were semi expensive, at least in my book. I don’t like spending $7-15 dollars for each roll of sushi. I guess I would say I just wasn’t satisfied with this place when I know what I can get taste, quantity and price wise from Benihana’s happy hour. In conclusion I of course would go to Benihana’s again because of the amount of sushi you can get for a great price during their happy hour times. I can’t really say much for them on their regular priced sushi since I haven’t been. The atmosphere isn’t bad either especially in the bar area it quiet compared to what one would think when they thing bar. So whether you are looking for a “cool” place to eat or just looking to have a nice experience I recommend Benihana’s. more

This was my first encounter with this type of experience. My relationship with Southeast Asian food, or the culture hasn't exactly been the best either. My experience at this Benihana was definitely a great one, and I will be coming back. I am not a big reviewer or anything, and don't really know how to write a great review. I will just go through my experience as it unfolded. My family and I arrived out front around noon and noticed their menu on a plaque out in front of the restaurant we looked at it for a bit to get an idea of what we were going to order. We went in and the manager greeted us and asked us if we wanted to eat at a table or a cook-top table, we obviously chose the cook-top table. We were seated with another small group and had a chance to look at the menu while we were served our drinks. Like I said before, I don't really have a good relationship with Southeast Asian food, so I ordered something that sounded familiar: Chicken Yakisoba, a fried noodle dish with chicken. We all ordered, waited not too long, and our chef showed up with all of the ingredients to prepare our meals. He began an appetizer of fried rice, eggs, and diced vegetables; I found it very delicious. Next he made a second 'appetizer' of seared zucchini with a bit of soy sauce. The way he prepared it was more of a spectacle, everything was done in a cool, fluid motion. Doing little tricks and such with the tools, making it a comfortable atmosphere. The action didn't dwindle with the preparation with our meals, each one was chopped up and prepared with the same flair. I have seen this type of cooking on T.V. but never done right in front of me. When I received my Chicken Yakisoba I was a little skeptical, but it was very delicious; I was surprised myself. It was so good in fact, I ate the entire thing. We all enjoyed the experience and food at our table. We ended it with a scoop of fresh sorbet. The manager came by checking up on us every now and then. He gave me a $5.00 booklet about Japan sponsored by Benihana. I thought it was very informative. He also gave a paper for the entire table, if we signed up, we would receive an E-Mail on our birth month, with a coupon for a free meal at Benihana, we all liked that. The price wasn't bad either, I have left other restaurants with more to pay than what we had to. Overall, it was very clean, friendly, and an enjoyable experience. I will definitely be coming back. more