Benihana - San Diego, CA

Benihana - San Diego, CA reviews from people who’ve dined at this restaurant. Based on recent rating.

Review summary

1. J

   Jasmine

   Los Angeles7 reviews

   2.0

   Dined 1 day ago

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

   Personally this location specially is the worst. I’ve tried 2. Times now and both experiences were not great. This recent experience was the worst. After making a reservation for a large party, I was never called to confirm. Upon arrival they changed my reservation on their own, splitting my party and then seating us far apart. We werent seated until 20 minutes after our reservation. After being seated it took 45 minutes for a chef to come out and the other table was not served until an hour after. Whole experience took 3.5 hours. The first experience took longer. Poor planning and staffing I guess. I commend chef Luis who was absolutely amazing and so much fun. The server was also amazing at my table. However the server for the other half of my party was rude and overall not pleasant. The front of house hostess manager was rude and tried to blame corporate for this mistake and made no effort to try and seat our party together. As we looked around there were empty tables were we could have all been seated together but instead they made some BS excuse about why they couldn’t. Food is mediocre. Shogun is a much better ambiance and choice. Parking there is terrible.
   

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2. J

   Jennifer VIP

   San Diego19 reviews

   5.0

   Dined 2 days ago

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

   Great food Reservations were behind schedule and Hostess was rude
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded 1 day ago

   Thanks for the review, Jennifer! We're thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the food and service at Benihana - San Diego, CA. We apologize for the delay in your reservation and the inconvenience caused by the hostess. Your feedback is invaluable and we'll certainly address these issues. We hope to see you again soon for a 5-star experience!
   

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3. C

   Chelsea

   San Diego1 review

   1.0

   Dined 3 days ago

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

   Even though we made a reservation, we had to wait almost and hour to get seated. The hostess ladies were rude and very unprofessional.
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded 2 days ago

   Hey Chelsea, We're really sorry to hear about your recent experience at Benihana - San Diego, CA. It's our goal to provide a pleasant and professional service to our guests, and we're disappointed to hear that we fell short in your case. We appreciate your feedback, and we assure you that it will be used to improve our service. We hope you'll give us another chance to make your next visit a better one. Best regards, The Management Team
   

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4. F

   Fred

   San Diego3 reviews

   5.0

   Dined 4 days ago

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

   We had a wonderful time celebrating our granddaughter’s birthday.
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded 2 days ago

   Hey Fred, We're absolutely thrilled to hear that you had a wonderful time celebrating your granddaughter's birthday with us at Benihana - San Diego, CA! It's wonderful to know that our food, service, and value all contributed to making your day special. We always strive to make special occasions like these memorable, and your kind words are a testament to our efforts. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We hope to see you again soon for another celebration! Best regards, The Management Team at Benihana - San Diego, CA
   

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5. T

   Tyree

   Tahoe1 review

   1.0

   Dined 4 days ago

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

   Horrible experience. Had a reservation for 930 pm but didn’t get sat until 11pm then was told another hour for my chef to arrive. What’s the point of a reservation? never going here again
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded 3 days ago

   Hi Tyree, we're truly sorry to hear about your experience at Benihana - San Diego, CA. It's clear that we fell short in meeting your expectations, especially given your reservation. We understand how frustrating it must have been to wait that long and for the Chef to not arrive. We assure you that this isn't the standard we strive to provide. We appreciate your feedback and will use it to improve our service in the future. We hope you'll give us another chance to show you the kind of dining experience we're known for. Best, The Management Team
   

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6. E

   Erin

   San Diego1 review

   2.0

   Dined 4 days ago

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

   We had a reservation for 6:30 pm with a 5 year old. The idea was to eat early with a kid. We sat there for over an hour before they sat us down. The waitress and chef was great but there was so much downtime between sitting down to our drinks to the chef coming. When we were done it was past the 5 year olds bedtime and left at nearly 10 pm. What the point of having a reservation if we have to wait that long
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded 3 days ago

   Hey Erin, we're really sorry to hear about your experience. We understand how important it is to enjoy your time with your family, and we apologize for the long wait you experienced. We're glad to hear that you found our service and food to be great, but we understand that the timing was not up to par. We're continuously working on improving our service and your experience is important to us. We hope you'll give us another chance to make your next visit more enjoyable. Thanks for your feedback!
   

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7. Z

   Zuzanna

   San Diego1 review

   1.0

   Dined 4 days ago

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

   our reservation was for 6:30 PM. We stood in the lobby until 7:30 PM. We were taken to the table at that point but at 8:40 PM we were still staring at an empty table and had not even ordered our food. We were finally provided with food and by the time we ate and left the restaurant it was almost 10 PM. Not really what we had in mind. There are about 10 different ways. This place could be managed differently unfortunately it is just poorly run. The chef was great, but it was not enough to fix th e experience.
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded 3 days ago

   Thanks for visiting us, Zuzanna. We're sorry to hear about your recent experience at Benihana - San Diego, CA. It's disappointing to know that we fell short in providing the timely service you deserved. We appreciate your feedback and will certainly address these issues with our team to ensure better experiences in the future. We're glad to hear that you found our chef to be great, but we're sorry to know that the overall experience didn't meet your expectations. We hope you'll give us another chance to show you the true Benihana experience.
   

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8. E

   Erin

   Denver1 review

   1.0

   Dined 5 days ago

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

   We had a reservation for 7:30. We didn’t get seated until all most 8:30. Once seated we waited until 9:30 for a chef to finally come to our table. The whole time we waited our server came by maybe 3 times. She apologized for the wait once but didn’t again as time went on. We never saw a manager or anyone higher up to apologize for the inconvience. Never got asked if we wanted any appetizers while we waited or anything. It’s insane to wait 2 hours from your reservation time to have to food begin to be prepared! We finally started eating around 10 pm.
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded 4 days ago

   Hello Erin, We're truly sorry for the wait you experienced during your visit. We understand how frustrating that can be and we apologize for the inconvenience. We assure you that we make every effort to provide prompt service to our guests. Your feedback is invaluable to us and we will use it to improve our service. We hope you'll give us another chance to provide the experience you deserve. Best regards, Benihana - San Diego, CA The Management Team
   

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9. J

   John

   San Diego4 reviews

   5.0

   Dined 5 days ago

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

   I always love Benihana. I am not a big fan of a lot of noise but that is going to happen at any crowded restaurant. Benihana is always a great experience and meal
   

   Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded 4 days ago

   Hi John, Thank you for your wonderful review and for rating us highly! We're thrilled to hear that you always enjoy your experiences at Benihana - San Diego, CA. We understand that noise can sometimes be a bit much, and we appreciate your understanding and patience. We strive to provide a great dining experience for all our guests and your feedback helps us do just that. We're looking forward to your next visit. Best Regards, The Management Team
   

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10. H

    Howard VIP

    San Diego11 reviews

    4.0

    Dined 5 days ago

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

    One of our favorite restaurants. We normally get take home boxes, recently they have started to use composite paper/carboard boxes which soak up all the liquid from he take home food. This results in dry left overs. Benihana is tge only restaurant we go to that uses this type of take home box,.
    

    Benihana - San Diego, CAResponded 2 days ago

    Thanks for visiting us, Howard! We're thrilled to hear that Benihana - San Diego, CA is one of your favorite restaurants. We appreciate your feedback about the take home boxes. We're always looking for ways to improve and your feedback helps us do just that. We'll certainly take your comments into consideration as we strive to provide the best dining experience for our guests. Looking forward to serving you again soon!
    

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