We were a party of 10 tonight. We had Happy Hour drinks and appetizers at the bar first. All great. Our dinner reservation was at 6 PM and exactly at 6:02 PM we got a notification that our table is ready. Our waitress was Tanner and she was fabulous. Our chef was Eric and he was amazing, entertaining and best of all his food was cooked to perfection. What a great evening at Benihana Torrance. Cant wait to come back!!!
Dinner and a show, always a fun outing for family birthdays. Being paired with another group is interesting, but can be a toss up depending on their mood and occasion.The acoustics in the dining area are terrible. Crying kids and the yells of other patrons will drown out any conversation you try to have.The food is good. Prices are getting worse... But its not out of the ordinary just yet. I dont have much to say, its just decent Japanese cuisine with limited options. The sushi bar sometimes backs up, so your order may be delayed for a while.
It was amazing first time experience the cook was great and did an awesome job loved the food great day on the birthday as well too bad they only give u the birthday discount on week days only my birthday fell on the weekend so it ok I enjoyed myself with family
Amazing place, awesome food and our chef Earl defined made our night! It was awesome!The only con I found is every time I come I end up smelling like food for days (my hair, my clothes, my underwear even …) I feel like the place needs more ventilation
We came here the day after Mothers Day and was greeted with such enthusiasm especially when the hostess found out it was our first time. They gave us a compliment photo keepsake! The food, atmosphere but the chef made the experience that much special! Love from the NY, we’ll be back when we return to Cali ❤️
I would rate our waiter Evan 5 stars, I have never seen someone push so hard and work so diligently to make sure everyone is happy. He definitely deserves a raise and did a phenomenal job. Was definitely the man of the hour!! Our chef was decent. But the reason I am only giving them three stars is that the woman’s bathroom was horrendous. They are extremely short staffed and need more people so if you are looking for a new job…. Maybe
Hadnt been to a Benihana in a couple of decades, decided to take my wife for her first time there to celebrate our anniversary. It did not disappoint.Food and service were excellent, portions solid, even though we brazenly ordered a rainbow roll on top of our main dishes. We of course got the chicken fried rice and welcomed some extra garlic butter.The family of 5 we shared our table with were wonderful, lending to an overall fun and memorable evening. We will definitely be back.Be forewarned the Benihana experience isnt a fast casual situation. Our dinner ran about 2 hours and we didnt even mind.
Horrible reservation was at 8:30 didnt get to table until 35 mins later took cook another 45 minutes to come silverrail was dirty
You know they got this cook named Eric, not only is he cute, but he is the funniest and best one Ive ever seen. Will definitely be back just for him. Talkative, entertaining, professional, knows how to work a crowd. Good job finding that gem!
We did not have reservations but my wife and I were able to be seated at the bar for dinner right away. The bartender we had (I do not remember his name but he had a stylish mustache and mullet) was FANTASTIC! He was attentive, happy, accurate and accommodating. The food was great as always and they just recently got in the yum-yum sauce, which makes everything better.
Havent been here in awhile and now I know why.... prices go up up up: quality and service goes down. Food is greasy, table and chairs dirty. To add insult to injury, they charged $50 for one drink and waiter didnt mention the price until the bill came! My son and I ordered the same drink and pointed to the picture on the menu. Waiter did a bait and switch and when I tried to dispute, he was very nonchalant and dismissive. I used to love coming here with family, food was fresh and delicious. Very disappointed, wont be returning 😥
We showed up for a birthday dinner. Lisa was our server, who was a new server but you would never guess. She was top of the line and made sure our glasses were never empty. Alex was our chef and he was AMAZING! He told us about how he just transferred to this location he was very kind and made sure all our food was made perfect. He even gave us a little extra garlic butter. Chris was a manager whom I spoke with and he was so genuine and I could tell that my words were not empty when talking to him about how wonderful the service was. Thank you to all the staff for being on top of it! Amazing experience. 10/10
The service was on the slower side, perhaps due to scheduling and short staffing. That definitely affected our wait time for serving, even for open bar seating.As for the food, Lunch hour is until 3pm, which my coworkers and I definitely took advantage of. $16 is a great deal for this lunch boat. I personally don’t like fish, so I ordered it without sashimi. My favorites were the fried rice and mixed tempura. Check out the presentation!
Our chef was great and the food excellent. But service lacked severely. Our waiter wasnt seen most of the time as he apparently was assigned to another corner of the restaurant. We waited an hour on our table before cooking even started, the kids orders of chicken fingers didnt come at all. We had to ask somebody to flag down our waiter several times. In the end, three hours after we entered the restaurant, they took 20 dollars off the 300-something dollar bill for the inconvenience. The 18% tip was already included, which is fine as we were 8 people. But then the bill suggested another 20% on top of that already added tip. Not cool.Id come back for the food but not sure about the rest of the experience.
The mushrooms were burned.The acoustics are horrible. Everyone is screaming at each other. No more picture option. From the time we arrived. The huge guy in front was unfriendly. We waited an hour even though we had a reservation. Its not worth my money and time again. Was my 9th time in 9 years. Very disappointing.9/26 - their standard reply...meaningless!
My experience was amazing thanks to our server Ryan. She was quick with all of our sides, attentive and very sweet. Thank you for an amazing dinner!
Every single time I place a to-go carry-out order (just rice), it takes 20+ minutes longer than they tell you, and takes quite awhile for a server to acknowledge you in the first place. There is a complete disconnect with their to-go process. If youre in a hurry, dont order to-go!
Chef. Chan the Man Cooking up Filet Mignon Steak 🥩 Yes he can, Amazing Service, Good Atmosphere with the Family we seated with. Dont order white rice boring From drinks to the food was delicious. THANK YOU BENIHANA was amazing time and service. Definitely going back.
Our Server was great. Our chef was great. The seating staff was very slow we had reservations at 400 and didnt get seated until 440. SLOW. The bartender was great also.
Update June 2023: We were very pleased to have a female chef for the first time in 50 years of going to BH. She did a great job and was very energetic. Benihanas should bring more diversity into their cooking staff! NOTE: This benihana has changed!! First of all, dont bother going without a reservation at peak times. It will either be an hour and a half wait or they will decline walk-ins all together so that they dont overbook. Unfortunately since COVID (yes, still in 2023) they have been understaffed and the wait times as well as dining turnover times have doubled. The last two times we went here it took 3 hours from walking in the door to walking out and most of that time was at the table. All of the staff are very professional and friendly and they certainly were working very hard. This location is also showing wear from the heavy traffic. Surfaces were NOT as CLEAN as they should be. Having said all this, its still a great experience with good quality food. We will return. END UPDATE. The Chefs have added some new tricks. Great food quality. They made improvements inside. Good bar and Sushi. Print your coupons or offers ahead. It was a Thursday night and it was so busy that it took almost 2 hours to get in and out.
Great dining experience, never disappoints.
We had the traditional experience that you get when you come here, but it was interesting because we are used to this particular chain on the East Coast. The sauce is on the west coast are completely different, as are some of the seasonings, so when we got here and everything was different it threw me off initially. Overall I think they didnt exceptionally good job at cooking, the portion sizes were very good, the flavors were good, however I have to give it only four stars because the bathroom was dirty and had not been cleaned in quite a while, and the happy hour drink specials only applied at the bar and not at the table. Very odd.
It was a surprise 35th Birthday party for my fiancé. We traveled from Chicago for the weekend to celebrate at Benihanas with her family from LA. Reserved for 12. Arrivedat 645pm 1.5 hours earlier than our reservation. They didnt even think of accommodation for us. Hostess was like, we have tables before you and we will just have to wait until 815pm. Its 820pm and we already spent $300 at the bar. No one came to get us so I went looking for the manager. Cant remember his name but he is short, light skinned black male with beard. He did not manage well at all. Once we sat down at 9pm, we see 5 tables open and my party was distraught. It was more like a well either you are going to wait or you can leave type atmosphere. 5 ppl from our party had left by then because they had children with them. This place is very unorganized and management needs some extensive customer service training. I will say that our Chef was the bomb as he had the whole restaurant looking at our table and not at there own chef. I forgot his name but I really do hope he received all $125 tip for him entertaining for my fiancé birthday dinner. Never again Benihana Never again! Bill was $800
I would have rated it a 5 but there were two issues. I only received 6 shrimps. The cook Ceaser had given half my shrimps to this other lady at the table. Also when my sister asked him to put the the garlic onion sauce on her meat he didnt. It was strange when the other lady asked him after my sister asked, he did put the sauce on her meat. It seems to me that he playing favorites at the table.
Unhappy with my first time visiting this establishment. Arrived 5min earlier prior to reservation time to celebrate my boyfriends birthday and the host said it would be a 20min wait after making reservations. waited 47min and that was enough. only had 2 drinks and we left. Wouldn’t recommend this restaurant to anyone I know. Short staff or not, follow up with your customers who’ve been waiting for an X amount of time.
Food was good and very well seasoned. But our chef…he was boring and drier than the Sahara desert. I ended up tipping the chef that was at the next table, just because he was more entertaining than ours. Spoke to the manager about my experience and he suggested I make a review. So here it is.
I am a frequent at this specific location and never has the quality of service nor food has ever been anything less than amazing. The staff is always very welcoming and kind. The atmosphere at this location also never disappoints, having a good mix of soft, fitting music; and allowing for conversations.
Chris our chef was amazing. It was our friends Birthday and the entertainment was excellent.. Really made it fun.
Sat at the bar and got to order full entrees. Such delicious food and left with plenty of leftovers. I’m vegetarian and had a full entree with seared tofu and it was so so good. Got mushrooms instead of the shrimp appetizer. Always love benihana!
I went Monday night around 645 for my kids birthday. We went to the self seating area because they really just wanted to have the sushi. The blonde haired lady in the front was super nice. (So my stars belong to her). After 10 minutes of no service, I had to go back to the front to ask for menus. Then, after another 10 minutes, she went to the side bar to ask someone to help us.However, that never happened. A man with a ponytail walked past us over 20 times. He looked busy. The problem was that he never acknowledged us. A simple, Ill be with you, give me a minute, ... anything. He looked down and walked past us each time. It made me scared to even ask for his help.Finally, another lady came from behind the bar but then waited on two men who came after us. I dont blame her for not knowing who was first, but after 40 minutes of sitting there, I said, Excuse me to her. She rudely and hastily said, Give me second. .... there were only 5 families total in this area . And everyone else had been served.I had plans to come back with my parents to celebrate a missed Mothers Day celebration.. but no thank you.
Overpriced!Our chef was nice and had some funny jokes, but the portion of food was so small for the priceI got the Emperors feast (chicken and filet mignon) and it was a 6 course meal for like $50... plus its a $7 up charge for chicken fried rice, which we werent informed of. Just asked if we wanted white or chicken fried rice. And I had told them it was my first time there.The food was cooked in way too much butter that I had a horrible stomach ache for days after.They were very attentive to my shellfish allergy which I very much appreciated
Ill only come here once in a great while. The food was fantastic, and the chef was attentive to our needs. However, its always very loud in there, and the waiter was rushing us to eat fast and get out of there for the next group. Although he said, No rush, his actions were saying the opposite. He offered take-home containers while we just started eating our main meal, and at the same time, got our dessert orders and gave our bill. Soon after, they brought out the dessert ice cream while we were still working on our dinner. By the time we got to dessert, it was half melted. Cant really relax and enjoy the good food there, unfortunately. Good only for special occasions and if youre willing to speed eat your meal.
Took some relatives here for the first time. They enjoyed themselves. We went for a late lunch, but got the dinner entrees. There were nine of us and the bill was $500+. I guess we should have gotten the lunch plates instead. Lesson learned.
What happen to this place? Total U-turn to fun, clean and delicious experience. Our table was disgusting! Old food and grease everywhere. They did move us and apologized but then the waiter and chef came and it was even worse. Our chef and another chef were arguing and i thought they were going to fight, but our chef said he needed this j.o.b. but would catch him on the streets later. This place slowly went ghetto and we will never go back!
Went to Benihana to celebrate my birthday. We havent been during the pandemic. The service was not great. As a business and success coach, I know firsthand the struggles that the restaurants are facing. The chef was super nice and the food was delicious.
The server took over an hour to put our entire table’s order in. The server Daisy was rude about it. I told her I had a selfish allergy. I guess the manager felt bad, so he decided to comp the table shrimp sushi. I turned it away. It’s felt like an insult. At least the chef was nice I made sure to tip him directly. Sorry Daisy but you deserved less than a tip.
The service is horrible. Reservation for 7:15, seated at 7:50, after seated, I have now been waiting one hour and the chef is still not here. This place is understaffed. Do not come here. It’s 9pm, I’ve been here since 7. Still haven’t eaten anything. Absolutely ridiculous.
This place was amazing. Youre entertained while you food is being prepared. So youre not just sitting waiting on your food to be prepared. They do have alcoholic beverages if you drink. There isnt a large dessert option. But the food was great. Reasonably priced but your charged 18% gratuity for a party of 5 or more.
This was my first time at this location. I was greeted by Keandre at the reception desk. He gave me an attitude from the start, stating you have to have a reservation without any attempt to act friendly. His customer service skills definitely need honing. He actually made me feel unimportant and on my birthday no less. Rather than offering a reservation option, he just shrugged nonchalantly. His coworker was clearly trying to be accommodating. He was so dismissive that I couldnt help but feel like he did not want to be here.Note: I went outside and made a reservation successfully and walked back in with that Golden Reservation.Everything else was great.
This location had the worst customer services. The whole staff ignore us . We waited in the bar for 30 minutes till I finally had to ask the front for help ! they came with an attitude to serve us regular drinks and no manager around . One thing is the wait but the fact that all the employees ignore you, is totally not ok .The sushi bar attendant didn’t acknowledge us also, very sad to see the fail to acknowledge customers. Never again going to this location. Rude staff, they need better training.
This was my first time dining inside with the family. Our waiter was great and very courteous to our wants and needs! The downside was...we had to wait for over 2 hrs as a walk in, but let me tell you; it was worth the wait. The kids enjoyed as well as all of the adults! I would definitely try to do reservation if you can. Prepping and getting food to your table is a little wait. However, great entertainment of your food being cooked to order🤗♥️.
This location has always been lacking, but over the past few years things have gotten really bad. Chefs who dont know how to cook so food is over or undercooked. Waitresses who dont bring the courses and ingredients out. We missed the last two courses because the waiter was so far behind. Probably the scariest thing was how at one of the tables the griddle was peeling up about three inches on the side right in front of the chef. That cant be sanitary and it was so blatantly broken!
Benihana is always a memorable experience. Our server Elisa and our chef Fernando increased the experience with their extra attention given to the children and the guest of honor in our party of nine. Everyone had a great time. We were all elated with the level of service we received. Watching Fernando prepare the meal was extremely entertaining. And it goes without saying that the food was delicious. We were even impressed with the level of expertise Elisa displayed while plating our leftovers. If you havent figured it out yet...we had a great time! It was smiles all around the table, all night. Note: Make reservations, because this is a very popular location.
We had a great time. Our chef was hilarious. I know a lot of their jokes are used amongst the chefs but he was extra. Loved it! Beautiful host and friendly staff.
I ordered a spicy teriyaki shrimp, the stupid chef cooked and cooked and put my ship to the wrong plate and I was looking forward to eat my shrimp. Finely when he cooked mine I was already full (that shrimp was half the amount that he put other persons plate, but I was charged fully.
Wont rate the atmosphere..So not what benihanas was and should be. So much for feeling like a Japanese restaurant. Use to go as a nice dinner for a Birthday anniversary etc. Now just everybody goes and looks like they could be wearing p.j. the staff all around im sure are nice but presentation is not there anymore. Chefs look and sound so bored when doing the show. After going for about 46 years differant locations and last 35 years mostly torrance location. Sad to say I dont believe I will go back. Very disappointed
2nd time there. Went for my birthday. It was even more awesome than the 1st time which was great.I dont know how I never went before. I love it! I have a seafood allergy so the chef made sure to keep the seafood away from my order. Chicken and Steak!
The food and food service were good, however watch out for your check!!They were not transparent when they brought it to us. Because we had a large party they added a 20% gratuity (no problem), however when they brought us the check they did not bring an itemized copy showing the 20% gratuity that was already added, so we ended up adding another 20% gratuity!We called the restaurant the next day and they denied doing anything wrong even though the check we showed them was omitting the gratuity they added before bringing us the check.We then called our credit card company, and now we are fighting with them To get a refund/credit for the second tip.This is a month later.I can assure you that this happens to many many other patrons. And the restaurant gets away with it because like us, The people are not paying close attention and they add a second tip not knowing one was already added! The restaurant did not disclose that!Never going back to this place!
This is one of the most horrible locations I’ve been too. The cooks can’t read, the rice is watery & the manager is very unhelpful and rude. I usually love Benihana, I gave this one two chances and it was horrible both times. Don’t waste your money here.
I will NEVER go to this location in Torrance!!! We made reservations and still had to wait 45 minutes. Then we go inside and they sit us with another family. Mind you I didnt mind the family what did bother me is them not asking us if we are okay with it. Then it took about another 30 minutes just to get our drinks. Food was good and our cook Erik did a great job on his cooking
My First and last time I didnt like the taste of the food because of that garlic butter👎👎 I think using olive oil would give the food a better taste and if the customer wants garlic butter add it to their food upon request only........
Went for lunch. Waiting approx 30 minutesNobody checked our table . Hostess and 2 servers were entertaining each other at the reception. No service what Döner. We left.
Never coming back here been sitting here for 45 minutes no drinks my kids are upset no food or drinks being served completely out of order. I have never been to a restaurant that’s so unorganized. Poor service
Our server Rose was energetic and delightful and was instantly a part of our family, a table of 7. She kept everything flowing and was attentive to our table though they were very busy for a Friday afternoon. Herman our Chef cooked everything to perfection and kept the table entertained and well fed. Best fire volcano!
We had birthday club coupons for $30.00 off so our meal was only like $20.00. The people at our table were really fun and super nice.
Went last night for my sons birthday and Earl was the absolute best!!! Put on a great show, told funny jokes and cooked up food that was absolute 🔥
Family dinner for my cousins birthday. Kid friendly, waiting and chef staff funny and friendly. Although we had an appointment at 7pm, we werent seated until 7:30 and that was after questioning the hostesses. Chef didnt arrive until 8pm. Normally I wouldnt care, but we had little kids who are not as patient. Which it made it difficult to entertain them while the staff got it together. Regardless of our reservation the staff was not prepared.
We celebrated my daughters birthday here last month. The manager Christian Ferrell and his staff were beyond accommodating with the different arrival times of 10 teens. Additionally, Christian helped us come up with a seating plan when I misjudged the number of guests. Our waiter Deinzel provided excellent service. My daughter and her friends had a great time. All and all a great experience because of the outstanding customer service.
For the food, I gave a 5, it was delicious 😋The services on the other hand, not so much. People were confused about the orders, and argued among themselves, right in front of us, (super rude) not paying attention to what the customer is asking. If I didnt try 3 times to ask for a drink, I wouldnt have had any!!! since no one even asked if I want something to drink For the entire service!!!!For my first visit, I would say that you probably would have a better experience ordering it to-go.
It’s always nice to come and eat at Benihana’s! The service at the restaurant is always great, the cooks are always learning new tricks and are excellent at their jobs, and of course the food is always great! I was very happy to have my 21’st birthday here, and I recommend you make a reservation with family. Or you can always come and enjoy the bar! Thank you for your hard work and dedication Benihana’s!
The employees were very unprofessional. the manager was goofing off along with team members and the hostess was very negative. the waiter was very kind at least. yall need to do better.
This is the benihanas in Downy. It was not clean, very dirty, and you had to wait a long time before being served. And bad customer service. The food was just ok! For the money there charging.
We went today, 5/18 @ 2pm &I forgot the servers full name but I remembered it’s “D” for short haha.. HE IS SO SWEET & CHEERFUL! And also, our bilingual Guatemalan chef made my mother in law and whole family feel at home, it was just a beautiful and fun time. The food was yummy, my 8 mo baby loved the vibe & and we all had a great first experience as a family. We all enjoyed our late mothers day meal.
We got here at 6:30 per our reservations and got seated at 7:10 pm. Well we waited almost 1hr and 40 mins. No soup, no salad just drinks. I thought it was ridiculous. After our server finally brought us something to eat we asked how much longer and until my husband mentioned it our cook comes in. Forgets the rice 🤦🏻♀️ and walks away. We will probably get out of here at 10 pm. Mind you it’s my birthday and I was hoping I can enjoy the rest of my night but apparently I’m not going to be able to. Benihana’s needs to work a bit better with there services.
Had a great time tonight at the restaurant. Wait time was a bit long and time fromTable to when a chef arrived was long, only reason for 4 stars. Chef Manny was great and food was delicious, and the real star of the show was Rose. She was so friendly and attentive, and has a great charisma to her. Really made the dinner for me, she was amazing! Hope to have her serve me again next time I come to eat! Again, Rose is AWESOME
I was trying to place a take out order online and it did not allow me to put substitutions in the box. The box specifically says no special order instructions. I called the young lady is telling me the take out phone is down, but it was not down because I pressed 2 to place a take out order. I then asked can she take it over the phone she stated no. This location always gives me problems but the one in downey has execellent customer service it is just torrance is closer. If you want to visit Benihanas please visit the Downey location it just sucks you have to drive a further to get customer service. Welp happy 4th of july to me
Horrible ... Rice everywhere !!! The whole place is NASTY, not clean at all . The waiter appearance was trashy. Unorganized/chefs dropping utensils while putting on acts. Close it ...Ya charge too much for that restaurant to be looking like that... Im black, I went for the Japanese culture experience, not to hear Happy Birthday in Spanish or the Blk chef doing roll call . SORRY not SORRY .
One of the best Benihana around. Friendly staff and real entertaining chefs. Small packing lot however there are spots close by. It is worth the wait and it does get busy.
We had our First Lady chef. She was funny and the food was delicious. The server on the other hand wasnt the brightest cookie. The dummy interrupted the volcano show trying to pass out a drink right above the onion that she was going to light on fire. He was screaming DONT LIGHT IT! DONT LIGHT IT! She was kind enough to not light him on fire. The server needs some more training or a new brain altogether. We Love our lady chef!
Called to see how long their wait time was and was told no reservations were needed as the place wasnt busy. Arrived 16 minutes later, checked in and was told there was a little wait and to check back in in 15-20 minutes later. My wait was over an hour. I dont see myself going back here any time soon.When we were finally seated we had Brian for our chef was he great! I had medium-rare filet mignon, chicken fried rice, soup, salad and strawberry iced tea which was good. My husband had a luncheon chicken shrimp with a Pepsi, and our children ordered a kids chicken and shrimp and chicken meal. One had a mango lemonade and the other a raspberry lemonade which were both great.
Our chef was Saul and he was AMAZING! Great personality and just AWESOME!!! Would definitely come back and request him!!!! Food was great and service was even better!!! Thanks Saul
Benihana is a great experience to see the iconic onion volcano while having a little disco party with your food. The CFR (chicken fried rice) is a must to pair with quality seafood, steak, and chicken. I always enjoy the atmosphere of this restaurant. Christian, the manager, took great care of us. I will be coming back soon!
Our service Easa was amazing, she was so sweet, patient and so helpful. We had a great time at this Benihana location! Food was so yummy.
Food was great. Service waa great. Restroom need some attention. It was a great experience for my out of the country guests.
Has good food but it has the most terrible disgusting bathrooms Ive ever seen the sink looks like its about 20 Years old and has grime all around the edges and the door is completely disgusting and looks like Its coated with mold and dirt and has covid all over it they dont even have a foot stool so that you dont have to touch the handle I would recommend this restaurant for take out only because to dine in completely ruined the experience They need an upgrade at this restaurant ASAP and the fact that they havent did it already makes no sense because people pay way too much money and tip too good for them to be having such low grade restaurants
This place went down hill after the whole covid pandemic. They have staff that never seems to know whats going on. Last week i went in there to eat on the bar side just to be told they didnt have a chef for that side.I came in today a week later since I was in the area just to be told by the front host. he didnt know if the bar side was open I would have to check myself he just got there. I went over and seen a table of 3 have their food bring brought out to them. Figured that was a yes and patiencently waited for the server to acknowledge me so I could confirm. 10mins later still not even a glace or any sort of acknowledgement to my table or 3.. almost now 15 min in per my timer I now set. I had to yell excuse me to get his attention. He then tells me there was no longer a cook to serve that area... would have been nice to know that when I 1st sat down. The food and serves has been so so bad this will be the last time I even bother with this location. Id rather make the drive to Downey.
We made a reservation and waited for an hour to be seated. They were super rude . Food is the worst Tepaniaky style we ever had. Don’t go there.
Chris the manager is awesome, I prefer COLD drinks it be hot inside this place. No hot soups or hot drinks because folks can get over heated and sweaty 😂Charles did a good job 👏 and feel he need To be a more theatrical like Dwayne is. The food came to slow but I had fun here that’s all that matters.The noodles he made was pretty good but I do feel that he put too much butter way too much grease in the food so it wasn’t something that I really liked as far as the food was but the environment was really nice.I didn’t like the group that they sent me with at the table felt a little uncomfortable but once I got the drinks in me it was all good.I only liked the Appetizers veggie tempura veggies. I also only like the frozen drinks.If you are looking for a place to go and have fun and enjoy the camaraderie I would say Benihana’s located in Torrance is the Best Place on a Saturday.Chris is an awesome manager, Charles is a nice funny guy who put worth good efforts, and Dwayne is amazing At theatrics and hype in the crowd.
I arrived at around 7 pm and was not seated til around 9:30 pm.For some reason, people who arrived after us were served before us.One couple at my table never received their soup. I never received my rice, and the Birthday Boys steak was improperly prepared, and the chef tried to convince him to eat it.Although Happy Birthday was sung at a number of tables, ours was not one of them.Soup and salad were delivered while we were being plated, and the manager did not appear to be interested in our disappointment.We were so frustrated that we chose not to have desert that was included with our meals because it was already around 11:30 pm.At some point, they offered us drinks and water once we requested it.It was horrible. I reached out to corporate, but so far, there has been no response.
Fun place. Service could be better. The flavors of food are delicious. And the show is great as well.
Absolutely wonderful shout outs to our chef Theo. Legend and proud member of the FGC WOLF FANG FIST
The food was amazing, the place was amazing, and the show was amazing. This was such a cool experience. It was my first time going to one of these and I would 10/10 recommend it. The cooks and waiters were super nice and friendly. There was a lot of meat on the menu but still some vegetarian and vegan options.
Waiting was outrageous.. front desk staff never acknowledged and let us go inside to get a table. Waited an hour no one came to the bar area to acknowledge or take our order or served drinks. Everyone was wondering around and no one helped any customers arriving.
The Grand Baby had a great time watching him cook... But I was disappointed they no longer have the kids chef hats 😔😔😔
Ive been going to Benihana for my birthday for the last 25 years. Its a wonderful place with great food and entertainment. My kids are at an age at which they really enjoy the show which makes it so much more fun for me. Food, fun, atmosphere...you will have a great time!
Great food, busy as to be expected on Thanksgiving day.
This is by far the most disconcerting experience I have ever had. Benihana Torrance, you should be ashamed.How can you allow booking of reservations for 7:45pm and have people wait an additional 45-60mins to be seated?I even confirmed an hour prior to arrival to make sure the reservation is was valid, no one notified me of the wait.This is beyond unprofessional.Update: Currently seated, as I didn’t leave because I’m expecting and my pregnancy won’t allow me to leave. Server took drink orders from one couple but did not address the others.To be continued:UPDATE: A member named “Travis” called me and left a voicemail but when I returned the call, I was on hold for 30 mins. Still seeking to rectify the issue regarding poor service.
Awesome atmosphere.Made reservations and were seated within ten minutes of reservation.Food was great. Service was quick. The chef was very entertaining. Ask for Dwayne. He will definitely make the experience worthwhile.
Very fun birthday lunch!
This was the spot to go during the pandemic when you could order to go. The Chicken fried spicy right was always a hit. I would have it with crab legs I would order from another place.
It was my daughters 11th birthday so we brought 9 kids with us for dinner. Not only was the staff welcoming and warm but they have us a few appetizers while we waited for our table for our hungry kids. Once we sat the service was impeccable. From the manager to the chef to the servers, everyone was on point. And the food was phenomenal. It was our first time ever at any Benihana and we will be sure to come to this location just for the service alone.
Rainy day in the South Bay just sounds unlucky. We waited for 30-40min(be prepared if it gets busy it will be longer) and got a great bartender while we waited. Then we were treated to best Benihana combo Chris and Chris! Excellent service and attentiveness from our server and the cook was an A+ according to our whole table. What a great experience also for my, soon to be, 1 year old son. He loved every second, once the food came 🤣
If it wasn’t for John coming through with amazing food again this would be 1 star. He made me great food that made me give him a review last time but our waiter this time around was horrible. If she wasn’t in the restroom on the phone wondering where her bf was my appetizers would have probably gotten to my table hot (and before my main course was fully cooked )so I wouldn’t have to ask for new ones. Plus her disappearing forever and last minute giving us drinks and not offering my kids ice cream but throwing in an ice cream on the house to some other people I felt her vibes from outside of work were effecting her friendliness . On top of all that she deliberately ignored the whole table calling for her with a polite excuse me a few times in a row she literally had to wait for the other waiter to leave to keep walking and still ignored us
Super busy in the evenings but wait isnt too long... service was good and fast. The happy hour at the bar is a good option for small parties.
Granddaughter birthday she reserved 3 tables, they booked her between 8 and 8:30 everyone was their by 8:30.2 table got their cooks, the other table place their order at but no cook, by the time the cook came after many complaints. The order that was place we were not able to have, due to the fact the sushi bar was closed, the bar was closed for our drinks. Remind you we place our order before 9 the cook came around 11:00 he did not know who ordered what, he didnt like what happen as well. We did not leave this place until close to 1p.m I canceled my order I was not happy at all. Worst service ever some many parties had complaints. I would not be going back. That was my first and last time. You would think the would have apologize or accommodate us no they did nothing. Beware
This is sad and disappointing, but I must update my review of Benihana in Torrance, CA.My last review was in 2018 where I really liked the sushi bar. But like many other restaurants during Covid-19, Benihana had to shut operations. When they initially came back and reopened post covid, I was told that the sushi bar was operational. Unfortunately, that is not true. The restaurant is still not back to full operations.It is December 1, 2023 and we went to Benihana tonight hoping to enjoy the food and service that we once had pre-Covid days. We asked to sit at the sushi bar, but was informed that it was not a true sushi bar. A server would need to take our order. After about ten minutes, we flagged down a server. She told us that another server would take our order. She offered to get us some water and direct Matt to us. Alas, after another 15 minutes, no server visited our table. Not feeling the warmth and love we once had, we glumly left the restaurant and went somewhere else.Benihana was once recommended to me by a friend because of the quality of the sushi. That is why I took my date/wife there on our first date. That was September, 2001. Sadly, this restaurant was not the same place. Of course, I cannot even recommend the sushi at this point because we could not order any and taste it.
The Service, Drinks, Food Were All Good, But I Think I Was Over Charge For Everything, I Had Two Drinks, Veggie Fried Shrimp Rice, Two Chx Hibachi, & One Shrimp Tempura. Cost Price $145.43 & Tipped The Bartender $20.00 Wasnt Satisfied With That Price Didnt Look At MY Menu TO Check It Out.......... Dine In And Take Out
Great place for group of friends. The food is delicious but a little different since they stopped using garlic butter for everything. They do have a good happy hour too!
I was about tu give them hem a very low rate because of the literately 2 hours waiting siting on the table, but to be honest this lady save the night, she was above and beyond, always smiling even ti was midnight and she was still there cooking and joking with everyone. Berenice and the waitress we’re just all in. Management keep an eye on on this amazing teammates and also on your logistic, cause tbh 2 hours waiting was a LOT! But yeah management gave us 50% discount and we really appreciate that.
We went here last night to celebrate my husband’s birthday. Saul was our chef and he did an amazing job!! Food was cooked to perfection. He was very entertaining and funny. Excellent experience. Be sure to sign up for their birthday awards program, such a great deal.
I have to lower my review because after the 3rd trip in 3 weeks the hostess did a terrible job. We had reservations and arrived 10 minutes early. The hostes said to stand in the other room and we will be seated shortly. After 15 minutes I asked for an update and she said we will be seated very shortly. After another 15 I asked again what is going on and she said because she is only a hostess she doesnt know what is going on and is only there to tell me when they are ready and it will probably be another 15 minutes. I asked why she didnt tell us the truth from the beginning so we could have had drinks but she didnt care only to snuff off saying there is nothing she can do. We ended up having to wait an hour. 3 people from the table were so upset they simply left. Also they claim a 6 course meal and not serve all the courses while charging extra for rice.Old review: Great attention to quality and detail. Amazing drink specialist. Japanese quality. Nice watching them make the food in front of you in a fun way.I originally arrived Monday after being told over the phone that we had a chance to be seated without reservations. We showed up and were really disappointed to find out the long wait times and the person only advised us we will probably not get seated in person. I almost gave up but didnt.The only other thing I disliked was the fancy drink prices. 2 drinks costing almost $30 is just too high. Great taste but the old fashioned should have been double the size for the price.
Worst wait time ever!The food is good and our server was super friendly but the wait time to be seated and assigned a chef is ridiculous! We waited over an hour to be seated at our table and another hour for a chef to start cooking. I’ve been to other Benihana locations and the most time I’ve waited was 15-20min. This location needs more staff and a better organized structure.
Our chef Jorge was so entertaining from start to finish!! Have been going there for over 20 years as a family to celebrate New Years Eve....food is always amazingly good and at holiday time they make a yummy cranberry mojito.
Paid for 6 course and didn’t even get dessert. Waiter didn’t even mention it and upon asking he said the machine is broken but we saw table next to us have it. Worst service.
We had a 7:45 PM birthday dinner reservation. Our entire party arrived early by 7:30 PM. We were not seated at a table until after 9:00 PM. Then, we watched two other tables that arrived after us and were seated after we receive their chef and dinner before us. I presented this to the manager Christian, you stated Thats Crazy. To which I replied, indeed... it is crazy. The explanation we were given was that the other tables had one table versus our party having two. However, two different chefs served those two tables before us. For My meal, I requested only Zucchini, no other vegetables. In the end, the chef threw a pound of mushrooms over my plate. I was no longer able to eat my food. It was a very disappointing experience. We didnt finish being served and resting until 11:19 PM for a 7:45 reservation Birthday Dinner. Mind you We had two toddlers as well.
Benihana is the biggest rip off, the bill was $600+ for mostly rice. Sorry but I am a pricing analyst at my job so its just ridiculous to pay that amount of money for what is essentially $30 total worth of food.They use a seed oil to cook everything, the fish is farmed raised and I dont like how they serve all the items in increments rather than all at once. This will be the last time I go there, got me once but never again. 👎👊
Ive had the worst experience today at this benihana. We had a parents night out. We had reservations for 9:45pm just to get there and be told we had to wait to be seated then wait another 2 hours to have a chef assigned to us. Clearly the employees wanted to leave home earlier. Since we had already paid our sitter we politely let them know thats fine we would wait. Which we really were willing to wait since we had already made up our minds about our date. But when we were waiting we felt the employees just looking at us. We also heard them talking about us under their breathe. We left of course because we felt uncomfortable. All we wanted was a nice date.
The wait for food was way too long. Reservations were at 7 and didnt get seated till 8 and got my food at 9.
Service was slow at best. I ordered shrimp/scallops with extra veggies and no rice. The shrimp and scallops were okay. Glad I didnt order rice after seeing how much butter was used to cook it. The veggies were not carrots and broccoli like I expected based on experience with tens of different hibachi places. Instead the veggies were zucchini and onions... Which were fine (just not what I was wanting/expecting).Overall it was very expensive for the portion, service, and quality I received.
My boyfriend and I came out to dinner last night with my 3 daughters. We had a reservation for 945 and they were able to seat us at 9 with another couple that had waited 30 minutes after their reservation. The waiter appeared to be new which I understand (weve all been there) but at no point did he take the time to explain anything as far as if they were busy or please be patient nothing. It took us a very long time to get initial drinks, as well as our soups and salads. We had to ask for a second round of drinks even tho our cups were clearly low/empty. The tables served around us with the same amount of people got served much quicker and their cook arrived much quicker also. At the end we got a full round of ice cream that all arrived half melted as if they had been sitting on a counter for a very long time. The whole experience was disappointing. Our cook did limited engagement while the 2 tables around us got a full show and the cooks were both engaging and fun and had the whole tables laughing From being seated to getting our check took 2 hours and 15 minutes. The food was delicious however which was the nights only saving grace. But at a bill of 380 your paying for an experience not just food. We did tell the manager and he seemed to not careUpdate: sent an email to the benihanacares and received a call at 9:06 pm on Friday night and email asking me to call back from manager Ryan I called back 6 minutes later and I was on hold for 22 minutes just for someone to come back on the line and say he probably wasnt there anymore I emailed Ryan back at 930 and have yet to receive any response. Maybe Ryan was off for the weekend.Just thought Id update. It is now 11/30/22 and to this day I have not received an email nor a call from anyone representing this company.
Made a reservation for 645 for a birthday. Waited at the bar until 815 until we were called to a table. Spoke with manager who said we would continue to wait at table another 45 mins as they are understaffed. Ridiculous. We walked out. Many parties were upset with the wait time. Keep in mind we all had reservations. Go somewhere else if you want a stress free meal.
Pretty good place. The food is pretty decent, and maybe a tad bit overpriced. But the whole experience with the chefs cooking in front of you is definitely worth checking out. Super Friendly and helpful staff is also always a W
Absolutely great customer service, friendly and entertaining chef. Love the atmosphere. Drinks are awesome for my alcoholics....lol
The food here is always excellent but the staff are the best part of the restaurant friendly helpful.
Excellent service.. Table server and chef was awesome and welcoming. 10 stars for both .. Eric and Momo was their names
Great food and clean environment 👌 restrooms a plus will definitely be back
Our dinner was amazing! We had Roberto as a server and he was so attentive and funny! Saul was our chef, he made the experience so fun, and went above and beyond to make it an enjoyable experience. Highly recommend!
This restaurant is classic. You come for the show almost as much as the food. The food was solid, the show was horrible. We had two tables of 19 people with two cooks. One guy was amazing, the other did one bit the entire time - changed the lights with a laser. It was unfortunate because the birthday boy was at the table with the cook that only cooked and didnt perform.If youre looking for the show, you best ask the greeter who you are going to get.
The servers were trying so hard to keep people happy but they are short staffed very disappointed
My family of 6 had a reservation for my sons birthday for 6:45pm. I was told that they were behind and we would be seated in 30-40 mins. We finally got seated at 7:30ish. If it wasn’t for the awesome service Solana N provided we would’ve left. The waiter brought our soup to the wrong table, then tried to serve us the soup after they placed it on the other table. My stepmom had let the server know we wanted new soup (the waiter spilled hers) and they walked off with an attitude. When I asked to speak to management, the manager Noah told me he was busy and would come 10 mins.. he did finally come to our table but basically said that it was busy and everybody is getting bad service. No apology whatsoever. The chef forgot the lobster and scallops on one of the dishes. The tables around us got all of there courses and got sung to and we were still waiting. Bathrooms were absolutely disgusting. Manager should really do something about providing better service or reconsider a new career path because if this is who Benihana hires to run their locations they are in trouble. Worst experience I’ve ever had at any Benihana to the point where I never want to step foot at another one, especially Torrance.
Sadly, this was one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had. Not because of the food but due to the terrible customer engagement with the manager, Noah McIntosh. We were there to celebrate my 13 year old grandsons birthday. The manager treated our group of 6 like we did not matter to Benihanas. We had a 6:45 reservation, we were there at 6:40, but were told it would be another 45 minutes before we would be seated. This turned into over an hour. When finally seated we noticed several groups coming in being seated and their dining experience started. Not for us, we waited another 30 minutes before a server came to our table. when she did she was kind and apologetic for the delay. She took beverage order and asked if there was anything she could do to improve our experience. The server provided salads then a bus boy who was previously sweeping the floor brought soups to the table next to ours which were intended for our table. He spilled most of the soup, his gloves were dirty his attitude was vile and the chef asked him to take to soup away and he got upset. I then asked if I could speak to the manager. The manager came to the table 15 minutes later he told me that he was busy the restaurant was crowed and that everyone in the restaurant was important. He never asked what my issue was or offer an apology for the bad service. His attitude was very disturbing. It was obvious this kid was over his head. To make matters worse we all placed our orders and the chef did not provide the lobster and scallops I ordered. I kept waiting for the lobster, it never came by then its 9:30PM so we got the check and ask to speak to the manager again. when he came back to the table it was clear he was annoyed with us and very offensively said I removed the Ocean dinner from the check as if he did me a favor. It was never provided. I will never go to another Benihanas and will share my experience so others will be aware of the lack of trained management at the Torrance location. Noah McIntosh needs emotional intelligence training, customer service training and more common sense. He didnt even have the instinct to say on behalf of Benihanas he was sorry for our experience. This leads me to believe this is a common occurrence.
Great food, service and atmosphere. It is always fun to go to Benihanas for special occasions
Great food, awesome show atmosphere of meeting new people.... Lots of fun!
We had a wonderful lunch today at Benihana. As usual, the food was top tier. The chef had great jokes. Our server, Jacob, was very courteous and attentive. The manager, Christian, was very hands on and went over and beyond to ensure we had a great experience. Excellent team and customer service at the Torrance Benihana. 😃
Staff was very friendly, wait time not bad. Restaurant is definitely improving on staff & wait. The manager Christian was super friendly & very accommodating. Our chef Jesse was very entertaining for my children❤️ love everything about this place
The team at Benihanas was excellent and enthusiastic. Thank you again Alejandro for the table side fire show and to the manager Christian for making our party feel welcome at this establishment. 5 stars ✨ ⭐️⭐️
Every time I go back to Benihana it’s always getting worst they have the worst cooks ..I went on a date with my boyfriend and the cook didn’t even do the experience on the grilled he was mad or that’s the expression he had he didn’t even talk to us nor said anything like we didn’t exist .. when he was done with us he was someone else cook and he was extremely friendly and did the experience for them not fair at all … are waiter was great .the host kept us waiting even tho we had a reservation
Food and service were great, but the dining room is feeling a bit rundown and the fact that they have to have armed security guards is pretty concerning considering I am there with my family.
Sat at the grill for over an hour and 15 minutes waiting for a chef. Super understaffed. Ordered tuna steak and it was over cooked. Manager took off bill but it was mine and bf anniversary and it was very disappointing. Sat down at 8:30p left at 10:30 and wasn’t worth waiting for ice cream.
Absolutely amazing experience. Super entertaining and delicious
Didnt have a reservation. Arrived at 5pm. 2 hr wait almost 3. Checked status periodically, time to be seated all over the place. 30 min, 8 min, then 40mins. Finally sat to eat around 8ish...party of 9 complimentary appetizers for our long wait. Dinner was very good, nice food prep show. Plum wine to die for...Recomm...make reservations in advance, wear long sleeves, food crumbs on grill pops causing burns. Was popped with a hot crumb.....Over all i enjoyed myself.
We been to this Torrance location a million times before and experienced nothing but excellent service. But yesterday was a disaster. We spoke to the manager named Chris who gave us complimentary food and drinks free of charge and gave us half off on our $125 order. We made reservations for the following day immediately. Maribel even was very welcoming. She works the bar. I recommend if you are in the Torrance area that you come to this Benihana.
We had a reservations for 6:00. Our party was all present at 5:50 pm. I checked in and they said it would be about an 45 minute wait - even with the reservation. We waited until 6:50 and we’re just about to leave when they finally seated us. We sat and sat and sat and sat. We were told the chief was just finishing up. Finally at 7:30 the chief finally arrived. Why I am not giving 0 stars was the chief was great! I really wish they would get their reservation system down - waiting an hour and a half is ridiculous.
I am posting this review not to bash but in hopes that the owners see this and do something about how this restaurant is run. Ive been going there for sushi for decades…I hadn’t been dine in since covid…. Was ordering thru DoorDash….And am very sad with the lack in service. The people cooking were also serving. Waited 15 minutes no one asked for drinks or even give us a menu. The cooks were clearing out tables and just kept saying sorry. Some tables left others had to leave right when food got there everyone was complaining to how long it was taking. Table next to me 35 Minutes no drinks they ended up leaving. The waiters looked like they didn’t want to be there. I am very sad to how it’s being run…. Perhaps ask your longtime employees how to improve they’ve been there and are your greatest asset in learning where it’s lacking. Hopefully can become our weekly staple restaurant again.
Great service, Tim & Steve were wonderful the manger was very accommodating.
This is one of our favorite places but the service has dropped drastically. Specially at dinner we were literally left for an hour without anyone attending our table. The quality of food remains the same but the service is no longer what it used to be.
Unfortunately, this restaurant did a terrible job. We had to wait more than an hour for the actual chef to show up after receiving the appetizers. I spent more than $50 on the steak and Shrimp combo and there was barely any meat. I would say if you were looking to eat at a Japanese Steakhouse you are better off going to somewhere like Nakatos. For $50-60 I would have expected so much more. One of my friends got a 3-meat combo consisting of chicken, shrimp, and steak. Despite paying $15 more he didnt get that much more food than what I received.
Horrible service. Ordered to go. The line was so slow, that I was able to order from my phone as I stood in line, and bypass placing an order with the cashier.Waited a minimum of five minutes in am empty pickup area and no one ever came out for me to pick up the completed order.Had to go next door and get a host to grab my food. Asked for condiments and got a BS response they were out of sauces. I replied, For the entire restaurant? Gentlemen replied, no just on the take out side.Customer service is lacking.
If you get served by a Honduran girl named Daisy, shell take care really good care of you. She ruled and our dinner was so much better cause of her
SHUT THIS LOCATION DOWN. Either shut it down or hire more staff. I went on a Monday evening and I totally understand it’s a busy evening so I’m patient not only is there only one bartender but no manager is in sight to help out while covering the other bar tender that’s on break myself and a party of three were waiting for a table to open up for dinner we put our drink and appetizers orders in and waited 30 minutes for us to get the bill not our drinks or apps but our bill. I get a text our table was ready, the hostess there told us to close our tab and they’ll bring our food and drinks out to us. While my friends are closing the tab the hostess tells us she won’t seat us until the whole party of three is there I tellHer were closing out the Tab and she responds with an attitude saying “we’ll what do you want me to do?, im not responsible for your order.” We left after that with no drinks, no apps, and a reason not to come back to this Benihana. Luckily I had the chance to check out the the Santa Monica location later that week and honestly it shows how great of a place Benihana can be when you prioritize staffing accordingly.Remember people don’t forget to tip your server 👍🏻
Benihana has lost its uniqueness.We waited almost an hour for the other guests to show up.
The cook was nice, but not as flashy as they usually are. The food was excellent and lots of it. You wont go away hungry!
The food was delicious, the chef cooking the food & entertaining us was awesome. We had a wonderful time for our 6th year anniversary and our first time there and we will definitely be coming back more often.
Fried rice use to come with the dinner course now they charge you an extra $5 for it .This place loves to make money by not hiring enough staff, they dont care about makeing their customers wait. We waited 2hours, finally the cook came to the table with a bad attitude, like he didnt want to be there, he slammed the rice on the grill and never came back, so we called the manager to our table and I just couldnt take it any more and I let him have it. I told him he is a terrible manager and some other things i dont care to mention then we all got up and left. They had 3 Chefs and 7 table, just rediqules.
Reserved online took 40 min to sit, waited 40 min for a cook, my order was all wrong, everything was over cooked even when I asked for a med rare steak had to ask for redo even forgot about my colossal shrimp had to ask for it too. Was charged for mistakes that where sent back my first experience was awful, coming from a different state. Heard great things about this place, hope other location are better.
I wanted to drop a line to praise the manager Christian. He was outstanding. Christian had the ability to understand and feel what me as customer was experiencing, and you were able to meet our needs effectively. Well done!
Great chef and server. Food cook perfect 🥰
The wait was a little long to get a table then to get a chef, but once we got a Chef we had a great time. Chef Dwayne was truly entertaining. He was original in his performance which was refreshing. He has a great sense of humor, and interacted very well with our table. We will definitely comeback, and recommend to people we know to try Benihana’s in Torrance.
We had a fantastic time! Chef Dwayne (Benihana black mamba) was excellent! Although we come quite often, his cooking and personality was a great! He added new and fun touches to the experience.
4/17/2023Came in at approximately 8:50 PM and checked in for my reservation at 9:00 pm. Was awkwardly seated and 15 mins after the fact, employees were ignoring me and my fiancé just walking back and forth gossiping. Will never return to this location.
Worst experience ever. I’ll never eat here again. Customer service wasn’t that great although Our server was great. We waited over an hour for our chef to even come out to cook the food. Try the Santa Monica location because this location was very disappointing. I lost my entire appetite for my food.
This location of Benihanas left much to be desired, but it was decent at best. After hearing so much hype about this brand, I decided to give it an try and I was mostly dissatisfied. The best food I tried was the infamous chicken fried rice and their house salad. As for the actual teriyaki chicken, it was mediocre so I was disappointed. The service was also decent at best, but of course the cost was overly priced and not worth the experience I received. I may try an different location in the future, before I have an conclusion about this restaurant chain.
The wait for our meal was extremely long, our cook was inexperienced the stove was not very clean and one of the people in our group did not eat the food that was cooked at the table because of that. The reason were there was that it was one persons first and last time, and she expressed that at the end of the day.
Miss the cooking show up close and personal but food was still great.
Sat 30 minutes after our reservation, starters didnt come for another 30 minutes. Food from the grill was ridiculously salty bordering on inedible but I hadnt ate all day so ate it anyways. Didnt refill waters once. Show was fun and everyone was nice. Just slow and salty.
Benihana Torrance never disappoints me! The bartender, Trystan, was an absolute machine making my drinks! Everyone there is super lovely! Chris, the manager, is the best and always makes sure you’re well served and enjoying your experience!
The place is the best, the food is yummy the place is fun and my family was extremely happy with Dwayne. My son was really into Dwayne acting out his part to entertain us. My family was just so excited.We want to give thanks Benihana‘s and it’s staff and we will definitely recommend Benihana‘s to anyone who wants to go to Benihana‘s and just have a good time is really a place to have a really really good time with your family and your friends and you know I will say if you come I think they sit six people at a table so if you come come with a group of six that way you can sit at the table with only you and your group you know what I mean as a post to be in group with other people at the table but other than that this place is awesomeShout out to Chris
I made reservations and still had to stand for 30 minutes. DO NOT come here, because they stack reservations, make you wait and wait and use the excuse that they are short staffed to placate the situation. What is the point of making a reservation? This Americanized reason to make you wait is full of it. How about you do not put reservations every 15 minutes and do it every 30 minutes. That would be a great idea for customer service.
This place needs to close their doors if they don’t have the proper staff to accommodate the demand. It’s simple. And if you want the REAL reviews please go to OpenTable. These reviews on google CLEARLY are phony and do not reflect the true experience of this location. Please know that you will have LONG EXCRUCIATING wait times to be seated and then more long wait times to be assigned a chef. They frequently run out of ingredients for beverages and liquor. Hostesses are overwhelmed and not happy.
The restaurant knew we were having a large group days before, yet they were completely unprepared and understaffed. The food was good once we were eventually served but honesty is always the best policy if you can’t accommodate a large group.
They dont pick up the phone even when Im physically at the front desk. They had lots of tables available but its always with reservations.When you have a reservation they still make you wait over an hr from the time you reserved. People say its good but we were hungry and decided to take our business elsewhere. Perhaps another time at a different location.
Good service and good food for my grand daughters birthday
Good food, cooks at the table should have their own tip jar, they are the show and do their best!!!!! Wait service is the worst. First they never introduce themselves, then make you wait to take the order, they don’t bring refills until u are almost done w your meal, and don’t ask for water and soda at the same time, seems like is too much for them. Manager Ryan ( I think that is his name - older African American man w light eyes) goes around saying hello to only “ some customers” as a bonus he gives them this special card he carries in his back pocket so “his friends” give reviews by scanning a code w their phones in exchange for ????? Discounts? Free meals??? Will never know, us and an Asian family at our table didn’t get the “ special card” but we all notice, started a conversation about it. Maybe he should go around passing those special cards to every table or at least ask how is everything we waited almost 30’ after we ate our salad, nobody picked up the empty dishes or offer another salad or soup for the wait. Obviously they are not well trained to run a restaurant.
Ive been to this Benihana many times but today was the worst dining experience weve ever had. We were called to our table 30 minutes after our reservation. It took the chef an hour to come out and cook for us. The chef was not prepared with all of our food. And the food was mediocre at best, not up to Benihana standard. Or waitress left only to leave the next waiter confused.
Christian is the consummate professional, and that professionalism translates to outstanding customer service. This outstanding service keeps my family coming back.
I went last night for my birthday. Our chef Louie made my experience along with my family so memorable. He has the best personality and kept us laughing the entire time. The food was delicious and everyone was so nice. We had exceptional service last night. The sung happy birthday and everyone joined in. Thank you to the Torrance Benihana staff for making my evening an amazing one. FYI Im asking for Chef Louie every time I go LOL❤️❤️❤️
Unfortunately, Benihana isn’t what it used to be. The quality of service, overall, has decreased. The cook tried to provide entertainment, but his cooking skills lacked greatly. The menu is pretty simple and yet the food was not cooked right or seasoned well. The amount of food given compared to prices aren’t fair. For the price I’d rather go somewhere else where I can get quality and more for the price.
Not too crowded and I like thatService was exceptional
Normally my trip to benihanas its a five-star experience and but this time we got a new cook with only one month experience who some how managed to under cook and over cook the food at the same time. This was definitely not something we expected from benihanas. So disappointed
Wow. Took my two boys and husband for my birthday and it was the worst Benihana experience ever.1. 5:15pm reservation seated 5:40pm (did I mention two boys?)2. Low energy waiter and chef. Took 2 hours for everything and cooking was maybe 20min. Other table had a lot more going on. Hardly any interactions from the chef to adults. Forget about the kids. Not even a shrimp toss to the hat. Seriously a squirt gun and a disco light does not make my day.3. Refills? What refills didn’t get any for sodas. Husband finally asked for a refill on some tea iced drink he had, got double charged when the menu says free refill.4. Asked for a fork, sorry none for us but others have them. We got plastic. $240 bill and I get plastic utensils. Just amazing. Another group said that their fork was as really hot. So problems with dishwasher. They should have 500 forks so that when dishwasher is on break they still got them.5. Ask if we wanted dessert… we had to double check and ask if it came with the meal because at this point anything was fair game to go wrong. Yes it did come with meal. So we ordered green tea ice cream. Which is everyone’s favorite right? 10 min later waited comes back and says ice cream too hard and can’t scoop it out. So we settled on chocolate. We got our chocolate and other tables got green tea ice cream.So not so fun times. When you think it can’t get worse it did. I think my family will be heading for other options from now on.
Fun for kids especially but the chefs are entertaining for anyone.
Garden was our chef he was incredible!!! Very engaging, knowledgeable about the menu. Food was wonderful!!!! My best experience to date. You need more of him
Dont let the current 4 star rating fool you, they are old ratings and many of the more recent ratings are a 1 star.Had a reservation at 7pm. Got seated at 7:30. Dinner was served at 8:30.The food was below mediocre. The meat wasnt fresh and was tough. The soup was oily. The salad stale. Drink orders were forgotten twice in a row.The manager was most unfriendly. The other staff were nice enough, the chef was nice, but didnt really wow us in any way. The general vibe was depressing and it felt really unorganized. There were constantly people waiting around the entrance.The bathrooms were unmaintained, dirty and flooded.The dining area had broken lights hanging from the ceiling and holes in the ceiling.Dinner was finished at 9:30. A complete waste of 2.5 hours and way overpriced.
Zero stars was not an option. Made a reservation for 10 people for a birthday. Never received a confirmation and was not informed I would be getting one. Showed up and they said we missed our reservation however they had the wrong time in the system. They allowed 4 tables in front of us. The hosts were unbelievably rude and we decided to take our entire party elsewhere. WILL NOT GO BACK! Terrible service!!!
No point in making a reservation, you will still have to wait an hour to be sat
Loved this place! I wish I could remember the chefs name at our table, he was so enthusiastic and entertaining. Food was cooked to order and any specific requests (including allergies) were attended too. Great selection of drinks for adults as well as the kids. Price was fair for the great food, great service and the entertainment!
Fun place to go when youre celebrating a birthday
Love it. Pepito was a great chef. Season perfectly and very entertaining also the rainbow roll is well done and fresh.
Worst worst worst experience ever at Benihanas.. was there to celebrate my husbands birthday.. got table reserved for 9.15.. ( we were there at 9.05) got seated at 9.30 after requesting several times for the table. After being seated, waited 10 minutes for the chef.. she came took our order and totally ignored our table and disappeared. My husband spoke with the manager, she did not care enough .... We asked for water, after couple minutes some one else comes with a glass of water without a straw.. again waited several minutes for the chef to start, who was roaming here and there, attending other tables, totally ignoring us... finally we were so sick and tired of wait that we left. If you do not have enough customers to start the table, why you kept us waiting for so long? Our special birthday evening turned into a disaster.. Service at this location is the worst, sorry Benihana did not except this kind of service. I have been a Benihana fan for years, so this experience was surprising to me.
Honestly the biggest waste of money I’ve ever spent. Waited 2 hours to get burnt shrimp and steak well done. Do yourself a favor and don’t waste your time or money here. If the manager reads this you are absolutely an inefficient leader and need to get a grip on your staff and chefs.
Mmm soo good! Everyone at Benihana was very welcoming as soon as I went inside. I would definitely recommend having server Bryan and Chef Dwayne. Bryan was very accommodating and was very quick with giving us our orders and requests. Dwayne was such an amazing chef and entertaining. Definitely would come back again!
I love coming here the food is so good and the workers are so friendly
Made a reservation at 6pm on a Thursday for my brother’s birthday. We waited 15 minutes until overhearing the host tell another party it will be a 45 minute wait. She then came over to us and told us it would be an hour wait. At the same time we watched multiple employees walk in and our the doors.This place is completely mismanaged and has gone downhill sharply compared to my experiences in the past. Don’t let the 4 star rating fool you, this place is nothing like what it used to be.
Today I’ll have to say 2 stars. I wanted to put 3 but I feel like it was too many mistakes for me to catch at once. I asked for no salad but extra soup, still had to bring the salad back. Then I got no veggies for the soup, I go get them but there were no mushrooms. Then I notice I didn’t get the sauce for my dinner. Plus no napkins, utensils, and the portions didn’t seem fair at all. For the price I paid, this just makes me upset. Take out has been seeming like a waste of time and money lately and I’ve been coming every week for a while now. Oh well, I guess.
Absolutely horrible experience, came in with my wife to celebrate are anniversary like we do every year. Showed up 20 mins before our reservation went to the bar to have some drinks before dinner sat down at the bar for 20 mins, 4 bartenders working not 1 person said hello or even acknowledge that we where even there. Could not even get a water, reservation was pushed back another 15 mins. Finally when we where seated we ordered drinks and they still did not come out for another hour as we where basically done with the food and then they tell my wife they don’t even have the mint for a mojito. After an hour and 35 mins we finally got our first drink Even are waiter complained to the manger about are drinks. Then to top that off our food was bland had no seasoning and every one at the table ordered a steak medium rare( Every single steak was cooked completely well done not even a spec of red in it) I complained and the manager literally took off my drink and that is it……. We have been coming here for the past 7 years to spend money have drinks and celebrate our anniversary and The amount of money you spend just on the food here are service was absolutely horrible and after this experience I would highly not recommend any one to come to this establishment. And doubt we will be back. Would give it a 0 star if I could
We hadnt been in almost a year. The service and food were great. Our chef Riley was amazing and performed new tricks, magic and jokes for us...Great time had by all..
Horrible. The manager told me people with allergies food is prepared last. The entire table had eaten and was packing their leftover 😳 food before mine was prepared. 3 hours later. I am allergic to rice and mushrooms.
Avoid this location if you can. It’s short staffed. The table was dirty. I made a reservation for 8:30pm for my mother’s birthday, and couldn’t get a cook until 10:03pm. Tokyo Wako in Long Beach is better by a long shot.
The food was worth the wait. Diego’s food presentation and the tasty food preparation was outstanding. Alexis our server was very attentive to our requests.The veggie yakisoba received a thumbs up. The aroma of the yakisoba sauce was amazing.
Total reviews rating 4
199 Reviews for Benihana 2024:
Review №1
2023-11-12 17:47:34We came here on a Friday night for a friends birthday and it was really fun! The food was really good and my 5yo soon had a great time watching the chef cook the food in front of us! I got the veggie fried rice and spicy tofu and it tasted really good! Super garlicky and delicious! My son got the chicken nuggets and white rice and he ate most of his food.The chef did a great job with our dietary restrictions!
Review №2
2023-10-08 13:23:05Chef Chris was amazing, he cooked our food to perfection, it was so delicious! My kids were very amazed with his performance. Server Danny was attentive and kept checking up on us. Best location to go to. The drink I had was perfect.
Review №3
2022-10-17 21:27:49Havent been here in decades! To be honest I had low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised! The food was tasty but a bit over salted. The show was good, our chef was funny, his showmanship could use a bit more showmanship. Service was a slow, we had reservations for 6:15 but we didnt get seated until 7. A good time overall
Review №4
2023-12-01 14:01:05Horrible customer service from the front door to the manager. Corporate needs to step in and make some drastic changes at this location. You make reservations at 8:00 pm and then you don’t get seated until 30 to 45 minutes later then when you finally are seated at your table it is another 45 minute wait for your chef this happened in October and again last night. It was only Carl and I in our party which makes it even worst because if you can’t get good customer service with two people you definitely won’t get it with a group of people and trust me we witnessed this with our own eyes in October and then again last night in November but we thought in October perhaps it was a fluke and just a bad off night we chalked it up to that but then for the same thing to happen again a month later we realize this is just how this location is handled it was very disappointing, wont be returning 😥. We will drive to the Newport Beach location which is 45 to 60 minutes from our home in the future because a group of us went In June and had excellent service from the front door to the end a totally different experience and what I am accustomed to at Benihana . The Torrance location has gone downhill drastically since Covid and corporate needs to step in and correct the situation if they want returning customers.
Review №5
2023-06-18 05:35:10Great food and great fun for friends and family! This was my very first experience here. Diego the chef was very entertaining. Very happy and friendly atmosphere and of course the food was excellent. Worth the price for a great time.
Review №6
2023-09-21 14:18:29I planned a party for my father‘s birthday last night, and it was the worst experience of my life. Police were there when we arrived people were in chaos no one tried to even seat us with minors watching cops and people running around. We had 12 people reserved. 2 tables of amazing family and friends. The drinks took an hour, the food presentation was great from the chef. Then the server throws to go boxes. Our bill was 1300.00. I had cash and credit ready. The computer system goes down. I hand the server $600 in cash and asked him to count it again because he said it was only 500 with his back turned. Smh. The system went back up after 20 mins and still no birthday song for my father. We should’ve just gone to of change or even Panda Express there was no assistance from the manager at all.
Review №7
2023-12-07 02:21:17We used to love this place but wow it has gone way downhill. We had a 12:30pm reservation and weren’t even seated until 1pm. Then, the other party that had been seated with us requested a chef that wasn’t currently on duty. Instead of using the regularly scheduled chef, or asking us how we felt about waiting, they left us sitting there for another half hour while they pulled the guy off of meat-cutting duty and sent him to be our chef. I’ll admit that he gave the best chef “show” I’ve ever seen there, but having him cook our meal while wearing a filthy blood-stained meat cutting apron was pretty disgusting. He also overcooked EVERYTHING - rubbery shrimp and scallops, mushy zucchini, and dry crunchy fried rice. Bummer - it was my son’s birthday and not a cheap meal. By the time we were done being served and we’re leaving, it was 2:50pm. 2 hours and 20 min for an expensive mediocre meal. Will definitely not be back.
Review №8
2023-11-25 20:55:07Always go here for birthdays because the food is so good. When we have reservations, it does tend to take a little time for the chef to come, but other than that, it is phenomenal. The chefs are usually very nice and entertaining. The food is very good and cooked well, and dining at the chefs table is truly an experience. Overall, it is a great restaurant and I highly recommend going there.
Review №9
2023-04-07 22:50:03Had a great time eating here with my family. Prices per person varied between $20-$55 (The lobster tail was pricy but very delicious). Everything was yummy and the sauces were very appreciated.Chef Chan took great care of us and put on a good show.
Review №10
2023-02-21 16:54:32The food and service was amazing. The wait was a bit ridiculous. We were sat at a table with 2 other families. We all had a 3pm reservation and all arrived 10 to 15 minutes prior and didnt get seated until almost 4:30pm. We started eating about an hour after that. The chef and our waiter were super nice but the wait really unexpected especially as we had reservations. One of the other members at the table was gluten and dairy free so it was nice to see them accommodate that guest. Again overall it was great food but we were all incredibly grumpy by the time we sat down due to the wait.