Benihana

Reviews 3

SH

Shala Priemer

We arrived at 850. Were told it would be a half hour wait. It was. We waited at the bar. The pineapple garnish on my drink was old an mushy. We were Sat with 3 other couples. It took at least 20 minutes until our drink order was taken and another 15 until they were brought to us. We put our order in. The guy Next to us had a Groupon for buy one get one for his birthday. He gave it to the waitress. Showed his ID. It was his birthday. The fine print said he could not use it until his following bday. The manager would not allow it. So he had to change his order to one meal to share. The chef had to go back to the kitchen with his cart to change the items on the cart. My date walked up to the manager and secretly asked to pay for the mans meal. at 10:15pm the chef had not even began cooking. I went outside to smoke. Was locked out. Had to knock on the door for the security guard let me in... who I had to convince I was at a table. He was rude and gave me the stink eye. I sat back down as the chef started cooking. He went around asking all who had steak if the tempature listed was correct. None of them were since the waitress never asked. Mine was marked as med well when i prefer med rare. I went to order another drink and the waitress said the bar was closed... why didnt we get a last call.? So we tried to order a pineapple juice that we could also not have either since the bar was closed. We ordered a Sierra mist... which was never refilled. I had to continuously as the waitress to take any empty glasses... And she still didnt by the time she did there was a stack of four (water, drink, wine carafe, and wine glass). There was a shrimp allergy at the table so we didnt get our shrimp appetizer until the very end of the meal once everything else was cold. The chef served rice first then onion and zucchini. Then steak then chicken. Then shrimp. Each item was cold by the time the following coarse was served. When I got my steak I asked for teriyaki sauce.. which I didnt get until after the chicken. One woman at the table ordered salmon well done. The chef insisted she must have it medium. He gave it to her and it was still raw inside. She had him put it back on the grill. She did not get it until the very end. Her mother ordered the shrimp meal so her whole plate was cold before she got her shrimp. We asked our waitress for change for a 20 to tip the chef She said sorry i only have two 10s. So i asked if she could get change from her manager... she rolled her eyes but complied. Finally at eleven the meal was finished however there is ice cream included in the price of the meal. You could tell the waitress was abboued she was stuck there so late. Trust me we were too. So she told us a sob story about how the only way we can have our ice cream is if we take it to go because it was all the way in the back of the freezer... how it is frozen solid... very hard to scoop... And would take a very long time. Everyone at the table was too embarrassed to ask for it. So i said well I paid for it so yes I would like it. Everyone else joined in and also asked for theirs. Horrible experience. Our waitress was on her phone in viewing distance of us. Was rude. Annoyed we were there. Not attentive to our needs. Etc. I will never come back to this place and I will be sure to tell all my friends the same.

CH

Charles Stigger

Our party of 4 arrived at this location at 6:55pm. We were seated at 8:05. We received the normal soup and salad, placed our order and then waited........for 1 hour and 12 minutes 9:17 before a chef came out to prepare our meal. Several of us complained and asked to speak with a manager. No one came. So I got up and asked to speak with the general manager. Were told Art would be out to see us in 10 minutes. After 7 minutes passed, which was ridiculous to me, I went to find the GM myself. Although we were offered a 50% discount, this horrible service absolutely ruined my final night out in Michigan with friends. Very angry now. I expect compensation for this extreme inconvenience. And, as if this wasnt enough, to make matters worse... I ordered ONE fried rice. The gentleman to my right ordered THREE bowls and a young lady to his right ordered TWO. To all of our surprise, I received 3 bowls on my plate, the man to my right 1, and the other lady 2. The 3 bowls of rice were served atop my USED UTENSILS and USED PLATE. On discovery of this, the chef proceeded to use his spatula to remove TWO bowls from my plate placing one bowl on each of these other two STRANGERS plates. And all of us pointed out this disgusting error, the chef looked at each of us like WE were the crazy ones! This was only rectified when the other guests refused to eat the contaminated rice. As the preparation continued, the guests to my right reported no fewer than 3 additional food preparation errors. Hmmmm... Im absolutely horrified...... wtf. I am reporting this to the local health department. It is clear from the numerous mistakes that this establishment engages in a GARDEN VARIETY of unsanitary and improper practices that need to be checked. Guest check #4/40305 - We did not receive our check until about 10:15pm - 3 hours later. Update- a regional manager finally called me more than 2 weeks later. He apologized, said the matter would be addressed and he offered to send out two $20 meal coupons. The coupons didnt arrive until several days later. Based on my clear level of dissatisfaction, 2 free meals seems like a more appropriate response. BUT... this careless response further demonstrates how little senior management cares (in my humble opinion). It is RIDICULOUS that you have to SEARCH so hard to find a way to contact this chain at their corporate headquarters. There is no easy way to submit a complaint on their corporate website. No phone numbers to contact either. They apparently dont read their reviews because this location has a DOZENS of horrible reviews. Anyway.... they dont care at the local or national level as far as Im concerned and I do not ever plan to return. I strongly recommend you avoid this location in particular.

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S Beau

We have been here several times before and last night will be the final time we ever visit Benihana Dearborn again. I dont want to hear a BS apology from the manager either. First let me explain there are several other places to eat that serve the same food with better service and lower prices. We visited last night for a birthday. We had two people in our party. The wait to be seated was over an hour. When I could clearly see there were plenty of open tables. While we waited, we decided to have drinks at the bar. Our drinks were needless to say mediocre but cost a fortune. We noticed they used pre-mixed flavoring. If Im going to pay top dollar for a drink. It should not be made with idiot-proof drink mix. They should hire a real bartender. While we had our mediocre drinks we looked at the menu. We noticed they had crab imitation. REALLY? We finished our drinks and continued to wait to be seated. After an hour of waiting we were seated. We noticed that the dinner plates were dirty, along with other people at the table. So everyone at the table sent the plates back. The server came back with a steamed rag to clean the plates. After everyone complained about what she was doing she decided to get new plates. Scary thing was, she acted like we were insane because we all wanted new plates. She took the order for the drinks. We ordered a single drink for two people. Which I cant remember the name of because that too was mediocre. It cost $28 by the way. Thats the cost of a meal for three at a coney island. The salad and soup was next to arrive. The salad they serve at Benihana is made with iceberg lettuce, always has been. Again if Im paying top dollar I should not be getting iceberg lettuce in my salad. The soup was good if you like broth. Once the chef came out the night got better. I have no complaints about the chef. He cooked the food great and hooked us up. Everything prior to the chef is where I must complain. The service is horrible, always has been. The wait is super long, always is. They just now started to do reservations, finally. The drinks are exceedingly mediocre and by time we got out of there it was late. Would I recommend Benihana Dearborn. H3LL NO! Theres a nice place in Novi called Wasabi with a similar menu. Their drinks are potent, the service is much better and faster. They do reservations as always. The chefs put on a better show and most of them came from Benihana too. I forgot to mention they have better prices too.