Benihana - Newport Beach, CA

Review summary

1. J

   Janet

   Orange County

   2 reviews

   3.0

   2 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

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

   We left and my husband said, “Now I remember why we don’t come here.” Food is expensive and you wait a long time to be seated and as was the case last night, a long time for your chef to come to your table. The food tastes good, and our chef was very entertaining. When factoring the wait and the cost, however, you can go to a high end steakhouse and get a better meal all around. Not sure we’ll return.
   

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2. R

   Rue

   Orange County

   5 reviews

   2.0

   5 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

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

   First I’d like to say that the food was very good, as always. However, it was very busy and it seems our table was forgotten. Our reservation was at 5:30 and the chef didn’t come out until 6:55! The table next to us was seated about :40 minutes after us and their chef came before they were done eating their soup & salad. Happy for them but like I said, it seems we were forgotten. This and the horrible birthday picture they took, that we had to ask for, is the reason for the low rating. And yes, I have plenty of pictures to compare this to as we have gone their every year for birthdays and my garage is lined with them.
   

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3. B

   Bradford

   VIP

   Orange County

   13 reviews

   2.0

   13 reviews

   Dined 2 days ago

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

   Had dinner reservations at 7:30pm for a party of 5. We were told upon arrival that they were 45 minutes behind. We finally got seated at 8:45 then waited for the chef and didn’t get the main meal until just around 9:45pm. At no time did anyone apologize for the delay. Food was fine.
   

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4. m

   mike

   Denver

   5 reviews

   3.0

   5 reviews

   Dined 2 days ago

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

   The food and our cook Bibi made the difference in our visit last night to Benihanas. It started pretty rough as we had to wait an hour for our 6:30 reservation. We were able to find room in the bar to wait after 30 minutes . Unfortunately the server working in the bar never got around to asking us if we wanted a drink which was disappointing. Once we were finally seated our cook Bibi was terrific. All in all a good meal in spite of the long wait and terrible bar waiter.
   

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5. M

   Matt

   Orange County

   1 review

   3.0

   1 review

   Dined 2 days ago

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

   Day after Christmas seemed to be short-staffed. We had a 6pm reservation. All members in the party arrived by 6:07. We didn't get seated until 6:45. Soup and salad were served, but then the main course was delayed about 45 minutes (didn't get the main course starting to cook until 7:30pm). Didn't really see our waitress throughout the meal since they seemed to be short-stafffed.
   

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6. m

   monique

   Los Angeles

   1 review

   3.0

   1 review

   Dined 3 days ago

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

   We understand we were there right at opening and most staff had not shown up yet so we are trying to be understanding. We didn’t get seated until almost 20 mins later despite having a reservation and did not get our order taken until 30-40 mins later. Food was delicious as always but if you open at 11 make sure staff is ready and there for clients.
   

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7. C

   Chase

   Orange County

   3 reviews

   2.0

   3 reviews

   Dined 3 days ago

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

   We continue to visit already knowing to expect to have to wait longer due to the location not having enough chef's, but on Christmas Day with a reservation we still waited over an hour to be seated. We were told "We're behind schedule at least an hour" when we arrived, and they were true to that.
   

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8. A

   Andy

   Orange County

   1 review

   1.0

   1 review

   Dined 3 days ago

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

   Benihana in Newport Beach was chaotic and severely lacking on Christmas Day. They did not honor our Open Table reservation. We were informed that our reservation would be cancelled due to overcrowding and the wait times would exceed over two hours. The crowd management was non-existent and the staff were overwhelmed and unprepared. We will not return to this restaurant again.
   

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9. D

   Daphne

   Orange County

   1 review

   4.0

   1 review

   Dined 3 days ago

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

   It was a wonderful evening. Service was excellent for how busy they were! It’s just too bad we had to wait an hr for an already booked reservation but we do understand.
   

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10. J

    Jen

    Orange County

    1 review

    1.0

    1 review

    Dined 3 days ago

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

    A long held reservation for Christmas night: my sister-in-law and niece visiting from Minneapolis. Benihana is their Christmas dinner tradition and we wanted to make it ours. They were running over an hour behind and with no place for my 76-year old mother to sit while we potentially waited, we left and went to a nearby Brazilian steakhouse. Benihana called 71 minutes AFTER our 6pm reservation…ironically as we paying the check at the other restaurant. I can be understanding…to a point. The reservation we had meant nothing. The restaurant business is tough, and what would have turned this around for us would have been a proactive call at 5pm, asking if we could push our reservation to 7 or 7:30. To keep tradition, that would have gotten a yes from us.
    

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