Benihana is one of those 'PF Changs' for Japanese food. Don't expect too much as the place - and chain - can be summed with a lack of authenticity, being overpriced, and a pain point when trying to get seated due to the long wait times. I do give credit to the ambiance as it is centrally located in the 'Restaurant Hub' of the mall so there will be lots of traffic for those that like that Ordered - Calamari (1/5). It is not on the menu but I am surprised as there are many pictures on the Yelp page with this dish. This may the blandest tasting version of this family / appetizer classic. Wow this was horrible. To make matters worse, I was actually banking on the sauce to save the day... wrong - Sashimi Sampler (3.75/5). Surprisingly it was a-ok. The assortment of fish was awkwardly cut and presented but felt somewhat fresh. The salmon was delicious and went well with a light touch of wasabi. The snapper and tuna were okay, too. Props to somewhat making a comeback In addition, I do note that I have tried the teppanyaki grill specials in other cities and it is usually a decent time (especially for celebrations). I have not tried it at this MOA location but suspect it would be consistent with other locations Overall - Benihana is a fun time but don't expect much if you're looking for fairly priced and delicious dishes. Both criteria are not met read more

Always love the dining experience here at Benihana but can be hit or miss depending on the staff serving you, but today hit an excellent trio of waiter, sushi chef, and hibachi chef. Today we came to celebrate my son passing his drivers license test. Our waiter Mike was very attentive and refilled our drinks before we had to ask and made sure we understood the menu. Our sushi chef Abel made an absolutely delicious and fancy presentation of the Crunchy Roll, we are that in like 2 minutes flat. Our hibachi chef Jose was very personable and added extras to the presentation that others don't, food was absolutely delicious, I had the shrimp lunch and my son had the teriyaki chicken and shrimp. read more

Benihana - SHRIMP CRUNCHY ROLL - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bloomington, Minnesota

Fantastic show and good!!! Our server Aaron did an amazing job making sure everyone in the party was taken care of!

Alexandro was a pretty amazing chef! I would come back again if he was my chef. great food and service from him.

Alejandro was a great chef! Made the wait time from the other staff not seem as long. Thanks Alejandro! read more

Yummy, Alexandrio was amazing. Service was pretty good, busy server. Lighting and ambiance was very fun with the hibachi. Here is a photo of the fried rice. read more

Benihana - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bloomington, Minnesota

McKenna was my bartender, and she has my tacit endorsement to have fun responsibly. On the menu, I ordered the lunch boat with chicken, and an extra side of chicken fried rice: par for the course. Location wise, I sat on the patio and enjoyed being engulfed in the sights and sounds of a busy Mall of America. read more

Service was fast and amazing. We got seated quickly, better than any Benihana I've gone to back home. The manager Mike came and talked to us and was very sweet. The food was excellent. Great place to go for a dinner and show for sure. read more

We were at mall of America today and we were served by a great server! Sereka was wonderful. She explained the menu items and was extremely helpful. We highly appreciate and recommend her. read more

Miguel was fantastic! great food and the best fire by far!! We will be back for sure!

Our server Abel was very attentive! Abel and the chef had great attitudes and were very nice. Highly recommend the service

After waiting about 45 min to even get my order in, I was very disappointed that I received my main plate before my soup and salad, the sauces came with the soup and to top it off the main dish was cold like it was sitting in the back for a while. My sushi roll never came and my daughter plate was mixed up with my friends daughter meal and we didn't realize it till after her daughter had already started eating her food. read more

Benihana - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bloomington, Minnesota

FOOD POISING! 2 minutes after we left 2/3 of my dinner party was sick in the bathroom!

Came for food and drinks. Bartender service by David B was good! Ambiance was good too!

Came here twice , both times just as good. Sat at the bar, was served by Mckenna and had a super mellow lunch. Just what i needed as a break in the middle of the day. Would come back again and sit here read more

David at the bar was great! Kept us informed and was great as a server, bartender and person.

If Hibachi is what you want, this is the place. If Hibachi and affordable is what you want, this is not quite your place. We were seated quickly. We had 6 people so we had to wait for 2 others to join us which happened as soon as we entered. This is your basic 8 person hibachi setup. You can also sit at a bar or table away from the cooking, but why would you? It's like going to McDonald's and NOT eating a french fry? Why? Anyways, the cooks here are decent. I've seen better. On one of our cook's tricks, he messed up so many times that I believe the trick was to pretend like he didn't want to complete the trick. The food is always good at these places. I only wish you got more for the price. Unlike other hibachi style places I've been to, the bill was pretty high. The fried rice, for example, was a separate charge. The alcohol was also pricey. read more

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Great service!! Food was delicious and fresh. I had Steak, Chicken and Shrimp very flavorful. read more

This was a great Benihana to run in and grab a quick bite for carry out. We were traveling that day and did not have a lot of time and they were timely with our carry out order. The chicken fried rice was hot as per usual and the garlic butter was the perfect topper, My advice is don't let a little line scare you. Go ahead and place a carry out order if there's a wait. You'll be glad that you did. Yum. read more

Terrible with food allergies. I asked immediately if they could accommodate us because my child has a severe, anaphylactic shrimp allergy. "No problem," the waiter said. I said that I wanted no one in my party to be served shrimp. Could I substitute? Nope! Well, no matter--- the chef still tried to serve the rest of us shrimp. I waved him off, and he dumped it on our plates, anyways. In his flinging of shrimp show, he flung a piece onto my allergic kid's plate, too. This place doesn't care about allergies, too reckless! In any event, the food quality was low, low, low for the price. Steak teriyaki had zero flavor and chewy like shoe leather. Skip it!! read more

This is for the MOA location. I usually go to the one in Golden Valley and I have never had a problem there. This location was very disappointing in every aspect. It started with the hostess. I asked for a table in the main dining room. She asked if I wanted to sit at the bar. What? No. The main dining room please. She shows me to a table in the bar area--absolutely the worst table in the place, set up for one person as it sat in a three way runway between the bar, the main dining room and the bar lounge. I asked if she could put me in the main dining room. NO she says, its the table she has me at or the one next to it. I took the one next to it. Now, this was around 4:30 on a Wednesday, I checked the main dining room and it was less than 1/3 full. The server was OK, a little odd, but OK. I ordered the scallops dinner, $39.20, which included salad, soup, "shrimp app", tea, scallops and white rice and veggies. I also ordered the California roll ($10) and the sushi sampler ($15). So around $65 all in. He brought the soup and salad but no tea. I asked if tea was included (it says so on the menu). and he explained that they no longer serve the tea "because of covid", but it was still offered if asked for--so I asked for it. The salad and soup were both pretty sad, but they never are very good at Benihana. The onion both is just that--a flavorless both--and the salad is almost all iceburg lettuce. The entree was terrible. The small sea scallops were over cooked, tough and rubbery. The "shrimp app" were three very small overcooked shrimp. The veggies were sauteed onion and zucchini (the cheapest vegetables you can buy) and white rice. Everything was cool--maybe it sat on a counter for too long--and nothing tasted like it had any seasonings. Then, long after I was done with the entree, the sushi sampler was delivered. It was OK, the portion sizes were fine, but again, no flavor. The california roll was Ok size wise, but the fake crab and tiny piece of avocado just had no flavor. When the server brought the check, he explained that a 20% service charge is included, but he only gets 4% of that and if I wanted to leave a tip, it had to be cash. Really? The restaurant adds a 20% service charge--that they keep!!!--and the server only gets 4% of that. Why work here? Better question, why eat here? I won't ever again. read more

Tony our cook was great and Derrick our server was there when we needed something. Food was good as always.

Miguel was our table chef! So much fun. The food was delicious and the show eve be better

Don't get me wrong I love Benihana more than the next person but this was my experience this Mother's Day: 30 minutes after being seated we still hadn't been approached by a server so we sought one out to order the bottle of champagne for Mother's Day - they were out of it so we ordered a bottle of wine. They then came with the wrong bottle so we had to ask for the bottle again. We finally got some waters and they took our order. 15 min later the soup came. We watched a table seated after us get served before we did. Our chef asked if we had any dietary restrictions and my mom replied that she does not eat meat. He proceeded to mix chicken into everyone's fried rice despite the fact that she ordered veggie fried rice. She didn't complain. The women's bathroom floor was wet. I normally wouldn't fuss about this but I'm on crutches so I'm hypersensitive to floors and yes I almost fell. Dry floors save lives. I have no complaints about the food and the hibachi experience and let's be honest that's the real reason people come here. Huge delicious portions (hello leftovers) and an entertaining show. Will likely enjoy Benihana again but I will stick to the Golden Valley location. read more

Rarely do I want my calories back. Rarely is it the case when the most impressive thing about a restaurant are the knives. Never will I return to Benihana. You can tell a lot about a restaurant by the state of its bathrooms, and this bathroom had a lot to tell. If only I'd gone before dinner, I wouldn't have even needed a menu. As with most chain establishments, the flavor profile here is salt. The only people I feel more sorry for than the staff are the patrons. I think the whole reason they fry the food in front of you is to prove that it wasn't a frozen stir fry dinner. If any of the franchise owners are reading this, I've got a new slogan for you. "Benihana: It's Mostly Onions" read more

Love the staff and the Managers are always on point. Best place to visit in the Mall.

When we got here, they refused to seat us until every last person arrived, all 12 of us... Then when we sat down, we were seated by a nice gentlemen (Tall, black hair and glasses) but never talked to again for a half an hour! Drinks came from the bar and finally, after grabbing a waitress, we got drinks ordered. We noticed the manager (bald fella) is the same one we had an issue with birthday certificates last time we came! He was busy trying to help a table next to us with the same exact issue, he refused to accept the certificate, something about original and updated certificates, and walked away. The table was not happy, at all. The manager would not help us either, he just walked around, pretending to do something while tables were left untouched, full of disgruntled people. 30 minutes later, nothing. Also, many tables around us were left dirty and unorganized. When the food actually came, things began to turn around! The cooks were funny and helpful, the good was amazing, and it was a blast to watch! This is the reason I have two stars instead of one, because of this part. Also, the manager took of a meal of every check, something appreciated in this situation. This seems like a new leaf for the manager from before... The dessert came in the end and we left with lots of to-go boxes. Overall, waiting so long in the beginning put a sour taste in our mouths. The cooks and food made it better and the free meal helped, but the overall experience was not fun. Ironically, the windows to the mall show directly to the fancy Mexican restaurant next door. While we waited, we could see a multitude of people walk in and out of the other restaurant, probably with better service and food. read more

Benihana - Dirty tables all around. One in front, one in back to the right, and one to the left. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bloomington, Minnesota

The epitome of a money grab. Everything that came out was overpriced and underwhelming. For the first time in my life I sent a drink back because I couldn't taste any liquor. Maybe a hint? No way I am paying $13 for that. I opted for the overpriced beer. The Las Vegas roll had an essence of tuna in it. Virtually all rice. The Tuna sliver is in the top rh side of the roll in the pic in case you can't see it. The shrimp hibachi entree was not horrible, just lame. To top it off.... I was charged an extra $4 for a chicken fried rice upgrade that I did not order. Instead of arguing about it I simply eliminated the tip. I should have given this a single star but I am in a good mood and I grade on a curve. read more

Benihana - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bloomington, Minnesota

Not sure why this is only 2.5 stars, but I personally really like it here. It is pricey, but the food is really good and the show I feel is worth it. A really good family and friend experience. I got the New York steak which was really tender and k well seasoned. I always recommend to anyone to always upgrade to the fried rice because it is so worth it. I also recommend not looking at how much butter is being used The negatives of our most recent visit was that even though we had a 3pm reservation, the hibachi cooking didn't really start until past 3:30 and until then, though the server came to take our orders and such, no one came to say anything about the delay. We also had to ask for the check twice because the server forgot. COVID precautions: masks inside the restaurant are mandatory as states the sign up front. Though obviously once you start eating, you're not going to be wearing it so it didn't feel like it was being reinforced. All servers and hibachi chefs were wearing masks at all times. read more

I can't begin to write about the worst experience. Not only was I offered my steamed rice at the end of my meal and a 2nd glass of water. But the waiter, did not come check on our table of 6 not even once besides bringing our soup late, our salad late. We had 2 pregnant soon to be mothers and spent thirsty for most of the dinner. The cook, was good but he did over salt our food. As a consolidation price, we got $3 dlrs off for the worst bday celebration. Definitely would not recommend this location. For being a Tuesday, it was not busy For the waiter not to check if we needed refills or we got out food. read more

Not sure why Benihana seems to always get a bad wrap. $45 for a filet and lobster tail is a pretty good deal to me and the food is always fresh. Pro tip: sign up for their birthday certificate and receive $30 off your meal, that's a deal! We also come at off times to avoid a long dinner service and are usually treated to a table for ourselves with a more experienced chef who gets the seasoning right. Honestly we only stop here a couple times a year to take advantage of the certificate mentioned above. read more

Benihana - Hibachi steak and lobster - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bloomington, Minnesota

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Pedro our chef was great! Our server was the worst I've ever had. That's all I have to say.

Shannon was a very good waitress she gave me all the water I needed which was approximately 10 or more I was very happy and she has cool hair 10/10 would come back also miguel is super duper amazing chef read more

I've only been here maybe like 4 times but every time we have a super fun time and the food is great. The staff are great and the experience is always fantastic. The last two times we went we had Sammy as our chef and and he was amazing. He kept my two kids entertained and blew them away as well as my friend who had his first experience there witb read more

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Lucas was one of the best hibachi guys we have had in in long time. Very engaging, entertaining, as well as a great cook. Servers where also on point. Enjoyed the whole experience we will be back! read more

Benihana - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bloomington, Minnesota

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After 2 years, this place is just worse than before. 1. Reservation is Pointless The dinner started 1 hour and 10 mins after the scheduled reservation. The cook was just simply a no-show and we sat there waiting. Luckily it was a big group and we kept talking, but it is beyond acceptable. 2. Drinks The quality of the drinks itself was good, however, it took them 15-20 mins to just bring a simple cup of tea or a mixed drink. That long of a wait makes the drinks not so enjoyable. 3. Food- too salty They have always used a bit too much salt, maybe the 'showmanship' makes them spill too much?.. then how about making the holes of the bottles smaller, so it won't be this salty and I need to drink 5 cups of water? Food is the exact same as ever, soup is okay, fried rice is great and steak is just okay because of the obscene amount of salt. 4. The cooking 'showmanship'- None This time, our cook did nothing except pretending to spill ketchup and that's it. no trick to make shrimp tales dance, no train, no volcano, no putting shrimp tales in the hat, nothing! Not that I wanted, but some of the people I came with wanted to see it as it was their first time in Benihana, was disappointed. At least our server was nice despite being slow in bringing out drinks. I know he can't be blamed for the obscene amount of wait time to see the cook. In short, Benihana is just not a good place to have dinner. Especially not at this location, they're the worst among other benihanas and/or similar restaurants. read more

Benihana - Benihana: shrimp - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bloomington, Minnesota

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Took our family of 4 to the MOA location. It cost us $255 for 4 regular dinners and 4 waters. We didn't have any drinks or extras at all. They now charge extra for chicken fried rice and you have to pay for ice cream, which when we went in the past was included. $60 of the bill was taxes and a mandatory 20% service charge. We were seated with another family who wanted gluten free meals so they made all of their meals first and then made ours, so dinner took a long time and we had to sit and watch them eat for a long time. It was weird. Our waitress never came back after taking our order to refill waters or check in other then to drop off the check. The food was fine but definitely not worth the price. We won't be back. read more

Miguel was wonderful, great service and food. Can't wait to come back and see him.. Aaron the service was great also. He was very fast and knowledge about the menu. I will definitely be back soon. read more

Food was decent, service was awful. Chef at the hibachi table was good and entertaining. Pretty pricey for the amount of food you get though. read more

I was a little caught off guard that the bill would be $325 for myself and 4 girls. When I tried asking the managers about it, it turns out that I did indeed misread the wine pricing on the menu which I was then fine with (I would have bought the bottle rather than pay $45 for 2 glasses of wine). I was also surprised to find out that fried rice is a $5.60pp upcharge, typically it is $2-3, for a few veggies and eggs so this seems excessive. When I asked to see that charge on the menu, I was told it wasn't printed on the menu. I was told it was for the chicken (this was veggie fried rice and the rice which I had to politely remind him steamed rice has rice. I was also told by the server that he only receives 6% of the 20% service charge - what is this for then???? The server asked if I wanted kids' meals for the girls and I said yes. (2) were charged for kid's steak hibachi (which at @22.70 makes fried rice a 25% upcharge). One guest wanted noodles, fried rice and soup. She saw the Yakisoba on the menu and was told she had to pick a protein. She doesn't really care for meat so I said fine I would take her shrimp. So, I was charged $36.80 (with the rice upcharge) for what I imagine would've been far less expensive as 3 sides. The fourth guest who also ordered a kid's meal was charged for an adult meal. When I went back the next morning to point out the error I was told an adult portion was prepared and served so that is what I had to pay for regardless of what I ordered, I went back a 3rd time to try and pay for the filet mignon that was served to me by mistake - the woman next to me in the other party had ordered it, I was told they wouldn't charge me. I stated that I don't understand the policy that I pay for some of your mistakes and not others, the manger told me "to just leave". The management team was quite rude, which then didn't help my behavior. I shook the man's hand Saturday night, looked him in the eye and let him know I will NEVER go to another Benihana again in my life - which I stand behind. The outrageous charges and fees and being told to pay an additional $15 for something I didn't order is quite possibly the WORST customer service EVER. I spent my high school and college years working as a waitress and bartender, so I am not new to the industry. read more