We went to Benihana Chicago for a birthday dinner with a group of 6 and had one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had. We had a 7:30 reservation but didn't get seated until 8:15. Once we were finally seated, our server told us our chef wouldn't arrive for another 45 minutes. Two people at our shared table actually got up and left because of it. We asked again after waiting, and they said 20-30 more minutes. Another 30 minutes went by--still no chef, no update, nothing. After nearly two hours in the restaurant with only eating soup and salad, we had to ask the server and manager for the check and leave. Completely ruined what was supposed to be a fun birthday celebration. Unacceptable service and organization. read more

This was about Takeout. We ordered a meal for 4 , which includes 4 salads, 4 servings rice & beef and vegetables. After we picked it up, we checked the bag and the pic below is all the rice & veg included. Went back inside , complained and received another container of rice . The food was delicious, but they are NOT careful on portions. Check your order before going home! read more

Benihana - 1/2 container of rice and a few veggies , meant to be for 4ppl. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

We were in Chicago to celebrate my birthday. We decided to stop in after the 360 observatory experience. My daughter and I sat at the bar. The hostess warned us that the kitchen was behind but close to an hour later my order came out and despite ordering medium well, my food looked liked it needed bandage from the closest ER! This was so bad I won't try another Benihana ever! read more

Spent $230 on food that was the same quality as $50 takeout. No offense to our very nice chef, but no hot grill show is worth that kind of markup. read more

Everything was excellent for my son's birthday celebration. Shout out to our chef Ardis!!! He did an excellent job and we really enjoyed the time with him. His service was perfection. Everything he made for my family was very delicious. read more

Benihana - Thank you Ardis! We had an excellent evening and the food was delicious! You are a five star chef. The best in town. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I just have one word. ARDIS! He's the best teppenyaki we have had here. 15 year tradition of coming for a birthday. ARDIS delivered the best service, show and meal we have had!! read more

Abby was a wonderful server! Very kind and provided great and timely service. Food was absolutely delicious and had tons for leftovers. We had a wonderful experience celebrating my birthday at Benihana. Can't wait to come back! read more

I've ordered from and dined at this restaurant twice, mainly because it's close to where I live. Out of those visits, the food was only decent once. Unfortunately, today's experience was terrible. I tried the four courses, and the main dish the shrimp was especially disappointing. Overall, the food is consistently below expectations, and for some reason, the onion soup is always lukewarm. My hibachi rice was also extremely mushy. On a positive note, the servers and hostess are always kind and welcoming. read more

Had such a great time at Benihana! The food was sooo good. Definitely upgrade with scallops. The chef Sergio is so fun and entertaining. Our server Lillie was lovely too. Definitely will come back and highly recommend! read more

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I order in this night and I can say it was still good. I was disappointed that it didn't come with standard white rice but overall everything was really good. The flavors are flavoring but if it's too high in salt cutting with white rice would've been nice. I order hibachi NY strip & hubby ordered Sushi. We smashed. The aesthetics were giving and appreciate the bag as if it's a pick up order bs plastic weird ish. Thanks all. If I had my white rice they would've gotten 5 stars for home delivery read more

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We had a 9 PM reservation but weren't seated until around 9:35 PM, which was disappointing since we arrived on time. While we waited, we enjoyed great drinks at the bar. As a vegetarian, I found the food mediocre--specifically the tofu steak, which lacked anything special. However, my partner, who eats meat, really enjoyed their meal. One unique perk: if you ask the staff to take your picture, they'll give you a free print! A nice touch to end the night. read more

The ambiance is always great unless you're seated by the grill. My go to is always the Chili Shrimp Roll with extra ginger (it's pretty spicy) and the hibachi rice no meat and vegetable with extra garlic butter. I've never had a bad experience with service with dinning in or pickup. read more

Serdar is a magician! Very entertaining and delicious. Service was on point and margaritas were phenomenal. It's everything you want and more. read more

I found cracked egg shells in my food! Yuck it has stopped me from ever eating here or any like them!

Berna amazing chef with excellence knowledge and expertise on the Japanese culinary arts of the cuisine. alcohol menu on the other hand could use some help on the knowledge of beverage. Other than that everything was fantastic!!!! read more

We are so lucky to get Serdar. Whatta show! Glad to have this on Michigan Ave! Service was attentive, Lilly was great. Good family atmosphere. read more

Ever since we arrived in Chicago, we wanted to come to Benihana. We reserve going to places like Benihana for special occasions. When Joseph's birthday came around, we decided to come here. First off, Seven our server did a fabulous job in serving us. He explained to us about how the chefs at Benihana prepare the entrees. We found him prompt, friendly, and executed his duties precisely. He deserves an A+. Our chef, Rafael prepared a delicious entree for us. Being a Benihana chef, Rafael understood how to maneuver his cooking tools perfectly. He knew how to have fun with the eggs. I ordered the Seafood Diablo. It tasted delicious. For his birthday, Joseph ordered the Rocky's Choice. He said he liked it. I always liked looking at the decor at Benihana. It reminded me of Tanaka of Tokyo out in Honolulu, HI. Being a Japanese themed chain restaurant, it featured a large dog statue near the back. That gave Benihana more character. Come to Benihana. Bring friends, family or even a date. read more

Benihana - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Dinner and a show, just wow. Benihana can't be beat. If I had one meal left, it would be the Rocky's Choice at Benihana. Stephanie was a great server, the sake was FLOWING. I also cannot say enough about Alexis as a chef. The onion volcano was unreal, per usual. read more

I always loved going to Benihana! The service was really amazing & the food was great. The ambience was so nice and I can't wait until the next time I'm back! read more

Benihana - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Terrible experience my third time going after a year or two and it was nothing like the last times I went. Rude waiter might I add messed up everyone's bill at the table, one person I was sitting next to was allergic to seafood and couldn't even get accommodations for it. This location is terrible, Overpriced mid food! read more

We had the best birthday celebration for my husband at Benihana! The food was incredible, service was phenomenal, ambiance was fun and our group of 28 years olds felt like we were kids again Gregg rolled out the red carpet for us and made sure we had a perfect nice! This might be the start of a new birthday tradition would highly recommend you check out the Benihana on Michigan Ave! read more

Benihana - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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It's my birthday and I had to spend it alone as I live out of state and had work in Chicago. I received a birthday coupon to my email for Benihana so I was very excited and stopped in for a late lunch/early dinner. The server Stephanie was soooo helpful and sweet and made the experience even more enjoyable. At the end when I presented my coupon she made sure to get me the discount and even brought me some free ice cream with a candle and sang happy birthday to me. Great experience read more

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I normally am not one to complain, but tonight's experience at Benihana's was beyond bad. We had reservations for 8pm. Arrived at 8pm. We were told to stand to the side. We stood there for 40mins before I went to stand to ask how long before our table was ready. The host advised it was coming up next. After we got seated around 855pm. It was beyond steaming HOT in the room. Easily 85+ degrees. Now I'm no stranger to hibachi so I know it can get a little warmer than the regular restaurant but this was unbelievably hot. The cook advised us that the Air conditioning was not working. Another employee advised me that the restaurant had the heat on due to it being cold nights prior. The entire table and other tables were sweating... literally wiping sweat with napkins... the 2 tables next to us complained as well. The waiter tookFOREVERRRR to get our drink orders etc. which required waiting another 20 mins for the water and soda to come. The. They advised they had NO ICE. Can't believe NO ICE. With this heat.. nothing to quench our thirst. No apologies from anyone. Even After I spoke with a manager - I think by the name Armand.. he should not be a manager. Definitely not! The employee said the ice they did have had melted (they had some ice in big blue ice containers. It was so bad that I went to talk to this manager (I believe Armand - shorter guy in a blue suit.. I think he was Hispanic but not 100% sure. This guy was just horrible.) He just looked away as if he still had other things to do.. no attention to me at all and said he was sorry they had multiple bad things happening this day. But just said sorry while continuing to just look around. Nothing else. Looked away as if I was bothering him. He even came back to the section we were in and talked to 2 other tables that were complaining, but not once did he come address my table even after coming to find him. I asked was there anyone else that I could explain my frustration to. I took 3 other people out to eat with drinks and you're spending a decent amount of money. Service should at least be excellent if you're establishment has no air AND no ice. Manager had no empathy at all. Just shook his head and said yeah.. tonight was bad for us, then walked away to get me the General Manager's card (Lance S. Wells). Said I could contact him at any time and he was sorry for the bad experience tonight. EPIC FAIL Benihana's. This was my 3 guest's first time at Benihanas, even though I have been multiple times prior in other cities. The experience has my guests NEVER wanting to eat at any Benihanas again and it's definitely turned me in the other direction. If Chicago doesn't get their service in order, I fear for the future of a Benihanas there. EPIC Fail Benihana's. That's really all I can say and wrote this review. Hoping others there tonight also write up one. I Expected more from this establishment. I will however also reach out to the General Manager, Mr. Lance S. Wells. Hope he understands better than the night manager, Armand, who was on duty 3/21/2026. I'm sure an AC problem and Oce Problem should be reported to the owner or GM read more

My husband came for a date night tonight and decided to sit in the bar/lounge area. We had a reservation and were sat down promptly but that was the only fast thing about the night. We each ordered the $39 taste of Benihana and I guess the cheap price is what costed us to be here for almost 2 hours. It took 40 minutes to receive our starter soup and drinks. Another 20 minutes to receive our appetizer and remind the wait staff that we hadn't received our salad. Upon receiving our entree, the food was cold and had to call the waiter and let them know the situation. The food was reheated and even then it wasn't hot. At this point I was already hangry from waiting too long that I decided to eat the food. Food was a 4/10. Not sure when I'll decide to come back to this location after our experience tonight. To top it off, we weren't the only ones experiencing the situation, everyone in the area around us which was about 6 tables were experiencing the same situation. read more

This was my second time to this location, and I came with a group of colleagues for dinner. The chef that prepared, our meal was friendly and funny. One of my colleagues received the wrong meat option, but it was quickly rectified. When it came time to pay they spent a long time trying to figure out processing the gift card we had but they got that done. We were supposed to get ice cream with our meal, the server, never came back to our table, after asking us what our choices were for ice cream. Because it took so long for them to process the receipt there was no point in asking for the ice cream as we were ready to go. read more

Benihana - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Very Fun experience. Went here for my birthday and Serdar was an amazing cook. He made the experience all the more fun. read more

Benihana - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

horrible from the start we got there at 7:30 the front desk lady said when my party arrived we would be sat so my party was parking they showed up and then there was a guy there that gave me attitude and rolled his eyes ??? he said since we were past 15 min we would have to wait so whatever we waited and we got sat after we got sat the server took our order the drinks came and our appetizers aswell pretty quickly actually so we thought we were gonna eat soon WRONG 8:30 rolls around still no chef and server isn't saying anything 9 comes still no chef and at this point my party was just hungry and we decided to go somewhere else because we were there for a while with no food my friend went to go get the server for the checks and she just ignored her and walked away so she went to get a manager because wtf??? and we got our checks and NOW the server wants to tell us there was a mess up with our order and the chef will be out immediately. we got our checks and paid and the chef still had not come and there were other people at our table too . HORRIBLE first experience i don't think i would chose any of their locations but i should have checked to see they only have 3 stars read more

Food was fine, but portion sizes were so small for the prices they're charging. Chef was fine but our server was not great. He rushed us the whole time for some reason and even brought us our dessert as soon as the chef was finished. Since the dessert was ice cream we had to eat it right away because it's next to a hot grill and melting. He was also pushy about the tip since you pay on handheld devices. We tipped obviously and didn't plan otherwise but it felt weird to be pushed to do so. Especially since service wasn't good. i would not recommend eating here if you are wanting to spend any quality time with your friends or family . And plan to spend a lot more money than it's worth. read more

Berna was AWESOME!!! Very entertaining and kept the energy high. Thank you for making my daughter's birthday special!

Both Dario and The chef Alexis were Wonderful! We Had a great time. The food was good as always and the kids had an amazing first time. read more

Sergio Is Amazing. He is really cool and friendly, he went out his way to make sure my aunts birthday was special. read more

Benihana - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Benihana is a special place to me. My dad and I went to my hometown location for 23 separate birthday dinners over the years, I had my sweet 16 there, and when my partner surprised me for my birthday this year with a Benihana dinner here in Chicago, I was so excited! This location is right next to Water Tower Place, so parking will be your typical deep downtown experience. This location is large with many tables. There is no "view", and it's not the most aesthetically enjoyable location. We had a 5pm reservation and were seated with a family of six (four young kids). If you want control of your entire experience and night, this type of seating is likely not for you. Our server, Parker, was friendly, although a little soft spoken for how loud the environment is. I'm sure because of the bar, the wait after we ordered drinks before we got those drinks and again before dinner was started was significant. It is always nice to slow down and fully enjoy an experience, but this was a couple hour endeavor for us so be mindful if you're on a time crunch. We shared sake and it was delicious. No complaints and served nicely. I ordered Rocky's choice which comes with steak and chicken. Everything was cooked perfect. My partner had Benihana special, he said his lobster was amazing and his steak also cooked perfect. Our chef was good but not incredibly invested. I really tried but the table vibes were off a little so it wasn't as engaging or energetic as it could have been. But the food was all incredible and one table experience wouldn't prevent me from coming back. I do think in a place like Chicago, with so many incredible and impressive dinner experience options, the experience here was not remarkable. It will be a memorable night for my personal story and celebration that night, but not because Benihana was memorable, and it's definitely a "special event" type of restaurant to me. It was a good experience, but it won't be on my short list to experience over other city options. read more

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Ardis is the real deal. I'm a Japanese hibachi snob and Ardis did things I've never seen in addition to GREAT food. Well done Domo. read more

Benihana - Dragon roll. CHICKEN YAKISOBA. Chicken fried rice. Sake. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

We sat at the bar for my bf's birthday... and Joseph was AMAZING. He was well educated on all the entire menu plus bar selections. He made our entire experience 10/10!!! read more

Benihana - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Ardis did an exceptional job and really took care of his food. The thing that really set Ardis apart is his care for the customer. My girlfriend had a shellfish allergy and Ardis took special care to clean up the flat top and make sure there was no cross contamination. He cleaned the utensils after every food cooked and took special care to make sure the food was delicious and safe. He made our Benihana experience extra special read more

Benihana - HIBACHI TUNA STEAK* - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I came in to grab a drink and food at the bar. The bartender kept directing me upstairs to grab takeout. I told him I was more interested in grabbing a drink and a bite at the bar to which he responded, "I mean they have takeout upstairs". If you didn't want to serve me as a guest that's a really crappy way of doing it. I'll admit I was dressed pretty casually. To push me upstairs instead of being upfront is awful. The manager when I spoke to him didn't seem to care at all and was like well you can eat here. That's not the point- guest service should always be the main goal of the location but obviously it's lost here. read more

Ardis was the best chef! His food was well prepared and seasoned to perfection. He was very professional and kind. We had a wonderful experience! 10/10 read more

Benihana - Spicy shrimp - Sushi Bars Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Jean Paul is the goat!!! Great server, cooks the food really well and very entertaining.

Kate and Guillermo were amazing! Food was delicious. Service was great. Def. Recommend this place! Vibes are amazing! read more

Love going to Hibachi places with kids but this place is too expensive for the food. Most hibachi comes with steamed rice and they charge a lot extra if you want yo convert to fried rice. Food was good but not the best hibachi I've ever had. Ambiance is lovely, service is okay. read more