Benihana - Memphis

This was my first trip to a Benihana (although I 'd been to similar restaurants before). The staff was exceptionally friendly, and our table 's chef was not only quite talented with all of the juggling involved but was a very good showman as well. He kept us laughing through most of the meal. The teriyaki steak was fantastic as was the chicken fried rice, and the soup was excellent. The only thing I was a bit skeptical about was the Japanese potato that was served as a bit of a novelty at the very beginning of the meal. The restaurant itself is set off from the busy Poplar Avenue a bit (it 's directly across from the Staybridge Suites) but is quite easily accessible from major roads. This restaurant is the perfect mix of excellent food and engaging entertainment.

Just close this location and save the face of Benihana's name in other cities and states. It was the worst experience I have ever had there. Damn near ran my blood pressure up to stroke level.

This was my first time there. My experience was horrible!!! Don 't know if it was a bad day or what. Our chef didn 't talk at all when he came to the table nor did we receive the Benihana Experience. Our reservation was at 12pm but we did not get seated until almost 1pm. Then our chef didn 't arrive at the table to cook until after 2pm plus he had to keep going to the back to get things he didn 't have. Yes my first time was very bad. I believe our waitress and chef were both new which is a bad combination in my opinion to have 2 new people working together. I will return again to see if my experience will be better but I will request an experienced waiter/waitress and chef.

Reservation was made for 6pm. 3hrs later finally seated. After placing order chef and server comes out and keeps asking you want soup, want salad, vegetables? We want everything that came with the meal!!! Rice was burned and was overall a bad enough experience to not return.

I will probably never go back. We had a reservation and waited 30 minutes to sit after the reservation time and another 30 before anyone came to the table.