Food was delicious since it was cooked by Trevor who is an outstanding chef, entertainer and educator! He is the best we've ever seen! THANK YOU TREVOR for making our birthday celebration extra special!! read more

Benihana - Carlsbad - Sushi Bars Near Me - Carlsbad, California

Delicious food! Excellent service and entertainment from the action providing chef! Been coming here and other locations for years. Glad I was able to finally take my son to enjoy the food and fun for his first time. From the action packed making of fried rice or onion volcanoes... all he could say was wow! Thanks Melinda and John for providing excellent service and a wonderful first time for my son to enjoy! We will be back for sure. read more

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We made a reservation online and got there on time. We were amazed to see how many people were in the lobby. As we checked in, they said nothing about how much we had to wait for our own reservation. After 20 minutes, we went up to the hostess and she said we have to wait an additional 45 minutes for our table. The hostesses were so rude and then told us that they hadn't even sat the people for the reservations 30 minutes ahead of us. Don't overbook and don't be rude. It's not that hard. read more

Made last-minute reservations for my 23rd birthday invited a group of 10 food was phenomenal. Service was phenomenal thank you to all the bartenders the hostess and dallan for making such a great impact on my group and I. Super clean bathrooms really nice front lobby. Lots of seating if you have to wait for your party like we did. read more

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Irvin is hilarious and an awesome chef, love the vibes here. Ian was great as well. 5 stars

My sister made reservations for our family early Saturday afternoon. We barely waited and were seated. The waiter was great ( I dont recall his name but he had a man bun) and also provided us a brief history lessons in chopsticks vs silverware which was pretty cool. He did a great job checking on us and splitting the bill three ways. The chef was great and we loved how he spelled out dad for Fathers Day with the rice. We had two to younger children with us so he asked if anyone was afraid of fire before he made his onion volcano which was considerate. He had a green light he shined on them which cool and make it like a nightclub vibe. All the food was so fresh and the waiter said he could tell they just made certain things. My only small complaint for all of these kind of places is the lack of flavor in the meat. I wish they would marinate them or something. But the dipping sauces are so tasty it's fine! read more

Benihana - Carlsbad - Chicken fried rice - Sushi Bars Near Me - Carlsbad, California

I am writing a review on behalf of a terrible experience my family and friend had on Saturday February 15th 2025 at the Carlsbad location. My friends drove down that morning from Las Vegas for her birthday. We drove down from Huntington Beach to spend some nice quality time for her birthday. She had made a 5:30 reservation for our party of 10. Made weeks prior to the 15th. When we arrived they let us know we were checked in and it would be a 25 minute wait. Around 6pm we went and checked back in with the hostess and they said there was still about another 25 min wait. This was really upsetting because we had 6 children with us 2 of which we set our reservation specifically around their bedtime. I let the woman know this. It was very frustrating. At 6:24 we were finally seated and a woman brought us out some children's appetizers for the kids. The disappointing part about this was that we had to then wait until 7:30 to even have a server come by to take our drink order. So we sat and had some small appetizers without anything to drink. On top of that we asked 2 different people for more kids menus because they only brought us one and nobody ever brought them out to us my husband had to go up and grab some. And someone only came to our table because we had gotten up to complain. Our kids were hungry and thirsty and we'd now been waiting 2 hours to even see a server. When the server arrived he let us know that nobody told him he had our table so essentially they had forgotten about us. After taking our drink order we waited another 15 min before actually getting our drinks. We did not get our food order taken until about 8:00 and then that's when the chef finally came out. 2 of our orders were taken wrong my son didn't get his chicken and steak but instead only his steak. The chef hardly did any fun stuff during the cooking which was even more upsetting because our kids had been waiting forever to see a fun show. Not a single thing was done for us. We have been to Benihana many times before and this was beyond disappointing. The chef was very nice and you can tell they are overworked and short staffed. He did bring out complimentary kids noodles to cook for the kids however upon checking out we realized we were charged for. We were also charged for 3 Dr Peppers that should have been kids drinks included with their kids meals they ordered. Being that we finally checked out after 9pm and had grumpy kids I did not even bother to speak to someone because it was still busy and we needed to get our kids out of there. I am hoping to resolve this with corporate. We finally got our food and it was good but the wait times for everything was absolutely horrible. We ended up leaving before they could even bring out our ice cream because that took another 15 minutes and our kids were beyond tired. We did not get to do our birthday activities afterwards or eat our cake there that was planned because everything took way too long. 6 children having to wait hours before food and drinks is unacceptable anywhere. Something needs to be done about this. I will also be contacting corporate via telephone. I've attached our reservation info and our final receipt with a time stamp to show how long we had to be there waiting on staff. This is crazy and seems we're not the only ones with this experience but almost 4 hours at a restaurant with kids is ridiculous. read more

Benihana - Carlsbad - Our reservation screenshot - Sushi Bars Near Me - Carlsbad, California

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Food is great, don't get me wrong. However, we had a reservation for 7 on a Thursday evening and we were not served until 8:20. That's over an hour wait, ridiculous! What a waste of time. I understand that a place like this can have heavy traffic at times, but management should mitigate this by hiring more staff/chefs. Easy as that. read more

Extremely slow. So overpriced for average food. Who pays for rice in a Japanese restaurant...outrageous. And our chef was ho-hum...certainly not entertaining. Would not return. Carlsbad,CA. read more

Chef David is tue BEST and engineered the perfect birthday dinner celebration for our family. Best Japanes tortillas in North county by far!! read more

Benihana - Carlsbad - Sushi Bars Near Me - Carlsbad, California

Zain is the man. The best chef. Such good vibes. Legit legit legit. It keeps saying I need to add more words so here it is

Absolutely phenomenal experience with Chef David Paze From the moment we sat down, his warmth and humor made the whole evening feel special. Not only is he incredibly engaging, but it's clear he truly knows his craft. Every dish was executed perfectly and bursting with flavor. You can tell he's passionate about what he does. 10/10--couldn't have asked for a better experience. Highly recommend! read more

Benihana - Carlsbad - Sushi Bars Near Me - Carlsbad, California

We always make a reservation but they always seem to run late. The server offered us some edamame as an apology. Service was great. The chef was fine but he seemed annoyed that we wanted to chat with each other rather than watching his show. I think it would be great if they offered an option for tables where you want to enjoy the showmanship, and an option where you just want to enjoy the food not so much interaction with the chef. I get that the main attraction for most people is the fun atmosphere, but honestly I go for the exceptionally good fried rice and steak. I don't know if it's a permanent menu change but no mushrooms with the cooked veggies this time. But overall, still enjoyed the meal. read more

This place continues to get worse and worse with each visit. This go round we didn't even make it to a table. Arrived ahead of our reservation, and sat for a half hour waiting. They're clearly understaffed and poorly managed. Sadly, this is our last visit. Since visiting over the last decade living here, experiences have gotten progressively worse. Don't take reservations if you can't service them. read more

Our cook Yelin made this dinner with my family beautiful! She really has amazing talent we were so entertained by all her amazing tricks. I love their soup and salad meal that comes with an entree. You can not get a better deal + portion than that. Thank you to Yelin for making this dinner so special with my family. read more

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Very hospitable and friendly staff. I had a wonderful time. The manager came over and checked on us. I will be back.

Greatest steakhouse around not to mention hibachi! 10/10 recommend great service, food, atmosphere and staff is incredible and hardworking! You looking for a good date night spot? Come to this place!! read more

Thank you to Samantha and Zain, You really made our night. We had never been to a Benihana before. You catered to our vegetarian preference very well. I really appreciate your kindness. read more

Chef Trevor, aka White Rice or Flaco Blanco was very entertaining, and full of fun facts. We ordered the Samurai Treat and Filet 5-course meals, and it was delicious! read more

Benihana - Carlsbad - Chef White Rice! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Carlsbad, California

Drake was our waiter and Jorge was our chef. They were both very nice and accommodating. Since I'm a vegetarian, Jorge cooked my food first. I love that. Drake came by a few times to make sure we were well taken care of. read more

Our chef, Trevor, was the highlight of our meal. He was entertaining and provided a great meal. It was my son's birthday and my grandsons enjoy the show. Downside.....6 people, dinner was almost $600! Noise level made it impossible to carry on a conversation. We are retired, so while it was a great dinner, we won't be going back. read more

Made reservations for my daughters bday. She doesn't get opportunity to eat here because it's costly. She was so excited but we got there at our scheduled reservation and told they would get to us soon. We waited over half an hour and still no table. Went to check on it and they said we'd be the next to be seated whenever people got up and they bused the table. It was already 8:00 pm and we had no idea how long that would be so we left. Not sure why they take reservations if they aren't going to hold the table. Very disappointing read more

The service at this location "Carlsbad" has been the worse service I've had at a Benihana. Arrived at 18:30 was seated by 18:50 we thought great, the server took our drink order took about 20 minutes to bring them to us. After that she disappeared. Our soup was brought out by a different server, we asked for our salad after 40 minutes after the soup. Our daughter was starving and had only ordered steamed rice and teriyaki, so at about 19:45 we asked for her food from what appeared to be a manager but she was rude that she must have brought the rice they use for fried rice because it warm at best. Our chef made his debut at 20:30 and we thought finally we are going to eat, well it seems that our chef Zaine was unprepared and had to continually ask for the ingredients and courses. He gave no show for us and gave people the wrong food, mixing up the orders. My first thought was ok they just promoted the buss boy to chef. After our meal our hard working server reappeared in time to collect some tips. When we were leaving I requested to speak to the general manager and the host said he was busy. I asked for the name and phone number all he provided was either Jason or Preston. In closing I encourage Jason and Preston to get lots more training because if they continue to operate in the manner they did last Saturday, unfortunately they will lose business and eventually have to close its doors. Also to whoever decided that the auto reply about how sorry they are with our experience, save it and work on training the staff to meet the expectations of the patrons. read more

Carlie was the best! we went to celebrate our sons birthday and had a fantastic time. the manager came over as well and was very nice making sure we had a great time I highly recommend the Carlsbad location! The chef was amazing and the food was sooo delicious! read more

Benihana - Carlsbad - I Benihana's - Sushi Bars Near Me - Carlsbad, California

We cancelled based on over 30 minute wait when we got there. This location does not st all have it together.

Get ready for a fun dinner experience with your family and friends! We visit this location when we want to celebrate even though it's further from our house. If you get seated with Daniel, you are very lucky! He cooks to perfection and we love his attitude and style. Always upgrade your rice! Don't forget that you can ask for it spicy, too. Make sure to plan plenty of time when you go, since this is a dinner experience you will be here for a few hours. 100% recommend read more

Chef Trevor is the fuckin man. Hope we get him every time we come back. If we don't, we'll send our chef back to the kitchen until we get Trevor. Dude deserves a raise. You're a beast Trevor. read more

Benihana usually is considered a top of the line restaurant with best food, show and service. We didn't get any of that last night. To start with our reservation for 7:30 turned to 8:00. After we sat down no one came to get the order for drinks. The Old Fashioned I ordered tasted like it was filled with some weird ingredient and was extremely bitter. I couldn't get the waiters attention to change that. It was 8:30 by the time we placed the order. The soup came. The service for the drinks was non there. I have mention that the waiter was someone we knew and is a good hardworking kid who was stretched to too many tables. The cook came and started the process at 9 pm. There wasn't enough chicken in chicken fried rice. He couldn't get anyone's attention to get him more chicken so he had to go to the kitchen himself. While the rice was on the grill and had dried out. He was cooking mushroom chicken and steak together, totally cross contaminating. Because it was so delayed, my son had to leave as he had tickets to an event. We had to pack up all of his food. In the middle of eating my daughter didn't feel good, she had to go to the bathroom. We ended up packing all of the food. My daughter told me she would go to the car. I later found out that the bathroom was so messy she actually went to the hotel next door to use their rest room. They had not taken the drink charge off so we had to call the manager who took the drink off and gave some discount. Still the total bill was $244 for 4 people that was not worth the food, service or the ambiance. I do not recommend going to this Benihana. The waiter was good and it wasn't his fault. The restaurant is not managed right. I found out they don't cap reservations so they accept everyone, make them wait and then rush through the food without the show. This was one dinner we were going to have as a family but was completely botched! read more

I have 1star check in experience, but the dining experience was actually 4.5star. The service from the staff and chef was exceptional once we were seated on table. My reservation was 7pm, but I came at 6pm and we were checked in at the time. I was told that we will be seated towards to 7pm, but our name didn't get called until 7:45pm. We seated on table, and staff apologized for the night being unexpectedly busy. We had to wait until 8:30pm to finally meet our chef. Our chef Daniel entertained us very well and the food itself was very good. Overall we felt positive although we had very delayed and slow check in. read more

Can I leave no stars??? Horrible horrible! We had a 6:30 reservation and were told they are running 30 min behind. Seeing the lobby get more busy after 20 min we then asked how much longer and were told it would be about an hour. We also were told they overbooked and parties were bigger than anticipated? This place is mismanaged and total chaos. Let alone the bathroom was so dirty with no toilet paper. Our kids were starving so we left. And will never return. read more

I waited 40 minutes for my order, it's a circus ! Clowns, they just don't care about the people who work on the delivery.

The chef was amazing! Very skilled and funny and attentive too! The food was good, the meat was tender and the yakisoba very tasty! read more

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Gosh, I haven't been to benihana in over 10 years and it was exactly how I remembered it! Pros: - Super entertaining, great for groups, our chef was full of dad jokes lol - Food tasted amazing!! The meat just melts right in your mouth! - Upgrade your rice to fried rice - you won't regret it - Clean restaurant - Friendly service - Comes with "free" ice cream at the end Cons: - You NEED to make reservations and will probably still have to wait (I witnessed the host turn away two large groups because they weren't taking walk-ins on a busy Saturday) - I made reservations on OpenTable for 6:30pm and were not seated until 8pm............. The host apologized, said they were behind, and would text us when our table was ready. When we were finally seated, we saw SOOO many empty tables.... Come on people, hire more staff!! You're losing business! I would definitely come back after they figure out their staffing problem. read more

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This place is amazing the service so awesome and the food is phenomenal! But the chef Trevor is the best he is so funny , has the best jokes he's truly the best chef ever!! read more

Benihana - Carlsbad - Fried rice - Sushi Bars Near Me - Carlsbad, California

Benihana food is legit. Wow. Our chef + the fresh food could not hit any better. Perfect cooktime, seasoning, portions, you really get what you pay for. Food is phenomenal. Highly recommend upgrading to fried rice, the seared tuna is an amazing dish to savor. The show aspect is pretty funny and entertaining. Really, its watching someone cook. Which leads me to my caveat. Make sure you come in a group of at least 3. Kids are allowed here which is great but if you get the wrong family you are in for a tainted experience as you'll be forced to share a table with rambunctious kids who have no spatial awareness and parents who unfortunately cant and dont want to do much either. Better to be in a group of YOUR friends. Food is awesome. Service is meh, the chef and show is funny. Go in a group and you will truly enjoy! read more

Getting seated at this place is a nightmare we were sat 35minutes after our reservation on a Thursday. Food is delicious and our chef was super friendly and entertaining but they really need to do something about that wait , unacceptable. read more

It's unfortunate that I'm writing for consumer awareness This has happened three different occasions in one year. Beware of pickup orders, food delivery orders or take out orders in general. Although the take out bag is overly stapled... be sure to remove the staples and check the package with your paid order receipt. On three separate occasions more than half of the items were missing and not discovered until the package reached home. 3 orders (2 pick ups) and (1 delivery). I called to inform and speak to the manager on two of the occasions for orders that I personally picked up. My reporting of these disappointments resulted in only myself wasting my time and breath as nothing was ever corrected and continues to occur. The times I walked in to pick up were usually 2 or 3 pm and the place is empty so there's no excuse for messing up a small take out order placed online. I'm left with the impression that it is purposely done. The establishment could care less and there are other options for Japanese food and sushi so I will not be returning. read more

We've been coming here for over 5 years. Benihana is so much fun and made even more fun when you have chef Jorge. He is the absolute best!!!! The showmanship is top notch, but the flavoring and prep is even better. Make sure you request him if you're going! read more

Benihana - Carlsbad - Onion volcano! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Carlsbad, California

DO NOT GO HERE. We booked a reservation at 6:15 and we are still waiting. The host let us know that the reservation system does not work and you can book but it doesn't work. Management wants people to come in, they lie about the time. We complained and they finally sat us. Very poor service. read more

The food at Benihana is top of line. High quality you can taste. The service is just tip of the line and the best there is. The ambience is Japanese inspired, and is very intriguing. Not to forget that they are cooking in front of you! All the chefs do amazing tricks that always leave me in awe. Highly recommend. Overall of course 5 stars. read more