I had a wonderful dinner with my husband and kids here. We went here for the entertainment and weren't disappointed. We had Kelly as a chef previously and came back because she was so skilled and fun! She knew all the Benihana tricks, like the volcano onion and beating heart made from the fried rice. She brought the lively ambiance you go there for. And the food was delicious! Best fried rice ever and I loved the chili shrimp roll. The yakisoba was great too. Definitely coming back again! read more

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

Great food and wonderful service! It was a memorable experience for our family and worth the reservations. Our pickiest eater finished his food. The atmosphere was upbeat and the staff was very accomodating. We will be back soon! read more

Benihana - Temecula - Dinner and a show - Sushi Bars Near Me - Temecula, California

We were there on Christmas day and eventhough they were short staffed we had a wonderful meal and the staff & food was wonderful! Make reservations and try out their specials in January! read more

Came in last night to get a drink in a different scenery, and started talking to the bartender Nixxi who was super chill and nice. She took the time to talk to me about drinks even recommended some to try. To my new fall favorite the sweater weather margarita which was sweet with cinnamon taste omg 10/10 recommend!!!! read more

It pains me to write this but I just can't let it go. We've been to a Benihana many, many times just not this one. I saw online that you had a special in the bar or lounge for $39. We decided we wanted to try that, you get all the same things just not the cook in front of you and the kids really didn't want cook in front of you. We get there just before 5pm, 2 parties in front of us waiting and I tell the front we want to sit in the lounge and she says ok I can sit you in there give me a few minutes. We wait, and wait, and wait, and wait and at about 5:20pm she tells us that they don't have a table big enough to sit us in the lounge! I mean she could have told us that at 5pm. Ok that's fine we'll sit at a teppan table but now we need to wait until 5:30pn for a server to arrive. Finally we get sat down. The menu states we get a soup and salad, shrimp appetizer, vegetables, and then your choice of meal. We get like 4 little pieces of zucchini by itself. No other veggies mixed in like carrots or onions like what you would normally get at a place like this. He overcooked our daughter's steak supposed to be medium rare and it was well done! Shrimp appetizer came at the end because I asked about it. Onions came after the meat. The entire experience was so weird. He was awkward and not funny, food was totally under seasoned. For $350 I should have walked out of there feeling full and like it was the best meal we've ever had! We sadly will go back to our long time teppanyaki in the area before ever walking back in here again. For a business as big as Benihana this is beyond disappointing. The only thing that would make me feel better would be a full refund on a terrible, terrible experience and meal! read more

We went there for lunch. We were there at 2pm, lunch is served until 3pm. We were given menus, unaware they were dinner menus. When the check came the amount was $141 ( for lunch? ). I asked the waitress if the lunch menu and dinner menu were the same and her answer was no, they are different and that we had been given the dinner menu by the hostess. I could have argued about the bill, but decided to just pay it and leave. I'm sure we were given the higher priced dinner menu on purpose. We will never return to this restaurant and will tell everyone we know to not patronize it either. What a Ripoff read more

Cook was great and very entertaining his server was great , but the area we were sitting was very cold . there were 3 parties in our section at first i thought it was only me at first, but and we sat there the other parties also were very cold , we asked the server to please lower the ac but it seemed like we asked for it to be colder do to that cold temperatures our food got very cold fast , sorry I sound like a Karen but I would of love to enjoy my meal and not sit there cold and having to get up walk away from my area to avoid the cold temperature and having to take my meal home , cook was excellent server was excellent read more

Food was good. Smaller than normal portions at Benihana. Our waiter Deacon was absolutely amazing!!! Our chef Lina (Paulina I think) was awful. No personality and no excitement. We go for the food and show, but definitely no show with her. The atmosphere was great and even though the restaurant was packed it wasn't too loud. read more

Kevin was our cook tonight! He did an amazing job!! We will definitely come back and ask for Kevin. Daryl was our server and he did amazing as well. Thank you so much for great time for my family. read more

Not sure yet staffing challenges are not allowing for us to be seated Hostess needs more training on how to time seating they should have a manager assisting them Promised a time and all walk ins after us got seated first I surveyed and listened to the conversation at stand and clearly they are confused Children in our party got extremely impatient after 1 hour and 29 min wait to be seated We decided to leave after being told you're next only to see others seated next Or it's only 7 more minutes 30 minutes later Hopefully you get it together soon. Shogun got our business for they have customer service down. read more

Go to any other location as the managers here do not care about guest experience. Soup and salad came as chef was done cooking our food! Poor execution and speaking with Lisa was unhelpful. read more

We are almost an hour past our reservation now and they just keep telling us it's 5 more minutes

Took our son here on April 24th for his 18th Bday. First time ever being here and honestly wasn't expecting much. The food was fantastic and our chef Levi absolutely killed it. He was very good at his craft and kept all of us involved. There was even a girl at our table that we didn't know that had to have everything gluten free and Levi was more then patient with her and made everything she needed. Will definitely be back. Great job Levi!!!!!! read more

Horrible service don't even Bother making reservations literally waited a hour just for us to end up leaving HORRIBLE SERVICE!

Kelly and Megan were absolutely awesome. they interacted with all of us. We have great conversations besides the great cooking would definitely come back again thank you so much. read more

Chef Kelly was really good actually, server Meagan equally good, took care of us for sure!

Jarrett was an exceptional server. He was very attentive, friendly and helpful. The food was also excellent. It's was a fun experience.

Unfortunately service is horrible we waited almost two hours before any chef came over to our table. This is unacceptable as we also made a reservation. Never come here again read more

Fist off I had a reservation for 7pm...wasn't seated until 7:20pm. Server was really good but we sat there for over an hour for a chef to appear...wasn't much of a show for the prices we paid for dinner...in fact there was barely any show besides him cooking...very disappointed...won't be back read more

Kelly was absolutely amazing made my birthday so special! She was so kind! Thank you Kelly! read more

My family visited the Temecula location for dinner on October 29,2025. We had the most incredible experience with the entire staff!! We want to make a special call-out to the whole staff and especially recognize our server Megan, bartender Eddie, chef Johnathan and manager Crystal. It was a great night celebrating my son's birthday and we will definitely be back!! Thank you again for your hospitality and attention to detail! read more

Good and staff was amazing from the moment we stepped in! The service was great and the chef JONATHAN made the experience here for my dad's birthday one to remember.We'll definitely be back to enjoy more great meals here. read more

We moved up here from San Diego about 10 years ago. We have been going to shogun in the same shopping center and always compared it to our San Diego Benihana. It never compared. I was a little nervous to come to this location because I would see mixed reviews on here and also in the Temecula Talk FB group. We decided to make a reservation for our sons 11th and I was so happy we did. When we checked in we had to wait about 15 minutes. That's okay because even at shogun we have to wait with a reservation too, but at least at Benihana you don't have the raw sewage smell that you do at Shogun. The service here and the food quality is by far superior over Shogun. I was shocked. Since it been a decade since we have eaten at Benihana, I didn't know if I was just putting it on a pedestal compared to shogun, but I wasn't. It's far better and the prices are basically the same. We will definitely be coming back over and over again. I'm so happy we have a new place to do birthday celebrations. read more

Make a reservation friends, even on a Wednesday night they are crowded. Our guy on the hot top was Jose! Funny and knew how to season every thing just right! When we walked in the bartenders knew how to pour a drink with the hand of god! Whew! Good pours! It's just a good time and you meet great fun people! read more

I had wonderful time at Benihana with my family shout out to Clarissa & Levi for amazing service

Great service at Benihana from Clarissa and Eli! The food was amazing, the energy was fantastic, and the overall experience was unforgettable. Loved the atmosphere! read more

Clarissa was amazing. Very fun. Our chef Eli, superb cook. We celebrated two birthday and they made it a blast

Disappointed. First time at Benihana and probably won't be returning. My fiancé made reservations at 8:00, we checked in with the hostess and were seated around 8:15. We ordered some drinks, which arrived pretty quickly. For the first round of drinks we ordered the Exotic Mojito and I ordered the Lychee Mojito or Lychee Blossom, I can't remember the exact name but the drinks were great. For the appetizer we decided on the shrimp tempura, and they were delicious. After everyone at our table received their drinks and appetizers we were told that our cook would be coming shortly. We waited about an hour for our cook to arrive. And to make things worse no one came to inform us that they were running behind until about 40 minutes of waiting...at this point everyone at our table is hungry. We ended up ordering another drink while waiting, which was also really good. I believe it was a Frozen strawberry mojito. Eventually our cook arrived and mind you, it was both my fiancé and I's first time at Benihana or any Hibachi Style restaurant, so we were expecting the "full hibachi experience". Our cook did not seem very experienced at all, almost like it was his first day on the job. I hate to say that but it was so disappointing. Usually they do the fried rice first but everything was done "backwards" at our table starting with the veggies and our entrées. I'm not sure what happened but I guess the rice wasn't ready yet or something. We got our veggies and they were good, the garlic butter they use is really flavorful. We ordered the Deluxe Treat for our entrée. We asked for our filet mignon to be cooked "medium-rare" and he kept asking us if it was good, which I thought was odd because you're the cook shouldn't you know?! He ended up overcooking it a bit but it's okay, it still tasted good. The lobster was also pretty good, all of the food was seasoned well. As for the onion soup and salad we got in the beginning, I wasn't really a fan of the salad dressing and I wasn't too impressed with the onion soup. The rice finally arrived and we got our "chicken fried rice" I say that with apostrophes because it was more like fried rice with two small pieces of chicken. If I order chicken fried rice I would expect it to have more than two pieces of chicken in it. After we had eaten everything, our cook decided to do the onion volcano trick and it didn't work 4x, it wasn't his fault he didn't have any lighter fluid, but it was just so disappointing. I am leaving such a low review due to the horrible experience we had here. From the long wait to the cook, he didn't entertain us, do any tricks or anything exciting. It was very underwhelming. If we didn't have such a horrible experience I would've given a much better review because the food was delicious, but we just didn't feel well compensated enough. I will say our waitress was very sweet, and attentive. ALSO: These wonderful ladies sitting across from us at our table had a shellfish food allergy and they had notified the waitress, manager, hostess upon arrival. When the cook arrived, they had mentioned it to him as well. But he ended up cross-contaminating the food by cooking the shrimp and lobster near the chicken...I was in disbelief!! I believe the manager did give our entire table a discount due to the inconveniences. read more

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We had reservations at 5:30 for a party of eight We were not sat until 620 Then the chef did not arrive to start our order until 710. The waitress that took her drink order and our dinner order was very kind and efficient. So that's a plus. The steak and lobster was delicious. The yakisoba was not good at all. Drinks were good though. The atmosphere is fun. However, our chef was nothing special. read more

Megan excellent service, entertaining chef, had a great time for my birthday with my family

Food was great. The chef even better. Go for lunch to save a couple bucks. And don't forget to tip the chef! read more

I recently dined at Benihana on September 5th between 5:30 and 6:45 pm and ordered the Filet Mignon and Scallops 6-course meal, while my dining partner had the Spicy Chicken 5-course meal. Unfortunately, my experience didn't meet expectations. First, the positives--Bill, our server, was fantastic. He was attentive, made sure our drinks were always filled, and provided excellent service throughout the meal. Unfortunately, the issues stemmed from the back kitchen. I ordered my filet mignon rare, but it came out rubbery and overcooked, more like a well-done cut of beef. The scallops were also underwhelming in size. Timing was another issue. The chef prepared my steak and scallops first, and by the time my partner's Spicy Chicken meal arrived, my food was cold. If the chicken takes longer to cook, it should have been prepared first to ensure both meals were served fresh at the same time. I know this wasn't Bill's fault, as his service was impeccable. However, whoever was working in the back kitchen needs to improve their timing and cooking quality. This kind of experience, especially at a restaurant like Benihana, was disappointing. Ambiance was nice not crowded great seating. read more

My wife and I decided to visit this Benihana for our first time. We are so thankful that we did. It was our typical date night, but this night ended up being not so typical. This was absolutely the best service that we have ever gotten at any restaurant. All employees seemed to be in a great mood and that energy carried on to the guests. It's so noticeable. Management seems to have this place running like a well oiled machine. Everything was perfect tonight and the food was fantastic to boot. We had Kelly as our chef and she absolutely killed it! Everything was above and beyond what my wife and I expected, especially for an establishment that hasn't been open for that long. This Benihana definitely sets the example for all restaurants in the I.E. to follow. Thank you to the bar staff as well. Omar and Eddie were outstanding and made us feel like regulars as we sat and enjoyed a drink and sushi roll while we waited for our reservation. We were offered to be seated before our reservation time but we decided to wait because we had such a great time with the bartenders. This was our first time there but it will definitely not be our last. We loved this experience. If you are reading this and are on the fence about coming here, stop wasting your time and get there ASAP. A breath of fresh air compared to most experiences in SoCal at the moment. Thank you to all staff. You guys rock! read more

This was the absolute worst experience EVER! The very beginning the seating the hostess if it hadn't been for the very friendly waiter that saved the day I would give this place a -5 ! We came in they 3 people up front to take names)(?) took our name we asked for just a lounge table instead of the grill, the girl took our name and phone number and then we headed to the bar to have a drink until we were called 30 minutes later I went to check out my name because it was literally empty in the lobby and she asked me who took my name and number, and it was literally her! Then she proceeds to tell me that the girl that was supposed to seat us that she handed our ticket to clocked out and went home!? Ok so you see us still waiting!?why not inform us of that? Instead of sitting on your phones! so we got passed that and finally got seated and she sat us at a completely dirty table in a completely empty lounge area! We had to ask her if we could sit at aCLEAN table, "she apologized and said sry im not wearing my glasses" what's my response? Even a blind person could see how filthy this table is! Like I said, the waiter said he had only been there a few weeks, but he was very friendly, but they have him running around doing everything which delayed our service tenfolds! The food was decent & they did have happy hour all night so that was a plus but So disappointed in the service that we will never return to this Benihana's, which is a bummer because the last time we came here we raved about it to all our friends.. but we will definitely not return. If you're looking for a great date night, sry Benihana but I don't recommend this location in Temecula that's for sure! read more

Thank you so much to Hannah our amazing server and Gabriel our great chef! We had previously been to a Benihana many years ago in another city and were disappointed and never went back. We decided to try the Temecula location and the staff and food were awesome and totally made up for our longtime grudge. We will definitely be back and love Benihanas now!!! read more

What an excellent place to share a wonderful time with your family. We had so much fun on the server and the cook was very funny.We left throughout the evening. I would definitely recommend this restaurant. Thank u. we will recommend this place, friends and family read more

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We've been to a lot of Benihana restaurants, but this evening with Chef Ian in Temecula was the best! The jokes were corny and the food delicious! He cooked everything to perfection while entertaining us. Great evening out! read more

Walking into Benihana, I was greeted by two lovely hostesses. I was seated shortly and served by, I believe, Clarissa. They were all very nice and welcoming. While we were waiting for our chef to come to our table, the manager, Nicole, came to check on us, making sure we were having a good time and didn't need anything. My chef was Abel, and I suggest asking for him if he's available. He was very funny and put on a great show for me and my family. Overall, I had a great experience. read more

The food was great. The service was great and the ambiance was very good too! It was busy but the timing was good and not rushed

So to be clear it's been yearssssssss since I went to Benihana. But last time I did it was amazing. This time? Utter fail. I ordered the chicken and rice through Uber Eats. Which led me to believe there actually WAS chicken in it. Especially since the picture shows pieces of chicken in rice. It was delivered and all it is, is chicken flavored rice that is oily and was packed into a hard square. I got this because I have a stomach ulcer and wanted something that is easy on the gut. Can't eat this because someone got a little too generous with the spices. Oh well. read more