Benihana - Japanese restaurant in San Francisco - 1737 Post St, USA

We opted to sit in the non-habachi area. We waited about an HOUR for our food after ordering. I got a beer comped for the long wait, which was cool. The food was great, but the cleanliness was subpar. Maybe come here for lunch...

The food was delicious (including the soup, the lemonade, the vegetables, etc.), the chef (Mario) was very nice and the experience was, as you would expect, memorable. However, even considering all this, the prices are way too high. If you want the experience and the taste, you will not be let down. Whether it's worth it, however, is up to you.

Fun experience, it's a show! A bit tacky, but still worth it. Fried rice is really tasty, and everything else is good quality... Make reservations, or plan on waiting a long time.

I was extremely disappointed at my experience at this Benihana location. As a Benihana connoisseur and someone who has been to locations all over the US, this was by far my worst experience. For starters our reservation was at 9:15 and we arrived at 9:10. The restaurant was almost empty due to them closing at 10. Despite the low occupancy, we waited over 50 minutes for the chef to begin cooking the food. We placed our orders and ordered the usual meal that comes with steamed rice, onion soup, salad, and ice cream. The chef begins cooking the food and barely used any seasoning or garlic butter. I understand Cali is health conscious but in the south we season our food. They can take notes from the Benihana in Atlanta and Florida. The chef gets done with our food and my friend and I didn’t have any rice. We call the waiter over and he’s like “oh you ordered rice?” At MINIMUM the meals come with steamed white rice. The waiter and my friend even had a conversation about her not needing chicken in her rice because her meal came with chicken and steak. We ask to speak to the manager and he seemed very uninterested in our experience. By this point the restaurant is closed and I’m sure everyone is ready to go home. The manager brings rice from the back that he stated is made every hour for to go orders. So basically you just gave us rice that has been sitting there. The rice was luke warm and gummy. Overall the experience was unsatisfactory and it is truly unfortunate because I love Benihana.

Situated in Japan Center Mall, Excellent 1st time experience in Japanese foods. Ordered for a lunch set for sir 8 pertains. The lunch was really very good with 6 course. Were served with onion and mushroom soup, salad, spicy chicken, spicy shrimp, Sushi, chicken fried rice and ice cream. Taste was superb, chef was superb, spicy chicken fried rice was made infront of us which was an experience. Would definitely recommend friends to this restaurant.

There was a wait even though we had a reservation. When we sat down, there was a wait to getting started on our food and drinks. Our chef messed up the tricks a couple of times but was really friendly and entertaining. The food was great and the place has a nice environment. Excellent place for a group meal and an entertaining cooking.

You might have better luck just going in had my first horrible experience ordering for the first time only for my food to get stolen and they allowed someone to walk up and steal my food order with no confirmation on who the person was they did nothing but old me sorry as if that helps.. save your time and money no even worth it and I guarantee I won’t be going in or ever ordering from benihanas every again.. just mind blown at a restaurant with such high standards can’t handle basics.The only thing that was helpful was the manager Chen

The Benihana SF location was a flagship at one time, but now it comes across as tired, dirty, and in dire need of a front to back remodel - the physical venue, the menu, and the service format. Filthy carpeting, chipped furnishings, brusque host staff. Everything about our dining experience was subpar for the price paid, with low quality ingredients and wines dished out in a production line format. Staff looked and seemed exhausted, and our assigned chef needed a deep clean and thorough bleaching of the uniform. Hygiene is not a strong point at this location. Definitely our last visit until something fundamentally changes.