Benihana - Japanese restaurant in Schaumburg - 1200 E Higgins Rd, USA

Arrived on Saturday around 4pm for Hibachi. Was seated within 15 mins. Our server was Valentin & our chef was Adrian. I ordered the steak Hibachi with noodles and miso soup. I took an edamame and Alaskan roll to go. The food was flavorful. I enjoyed everything. Valentin was prompt and took our orders immediately. Adrian was our chef & made sure everyone was comfortable. Both were polite as well. The restaurant was clean. Staff was nice. Spacious seating throughout.

Dinner is the show, and it's good! Benihana has been around a long time and is well known for its hibachi grills and chefs that entertain with tricks, humor, and good food. The service has always been great at this location. The food has a nice spice flavor, and the sauces are tasty. The atmosphere is professional and/or romantic. It's a great place to celebrate, have a work lunch, or dine with your honey.

A great place for all occasions. Can get really busy but the chefs do cook quick and amazingly. The food is buttery and oily but still really good with the sauces they have. Kid friendly as well, they brung a smile to my family’s face.

WORST EVER. I worked at a sushi and hibachi restaurant for many years, and it's my favorite type of food. However, this was by far the worst sushi and hibachi restaurant I've been to. The service from our server was good, but that was the highlight of my experience. The chef was another story I'll get into. I ordered a steak hibachi with fried rice and a 2 piece salmon sashimi. The meal comes with some sides. Here are my thoughts...the salmon sashimi was delivered first. The salmon tasted fine, but it was not a true sashimi cut. It was so thin and flimsy. The quality was poor. At least it didn't smell fishy, so it was somewhat fresh. Then the soup came, and it tasted fine - nothing special. The salad was another story. The dressing had clearly been sitting on that salad forever - maybe all day. It was watery and soupy in the bottom. The taste was ok, but I could tell it wasn't prepared fresh. For the restaurant: I'd recommend having a pitcher of the ginger dressing in the fridge and pouring it on the salad just before they're taken to customers. Otherwise, like I said, it'll be soupy salad. Finally, the dinner was being prepared. The chef had to leave the table 4 or 5 times because he forgot ingredients and messed up orders. Twice a kitchen staffer had to deliver ingredients to him as well. He didn't seem confident, which was the first red flag signaling that he didn't know what he was doing. I'm assuming he's a new chef, but he clearly wasn't ready to be out in the hibachi. He over peppered everything. When I or others tried to correct him on orders or indicate how we preferred our food, he didn't understand or didn't hear us. I know he wanted to do his best and probably tried to do so, but he plainly was not ready. I asked for medium rare to medium steak. There were completely raw parts in a couple of pieces of steak. I didn't eat those ones, but the texture when I examined them with my fork seemed they'd be chewy. The steak bits were cut in long strips. The 3 or so slices I ate were again super peppery but cooked to the right temperature. The zucchini was also majorly over peppered. The onions were decent at best, but they at least weren't over peppered somehow. I didn't even eat the mushrooms because by that time, I was sick of it all. The only other decent item was the fried rice. It was just...eh. The chef messed up the fried rice order(s) 3 times, and mine ended up with burnt eggs from him leaving the table to get things. I didn't stay for the scoop of ice cream that was included with my meal, and neither did the guys next to me. It was so bad that I just wanted to leave. I'm glad I did because I was sick afterward. In the end, I told the server how awful the food was. I was there alone, but even the 2 other guys next to me agreed it was the worst food they'd had at Benihana. The manager gave me a discount, but I'll still not be coming back here. It was the worst sushi and hibachi I've ever had, and I'll be sure to warn others about it. I've attached pictures, including the receipt. Although you'll see the tip says 0 on my receipt, I did tip my server in cash and 20% of the original price.

First time here and I will NEVER return. As a food critic I can say this was beyond mediocre for the price. The soup was great; but how can you mess up broth with onion strings and mushrooms? The meat was cooked to perfection: Juan is a great cook. However the first red flag was the presentation of the women’s restroom (I would have rather used a south side Chicago porta-potty), I chose to drive over an hour for the experience even though I had a different chain Japanese restaurant closer to me. Faults on me. The rice was not very flavorful and lacked taste, also the sauces offered on the website show options; I asked for yum yum sauce which I was elated to see they offered that since I used to only find it at hibachi restaurants while visiting Florida. I was appalled at what was presented to me: this was a chilled gelatinous peach colored substance. Yum yum sauce has a mayonnaise base and is sweet. This was salted, had pepper flakes in it and was like a pudding not a sauce at all. It was frightening. I was just extremely disappointed in their presentation overall, and was bummed since it has been recommended numerous times. Maybe it was an off night but I won’t be returning. Also word of advice one get winter guard on the windows, the drafts were horrible and even made our plates cold and two for the amount of money people are spending on these meals: if there is a birthday please offer a complimentary sundae or dessert: not a singular scoop of “sorbet with whipped cream”.

I went here for dinner, for the price the portions were extremely small. The chicken and steak was dry. The lobster was good. I live in NC and Kanki knocks benihana it the box!

I enjoyed the dinner here. The chef cooks in front of me so it was nice to experience. The meal was good but the server who was taking order wasn’t nice. I felt she was intimidating. The chef’s performance was great although put the shrimp skins in the chef hat is questionable hygienically.

The girls and I had dinner together and it was a great night. I order what I thought was a one person fishbowl drink and it was enough for 3 people! We had a ball and will go again.