Benihana - Dulles

Unfortunately with these places your experience is at the mercy of the chef you’re assigned. We were assigned a meek, reserved, near silent chef who was very inexperienced and stumbled through making our dinner. Luckily, it was our guests first time at hibachi style dining so they were unable to comprehend how disappointing in comparison the performance was.

Opentable was simple & the staff was ready for us when we got there!

Made a reservation for 8:15 pm. Was not seated until almost 8:45. There were open tables but they did not have enough staff to work all of the tables. There was one other large group waiting also. By 9:15 we had placed our order and received salads and drinks but had not seen a chef. When we had asked at first we were told someone was coming soon. We then saw half the restaurant was complaining about similar delays and decided to cut our losses and leave. At this point they admitted they were short on chefs.

With a reservation, it took us 30 minutes to get seated. Another hour for food. No manager came to apologize or make it right to us.

I never leave reviews but after this experience....I had to. I've always wanted to try benihanas and so for my birthday I figured why not?! I should have went to Sakura gardens instead!! The place was packed, loud and just not what I expected. But let's take that out of the equation as that is not the restaurant's fault.

Food-horrible! Unseasoned, (salt and pepper the bare minimim-was missing) and the cook put absolutely no effort into our dishes. We ordered teriyaki chicken and had to pay for sides (rice and noodles) separately because apparently that was all we would have gotten.....rediculous!

Chef- again no effort into meal, limited interaction with us and just was not pleasant.
Waitress-got our order wrong, took forever to bring things out and swore a few time to the cook (jokingly)....in front of us....this is absolutely not great customer service behavior

I looked at the other table next to us and their chef took time with their meals, their food looked absolutely amazing and their waitor checked in them to make sure things were great....must have been nice. Their chef started before ours and finished 15 minutes after ours....telling.

Way to ruin my birthday dinner.
Party of 8 and spent over $500 on horrible service do better!

Terrible experience. We were sat 45mins late for our dinner and weren't served our food until another 2 hours later. Would NEVER go back.

Tonight was okay, not great. The hosts had little to no understanding when my in-laws were running late, threatening to give away our table after we had driven over two hours to get there and my mom flew across the country. Our server was rude, inattentive, and rarely checked on us. The rice tasted undercooked (steamed), which made the fried rice, while cooked nicely on the stove top, have hard grains. The steak was delicious, but the scallops could have been cooked longer. The server didn’t bother to take my ice cream order for my birthday; she defaulted to rainbow sherbet and only brought my free ice cream in the flavor I wanted when we reminded her that ice cream came with the meal (after she brought our check). My mom-in-law had to ask for a box for her food four times and was physically shooed away by her. If I didn’t love this place normally, I wouldn’t come back. Such a disappointing night.

Person cooking was not very skilled at all, and after all that is one of things you go for is the show. Left the table several time to get things. Table behind us had a great person!! Food was served to far apart, rice first, then veggie a while after, and then protein a while after that, but that time every else was cold....

Reservation was at 6:45, we didn’t eat until 8:45! Waiting that long just doesn’t work when you have kids with you - and it’s not the first time it’s taken that long.

The staff was great & the restaurant was clean & attractive. The friendly chef put on a fun, entertaining display. The only drawback was that the food was on the bland side. I got the Hibachi steak & my daughter got the shrimp. I don't even particularly enjoy food that is highly seasoned, but this seemed to be lacking flavor. The only other noteworthy item would be that it was $1 uncharge for the fried rice (reasonable & expected) for me but for the kids meal added $4.

Didn’t acknowledge a birthday, we reminded them many times.

We made reservation for 08:15 and everyone in our group was there included the ones we need to share the table. Unfortunately we didn't seat until around 09:15 PM. We had to wait almost an hour to be seat and another 15 minutes to start to be served. Our group was starving. They have a huge dinner area but not enough chef to cook for the amount of people usually there. Also my steak was very chewy and hard. I had the same meal there before and the meat usually tender. Very disappoint for my group.
The chef was very nice and even cooked extra rice for one of our guests. We won't come back for the price they charge.

They were a little short staffed this evening, but they went out of their way to ensure that you enjoyed your experience.

Best place ever I love everything about Benihana ... keep it up 🤗❤️

The food tasted fantastic and the staff provided top notch service. I would definitely bring my family back here for the experience. Keep up the great job.

Even though I had made a reservation, we had to wait to be seated. Then a party of 5, that came in after us was seated first. They had already be obnoxious and annoying in the foyer, so we ended up sitting with them. It took 55 minutes for the cook to show up, even though our side wasn’t that busy. To make matters worth, a party of 4 that was seated after us, was already eating and another table that sat down after us, already had their cook in action, while ours just showed up. Then one of the children of the party of 5 had allergies, which meant his food had to be cooked first, causing an additional wait for my family. While I understand customers have allergies, they should not be seated with guests that don’t. My family had to wait a long time for the cook to show up and then additional time for our food to be cooked. Why the cook was cooking so slowly is beyond my knowledge and his three ring volcano collapsed instantly. Not sure we will come back to this location.

Tables are sticky, service is slow (appears to be understaffed), and the restaurant smells a bit like dirty rag. We used to love going there as a special treat but we probably will not go back again.

its a big Restaurant noise level is high... and we where only for lunch & it’s not comfortable. If you have a romantic dinner, don’t go there! What I think is good , the have even on the weekend lunch sizes!
The Chef was surprisingly Latina, she did a fantastic job and food was great... !

Not a fun experience. The restaurant overbooked reservations, which made service particularly slow. Reservations help you staff properly. Use that data.

I love this place. The only downside is my waiter didn't bring my wine until after I ate my dinner, even though I asked him twice. Once when he took my drink order, and again before the cook started her demonstration.

We love hibachi and had not been to the Dulles location. We felt rushed (chef did the whole thing faster than other hibachi restaurants), server did not put our order down properly quite a few times, food was not seasoned well and we got much smaller portions than other hibachi places we’ve been to. We will not go back; there are so many other good ones in Fairfax and Alexandria.

This was our weekly date night! I set reservations so we can make it to the movies on time.
1st we arrive a little early and asked to wait. About 20 mins late, I inquire about our table, we are getting ready to seat you. 5 mins and they seat us. Plz remember I said “date night” we are seated at a table with young children and one decides to start beating in the table with his chopsticks, while the mother smiles and encourages the loud, rude behavior. But after sitting for 15+ mins my husband gets up to inquire about what’s going on. The manager said we shouldn’t have planned other events for the evening. Needless to say we got up and walked out. In the 20 mins of sitting at the table, no one checked on us and no one came to bring a glass of water nor take our drink order. With new concern, they were ok with us leaving.
Find somewhere to go. If Management doesn’t care about your time or experience here then you’ve already made a bad decision to spend your hard earned money.
Hope your experience is better than mine!!

It’s was great the food was good as always the drinks where nice and the service great

Very poor service, our chef was great but unfortunately the lack of service by our waiter made our visit extremely dissatisfying. We have been to many Benihana’s around the country and have always enjoyed our time there. This particular location was by far the worst experience we have ever had. Cannot express enough our frustration.

Wonderful birthday dinner for my teenage daughter, family and friends. Chef Rufini was great. Couldn’t have asked for better experience. Thank you!!

I was expecting better quality from the chef....as well as more personality. The cooking presentation was boring at best and they didn't engage anyone at the table. The food was ok (nothing special) and I expected more from past experience. Quality has gone down hill and we will not go back.

Never disappoints. I usually get the hibachi filet (which is very tasty), and this time I got the chicken. The food is always done right, and always delicious. The hibachi chef entertainment is always great - they do tricks with their spatula and fork, and an egg. The lunch menu is surprisingly affordable - I had a group of 12, and we were under $200 before tip. The wait staff also constantly refilled our drinks. One other tidbit - 3 of us in the group have shellfish allergies, and they have always been sure to check multiple times who has the allergy, and they cook our food first before the shellfish even touches the hibachi. Still one of my favorite restaurants. Side note - my manager is vegan, and he has always been able to find something delicious to eat here as well.

Went to the restaurant for my birthday with my wife, 83 year old mom, and 7 year old son with a 6:30pm reservation. Both mom and son go to bed fairly early and I thought we had plenty of time. After being seated, we waited for 1.5 hours before someone showed up to actually cook our food. We asked to get started numerous times prior but nobody seemed to care coupled with an extra helping of mild indifference.

If you're short staffed for whatever reason, you should tell your customers that the experience will take longer than expected and let them decide.

Arrived for a 6:00 reservation to be told that they only had 3 chefs working and we would have to wait until 6:30. No apology. Nothing.

We always find Benihana fun and relaxing, especially for the family. The noise level is enough to hide the sounds of our kids, yet low enough to have conversations. The chef cooking at the table is always fun to watch and the kids love it.

The areas to improve:
1) Table space - there is never enough room for all the drinks, plates, etc at the tables. Need more room!
2) Servers - the service for drinks and non-table food is a bit slow and sometimes rude

The cost is a bit high, but given the quality of food and the entertainment value it is worth it.

Great time had by all. Cook was entertaining and fun! Will definitely go back next year for our birthdays.

We waited for too long until our Chef arrived at our table. We came very hungry with a 10-year old who was constantly whining that his tummy hurts! I know it was not the Chef's fault, but you need to add more Chefs to shorten the wait time.

We had to wait an hour after our teservation started to finally be seated and served our soup and salad. The food was mediocre and overpriced.

It was my son's birthday and I took him and his friends there for dinner.
One of my son's friends was late arriving. They told us they would not seat us until everyone was there. Eventually they let us sit down but said that we'd have to order for the person who wasn't there.
We were assigned "Sandra" who prepared all our food in front of us. She was excellent and the kids enjoyed her very much.
The food was very good and the portion was sizable, but the dessert that comes at the end is a tiny ball of ice cream. My group of 14-15 year old boys were a little disappointed at the size of that considering the large plate of food they got.
Overall it was a fun and tasty dinner. Its a great place for a larger group.

Worst service I’ve ever experienced. I had to get my entire family refills at the bar several times. The server was rude and annoyed from the moment he took our order. Rufino was our Chef and my kids enjoyed his humor. Probably the only reason we didn’t walk out. I only provided a tip because I felt bad for the people cleaning the tables and the Chef.

If your local, just go to Sukura in Fair Lakes. This placed sucked and it was overpriced.

We haven't been to a Benihana in 30 years. They mailed a $30 off for my wife's bday. So we drove 40 miles to Dulles area. It was worth it. The filet was very tender and the tuna steak was delicious. We'll return soon! Plus my wife also got a free ice cream.

i have dined at this location 5 or 6 times and each would have rated 4 or 5 stars. this time i decided to try the lounge for hibachi rather than tepenyaki. i should have changed my mind when the manager said that they no longer use charcoal in the hibachi.

but i proceeded as planned. big mistake. my wife’s tempora was OK. i ordered the chateau brian medium rare. after waiting nearly 30 minutes the steak that was presented was not only well done but was cubed and mixed with the side vegetables. essentially a stir fry.

the manager deducted 25 per cent against the cost of steak but that did not compensate for a thourly unsatisfactory experience.

The food and service was great. We had sixteen people in our party and they accommodated us all in a very courteous and professional manner. Thank you for a great experience.

Always good food and service! 52nd wedding anniversary and 2 birthdays celebrated. Great time!

Been going for years, didn't enjoy this time around. Service was poor and cook wasn't experienced which is the "experience". Fodd wasn't very well seasoned and server never came to replenish drinks. I dont know that I will go again.