Benihana - Santa Monica

We hosted a large event here last night and could not have been happier. Jaime and Marlon, the managers, ran everything flawlessly. Their staff is incredibly well trained and handled a very challenging group with ease. We had 170 people, including about 100 thirteen year olds, which is not easy for any restaurant to manage. They were perfect from start to finish. The food, service, and overall hospitality were outstanding. Truly impressed and very grateful. Highly recommend.

Our server Isaac and our Chef Andre were Outstanding and very professional. What I like the most was the ability to perform their job so precisely and efficiently. I really enjoyed our time here.

I’ve been coming to Benihana since I was a kid, and it’s always held a special place for me, especially for birthdays and classic hibachi nights. Unfortunately, the Santa Monica location seems to be struggling. I want to be very clear: the management, hosts, servers, and chefs are all kind, professional, and doing their best. The issue doesn’t feel like effort or attitude, it feels like understaffing. The restaurant doesn’t seem equipped with enough staff to handle the volume of reservations and demand, which impacts the overall experience. Benihana will always be one of my favorite restaurants, but this particular location appears to be having a hard time keeping up. I truly hope the company invests more support here, because the people working are great and deserve it.

The staffs performed WORLD CLASS SERVICE!!! I would HIGHLY recommend this location for friends family and colleagues! The chef "Dom" was phenomenal and provided an amazing dining experience!

I came here with a group of five to celebrate a family member’s birthday. To say the experience was disappointing would be an understatement. I have had great experiences at other Benihana locations in the past, including the now closed Beverly Hills location, so this was surprising. We made reservations more than two weeks in advance for 6:45 PM on February 15th and arrived a couple minutes early. The waiting area was completely packed and it was difficult to hear anything due to the noise level. When we checked in, we were not given an estimated wait time. The host told us she had "no idea" and mentioned she had only been there two minutes. About 20 minutes later, I overheard staff telling another guest the wait was over an hour, something that should have been clearly communicated upfront. Since this was a birthday celebration and we had already committed time to being there, we chose to stay. In hindsight, that was a mistake. We were not seated until approximately 8:00 PM. Once seated, it took about 25 minutes just to have drink orders taken. Around 8:40 PM, soups, salads, and drinks arrived, still without a chef at the table. Our chef finally arrived around 9:00 PM. The chef and our server were doing their best and worked hard. The issue was not effort. It was clearly operational. What was particularly disappointing was the inconsistency in service. The party seated next to us received hats, a photo, and a birthday song. We were not offered any of that, not even a dessert menu, nor was the birthday acknowledged in any way. They asked us 3 times if we were celebrating anything mind you. Additionally, Some of our entrees included ice cream, which was never brought out. By 10:00 PM, which was closing time, it was clear staff were trying to close out tabs and move guests out. The menus we received also said a vegetarian menu, along with a vegan menu, were available in writing, but we were told they "couldn’t find it" when we asked, as I don’t eat meat. Both our group and the other party seated with us were frustrated, especially considering the price point. The chefs and servers appeared to be working hard despite what looked like a heavily overbooked and understaffed situation. The breakdown was clearly at the host stand and overall reservation management. Please stop overbooking. This creates disappointed guests and burned out employees. Stop overbooking. This is a restaurant, not a budget airline. As someone with experience in customer facing and management roles in similar industry, I can confidently say this level of operational failure would not be acceptable elsewhere.

Best service!!! Larry was so amazing. Rodrigo was always very tentative, always asking how we were doing. By far Santa Monica was the best Benihana I've been to

Santa Monica!!!!! If you’re not going to Benihana for birthdays and large parties and any special occasion, I don’t know what you’re doing. A friend of mine decided to celebrate our belated bdays here tonight Wednesday 9/3/25 and we had a wonderful time from the moment we walked in. Security was lovely. Host was so sweet. Manager was incredibly accommodating. We both ordered the filet mignon and it melted in your mouth, incredibly buttery. The show as usual was entertaining and fun, Taurino was sweet and funny but super laid back and chill. Our servers were on top of it all even remembered my friend prefers room temp water. We got our birthday song and dessert. Just all around fun times, great food, and great service. Thank you Harry for a lovely evening. We’ll be back!