Benihana - game

Been coming to Benihana for 30 years and I have to say this was one of my worst visits. We had 5:30 reservations (fam of 5) and we were not seated until 5:50. Despite mentioning I had a toddler and we'd need a booster seat both in the reservations notes and on the confirmation call, none were available until halfway through the meal. I ordered a hot sake and twice it was forgotten and I had to keep asking. We asked for a kids cup and the server brought us a plastic togo container for soup and said that's all there was. But the biggest problem was with our chef, Lian. He was either brand new or needs more training. His hands were shaking the entire meal like he was nervous. He was making a giant mess as he cooked. He couldn't do any tricks, even failing to make the onion volcano it fell over multiple times. Simply tossed an egg from the spatula into his other hand. Not impressive. We were jealous of other tables getting better tricks from clearly more trained chefs. I ordered my fried rice spicy, and he realized after cooking he didn't have any spicy sauce, so my rice sat overcooking while he left the table to chase some down. He gave my scallops to another diner by mistake. He didn't re cook them after I mentioned they were supposed to be for me, rather just took the scallops back from the other diner's plate (mixed with other food) and gave them to me. He waaay overcooked my mother in laws tuna steak to the point she thought it was chicken and actually asked for her tuna steak at the end of meal like she didn't get it. He let my toddler sit hungry instead of making the white noodles early and I had to ask him to please prepare them. At that point he had pretty much cooked everything else. And finally I swear I always get the mushroom, zucchini, and onion either before or at least with the entree. Lian left them on the side of the grill and only served them after entree. I'd finished most my food before they were served. What a shame for a $300 meal.

I was disappointed to see tye vents being cleaned while people were already seated. Please take care of this during off business hours. It did take something away from the dining experience.

Our chef, James, was amazing!! He was so fun and creative and really interacted with us. The server however was more focused on hurrying us up. We went for my daughter's birthday (which I noted on Open table abs when we arrived) and zero effort was made to even put a candle in the dessert.

We came on July 4 and sat at table with James as our chef. He was personable and friendly The soup salad and hibachi rice was delicious as usual Husband had steak that was good. The salmon was cooked a little longer than I like. We will go back again

We came in 4:45 for our reservation at sand to the Happy Hour until our table was ready and a cocktail and the bar staff was very nice and the tropical cocktail great. We sat down for dinner at 5 a joined a couple with 2 kids and they were great company as we interaction conversation with them and the kids. Chef came and introduced himself and checked what we ordered and staring cooking and great interaction with the whole table and fun begin through the whole dinner. The food was very good but the fun was unbelievable. My fiancé and I are managers at other Restaurants in Half Moon Bay and will be back again.