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| - I definitely would have given four stars at least in the past, but now Benihana only warrants 1 star in my book, (which is unfortunate given how amazing their yum yum sauce is.) We arrived on a Friday night and anticipated a wait given that we didn't have the foresight to make a reservation in advance. Tonight, however, was ridiculous. The host initially said that reservations were made for the entire restaurant but later slipped and mentioned that they only had two chefs on staff and were severely understaffed. The latter of the two reasons I can understand; the initial excuse, however, was ridiculous. In the years that I've visited this location, this has never been the case. A wait, yes, I can live with that.
At any rate, we had the option of sitting in the lounge which I was fine with. (Ecstatic no, but like I said, that yum yum sauce... I guess I can pass up the live entertainment.) We were told the wait for the lounge area was five minutes, which is acceptable in my book. I figured that this would be the perfect time to use the restroom and began my trek to the back of the restaurant. 1. The evidence of the "short staff situation" was proven by the state of the bathrooms. Horrendous! 2. There was no one seated throughout the restaurant except for one lonely couple in the lounge. Besides the three small parties that were waiting for a table, the place was a ghost town.
After 20 minutes of waiting for a table in the lounge we left. It's clear that over the past few years that the establishment has slowly been going into decline, but this just solidifies what I assumed during my last few visits - this place is probably not going to bounce back.
I'm breaking up with you Benihana. If I wanted long wait times, offensive bathroom conditions and poor service I would have went to Perkins.
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