Benihana - Santa Monica - Santa Monica (CA)

3 /5 Justin Klosky: 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.

5 /5 Jeremy Weiner: 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.

5 /5 Alice Constantin: 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!

5 /5 eeyore 7485: This Benihanas is by far our favorite location. This place is always bustling so we try to get here on the earlier side (and make reservations!). The food here is so yummy and well cooked, the chefs are fun and engaging, and though we come frequently, we love watching the show every time. They take a lot of pride in their food, and it definitely shows. My favorite is the Chateaubriand steak with a side of yum yum sauce (soooooo good 10/10 recommend) but you can’t go wrong with anything here. I’d definitely also recommend the chicken fried rice. One thing I noticed here (I don’t know if it is always the case), is that they had complimentary lemonade in the lobby the last 3 visits (I haven’t seen it anywhere else and we have gone to two other locations in the past 3 months). The management team is really great here and we loved today’s server Aiden and our chef Nemo (hilarious)

1 /5 carmenia m: Christmas dinner—worst experience I’ve ever had. We usually visit the Benihana in Torrance and always have a good time, so we expected the same here. Unfortunately, this was our first and definitely last visit to the Santa Monica location. From the moment the chef arrived at our table of eight, the experience felt cold and rushed. There was no engagement with the group, no friendly conversation, and none of the hibachi entertainment Benihana is known for—no tricks, no flips, no effort to make it fun, especially for a holiday dinner. It honestly felt like we were an inconvenience instead of paying guests. The food was disappointing as well. Everything came out lacking flavor and just not up to the standard we’ve had at other locations. The biggest issue, though, was my order: I asked for my steak well-done, and the hostess had placed it that way. When the chef came, he confirmed my request and then flat-out refused to make it well-done—just said “no.” I’ve never had a restaurant refuse a basic doneness request, especially after it was already entered. We spent $152 and left feeling frustrated and let down. If you’re expecting the full Benihana experience—good food, good service, and an entertaining chef—I’d recommend skipping Santa Monica and going to another location instead.