Benihana has been around for many years delighting diners with their culinary showmanship and dining razzmatazz. However, the issue I had last time, was for the price, I wanted the food to be better. Was it any good? Time to find out…
Ideal for:
Dinner with the wow factor
Japanese food lovers
Date night
Ambience & Décor
Benihana’s décor feels quite corporate with its sleek and clean-cut interior. Plenty of wood and shiny surfaces. Aspect lighting falls over the Teppanyaki table illuminating the stage for the performance to come. Overall, it is a hit with me. The diners were all enjoying the show making it a lovely atmosphere. I have always loved the ambience here.
Service
The teppanyaki chef was a great showman. His tableside manner was a highlight, and he was the consummate professional. The knife skills are the obvious trademark, but aside from this, the heart-shaped rice and the onion volcano was also a treat. You always keep eyes peeled for mistakes but found none. This was the second visit and yet another service masterclass. The waiting staff are needed but feel a little superfluous.
Food
The service is partly why you pay a premium on the food, but the food itself has to also justify the high prices. I felt before that the food was missing something. I went with the most popular offering Rocky’s choice. This is one of Benihana’s Specialities Dinners. The main event comes with Benihana Onion Soup, Salad with Ginger Dressing & Prawn Appetiser to start, and then accompanies the main event with Hibachi vegetables and Steamed rice (left).
The peripherals served at the start are nice without being spectacular. Japanese cooking prides itself of taking only a few flavours and concocting something special from it. In these instances, just was not feeling the love. Due to my prawn intolerance, I was given salmon California rolls (right). These were a surprising treat as they flavoured the salmon. Very tasty with the soy sauce.
The Rocky’s Choice is a combination of Hibachi Steak and Hibachi Chicken. Both of these meats are my favourites, so I was really hoping that these were better than the last time. And thankfully, I was not disappointed. Speaking to the chef, Benihana changed their steak and chicken supplier to increase the quality of the produce. It definitely showed.
Starting with the steak, this was beautifully cooked. Wanted medium rare and the juicy centre was encased in a lovely glaze of teriyaki. All of it was really cooked well. The presentation was also photogenic, making it visually tasty too.
The chicken cooked in the same way as the steak, was a little bit more sporadic on the taste front, as some pieces were overcooked. However, when you have it with the veg and rice, it is not noticeable.
The vegetables were crunchy and added some texture depth to the dish. The rice was the typically Japanese-style preparation. The heart shape formed with the rice the most thing of note, but a good complement to the meat and veg (see the finished article below).
One thing I noted with this plate of food, was that the portion seemed bigger than before. I was thoroughly content after having the last bite.
Benihana was a very enjoyable night. The culinary show was top notch as before, and the tableside manner was on point. I think the food was a marked difference from the last time I was here, despite the starters and accompaniments being a tad boring. Giving Benihana an A+ seems generous, so I will give it an A rating, but it is a beansprouts width of being perfect. Consistency will get it the coveted A+ rating.
Photos of Benihana Piccadilly and more can be found on Instagram here.
Final grade: A
Final comment: If you want dinner with a wow factor and good food, come to Benihana.
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