I Tried And Ranked Every Part Of Benihana's 6-Course Hibachi Meal

Would it shock you to hear that I'm a 32-year-old food journalist who's never been to Benihana? Up until last week, I could say that about myself. It's not that I avoided the popular hibachi chain on purpose; I just never found an occasion to make my way in. So, when I was offered a tasting at my local Benihana, I joyously accepted. Maybe this would give me a chance to see what all the hype is about.

Don't know what to expect from hibachi-style dining? Basically, you're getting dinner and entertainment all rolled into one, complete with onion ring volcanoes and enough spatula-clacking to make your head spin. As far as the food goes, it's pretty darn good, in my opinion. I got the six-course hibachi meal when I headed in, though thanks to some creative menu artistry, you'll see eight dishes in the ranking below (I upgraded to fried rice and got an entree that offered two meat options). Here's my ranking of Benihana hibachi entrees, based on my overall impression of each dish as well as how much of what I'm going to call "Benihana novelty" it offered. 

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

At the bottom of my list we have a pretty simple, no-frills mixed salad. The star of this show was some sort of ginger-carrot puree that the spot used as a dressing, and while that component tasted quite good, the rest of the salad was rather boring. In other words, it severely lacked that necessary "Benihana novelty" factor. 

Underneath the dressing, diners will enjoy a fairly basic salad with lettuce, red cabbage, carrots, and tomatoes. It's genuinely not a bad salad, and I ate pretty much the whole thing. It just doesn't have that "wow factor" that you'd expect from a dish at a spot like Benihana. It's not supposed to be the star of the meal, so I can be somewhat forgiving, but I still felt like it should have been a little more noteworthy.

One thing you should know about Benihana before heading in is that if you get dessert, it won't appear until after the entire table has been cleared and the flat top has been cleaned. I thought this was a little odd, and would recommend giving a heads-up to customers in this regard — I genuinely thought our dessert had been forgotten at first. 

It hadn't, and it ended up being a lovely (and not at all too filling) way to end the meal. I was stuffed by the time I got my vanilla ice cream, so I was thankful that the portion size wasn't massive. The chocolate pocky stick and the whipped cream with chocolate drizzle were welcome accompaniments. At the end of the day, though, it was a fairly standard ice cream dish that I couldn't justify giving any higher than the second-to-last-place spot here. 

The broth of Benihana's onion soup was simply fantastic. It was packed full of umami and had a very savory, deep richness to it. I'd gladly drink this out of a mug! And, if you don't love onions, don't be shy — it doesn't taste too much like the veggie. Why, then, did this only earn a sixth-place ranking here?

My dining companion and I agreed that there was an odd ratio of inclusions to broth in the soup. The mushrooms and green onions that were there were delicious, but we wished the soup had either had more of them, or none. I get the logic on Benihana's side — I imagine they don't want you to fill up too much on the soup — but still, for being such a scrumptious starter, I thought it deserved to have a bit brighter spotlight put on it. More mushrooms and green onions would have solved that. 

Give me a grilled, flavorful veggie any day of the week, and I'll be a happy girl every time. I really enjoyed the simple grilled onion and zucchini veggie dish that our chef cooked up on the night I went in. It was simple and unassuming — neither veggie outshone the entrees, but both were tasty enough to earn some recognition of their own. 

First, both the zucchini and the onions were cooked to perfection. Each retained some bite while being tender enough to chew easily. The soy-sesame seasoning was simple yet effective and allowed the veggies to seamlessly meld with the other components of the hibachi experience. In other words, I wouldn't say this meal accompaniment was anything to brag about on its own, but it added an element to the meal that would have otherwise been sorely missed. 

Also included with the six-course meal was a hibachi shrimp appetizer, which was delicious on all counts. Here, it's my first opportunity to mention the mustard dipping sauce we were served alongside our meal. I'm not sure whether the sauces rotate, but if the mustard sauce is on offer when you head in, you should get some hibachi shrimp to dip in it. The result is explosive. 

My singular complaint about this course was that the portion was tiny. Again, I get it — when there are a lot of different courses to a meal, you don't want one to be too large. Still, I think this portion size could have been at least a little bit bigger. What I did get was tender, buttery, incredibly flavorful, and cooked to perfection. I could see this ranking a spot higher if I had more of it, though. 

Steamed rice is the standard accompaniment to the six-course hibachi meal, but diners have the option to upgrade to several different types of fried rice — which, of course, I couldn't resist. I chose to get wagyu fried rice. In case you can't tell from the above photo (and from its third-place spot on my list), Benihana's fried rice is simply scrumptious. 

If I could change one thing about this hibachi-style fried rice, I would have simply added a little more salt — that's it. And I always prefer an under-salted dish to an over-salted one, so I can't complain too much on that count. All of its elements were cooked to perfection, including the wagyu. Hints of garlic butter were woven throughout the rice to magnificent effect. It was wildly flavorful, and I finished mine way too fast! Still, it couldn't top my two favorite parts of the meal. 

The entree I chose to feature in my six-course hibachi dinner afforded me two proteins, both of which are taking the top two spots on this list for good reason. First up, in second place, we have Benihana's filet mignon, which I ordered rare. Though we wouldn't necessarily consider filet the best steak for hibachi-style grilling, mine was delightful and cooked perfectly. 

In fact, after having Benihana's filet mignon, I'd call the restaurant a great spot to get filet — I didn't even mind that mine was pre-cut and cooked in pieces. It was still inexplicably tender and flavorful, especially with the addition of truffle butter that I requested on top of mine. The portion size was perfect — I'd only have wanted more because it tasted divine, not because it left me hungry. It could really only be topped by the other protein on my plate. 

Yeah, we need to take a minute to talk about Benihana's lobster tails. I'm frequently underwhelmed by lobster, even when I get it at reputable establishments — too often, it's either overcooked or under-seasoned, and just leaves me wishing I'd ordered something else. That wasn't the case at Benihana, though.

I could have eaten multiple portions of this during my dinner, and while I'd have been absolutely stuffed, I'd also be a happy girl. It was incredibly tender and well-seasoned, and — word to the wise — I upgraded my lobster tail with some truffle butter, which is what really blew this dish out of the water. The portion size was plenty considering everything else that came with the meal. You can bet I'll be getting the lobster tail (and the filet, if I'm being honest) on all of my future visits to Benihana. How could I resist? 

I'd call my first visit to Benihana a roaring success, even if I think the bottom-ranked dishes could use a tad bit of tweaking. I ranked the dishes primarily in order of how well I liked them, which also corresponded to how much the dish spoke to the abilities of Benihana's chefs. I was more impressed by the spot's signature dishes which, in my opinion, is how it should be at a hibachi-style restaurant.