Benihana
$$$ • Japanese Restaurant
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Absolute dirtiest restaurant we’ve ever been in. Chef had no idea how to prepare GF. We had to stop him and ask for it to be prepared in the back. Our daughter still ended up getting terribly sick due to contamination.
We went to Benihana expecting to have them make my GF food in the back, separately. Instead the chef prepared it on the same grill, before anyone else’s food. It was DELICIOUS and I didn’t feel left out.
Benihana was very sensitive to my son's celiac disease. They communicated clearly to the chef and my son was not served the soup but instead received 2 salads with yum yum sauce instead of the regular dressing. His entree was prepared separately in the kitchen to avoid contamination from the griddle. He was also given an order of edamame as part of his meal for free. We were very pleased overall with their precautions.
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I called before and they told me to inform my waiter of my allergy. They have a separate gluten sensitive menu with loads of great options. They asked the table if they could cook everyone’s food with gluten free soy sauce and the food was delicious. The services wasn’t great and the ambience was less than expected but it was celiac safe and I call that a win!
Reviews of this Chain
Was nervous to try hibachi since being dx’d CD. Benihana did not disappoint. I know everyone’s level of comfort is different, so I’ll share the good, bad and questionable so you can decide for yourself. For me, this is a place I’ll come back, felt safe and did not get sick.
(1) made my meal with GF soy sauce—clearly labeled. In fact entire table got GF soy sauce and didn’t know. Ha. But maybe that was just our experience.
(2) can’t have the standard salad or the soup. The ginger dressing is my FAVE pre-CD. So I was sad. But the one they brought me was bare and I simply dressed it with olive oil and rice vinegar. It was very yum. Burned prob bring my own GF ginger dressing next time.
(3) sauces (other than GF soy) prob not GF. But didn’t ask. Certainly no teriyaki sauce. But the mustard and ginger dip sauces. They still gave them to me. But I didn’t use them because I didn’t know and didn’t ask.
(4) cooktop. It is what it is. If you’re concerned about prior cooks with gluten and no way to “sanitize”—then this place prob not for you. I thought about it and took the risk. Did not get sick. But know that’s not the only way to tell.
(5) other customer ordered noodles. It was cooked to the side and sis not touch my food. My chicken was prepared first. But the veggies were prepared later. So I saw the cook utensil toss the noodles then move to the veg. Again, calculated risk I took. You may not want to do that.
(6) cooked with everyone else’s. Did not give me an option to “cook in the back” but did not press for it.
(7) no garlic butter in the hibachi rice. 😭 I’m sure they mixed it with non-GF soy before it was prepared. But my rice was YUM.
I would definitely return. But you have to decide if you’re ok with it for yourself.
I have eaten here before but this was the 1st time since being GF. There is a Gluten Sensitive/Vegan/Vegetarian/Keto menu you can view online. I called the day before and told them I need to eat GF. The person noted it on my reservation and said to let the server know when you arrive. The server was aware I needed to eat GF and answered my questions. The chef cooks your food in front of you and I was happy to see how careful he was. My pre-cooked food was on a separate platter and he cooked my food 1st on one side of the grill then everyone else. He used GF soy sauce. The food was delicious and I had a great experience!
Food is ok; the free pre-meal salads were still icy. Chef came out to ask if we actually had celiac or were folks who just said that but actually don’t like gluten or something. Promised to be dutiful about cleaning beforehand and keeping things separate but didn’t seem confident that everything would be celiac safe.
I’ve only recently been diagnosed, so I’m no expert yet, but they seemed very good at making sure everything I was having was gluten-free. I let them know I couldn’t have gluten when I initially ordered.
Since I ordered a main (which includes several different dishes), the server made my soup without the fried onion (as the fryer wouldn’t be gluten-free) and made my salad without the usual dressing and instead gave me a lemon to drizzle on it. She explained each of these things as she gave them to me.
The chef then used gluten-free soya sauce in order to cook for the whole table, so there wouldn’t be a chance of cross-contamination. The people I was eating with were given sauces that he made sure I was aware I couldn’t try, and instead he gave me some more gluten-free soya sauce I could use to dip food in.
The food was very good, and I’m glad they managed to accommodate my needs so easily.
Gluten free soy sauce can be subbed for regular or other sauces for fried rice, chicken, scallops, steak, etc. They will cook the gf first to keep grill clean. Soup and dressing is not gf. Yum yum sauce is gf. Fun experience.
