Benihana - Orlando (Lake Buena Vista)

Horrible. Dirty. Slow. Honestly would give 0 stars if I could. It has been years since I’ve been to Benihana and I was excited to go to one again. Well this location is horrible and disgusting. First off we had reservations made prior and it still took 10 minutes past our reservation time to be sat. Then they sat us at the hibachi table when we put the bar/ lounge seating selection for our reservation…..Now after being moved to the bar/ lounge area the whole area was dirty and not a vibe. The staff was super slow and even forgot our drinks we ordered. Now after 1.5 hours of WAITING for 1 entree and 1 side of rice!!! we finally get our food….not only does it look distasteful but there was hair in it. At this point my partner and I are annoyed, hungry, tired, and super disappointed in what was supposed to be a high class popular hibachi restaurant. DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS LOCATION!!! This place gives Benihana a horrible reputation.

We had an amazing dinner at Benihana Orlando inside the Hilton at Disney Springs! Our chef put on a great show — fun, friendly, and skilled. We ordered the Hibachi Shrimp and Hibachi Chicken, swapped the soup for double salads, and everything was fantastic. Fresh ingredients, perfect seasoning, and fast service. Highly recommend for anyone visiting Disney Springs looking for great food and atmosphere.

Great experience at Benihana. Definitely make a reservation. Our chef, Steve, was fantastic: funny, friendly, and very engaging. The food was pretty good and they accomodated the vegan in our party. but the real highlight was Steve’s personality and his card trick, which totally stole the show. A fun, classic Benihana experience overall. My only issue was the amount of smoke and greese in the air. We all left smelling like onions! 😆

This is, without question, the worst service I’ve experienced in Orlando in the past 10 years. I waited 25 minutes for my takeout order. When I approached the front desk and mentioned that I had been told to pick it up at 6:30 PM, the receptionist — without a single apology — snapped back that her system showed 6:50 PM and told me, in a commanding tone: “Sit and wait!” There were only three tables occupied in the entire dining area. Meanwhile, I watched the cooks step outside to smoke one after another, waving a huge red lighter, joking around loudly with the hostess right in front of customers. Zero respect, zero management, zero professionalism. An absolutely unacceptable experience. A complete failure of customer service.

Macho was an amazing chef! He made our experience so fun and was so great with the kiddos! He made us laugh and the food was perfection!

This was one of the most disturbing dining experiences I’ve had, especially for a brand like Benihana and a location attached to a major hotel. The restaurant felt neglected and unclean. Our table was clearly dirty when we were seated, and the general condition of the dining area gave the impression that proper cleaning was not being prioritized. What truly crossed the line was seeing a roach on the carpet and another near the hibachi table. That is not something any guest should ever encounter in a restaurant. Equally concerning was the lack of visible leadership. Several managers were present on the floor, yet no one checked on tables, acknowledged delays, or addressed the obvious issues. Instead, the focus seemed to be entirely on turning tables and seating more guests, rather than maintaining cleanliness or guest experience. The wait time for a chef was excessively long, with no communication or explanation. When the food was finally prepared, it was bland and underwhelming, which only added to the disappointment given the delays and conditions. Overall, this location appears to be poorly managed and in need of serious attention. Between the sanitation concerns, inattentive management, and low food quality, this experience fell far below acceptable standards. I would strongly recommend caution before dining here and hope leadership takes these issues seriously.

Steve and Liz were absolutely the best. We had the best dining experience. This cook Steve is so great and his performance along with cooking skills are perfection and and entertaining. Liz was a very attentive and fun server as well. This was the best dining experience ever. The food was delicious too. As a Hindu, I need my food (chicken) to be not touching beef and they were able to accommodate and still we were able to enjoy Hibachi. This restaurant was very clean and the quality and quantity of food was excellent. The truffle butter is worth the upgrade.

Authentic hibachi dining near Disney Springs, Orlando. Awesome food, service and environment! Many selections for food combinations with drinks varied and excellent location with parking free!

Gary and Elaine are really super awesome! Great service and show!! Thank you - so fun!!!!!!!!!

The food was good as usual and the watermelon margarita was fire. Our server was the best! OB1 Kenobi, we will be back!

Everything was amazing !! Gary was so funny and entertaining and I had a wonderful time. :)

Kind host. Folks Allergy Fam- be careful.. Food allergies can be accommodated but be prepared to have to explain, re-explain, and reiterate several times. Great entertainment from all of the staff. Everyone was kind. If you're traveling with food allergies it may be helpful to be able to provide your cook with your allergies and sensitivities in writing and go early ahead of your party to ensure they can be accommodated so you feel confident and without stress. Air is a little stuffy and oily. But to be expected in open kitchen like spaces. That said, food tastes great and if you're not sensitive to food fumes you'll enjoy your experience.

OK, so food was amazing. Chef took amazing care about my gluten allergy and my son's gluten allergy and my whole family is gluten allergy. We were table 4 and we had four other people at our table. My review is going to be based off the other people at our table Because the chef he went above and beyond he made sure no cross contamination. He made sure that he used the gluten-free soy sauce like he made sure that we were not getting sick that night at Benihana... the only thing I wish I was the salad dressing was gluten-free but it's OK oil and vinegar. It's OK it's not that great but it's OK.... So if the blonde lady with a kid, her girlfriend her kid read this for you. It's literally gonna be about you guys and how absolutely disrespectful and rude you were and your attitude was not needed. Not sure that people know like having a gluten allergy is horrible like we don't get to enjoy all the glutenous food and snacks and drinks and condiments like everybody else. So the chef is you know making the rice and he brings out the gluten-free soy sauce and he like gluten-free gluten-free gluten-free right just so make sure everybody this rice is gonna be gluten-free because guess what I'm not gonna risk this chick getting sick which was absolutely so freaking nice. And then you hear the lovely blonde lady talking to her little friend making little comments, loud enough for the whole table to hear saying "if this rice sucks I'm gonna complain and get a free meal " no why are you saying a lot enough for everybody to hear like why didn't you just text your friend or if you didn't want the gluten-free rice why weren't you being an adult and simply talk to the server and be like "oh hey like can I get regular fried rice like I didn't want gluten-free like I didn't know like that the chef was gonna do that" but NO you're throwing a fit to your girlfriend. And me who I am look over you and I tell you hey it's fine. It all taste the same you're not gonna be able to tell and then your face looks like I didn't hear you have ears and I heard you and it was rude and unacceptable and disrespectful and nasty. And then you're like oh it was just a joke. It was just a joke and then you're stupid franchise and it was a joke. Can you take a joke? Guess what I wasn't talking to your friend I was talking to you who opened your mouth and said something completely disrespectful. . Look you're a grown adult and also your kid threw a fit so you could've been also a grown adult about that so you heard with the chef said if you didn't want the gluten-free rice you could've opened your mouth and said something instead of making snorkeling little comment and making the rest of dinner awkward because you had to be rude .. That's all this post was about how people don't understand that we all aren't like everybody else. We all have allergies and food allergies and nothing is perfect but don't be rude about it. It's not nice. It's gonna be 2025. Don't be rude. That's all, honestly, if you made it this far and you are gluten-free, feel safe to come to Benihana because they actually give a crap about your food allergies

Splendid evening here! We were headed to Disney Springs for dinner, but just way too much traffic so we stopped off at this Benihana next to the Hilton. Great choice! Louis was our chef and he was both a showman and a highly skilled chef. Molly was our server, and we really appreciated her diligence and speed! 5 stars for them both, and be back soon!

Food was good - our cook, Rezah, was amazing - but the portions were smaller than I expected. I was also surprised that fried rice wasn't included with the meal and cost extra. It was almost the amount for an appetizer to have the rice fried. The service otherwise was bad. Our server, Casey, was rude, took forever to get anything to us, and mixed up orders repeatedly. It also took a long time to get seated despite having a reservation and then took about 30 minutes after seating for us to get any food actually served. The atmosphere was rough as well. Everything looked and felt dirty, like it wasn't being maintained.

Take out review! When it comes to the food I love it. The shows are great. We do get some to go often we usually get the family pack. It comes with plenty of food. The sushi is also good some Tempura is our go to. After this maybe try eating in. I usually don't do reviews on take out but this place was the worst place I have ever got take out from. Starting from how rude they are. I place an order at exactly 9:10 the order said it would ready by 10 pm I didn't get my food till 10:40. Managers excuse is that they are full and that they had a lot of orders. I was there the 40 minutes and no one was coming in or out from dine in nor for take out. The take out area was empty. Once I finally got my food the girl Natalia that brought it out was extremely rude. She just put it down in front of me I acabes if this was mine and if it was everything she just turned looks at me and walked away. She was mad that I had to wait 40 minutes I guess. Don't let places like this discourage you from coming to orlando. This place being in Hilton by Disney should honestly think about things like this. Food 5 star service -5star.

Great night out! our chef Justin was great and our waitress was wonderful! She understood we were traveling on business and graciously separated or checks.

My boyfriend took me here as a surprise date night with a 7:30 reservation as it was my first and last time as the experience was interestingly awful to say the least. Our server didn't provide a memorable experience for what we were expecting from a supposedly high-end establishment. He also said a few things that were insensitive, as if he assumed from the gate that we were a table that weren't going to tip him accordingly. He made sure to introduce himself by making a comment saying the 39 per person deal should be more within our budget as if he knew our income. After requesting our opinion on the experience and food, he implied our either bland or heavily peppered food could've been avoided if we went to the hibachi side of the restaurant instead. Basically implying that their line cooks aren't as capable as their hibachi chefs. We were also there for over an hour and were only checked on by our server once, not including the time he rushed over to give us the check. For the "luxury" experience we were supposed to be given, they didn't pre-buss our tables for the multiple courses we were given, so our dishes were piled up sky high on the tiny two-top table. We were fortunate enough for another server to come check on us and clear most of our dishes, along with providing me with a to-go container. As a server myself, I was trained to give everyone the best experience that could be given so every customer would feel inclined to return. Customers deserve the bare minimum kindness and respect from all staff regardless of appearance and status. We should've been greeted with smiles instead of passive-aggressive behavior. We couldn't help but feel as though it was due to them prejudging us based on how we looked although we were dressed nicely for the occasion. We only encountered two decent staff members, which were the female hostess and the server who assisted us in the end. Everyone else was either passive-aggressive or just downright rude as hell. We didn't feel valued as paying customers who did indeed tip the staff money they did not deserve. If you're looking for a place to get good food from in this area, you'd have a better time going to Food Truck World, KPot, Kobe's, or any IHop or Waffle House in the city, (basically anywhere else that isn't here), and the food tastes a whole lot better. Hopefully, they'll train their visibly prejudiced staff not to view regular people of color as non-tipping customers. Prayers for anyone who takes the chance of going to this location.

Gary was a fantastic chef and provided a great experience for our whole group tonight

Great happy hour! Bartender was great! She recommended things, was engaging, and quick!! Wish I could remember her name but she was from Chicago, husband thinks her name was Molly! Can't beat $6 drinks and food items! So yummy

Great food and customer service was fantastic Gary was the cook he did a excellent job preparing the food

Avoid takeout from here. We ordered takeout last night and it was awful -- worse than mall foodcourt food. We were suspicious when the food was ready really quickly after ordering. The chicken fried rice had no vegetables, no egg, no flavor, and a couple pieces of burnt chicken tossed on top. I suspect they pre-make the "fried rice" ahead of time for take out orders, it definitely wasn't fresh. The beef was way over done. Mushrooms were missing. Meats and veg were heavily over seasoned. Shrimp was not fully deveined. Salad was fresh, plain rice was fine, sauces were fine. Overall gross and disappointing, not worth the $$$. Benihana is usually pretty reliable for consistency and quality across locations. We eat at the one back home sit down or take out about once a month or more, so we know what to expect. We've been to other locations while traveling and this location in person a few times and everything was as expected. I suspect this is a high volume location and they are doing something entirely different here for takeout. Once you leave with your food you don't have any options to fix the situation. I imagine they are counting on that with high volume of tourists.

My experience at Benihana was great! They are located inside the Hilton and can validate your parking! The hibachi was delicious and so filling. I recommend upgrading to the fried rice! Also, I noticed the hibachi dinners don't include noodles, so make sure to order them separately if you want those. Our chef was not only skilled but also incredibly friendly and fun. She made our birthday celebration enjoyable. Hibachi is always delicious here and ranges from $30-$50. Benihana is a great spot for a celebration with a group of people!

Best Benihana ever!! Chef Gary was the best! Extra sauce?? Sure Gary! Very talented Chef great service, great food!!

Overpriced, low quality, food, and horrible ambience. It looks like a quick service restaurant trying to pose as a Japanese steakhouse.

Gary was awesome he had the best service he was so funny to the kids the food was so good thanks again

Gary was an amazing chef! Kept us entertained the entire dinner with dad jokes! The nicest person that works here. Our server Kiki was sweet as well and brought out everything we needed right away with no complaints. Would definitely go back just for them. I will say the host was terrible tho! She rolled her eyes and had the worst attitude. Even tho the host sucked the food, chef, & server made up for it!

If you want to dine here, reservations are highly encouraged! My husband and I ordered the chicken and steak hibachi. It came with a soup, salad, shrimp appetizer, white rice and vegetables. There is an up charge of $7 for fried rice and an extra charge if you want to add noodles. The food was delicious but compared to other hibachi restaurants, this one would be my last choice. Our chef was so nice and very attentive! He made the whole experience amazing and we had a great time! It is quite loud and very busy here. They may also seat you with other families if your party is small.

After having a situation with the other location on international drive, we decided to go to the one located in lake buena vista since the previous hostess mentioned the reservation we made was for this location. It was impossible to find because the direction were not clear. Decided to call and the person who picked up the phone, "Gerald", responded with an attitude. Yes, I understand staff members are human beings, they have their days and moments. You chose that job, if someone is asking you a question you should be professional about the situation. The response should've been: "Yes. Ma'am we are located inside of the _____ hotel. Depending where you coming from you will  have to turn in ____. You grab a ticket in the hotel parking, we will validate it for you after your dinner." Please train your staff better. They should require employees who are:     *    professional     *    have Interpersonal skills     *    have common logic     *    problem solvers This location as well as the other gets a 0 from me. Wasted my whole evening driving from one Benihana to another.

Just a nightcap in the bar but Juan was exceptional and the Seasonal Berry Berry Margarita with sugar cinnamon rum and rosemary was on point.

Food had great taste!! Chef Gary was very entertaining and a good chef. Our server, Kira was also helpful and courteous.

If you've ever done hibachi before you'll be disappointed. Just leaving our 8pm reservation right now. It took 2 hours until the chef came out to make our food. (Total experience was just over 3 hours long and not in a fun entertaining way.) They don't really do any of the games they usually do at hibachi, where they throw food for you to catch or sake in your mouth. Food prices are very inflated with much smaller portions than any other hibachi restaurant in Orlando (including the one in Epcot.) It was $7 to upgrade your white rice to fried egg (2 eggs and one small piece of chicken was added for 5 servings $35) We were never served the green tea that was supposed to be included with our meals and when it came time for dessert their freezer was broken although we watched the table beside us get served ice cream. The atmosphere is incredibly outdated and kinda felt gross. Carpeting in a restaurant is not a good sign. There were a few managers in the floor, no one came to our table to apologize for the 2 hour wait or give us a discount for the things included in the price that we didn't receive. There are so many better places to visit here in Orlando save your money.

Chef AJ was great tonight! Food had great taste definitely would return. Kuddos from California.

Gary as a chef was great. He was funny...had dad jokes, smart, had a bad ass set of knives which he was proud to show off. Cant ever forget his volcano. It's the best one we've seen. Loved his name tag as well!!

Obi Juan and John were amazing! Good food and great drinks! They were very attentive! Would definitely recommend!

Gary and Anna were amazing! Gary had unlimited cow jokes. Impressive. I love Benihana and it was so great to have a positive experience in Orlando!

Gary (like the snail) and Molly our server were great! The kids loved it. Would recommend.

Just left Benihana. Gary was awesome! We had the Steak, chicken and scallops. Everything was cooked perfectly even though it was late.

Gary the chef was amazing and our waitress Molly was super attentive. Love the show Gary puts on. He went out of his way for food allergies at the table making custom rice mixes.

Terrible food Terrible service Terrible management! If you're into bland salty inedible food this place is for you!

Gary and Anna were an awesome duo! My family throughly enjoyed! The food was cooked to perfection and the service was on time.

First meal after hours of driving to get some electricity from Hurricane Milton. Tito was our server and made sure to ask about allergies and got the orders in quickly. Gary was also very entertaining g and professional, it was a great experience. My kids love the hibachi show!

Visited this location while in town for a few days. Service wasn't bad and the food was satisfactory.

Awful! The server Lexy was in rude, would ignore us when we asked for something. She would. Ever ask if we needed more water. We finally got her attention and asked if she can bring more water a half hour later she returns to ask us if we needed any boxes and completely forgot the fact that we were dying of thirst. Never bothered even removing the empty plates we had on our table. Food made us sick! We got home with stomach aches and vomiting all night. I called the manager this morning and he says it cannot be food poisoning said he would notate it to corporate and didn't bother offering anything else. Overpriced as well. I paid $52 for a 6 Oz piece of steak some veggies and fried rice. I could have had a 16oz Ribeye at Longhorn for a lot less. We saw lots of cross contamination with the cook. He kept wiping the spatula with a dirty rag. He placed raw egg shells on the rice. Used the same knife and spatula on the rice ice that he used with the raw chicken. This place should be shut down by the Health Department! Bad night never coming back again and management does not care .

Thank you to Gary and TT for making a wonderful experience for us. Best scallops I have ever had. Awesome chef. Such a great experience!

The food, service and ambiance were great! Gary and Erycka were very attentive to each of our food requests and the food was great!

Dave our cook was wonderful and the food was good. Our server was nice and stayed on top of things in a busy environment. It's probably time for some ventilation updates as it can get smoky in the restaurant. Still a good place to take kids as they do a good job of making it special for them.

Terrible experience at this location!! Don't waste your time. Had a 7:45 reservation and they sat us at 8:30. So basically reservation is pointless. When they sat us, we clearly did not fit at the table. So we mentioned this to the manager, who told us flat out to pick up our plates to eat. Completely inappropriate and not helpful to accommodate us to a table with less persons cramped in. They tried to slam a bunch of people together just to get faster rotation at our detriment. This restaurant is not cheap. We should not have to pick up our plates to try to eat our food. Needless to say, we left and found a great alternative-- La Luce!

Gary did an amazing job with the food! He was fun and engaging the entire time. Anna was very fast, efficient, and reliable with taking our orders. They both did an amazing job!!!

Gary was by far the best chef we've had and the food was super tasty. The show was fascinating and HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING on that side.... Valentino was a great server and a often as I've been to Benihana they have our Anniversary EVEN MORE SPECIAL with the superb service. The hostess was SUPER NICE and informative. Great great service. Highly recommend this location. The atmosphere was live and exciting.

We had Gary as our chef and he was amazing, his jokes were the best and had a great show. Molly was sweet and very attentive. Food was amazing.

Rezha made our experience at Benihana truly unforgettable! From the moment we sat down, his energy and skill were apparent. His culinary expertise and showmanship kept us entertained and engaged throughout the entire meal. The food was cooked to perfection, and Rezha's attention to detail ensured everything was just right. If you're dining at Benihana, ask for Rezha--you won't be disappointed!

Went for dinner with my wife and son yesterday, the hibachi chef whose name was Jason was the best I ever having serve me. He was very entertaining and kept us laughing doing tricks I'd never seen. Unfortunately I do not remember the waitress's name but again she was very good too. Thanks so much for making our evening special!!

Rezha and Obi-Wan were fantastic. Outstanding food prepared by Chef Rezha, very entertaining, very skilled. Wan as the server was attentive and always had something witty and funny to say. Clean tables, cooking surface and floors. All around one of the best dining experiences I've had!

Should've read the Yelp reviews before coming here. Came here to celebrate my birthday last night. Our reservations were at 5:30 and we sat there waiting for the chef to come out for a looooong time. He finally came out at 6:15pm. Almost an hour later. Chef was nice but the experience was less than mediocre for the amount of money we paid. We didn't get our sauces that go with the dinner until I asked for them. They also never asked if we were there celebrating anything. It wasn't until the very end when my husband told the waitress we were celebrating my birthday that they came out and sang happy birthday. Overall, not a good experience & definitely not a good birthday experience. Would not be back & I recommend you find somewhere else.

Rude service from the beginning. Had to stand with broken foot on foot scooter because staff wouldn't let us sit in lounge for 10 minutes even though it was completely empty. Appetizer came during main course, asked for it to be cancelled but they insisted on bringing it cold and charging me. Vegetable sushi had almost rotten cucumber. How can you not make vegetable sushi?! Server was rude, short, forgot waters, and generally unprofessional. She should be put on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) and terminated if not showing improvement. For a "top end" hibachi and sushi restaurant this was bottom of the barrel in service and food. The only saving grace was Bruce the chef who was exemplary in showmanship, cooking ability, and polite, professional service. Have been celebrating birthdays there for over 30 yrs. Will never return. New management needs to be replaced. Oh yes and they sat 9 people at an 8 person table so we had no room to eat. Very cheesy and reprehensible for top end establishment. And this was my 50th birthday, a pretty important event, that was ruined by their petty money grubbing attitude and complete lack of interest in customer satisfaction or even offering moderately decent service which would have been adequate. A 20% tip was provided in our defiance to stoop to the level of this shameful establishment. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Edit Update: Benihana has done nothing to remedy the situation other than the minimalistic comment below even though I posted a complaint per their request and messaged requesting some sort of acknowledgement and compensation. My next move is contacting the general manager, then corporate. Steer clear of this establishment!

Gary - the chef- was by far the best experience I've had at Benihana's. We've been coming for over 12 years but first time with him and it was a show to remember along with his great personality. Unique volcano too!