Benihana, Concord

9/10/13

Until last night, it had been a while since I'd been to Benihana. I like lunching here, but don't come often for dinner.  However, as a recipient of their emails, I received a $30 gift certificate for my September birthday - good for use any day the entire month! Husband and I arrived separately and I put our name down. The hostesses were very warm and friendly and asked if we would be celebrating any birthdays. Yep!

When we were both present they were ready to seat us. We requested something with a good view of the TV for MNF! Our server greeted us shortly afterward and took our drink orders. I finally decided on Ocean Treasure ($36.50 with grilled lobster, scallop, and giant shrimp). Husband had the Benihana Special ($36.25 with lobster and steak). Both meals came with onion soup, salad, and a shrimp appetizer and ice cream.

Although service was five-star all night, the food was more like two-star. The onion soup  was great. Unless you hate mushrooms like my husband. He ate around them and I got the rest. Salad followed and my bowl was dressed appropriately but poor husband's was drenched in dressing. He passed this on to me also but not even I could eat it with all the dressing. Our meals came next and he was surprised to see his steak had been grilled with mushrooms. Lots of them!! The menu hadn't mentioned this. It wasn't rare like he'd ordered either - medium perhaps, but not even medium rare. And definitely unseasoned, but perhaps that's why they give you dipping sauce. There was a ginger and a mustard sauce, and while I liked both, he didn't really care for either.

We both requested melted butter for the lobster and this took a long time to get to the table, but the garlicy butter that arrived was hot and worth the wait. I ate the entire container of butter :( and some of his. Then I licked it clean.  It helped with my food since everything seemed just a tad over-cooked. The lobster was a little tough. Scallops were also tough instead of melt-in-your-mouth tender. I ordered hot sauce for my white rice (which they didn't charge me $0.75 cents for, even though that's the menu price, so that made me happy).

We were pretty full but managed to get a few bites of ice cream in us before asking for the check. It arrived with a suggested 18% gratuity already included in the total. I don't think I've even seen any restaurant do this for a party of two. Whatever. Service was good.

Unfortunately, we both arrived home feeling a little unsettled. Perhaps it was eating the equivalent of a half-stick of butter, plus all the dressing and the dishes of dipping sauce. But it takes a lot to upset my iron stomach. It was enough to make me hesitant to heat up my leftovers today.

The $30 gift is pretty generous. It only applies to the recipient's purchases so make sure to read the fine print before using. Beside Benihana and Denny's I can't think of a lot of places that give you a free bday meal! Our total was $71 after the discount and including the tip.