Benihana
Warning: The menu items listed below were reported by the restaurant. However, they should only be considered as a starting off place for choosing items. You still must take the responsibility of being vigilant and always reconfirming the GF status of a menu item each and every time. See the section Eating Out Tips to help approach eating out in a healthy way.
"Benihana is a restaurant that serves freshly grilled Asian cuisine. The customers sit in a U-shape around the chef, who cooks the entire meal on the grill right in front of you.
"The problem is that they use a shared grill and soy sauce on everything. You would have to make sure yours is cooked away from the rest of the group at the bare minimum." Molly to SillyYak group, 9/07
"I spoke to the manager at the Benihana's in Burlingame, CA. She said to ask to speak to the manager when we come in. She said that they can season everyone with just salt and pepper and choose to only put the sauces on the food that we want to. She said that a gf meal is possible and that they serve plain rice with their meats. We look forward to trying them out soon."
Isabel 9/07
"I had a great experience at Benihana's Monday night. Everyone was very accommodating, and my Hibachi chicken was delicious (salt, pepper, garlic, and butter is all they used, no soy sauce). I did bring my own salad dressing and I avoided the soup. Best of all I didn't get sick! I will definitely go back there."
MV 2/20/06
"I had a very positive experience at Benihana when I attended a birthday party there. I first spoke to our waitress about celiac disease, and she seemed to understand right away. She said that they often make accommodations for people with special diets. It was made clear that my entire meal (including vegetables) needed to be prepared first due to the fact that soy sauce tends to get all over the grill during preparation. The chef did not seem to understand right away, but did after further explanation. I recommend explaining to the other people at your table ahead of time about the reason the chef will be cooking your food before theirs.
The grill is cleaned off before any cooking is started. I brought my own Tamari sauce, which the chef used while grilling the shrimp and chicken that I ordered, as well as the vegetables, before he cooked the rest of the group’s food. Even though I received my entire meal before everyone else, it wasn’t that awkward as the others started receiving the beginning courses almost right away.
The next time I plan to eat at Benihana, I would call and speak to the manager beforehand just to give the staff more warning. The staff really seemed to care, and was very adamant about making sure I did not get sick. It was a really fun restaurant and everything was delicious!"
Karen Johnson, La Jolla, 3/04
"I talked today with the manager Tim. If you are going with a group of people, the celiac person should go first because of the residue from the soy sauce. It's ok to bring in your own gf sauce and salad dressing.
The following items are “no-nos”: garlic butter, mustard sauces, ginger sauces, or any other sauce they might have, salad dressings, soup. They all contain soy sauce and the soup has a beef stock which has wheat in it. Regular butter is ok to use."
LM, San Diego, 3/26/04
Mission Valley
477 Camino Del Rio S. 92108
619-298-4666
