Review of Benihana – Abu Dhabi, UAE
I’ve been to the Benihana – Abu Dhabi twice now, once for their sushi a la carte and the most recent time for their contemporary teppanaki experience. The restaurant is located in the Beach Rotana hotel, beside Abu Dhabi mall.
Teppanaki Review: 4****
Fine Japanese cuisine with a great show. Its suggested to make a reservation prior to coming, especially if you’re opting for Teppanaki as they have specific times /limited seating. Our preferred time was 7:30 pm but were told they did not have any times available. We took the next available time for 8:30pm.
When we arrived for our reservation we were seated immediately but there were many tables that were empty. We waited for around 20 minutes before our chef came to our table.
The Meal
Our chef was the highlight of our night. He came with a bright smile and made conversation with us. He did a lot of amazing knife tricks and fire demonstrations. Most of time he did then twice so we were ready to get them on camera.
The food quality was great too as it was cooked fresh right in front of us and served right to our plate. We started with a fresh salad and soup, shrimp appetizers then had chicken, lobster, strip loin and a filet mignon.
The shrimp appetizers were great starters they were so flavorful and savory. I enjoyed the lobster as well but the portion was a bit small. For the beef cuts, you are able to request the rarity. We had medium rare for both and they were cooked perfectly.
The vegetables were also another great highlight. They come in bean spouts, eggplant, onions and mushrooms.
Lastly for dessert there is an option of a fruit platter or ice cream which comes with the teppanaki meal. I opted for the fruit platter and it was plentiful, came in a large plate with watermelons, melons, kiwis, pineapples, strawberries and more. I was pleased with the dessert. However I was disappointed the green tea ice cream was not an available option for dessert.
The service from the chef was amazing. He even wrote our names in sugar/salt on the teppanaki table to end the night and welcome us to Benihana. The service from the waitresses were a bit lacking. It took a while to get service for our green tea and the bills tho.
Our whole teppanaki meal was around 450 AED for 2 people which is on the pricier end, also keep in mind they will tack on an extra 20% for the hotel fee(tourism/service fees).
A la Carte Sushi Review: 2**
I was pretty excited to try out this place. It’s located at the beach rotana we went on a Thursday night around 11pm. Originally wanted to try the teppanaki but we were told there were no seats left for that. So we opted to sit at a regular table to order from their sushi menu. However when we went in I saw there were many seats available still at the teppanaki bar….
Our side table took a very long time to set up, at least 10-15min. They asked us to order food before we even got to sit down which I did not appreciate. We ended up ordering a sushi/sashimi platter (200AED) and a deep fried roll(80 AED) The food took a long time.. More than 20 minute wait. Once it came it did come all at once. Smaller than I imagined the platter to be. The sashimi was not fresh at all. The rice was warm in the rolls and the sushi.
There was one sashimi called Saba which tasted way too salty and fishy. We also had the end piece which usually the fine dining restaurants don’t serve to their guests. The portions were smaller than i was used to. I had the Saba before but this time I felt really sick to my stomach eating it, it was not fresh at all. If you’re looking for good fresh sushi, I would suggest to look elsewhere.
DOT
