Have you ever been to Benihana before? Not only do they have amazing food, but the service and entertainment is great too! It is definitely one of my favorite restaurants to visit! I was excited to learn that Benihana was supporting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with it’s Children’s Day Initiative. Benihana Inc., the nation’s leading operator of Japanese theme and sushi restaurants, kicked off it’s sixth annual “Children Helping Children” coloring contest as part of its Children Day activities.
Through May 5th, children ages 12 and younger had the opportunity to participate in the coloring contest by visiting any Benihana location and then drawing a picture to depict what the theme of “Children Helping Children” meant to them. For each entry received, Benihana donated $1 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®. On May 6th, one winning entry was selected from each restaurant and the child was awarded a dinner for eight. Benihana also named one winning entry through Instagram.
“We are so pleased to partner with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for this amazing annual children’s event,” said Jeannie Means, Vice President of Marketing for Benihana. “Each year on May 5, Japan honors the nation’s children with a national holiday set aside to celebrate their growth and happiness. This promotion truly honors the theme of the holiday for both the young guests who visit our restaurants and participate in the festivities and for those who are directly impacted by the donation to St. Jude which allows them to continue their lifesaving mission of finding cures and saving children.”
Additionally, 100 percent of the purchase price of all Benihana Kabuki Kids meals served on Children’s Day, May 5, was donated to St. Jude.
About Benihana
Headquartered in Miami, Benihana Inc. is the nation’s leading operator of Japanese theme and sushi restaurants with 95 restaurants nationwide, including 63 Benihana restaurants, seven Haru sushi restaurants and 25 RA Sushi restaurants. In addition, 15 franchised Benihana restaurants are operating in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. To learn more about Benihana Inc. and its three restaurant concepts, please view the corporate video at www.benihana.com/about/video.
OUR VISIT TO BENIHANA
We recently had the opportunity to visit Benihana and it was awesome! The food was excellent and the service was fabulous! I definitely can’t wait to go back!
We went on a weekend and didn’t have reservations, but were able to wait for a table at the Lounge upstairs. There we enjoyed a drink, some appetizers and Miso Soup. Plus, they had the LA Kings hockey game on, so we watched while we waited and ate. In the Lounge, we ordered Edamame, a Rainbow Roll and Miso Soup (all amazing!).
Not long after finishing our appetizers, our buzzer vibrated and we knew our table was ready. I was hungry and ready to watch some entertainment and enjoy some amazing food! One of the things I love about Benihana is that you sit at a table with strangers, but by the end of the meal, everyone is chatting and saying goodnight to one another. It’s pretty great! Also, if you bring kids to Benihana, they have a special kid’s menu (which turns into a hat) and child-friendly chopsticks. Pretty cool, right?
The waitress took our orders and brought out salad and soup for us. Then the chef came out and started cooking. He started with fried rice (or white rice for those who requested it). Then he started cooking the meats. He also made it super friendly for the kids, making onion choo choo trains and more!
The chef was really funny and friendly. Let’s not forget he cooked up pretty awesome meal too! We ordered steak, chicken and scallops and it was awesome!!!! To finish the evening off, we enjoyed a bowl of chocolate ice cream. I can’t wait until we go back. Thank you for an amazing experience Benihana!
Have you ever been to Benihana before? What is your favorite thing there?
This is a sponsored post. All opinions are mine.
I have never been to a Benihana before. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve been to a Japanese restaurant where they ‘put on a show’ for you at the grill table. It was actually a tradition in our family to do that for the child’s 13th birthday (the restaurant where we lived was called Ichiban), and I was the youngest of four, so I was good and ready to have my turn! I checked out their website and there’s one about 20 minutes from our home, so I’m thinking we need to try it out some time!
Oh Shannon those pictures! I’m hungry! 🙂 I’ve never been to a Benihana, but I’ve been to a few imitators. I love those, so I can imagine how much fun and delicious the actual Benihana is!
I have never been to a restaurant like this.It looks like a lot of fun as well as really tasty food.I like that they cook in front of you.
We have a few other Japanese steakhouses around here, but not a Benihana. Those types of restaurants are so much fun, though – great experience.
we don’t have a benihana where I live, but we do have an individual hibachi restaurant. Everyone that works there is Japanese, and the food is exquisite!
I’ve never been to Benihana, but it looks so good. (I love edemame.) I also love companies that do good work for great causes!
I’ve never been to Benihana. Their food looks delicious!
I’ve never been. I don’t think there is one around here, but it looks really fun! I’d love that salad right now. 🙂
What a fun contest! I have never been to one, now I want to!
That is such a great project for a great cause. Benihana looks like it has delicious food. Your pictures made my mouth water!
I love places like that. That food they make is so yummy.
I have been very hesitant to take my kids to a hibachi style restaurant. They are 2 and 5- I know they would love the show, but I am not sure they would keep their hands off the cook top! Eeek!
I don’t like sushi, but I am sure there are other things there that I would like. The food does look good!
Benihana is the best. Unfortunately the closest one is about 2 hours away!
Their food is so good! It’s an entertaining place to eat, too!
Looks like an amazing place. Wonderful they support a good cause.
I’ve never been to Benihana, but I hear wonderful things about it! Your meal looks delish
I haven’t heard of this place before, but wow does the food look yummy! I am glad you were able to experience it.
I have heard great things about Benihana but I’ve never been. I think it’s cool that they cook out there so you can see it all.
Have I been to Benihannas?? Of course!! I love it and if you sign up for the program for your birthday you get a free meal valued at $30 woop woop!
We don’t have one of these close to us, unfortunately! My daughter is a huge fan of sushi and would flip over this place.
I don’t think we have a Benihannas here in South Carolina, and after looking at this food I wish we did! Thank you so much for making me hungry! : )
Can you believe it – I have never been to a Benihanas! It looks like a great place, with delicious food, though!
I have not been to Benihana’s in forever. Looks great
I love Benihana’s….it’s such a fun experience! And delicious food too 🙂
Thanks for sharing about the coloring contest! The food looks delicious! I love hibachi.
I love this restaurant. Their food is so good and I love watching them prepare it.
It’s been years since I went. It’s funny because right after we ate dinner last weekend somewhere else, we stumbled across a Benihana and we were like “oh man….”
That food looks so, so good! I would love to have that for lunch or for dinner! Love that they partner with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital!
I’ve never been to this restaurant. I’ll have to check it out sometime.
Yum, all of those food pictures really made my mouth water! I’ve never had Benihana before.
My daughter absolutely LOVES sushi. She said this looks delicious!
Oh wow! This just made our home cooked dinner look not that appealing at all! Lol. I love hibachi!
I’ve never been to Benihana, but I’d love to. I love sushi and Japanese food.
Benihana looks amazing! I have heard of this restaurant and I would love to eat here. We have a restaurant that reminds me of Benihana, and I have eaten there. I want to try the Japanese food.
YUmmy! We love Benihaha! You get so much food and it’s so good!
I love it there. The food is so good. Especially the fried rice.
We don’t have a Benihana near us, but we love our local hibachi chain. We’ve taken our 3 year old a few times and he thinks it’s great!