Benihana coming soon to Polaris Fashion Place
The wildly popular restaurant chain, Benihana, is slated to open their first Columbus restaurant in the Columbus area at Polaris Fashion Place. It can be argued the Benihana kicked off the Japanese restaurant craze we’re seeing now. I do not know when they are scheduled to open their doors, but the building is up and looks fairly close to being done.
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Related Tags: benihana • chains • japanese • new • polaris fashion place • restaurant • steakhouse
December 29th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Benihana has been around since like the 70s. Is there some sort of Japanese restaurant craze now? I live under a rock.
December 29th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
This is my FAVORITE japanses place! I always went to the ones in Pittsburgh when I lived back home. . . I can’t wait :P
December 29th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
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December 29th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
This actually isn’t the first time that Benihana has been in Columbus. I seem to recall reviewing a map of Benihana locations in Ohio a few years ago and seeing one in Columbus (Hilliard Area). I think it was somewhere off Fishinger Road. I looked it up again last year on the same map and, this time, in person, but it had vanished without a trace.
At any rate, I am looking forward to the new location at Polaris. I had dinner at the Cleveland location with a friend, and the experience still rates as one of my all time greatest. The food/menu and service were excellent, and the night we were there, they had live music provided by a harpist.
Dinner for two runs around $50. Take your date there after a good movie for a truly memorable night.
December 30th, 2008 at 1:14 am
I think you’d get some arguments if you mentioned Benihana and Japanese food in the same breath at any other Japanese restaurant. Geez, folks, get a life! Go out and try a REAL Japanese restaurant.
Paul
December 30th, 2008 at 7:29 am
i think it is quite possible to know the difference between “real” Japanese food and Benihana and enjoy both. it’s been some time since I’ve been to a Benihana, but I recall a good experience that was great with a group of people. more of a night out than a foodie experience, and many will be fine with that. while other people will feel better eating their kimpira and belittling others. considering the location of Polaris and the new Hilton convention space, i think it is a winning idea for Polaris’ new format.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:19 am
what’s the difference between Benihana and any other Japanese Steak houses around town? I’ve never been to a Benihana.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Honestly, not much of one, other than that they’ve been in operation for quite some time so the menu & their particular variations on the technique have had a lot more time for testing & improvement.
They really defined the “Japanese Steakhouse” format, and almost all of them are just variations on a theme. Personally, my favorite in town is Fujiyama (though I wish they had sushi - and the building is getting a little run down these days), but pretty much any of them are good as far as I’m concerned.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:34 am
If a Japanese craze is happening in town, I wish someone would open a Japanese fabric shop!
I would like to go to a japanese steak house sometime. They sound fun.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:38 am
probably not a whole lot in terms of concept - people sit around teppanyaki table, chef flips food around, people eat grilled meat and seafood. Rocky Aoki made it a fashionable NYC concept in the 60s and the Beatles and others ate there, so by the late 70s the restaurant was quite the rage, he was rich and was one of the drivers in the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash aka ‘Cannonball Run’ in the 70s.
fans of the office will also recall the christmas episode from season 3.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:49 am
There’s a heck of a lot of ‘em around now!
Used to be just “Japanese Steak House” in the Short North, then Fujiyama opened when I was a kid, and now we’ve still got those, plus (at least) 2 House of Japans (Houses of Japan?), 2 Ichibans, Kobe, Genji, and Benihana.
And those are just the ones I know about…
December 30th, 2008 at 9:52 am
I like the one off of tuttle. But I always feel a little ill about an hour after dinner when I eat at any of these places. Maybe form all the oil they use….. or more likely the amount of food consumed.
pepto to the rescue
December 30th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
i can’t wait to try it when it opens, but not for the usual reasons. we studied Benihana as a case in buz school because they ran the restuarant like a manufacturing operation. they have a set routine to move people through to maximize throughput and value per customer. we had some pretty hilarious discussions about it in class. i’ve never been to one (although i have been to other japanese steakhouses), so i have to go at least once to live through the case i studied years ago.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
check out Fujiyama off Cleveland Ave it’s good stuff.
Avoid the Japanese steak house downtown.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Fujiyama is far and away my least favorite hibachi restaurant. The place just seems a little dirty and it hasn’t aged very well, plus it’s in the Cleveland/161 restaurant death zone. I’m sure it was nice in the 70s or 80s when the sprawl in that area was fresh.
December 30th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
the sprawl in that area was never fresh, I assure you.
December 30th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Less decrepit?
December 30th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
“The company was founded in 1964 on West 56th Street in New York City by 25-year-old Hiroaki Rocky Aoki.”
So much for it being Japanese.
But I can enjoy it also. I just don’t want to give it credit for being something its not.
Paul
December 30th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
??? According to his bio, the guy was born in Japan to Japanese parents, attended school in Japan through university, and was even a member of the Japanese Olympic wrestling team. How does that make him or his restaurant not Japanese?
December 31st, 2008 at 2:11 am
Because, starting up a non-Japanese restaurant where everyone gets the same dish isn’t Japanese. I had sashimi at Otani tonight. And believe me, they had more than four choices on the menu.
Paul
December 31st, 2008 at 10:19 am
The building and some aspects of the interior is definitely in not great shape, and when Kobe opened out at Easton, they raided away most of Fujiyama’s best cooks, but it’s still my favorite, and not just for sentimental reasons - the food is good stuff. Their salad dressing might as well have liquid crack in it, it’s crazy addicting.
If you want new & shiny, Kobe’s not a bad pick, but it’s also very freaking expensive. Ichiban and House of Japan aren’t bad either… I wasn’t especially impressed with Genji, but it was OK. “Japanese Steakhouse” in the Short North was pretty bland.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:21 am
My theory for years now is that no one who actually lives in the Short North eats at the Japanese Steakhouse in the Short North. Almost everyone I know who likes that place is either from the suburbs or outlying small towns.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:38 am
I’ve never been there, but co-workers go for birthday parties and such.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:52 am
…and lots of convention-goers… but, yeah, I can’t say I know anyone in the greater downtown area who has actually gone there.
December 31st, 2008 at 11:29 am
Besides the frustrations from the limited hours at “Japanese Steakhouse”, once I actually made it there when they were open, I was disappointed. I do give my approval to Kobe and House of Japan though, but I wish there was something like that closer to downtown.