Benihana is trying to entice diners to come in for lunch with its $15.95 Power Lunch deal.
It’s 1 p.m. on a Thursday, and the dining room at Benihana in San Francisco is completely deserted. Nary a sizzle of an onion hitting a flattop grill can be heard throughout the windowless room in Japan Center.
When the host spots me looking like a deer in the headlights, I sheepishly tell her I’m here for the Power Lunch.
Yes, I’m here solo at the mecca for teenage birthday parties because of a deal that’s increasingly hard to find in SF these days: a meal under $16. The weekday $15.95 Power Lunch deal launched at Benihana restaurants across the country a year ago but recently extended its hours. “Power Lunch is served in only 45 minutes or it’s free!” read the bubbly email in my inbox. As a busy downtown office worker with a limited lunch budget, I was sold.
As I was seated by myself at an empty grill table set for eight, a clubby pop song played overhead. The room was a little drafty, so I huddled up to the hot grill. Perusing the menu, I discovered that the Power Lunch is a condensed version of the traditional five-course Benihana meal: your choice of soup or salad to start and your protein choice of chicken, shrimp or tofu, plus hibachi vegetables, fried rice and dipping sauces. For an additional $4, you can upgrade your protein to filet mignon or NY strip steak.
A server took my order immediately: miso soup to start, and shrimp for my protein. Slowly warming up with the nourishing bowl of miso soup, I braced myself for the awkwardness to come. As someone who fears being the center of attention, even the most depraved depths of my subconscious could not have conjured a one-on-one teppanyaki show.
When I spotted from afar a tall red chef’s hat wheeling a cart toward me, the “Jaws” theme song started playing in my head. “Oh God, the chef is coming,” I messaged my editor.
Would I have to clap and cheer in an audience of one when he formed the fried rice into the shape of a heart? Would he still make me catch a shrimp in my mouth if no boisterous table of drunk birthday party revelers was there to appreciate it?
Fortunately for my social anxiety, the Power Lunch cut down not only on time but also on theatrics. While the chef and I made some pleasant conversation about how our days were going, the chef mostly concentrated on sizzling up my shrimp, onions and zucchini, bathing them in unholy globs of garlic butter and squeezing lemon over the top. The tantalizing scent of onions made my stomach grumble.
The server who took my order dropped a simple bowl of vegetable fried rice at the table, without any grill action. No shrimp tails were flung across the grill toward my mouth, and for that, I was grateful. Almost as quickly as he appeared, the chef cleaned the grill, packed up his spatulas and was on his way.
The resulting meal was nothing extraordinary, but it satisfied my taste buds thanks to Benihana’s signature garlic butter and soy sauce. This fried rice was not as crave-worthy as the hibachi fried rice, but mixed together with the well-seasoned veggies and perfectly juicy shrimp, and drizzled with a little tangy ginger dipping sauce, it was a solid lunch. And for $15.95 before tax and tip, I left completely stuffed.
I last visited Benihana for a birthday dinner in December, and the place was packed. While a few other diners did trickle in during my lunch — a couple celebrating a birthday, a family with a young child — the difference on a Thursday afternoon was alarming. While other restaurants in the Japan Center mall had their fair share of lunchgoers, no one seemed to be thinking of Benihana at this time of day. I suppose there’s a reason for the introduction of the Power Lunch deal.
Lately, efficient “power lunch” deals are everywhere in San Francisco — particularly downtown — as restaurants try to coax back slow weekday lunchtime business. Chef Helene An’s recently revived Vietnamese restaurant Crustacean now has a “FiDi Power Lunch” $46 prix-fixe menu, while Union Square’s Chotto Matte offers a “$40, 40 minutes” four-course lunch. Also downtown, the Vault Garden has a two-course express lunch menu for $30. None of these, however, are quite as affordable as Benihana’s.
