Benihana Sues Blogger for Bad Review

By Elina Shatkin Mon., Feb. 7 2011 at 8:00 AM

Scenes from Benihana in San Francisco.

Bloggers, beware. Writing a bad review of Benihana could get you sued for $18,000 -- at least if you live in Kuwait.

Mark Makhou, a Lebanese national working in Kuwait, wrote a fairly mild but definitely negative review of his nearby Benihana branch on his popular local blog 248am.com:

Would I go back to Benihana? No I wouldn't. Their sashimi and maki's are pretty cheap (KD1.5 for 5 pieces of Salmon sashimi for example) but there are two other Japanese restaurants at the Avenues, Wasabi and Maki, and I would prefer either one of those to Benihana.

In the United States, that's probably where it would have ended. Post-liberation Kuwait, however, isn't the haven of democracy one might expect. It is a haven for business, and companies can run roughshod over free-speech rights we Americans take for granted. The upshot: Benihana sued Makhou for $18,000, according to Fast Company.

As with Red Medicine tossing out L.A. Times critic S. Irene Virbila, the move has earned Benihana a ton of bad -- but free! -- publicity. People have blanketed the chain's Kuwaiti Facebook page with negative comments, reports The National of Abu Dhabi.

Here's the difference, Red Medicine has the culinary chops to back up its bluster. Benihana doesn't.

The Japanese chain, founded by Rocky Aoki in 1964, is about fun, flair and showmanship, not a nuanced representation of regional Japanese cuisine. We go there to watch the chef form fried rice into the shape of Mickey Mouse's head. To cheer as a cone of precariously balanced onion rings spews steam like an vegetable volcano. We don't go for chef-pickled ginger or delicately marinated uni. We also don't go there to get sued.

While this case doesn't affect us in the United States, we're glad to see that Makhou, whose trial is set to begin on March 8, is not backing down. He tells The National:

"If they want to go ahead, I'm not going to chicken out. It doesn't just affect me; that's why I want everyone to get involved. If I lose this case it could affect all the bloggers in Kuwait."

Location Info

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Benihana

38 N. La Cienega Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA

Category: Restaurant

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Tags:

248am, Benihana, Blogger, Elina Shatkin, Fast Company, Kuwait, Lawsuit, Legal Issues, Mark Makhou, Rocky Aoki

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Vatogourmet

Benihana is very lucky I haven't gone to one of their restaurants. Check out Vatogourmet.com and soon I will write a review of Benihana and they better have their act together. You can sure me but I will sue you back :) Don't mess with freedom of speech Beni!

Life Isgoode

I purchased some Benihana food in the grocery store while I was in college in the mid 80's. The product wasn't properly sealed at the factory and the product spilled into the boiling water during the cooking process. When I wrote Benihana a letter about the problem I got no response. I haven't purchased their product again nor have I ever visited one of their eating establishments. You would have thought they would have at least had the policy of replying. life.isgoode at yahoo dot com.

VemiVomo

LOL, the only winners: The Bottom Feeding, Blood Sucking attorneys!

www.ultimate-privacy.tk

Mvilella

Note to the editor.

This writer obviously did not do enough research, Benihana Inc already sent out a press release stating that it is not associated with Benihana Kuwait as it is a franchise of Benihana of Tokyo. Benihana Inc. and Benihana of Tokyo are two seperate entities as said in the press release. All it took was one google search in the news search engine and I got my answer. Thanks for putting out quality stories for sharp digg users.