Exhibit
      31.01




CERTIFICATION








I, Joel A. Schwartz, certify
that:





1.
            I have reviewed this Annual Report
      on Form 10-K/A of Benihana
Inc.;





2.
            Based
      on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a
      material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the
      statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
      were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this
      report;





3.
            Based
      on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information
      included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the
      financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
      registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this
      report;





4.
            The
      registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for
      establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
      defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal
      controls over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
      13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and
  have:





(a)designed such disclosure controls and
procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed
under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by
others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this
report is being prepared;





(b) designed such internal control over
financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to
be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements
for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
principles;





(c)evaluated the effectiveness of the
registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our
conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures,
as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation;
and





(d) disclosed in this report any change
in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred
during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth
fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or
is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control
over financial reporting; and





5.
            The registrant’s other certifying
      officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of
      internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors
      and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons
      performing the equivalent
functions):





(a) all significant deficiencies and
material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over
financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
information; and




(b) any fraud, whether or not material,
that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the
registrant’s internal control over financial
reporting.




/s/ Joel A.
      SchwartzJoel A.
      SchwartzChief Executive
      OfficerJuly
      25, 2008