Bento Box (Midtown Sacramento)
food: 3/5
experience: 3/5
overall: 3/5
Wow. I didn't think it was possible to make bad sushi. But this was bad sushi.
Bento Box has a pretty big location right in the middle of midtown. I pass by it all the time. It was inevitable I would try it one day. And so I did. (Note: there's a Bento Box in East Sac but they're different restaurants.)
First impression: this place is Loud with a capital L. It is a bar, after all, and they have sake bombs for pretty cheap apparently. Without those, I believe this place would be out of business. I suppose if you're drunk enough, any sushi is good sushi.
What drew me in was their sushi menu, which is extensive. Pro-tip: master one dish before you move to the next one, Bento. I could hardly decide so I just went for a couple that sounded good.
The Paradise roll sounded super hearty on the menu. Salmon and cream cheese and avocado and scallops. All those ingredients are delicious. Together, they should be spectacular.
And the St. Francis roll had my favorite spicy tuna as well as crab. Who doesn't like crab? Shoulda known they meant imitation crab.
Their rolls are always half off, which is just ...weird. I mean, just change the prices on the menu. Derp. Anyway, the sushi took for-ever to come out. By the time it did, it was lukewarm. Womp womp. After all that time you'd think it'd be fresh as hell. Apparently it was just sitting out waiting to be served. Lukewarm sushi is nasty, I'll tell you that. No matter what ingredients were in these rolls, they just could not be saved. Even setting that aside, the flavors still didn't pop. Poor ingredients? Quality people, quality.
I thought I'd give them a second shot so I came back to try their sashimi, praying it would not be another lukewarm disaster. They had something new called "bara chirashi", which was chirashi with cubed fish and salad underneath. I try to be adventurous so I got that. They gave me some spicy mayo on the side which was whatever.
Yes, I know, it looks like some weird salad. It sure was a lot of fish, but it was just the standard four that usually come with sashimi: white and red tuna, salmon, hamachi. It was fresh sure, and good for what it was, but I do wonder what the regular old chirashi would have been like. The 12-piece sashimi was $28 for the same type/amount of fish! Crazy. But at least it wasn't as noisy this time, seeing as we came early on a weekday.
Lastly, Bento Box offers a fusion Asian quesadilla that really sounds cool and they should advertise it more because it was just a blip on the appetizer section. If you're gonna go here I demand you try that and report back in the comments.
experience: 3/5
overall: 3/5
Wow. I didn't think it was possible to make bad sushi. But this was bad sushi.
Bento Box has a pretty big location right in the middle of midtown. I pass by it all the time. It was inevitable I would try it one day. And so I did. (Note: there's a Bento Box in East Sac but they're different restaurants.)
First impression: this place is Loud with a capital L. It is a bar, after all, and they have sake bombs for pretty cheap apparently. Without those, I believe this place would be out of business. I suppose if you're drunk enough, any sushi is good sushi.
What drew me in was their sushi menu, which is extensive. Pro-tip: master one dish before you move to the next one, Bento. I could hardly decide so I just went for a couple that sounded good.
The Paradise roll sounded super hearty on the menu. Salmon and cream cheese and avocado and scallops. All those ingredients are delicious. Together, they should be spectacular.
And the St. Francis roll had my favorite spicy tuna as well as crab. Who doesn't like crab? Shoulda known they meant imitation crab.
Their rolls are always half off, which is just ...weird. I mean, just change the prices on the menu. Derp. Anyway, the sushi took for-ever to come out. By the time it did, it was lukewarm. Womp womp. After all that time you'd think it'd be fresh as hell. Apparently it was just sitting out waiting to be served. Lukewarm sushi is nasty, I'll tell you that. No matter what ingredients were in these rolls, they just could not be saved. Even setting that aside, the flavors still didn't pop. Poor ingredients? Quality people, quality.
I thought I'd give them a second shot so I came back to try their sashimi, praying it would not be another lukewarm disaster. They had something new called "bara chirashi", which was chirashi with cubed fish and salad underneath. I try to be adventurous so I got that. They gave me some spicy mayo on the side which was whatever.
Yes, I know, it looks like some weird salad. It sure was a lot of fish, but it was just the standard four that usually come with sashimi: white and red tuna, salmon, hamachi. It was fresh sure, and good for what it was, but I do wonder what the regular old chirashi would have been like. The 12-piece sashimi was $28 for the same type/amount of fish! Crazy. But at least it wasn't as noisy this time, seeing as we came early on a weekday.
Lastly, Bento Box offers a fusion Asian quesadilla that really sounds cool and they should advertise it more because it was just a blip on the appetizer section. If you're gonna go here I demand you try that and report back in the comments.
well written. kind of harsh, but sometimes that's deserved. my dinner was okay, the Szechuan Chicken, but probably because it had lots of honey on it and it satisfied my sweet tooth
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