Campus Food Review: Bento Sushi

Bento Sushi is a new spot for campus food at reasonable prices. But you have to be selective, or else it will be a recipe for disaster.

Bento Sushi, a Japanese food franchise which just moved into the lower floor of CAB replacing Filistix, has two main lines of product: sushi and bento (udon, ramen, and donburi).

Its official website says, “At Bento Sushi, quality, consistency, and great value are at the core of every sushi roll we produce. It is our number one priority to provide our customers with hand-crafted, quality food using only the freshest ingredients available.”

Wow, it sounds quite impressive! As I soon learned, however, not all of the food vendor’s products hold up to its promise of consistency and freshness.

The store has two main parts: a storefront and a “grab and go” kiosk. At the storefront, they only serve hot bento dishes: udon, ramen, and donburi. (Udon is a thick noodle soup, ramen is a thin noodle soup, and donburi is a rice bowl.)  Sushi, buns, and gyoza (dumplings) are available outside in the kiosk. Relative to many campus food vendors, Bento Sushi’s prices seem reasonable: $8.99 for the hot bento and $6.99 for the sushi. I ordered two dishes: a red dragon (salmon) roll and a tempura shrimp udon bowl.

I tried the udon first to get its flavour while it was still hot. The portion was quite small, with only two tempura shrimp and a little bit of seaweed. The soup’s combination of the udon’s softness and the tempura shrimp’s crunchiness is interesting, but nothing too special. However, after five minutes, the shrimp started to soak and fall apart. I tried to keep everything together, but finally, I gave up.

Having made quick work of my udon, I moved on to the red dragon sushi roll. Each container of sushi comes with pickled ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce. I put the wasabi in the sauce, dipped my roll in it on the rice side, and tried my first bite. And guess what, the rice fell out! I still ate the rice, but it was so dry and cold. This was disappointing but unsurprising, as I had my sushi in the afternoon, which meant it had been in the kiosk for half a day, cold and “fresh.”  (A staff person had told me the sushi was handmade each morning.) I was thinking about reheating it, but it had raw salmon in it, so I couldn’t!

Overall, bento sushi is underwhelming but has decent value for campus food. If you decide to eat there, I recommend you only try the bento. The sushi? Avoid! At all costs!!