Tokyo Lunch Boxes & Catering

So I wanted sushi in the worst way today. Imagine my horror when I stepped into the Merchandise Mart to discover that this location had been closed! I do not know the why or the when. But what I do know is that a massive amount of sad swept over me.
I’m still giving this place 4 stars because I love their sushi. It’s cheap but good. And the staff there was always really friendly. I’m not looking forward to going to the Washington/​Wells location but hey, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

The sushi here is okay and they offer brown rice versions of rolls, which is nice. The best part though and what brings the 4 stars is the BOGO (buy one, get one) free deal that I neatly took advantage of during today’s late lunch (~3pm). The pricing is typical for the area for premade sushi, but getting two sushi rolls for the price of one is fantastic. I got the dragon roll and a brown rice philadelphia roll. If I had bought them with out the BOGO free deal, it would have cost me $ 16 + tax. Thanks to BOGO, I got them both for $ 8.50 + tax, which is a super, cost-​efficient deal. This place is great if you want sushi, but don’t want to exit the mart. Again, the sushi is just okay, but for some reason, the BOGO deal makes the sushi delicious.

OK food but I am definitely a fan of the BOGO FREE sushi after 2:30pm ish (i believe). So starting around 2:30, you would see me wandering around the Mart food court pretending that I am weighing my options but really I am about to pretend that I happen to want sushi when they roll out the BOGO deal. That’s how you do it — cheap in a classy way.
Prices are reasonable given it’s in river north and that the surrounding options are mall food court food. I loved their chef special — fried shrimp something. It almost tastes like soft shell crab. The salmon with brown rice rolls are also great for its price — fish is actually decent quality. Edamame on the other hand is expensive at $ 1.99 for like 15 of them, unless you are lucky and you will get a free one along with your BOGOF sushi at 3pm :)
Also greatly appreciate the plastic lil trays for mixing soy sauce and wasabi. So thoughtful!

I miss the fresh ginger dressing on the salads here! I moved away so I can’t enjoy the food here like I once did. I would do anything for the ginger dressing recipe! Like. give you five stars and recommend you guys to all my Chicago friends! :)
What a great deal for a quick meal. Love your udong noodle soup. and those salads!

This was my second time eating here. The first time was okay, but this time was not good at all. I special ordered (meaning it wasn’t pre-​made in the cooler) a spicy salmon roll with brown rice. There was barely any fish in my rolls and the fish that was there was in really tiny pieces and it was super slimy — it was terrible. I also got a cucumber salad, which was good, but I will not be back..

I love this place! I am a regular for lunch and get the beef Udong and a side of brown rice almost everytime. They have ½ price remaining sushi starting at 3:30pm which is great, but get there early as many people know this. Great sushi and super freindly staff, keep it up!

TLB is not the greatest, most gourmet sushi you’ll ever have but it certainly is better than the stuff at the supermarket. I am generally at the Mart for big shows and TLB is my main stop for lunch. The udon is outstanding, full of fresh veggies and the sushi is pretty good. I’d skip the pre made gyozas though, they have probably been sitting and are greasy. It’s by far the best option in the food court.

Great for fast sushi. I used to frequent Tokyo Lunch Box when I worked across the river. They have your basic rolls and the more elaborate rolls (i.e. Sunshine Roll, Chef’s Special, etc.). They even have Edamame Shumai, which was very tasty and not overly soggy (a concern of mine, when I saw the shu mai was prepackaged and waiting to be bought.
One thing I do still wonder about: The Chef Special is the same as it was last year. Isn’t the purpose of a «special» to feature a special dish? The Chef’s Special is a roll with Deep Fried Jumbo Shrimp, BBQ Spicy Tuna, Japanese Caviar, 3kind Sauce, and «Crunch» (panko crumbs?) and they would torch the top of the sushi roll to add extra crunch. It’s a really good and tasty roll. They even offer sample bites of the Chef Special roll before you buy it. This was great (and for the record, the roll still tastes great), but why is the «special» the same? Doesn’t that make it NOT special anymore? Also, the Chef’s Special features a higher price tag in comparison to the other rolls. For a Special that has been the Special for over a year, it hardly seems worth it to buy into its «specialness.» While I love the crunch and flavors of the roll, I’ve tried their others and you aren’t missing out by skipping on the Chef’s Special. Tokyo Lunch Box’s other sushi rolls are yum-​tastic and convenient. My picks aside from Chef Special would include their eel nigiri, Honey Moon Roll, and Dragon Roll.
So far, Tokyo Lunch Box has been good to me. Aside from my question about specials, I do enjoy their food. Great that they can bring variety to the Merchandise Mart food court. Thank you Tokyo Lunch Box for providing quick and convenient sushi.

Craving sushi on the fly? Head to the merc during your lunch hour.
They do some quick fresh stuff and serve pre-​made rolls, too.
I tried their spicy 3-​roll combo with brown rice and it was tasty. I’d recommend it.
Pass on the gyoza, though — they just weren’t quite right.

This place is just great! Smiling faces great you and will make your maki rolls in front of your eyes! I get 12 HUGE maki rolls for about ½ of whole foods price.
The food is always really fresh, they have brown rice upon request,
Lily is always so sweet over at the cash register.
They even use a special soy sauce that’s naturally brewed with no added sodium (I will always remember the day they switched soy sauces.)
They use to have a buy one get one free for the packaged sushi after 3 before they closed, how nice and thoughtful… it was great to take home for dinner and reassuring they were making fresh sushi the next morning, but they stopped this :(
If you’re in the Mart and want Sushi this is your only option, but it’s a great one!

I thought they had a lot of really great selections and everything that I have ordered was very fresh. I also loved that they offer brown rice sushi. The price was a little high, but defiantly not a rip off for good sushi. This is a nice option if you’re by Merchandise Mart and craving some quick sushi.

I’m not a fan of the prepackaged meals, but I really like their daily special which is a shrimp roll that is made to order. I get the ½ roll for $ 5.99 and it fills me up. I only wish the daily special varied, but I’m a huge fan of this one and go here for it several times per month. Fresh, great value, and high quality.

The crime is that I’m unable to give a Rating that exceeds 5 Stars!

I love Tokyo Lunch Box! For the price of a cheap sandwich, I can get an order of California Rolls WITH Masago!
Today … I got TWO orders for that price! (one order California Rolls & one order of Spicy Shrimp Rolls)
I wandered to Merchandise Mart, because I had to ship a package at the conveniently located post office there. I decided to take the EL home and noticed TLBC was open, and saw a brightly colored sign that said FREE! Free? free — eezz goood! I hit the jackpot! Buy one get one FREE! WEW HEW & THANK YEW!
with my purchase in hand, I toddled off to catch the train home, all the while thinking about how WONDERFUL my dinner tonight was going to be!
A word of warning though. They’re not kidding when they say SPICY on any of their rolls. The ‘spicy shrimp rolls’ was a little too spicy for me, but it was STILL good. (even though I don’t normally eat spicy *anything*)
I’ll be back of course, though, now that I know about the special? HAH! I’m going — more often!

I don’t know why this place gets all the rave reviews. I certainly don’t think that just because a place is located on the food court necessarily means that it has to serve subpar food, but this place does. Their rolls were okay. Not great, just okay. Their miso, however… How can you mess up miso like that!!! I don’t get it! The wakame was mushy, the mushrooms were undercooked, and it was salty. Yes, I know, it’s $ 1.60 but I can get the same kind of deal for FRESH sushi, awesome miso, and soy sauce not from a packet elsewhere. Namely Takumi in Presidential Towers. They have the best sushi deal for lunch in the city. Call me spoiled, but I won’t be going here again.

The udon soup here is fantastic– and gigantic. I bought the «sampler platter» of udon soup, as ’twere– with shrimp, pork, and beef included. Absolutely delicious but beware– this is a really big bowl of soup. You don’t need anything else.
Except a hug after. And a nap. Cause you’ll be so full you’ll need snuggles and sleepies.

When I worked in the Merchandise Mart a few years ago, I never took advantage of this little gem! Looking at the place I just never thought it would be good, but what a surprise, it was pretty delicious!
Sometimes there is a line during lunch, but it moves pretty steadily. They have packaged sushi, ready to go and they also have a freshly made chef’s special, which for a half meal will run you $ 5.99 and a whole will run you $ 9.99. One of the few decent places in the disappointing food court in the Mart (That building is too big to have only a few places in the food court).

I must admit there is no such thing, at least in my book, of gourmet sushi. Though I must admit I do like sushi very much and hadn’t experiences it until later in life and now having at least once a week is a pleasure. So when I was doing some work in the Merchandise Mart recently, I had stumbled upon this eatery… rather take out eatery in the food court.
Now, now… I realize the stigma with ANY eatery associated with the words «food court» means bad food that is probably bad for you. It also makes me remember back to my college days which back then meant bad food available all the time. And I’ll admit that the food selections in Merchandise Marts food court are not anything to rave about… in fact much of it is just some version of fast food.
But Tokyo Lunch Box was a nice surprise and an even bigger surprise was the pricing. You can buy a roll there… consisting of 9 pieces for $ 4.99, which in these tough economic times gets you both a nice cheap meal and a nice cheap meal that is better for you than say the Beef and Cheddar down the row at the Arby’s food stand. But it gets better. If you stand around long enough looking, they’ll offer you 1 or 2 pieces of rolls they are preparing… that would make 10+ pieces… for your lunch if you buy. They have a good selection of rolls and soups all at or below a $ 7 to $ 8 range.
You’ve heard the good, now the bad. They scrimp on the pickled ginger and wasabi and you get very little soy sauce so be sure to ask for more at the register. In addition, the rolls are not «tight» and tend to fall apart a bit, though they do make rolls with brown rice which is healthier. So all in all I’d say 5 for great pricing, but 3 for food quality, so they get a 4 to balance it all out.
Now for the kicker… Monday through Friday from 3:30pm to 4:00pm you can buy any sushi item and get another one free… in other words, you could have sushi for dinner or with a friend for the total cost of $ 2.50 per roll??? Wow, I know this isn’t top of the line sushi, but THAT has to be the cheapest deal in town period! Its off the Brownline stop, so possibly a stop off on the way home for some good cheap sushi.

Went here for lunch on a weekday and opted for the spicy beef udon. It wasn’t the best I’ve had, but definitely hit the spot. They served it with plenty of beef and the noodles were very good. The chef even gave me a taste of the new crispy shrimp roll while I waited. The udon was $ 6.99 and you can add a 4 piece roll for only $ 1.00. Since ramen and udon options are VERY limited in the loop, Tokyo Lunch Box is probably the best you’re going to get.

As my dad always used to say my eyes were bigger than my stomach.
I read a sushi list the other day and was jonesing for a fix. Since a few of my errands took me near the Mart I decided to hit this place. I was impressed for a take out place in a food court they had quite a few roll selections. I read some other reviews that mentioned the spicy combo and was bummed that I didn’t see any while I was there; I came just after the lunch peak, which probably explains it. I settled on the spicy tuna and the tekka roll. I did notice that they seemed to skimp on the salmon in the spicy salmon rolls, those were the only ones I noticed that didn’t seem up to par.
I was so excited by the prospect of sushi for lunch I didn’t pay attention to the number of pieces I was buying. Lets just say I spent under $ 15 and had over 20 pieces, which I couldn’t finish. I really tried, but I was afraid that if I stuffed myself and hit the gym, my next stop, it wouldn’t be pretty.
My only complaint is why do they have to scrimp on the pickled ginger. They may as well leave it off the plate all together, the pieces I got were super tiny and only covered about 3 pieces. They were very nice and gave me more ginger for free, but this portion too was so small it was almost invisible.
Tokyo lunchbox isn’t my favorite sushi place, but it’s a tasty, affordable option in the loop. I’d go back again.