Bento Cafe

I’ve been going to the Bento for years since they first open. Now they have a new location closer to my house but I still go to both. I love the diversity of Asian delight at this establishment. I love their national champ roll. But it’s hard to choose a favorite everything is good.

Also known as «Bento Blue» I find this one to be somewhat better then the archer road location in town, when busy, like both locations the line can take quite a while just to place your order. I do like that when they offer 1 free sauce per sushi roll ordered (i.e. Eel sauce, spicy mayo, etc) before they were additional .50 each. At first Bento can be a little overwhelming to the new first timer. Having to look through and hold 2 separate menus front and back till you decide what you want quickly and remember so you can tell the counter person. Once you have it down pat your in good hands. The staff is very efficient on getting your orders correct and out to the guests, for the most part the customer service is on point!
The sushi has always been great! Very fresh! And the food prepared in the back of house also very good!
**TIP** if your a fan of tofu they have great bento boxes with tofu, personally I would suggest the SILKEN TOFU which you have to specifically ask for otherwise they will give you a harder more spongy version. My favorite is the Thai coconut curry bento box with silken tofu. You won’t be disappointed.
Bento serves Coke products with the touchscreen soda machine with free refills.
Gainesville definitely has a big following for Bento and they have been doing it right. I definitely recommend this restaurant for you to try for a not so quick service Panera style restaurant.
Enjoy!

When ordering our food the woman was so helpful and nice and the food came out fast and hot! I had the Spicy Cream chicken Noodle Bowl lo mein and it was delicious! My family enjoyed their noodle bowls as well. My cousin order sushi but it took very long and when she asked about it they apologized and have her a $ 5 gift card for the wait. Overall great place! Great food and service!

I ate at Bento on Newberry tonight with my husband. It was a Saturday night, and there was a line to the door for ordering, and it moved quite slowly. The tiny restaurant was packed, and after we had placed our orders, there was no place to sit. I hovered over a table with people who looked like they were about to leave until they actually did. Our food was brought out to us promptly, so I was pleasantly surprised by that. I had the sushi combo box, which was one california roll and 4 pieces each of Alaskan and Philly roll. My sushi was very tasty and fresh. My husband had the chicken pad thai, and I kept sampling from his bowl. He finished the entire thing– it was really good! Overall, I think I will stick to the Bento on Archer, just because there is more seating, but this location holds its own as well.

Decent food, disappointed in that my chicken was all dark meat chunks that were fatty and quite honestly nasty compared to my buddy who got all nice white meat strips even though we ordered the same thing. Teriyaki sauce was lacking, lo mein was a bright spot though. Too expensive for the little food you get and the taste is not gonna make you feel like your money was well spent. I’d rather go to pei wei, but still way better than China Star, that place blows big time

I go here once a week at least. So many good options! Try the spicy tuna don. Or if you don’t like rice, the kawaii roll is a fresh and delicious alternative to a normal sushi roll. Food comes out fast and perfect every time

All time favorite. We moved to WA State and still get our Bento fix in every time we come back. 5 words… Curry Katsu Chicken Noodle Bowl. Enough said.

Nice clean place. Modern décor. Self served mixed cola machine. A little pricy but the food was fresh and delicious.

great service but my rolls of sushi were falling apart. wish there was a wasabi in Gainesville.

3 stars because they just raised their price + small portion :-(

This is a staple for me in Gainesville. I have never had a bad food experience here, and everything I’ve tried has been excellent.
My go-​to meal is fried Udon, but the Sushi is really a star here in Gainesville. I recommend getting an executive roll, like Flying Dragon, for a great sushi experience.
All regular entrees have been great. My favorite is Broccoli (Kung Pao).
I prefer Newberry Bento over Archer. The atmosphere is much nicer and you generally don’t have to wait in line outside the door.

Amazing place to hangout at and have a small meal! Their bento boxes are really good and come with so many things. My boyfriend likes their rice bowls and has visited 3 times already! Really cool soda machines, too. They have AC problems sometimes but it’s not too bad.

The Bento Café is one of my family’s favorite places to go for lunch. The sushi and noodle bowls are our go-​to orders. I usually get the create-​a-​roll with steamed shrimp and tuna, and the fish always tastes extremely fresh. The only complaint is that it takes a long time for the food to get to the table. If I order sushi, it takes at least 25 – 30 minutes for it to arrive. Whereas if my Dad orders a beef teriyaki noodle bowl, he gets his food within 10 minutes. As a result, by the time I get my sushi, my Dad has already finished his meal.

The bento boxes here are amazing and its the only place in town that makes a good milk tea.
I’m a huge fan of the boxes as the ginger salads are perfect and the deserts are a great way to end the meal.

Made a quick stop for dinner on the way back from Disney on a Monday night at 6pm. You take a menu at the entrance and order at the counter before sitting down at either an indoor or outdoor table.
FOOD:
— Mongolian Beef Bento Box: the Mongolian Beef was very salty. It’s as if it was sitting out in a buffet line. I would say the same for the Lo Mein. As if it was sitting for a while. — Sushi combo box: For my sushi combo box, I choose the Florida roll, Spicy UF roll, & California roll. I thought they were all just okay.
— We also ordered two bubble teas: Mango green tea with mango jelly & Milk tea with boba. These were okay. Not as great as the bubble tea stores that you find in Atlanta.
Overall, I do not see myself returning to this location’s Bento Café. Everything was mediocre. I know there are several sister Bento Café’s in Florida that I would like to visit.

Love eating at this place. They have a large selection on the menu and food is always good. My Gf loves the teas.

This place is amazing. I don’t understand the negative reviews. Sure, it’s going to be busy depending on certain times. If you’re going out for takeout or to dine in anywhere on a Friday or Saturday night in a college town what do you expect?
Sometimes the lines move slow because of all the choices on the menu, or because the cashier is explaining a dish to a customer. But I’ve never waited too long to complain.
At my most recent visit, something made me really upset though. I purchased a fountain drink and then walked to the back where they have one of those high tech fountain machines with all the choices. They only had seagrams ale and water available. I thought it was terrible that they let me buy a fountain drink when that’s all they had.
I’m confident they weren’t aware though. I also didn’t say anything, so I’m sure they would have helped. Just keep that in mind and check the fountains before buying soda.

Mt. Fuji roll!!! They also have some new wings that are pretty good…
Service is friendly, as always.

The Environment:
Great for groups, very young feeling, and pretty hip! Definitely a good place to be.
The Food:
I had the spicy creamy shrimp in a rice bowl. It was… DELICIOUS. I enjoyed it thoroughly. The flavor was very unique, not like anything I had tried before.
There’s also alcohol and a huge menu. But I think it’d be worth trying again!

Bentos strives to be a trendy place to eat, and at one point might have been, but over the years the restaurant has begun to show its age. The dining room just doesn’t seem clean like it used to be. The tables and eating utensils (not the chop sticks) usually seem dirty. The nice lighting inside the restaurant isn’t going to hide a poorly cleaned dinning room. At this point I try to avoid dining in here. I do still get food to-​go though.
Their menu is pan Asian with plenty to choose from. The food on average is average. It’s something to eat to get full, not something to eat to thoroughly enjoy. I recommend their beef bulgogi and chicken katsu. I prefer to get their noodle bowls upgraded to udon noodles over their bento boxes. I avoid their miso soup and salads (tough and drowned in ginger dressing).
If you need a quick bite to eat before going to see a movie next door, this is an ideal location to visit. As long as Gainesville has freshmen, they’ll have an audience. But as someone whose eaten here quite a bit over a long period of time, they aren’t fooling me into thinking this is a cool place to eat with top notch food.