Bento Cafe

We've been to this restaurant about 10 times and have grown accustomed to the barely adequate service (the food is good). But after tonight we won't be going back. After waiting until all the tables around us were served, we asked if we could get our starters, which was met with a dirty look from one of the waitresses. The main course eventually came, followed by the starters (which we had to ask for several times) 45 minutes late. Our dirty dishes were left on our table until the last minute and we had to ask repeatedly for more drinks.

At the end of the meal, we informed the manager that we'd received very poor service...which was met with a mumbling response followed by what sounded like "have a good one."

Rubbish.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 4
Saturday, June 23, 2007

My boyfriend and I went to this restaurant after reading superb reviews from this website. What we experienced? Well, the food was as good, but the service. oh, the service.

We walked in and asked for table for two. It's probably my fault not to indicate that we wanted non-smoking area, but normally when we go to nice restaurants, the waiter/waitress would ask the question. We were placed in the smoking area. When we tried to change the table, we were told that we would have to wait for a long time for a table, so we decided to stay put. I mentioned that we were not asked at the beginning which area we wanted, the waitress told us that if we were not asked, it meant that the non-smoking area was full. Hmmm, OK I would try to remember this weird rule next time I'm there.

The eating part was good. The food was nice, although not that spectacular. Then along came bad service again. As soon as my boyfriend put his chopsticks down at the end of the meal, a waitress came to whisk his plates away even though I was still eating. I consider this rather rude. She should have waited for both of us to finish the meal. This kind of thing would never happen at good restaurants with well-trained staff.

When the bill came, the gratuity of 10% was added to the bill, with a small print below saying that gratuity is optional at customer's discretion. Having experienced rather bad service, we decided to pay, by cash, an amount which included a 5% rather than 10% tip. As we were leaving the restaurant, a waitress ran after us to the front of the restaurant and demanded the rest of the tip!

My boyfriend pointed out that gratuity is optional (by law and by that small print on the bill). She gave us the first sneer which can only be interpreted as 'you're cheap'. She looked down at the bill, probably trying to find that small print, then asked 'So, was there anything wrong?'. We decided not to waste time explaining everything to her, my boyfriend said, 'nothing, we just decided not to pay'. Then there came the second sneer.

In my opinion, it is so wrong for restaurants to impose 'compulsory' tips on customers. I have been to many nice restaurants which add 12.5% gratuity on the bill, but which do not look down on you when you decide to pay 7.5% instead.

So, my conclusion is this.

Warning: Students and those who work hard to earn their money, if you eat here, you should be prepared to pay the 'discretionary' (but in fact rather compulsory) 10% tip, which can be easily £1.5 -2 for questionable service. Otherwise you might be made to feel so cheap and question yourself whether it's your fault that you don't have loads of money to splash but still want to dine out. For me this might be the last time at Bento. I'd better go back to my usual place, Kyoto, where the owner greets me personally every time even if we were just students who normally pay 5-7.5% tip, and where £1.50 can buy me a lovely tuna sushi.
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Jami
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Sunday, May 27, 2007

I stumbled into this place after spending the aternoon enjoying the sights of Primrose Hill with my girlfriend and i must say it certainly added to the enjoyment of the day. It's by far the tastiest sushi I have experienced in London and the price is fantastic too. I particularly recommend the california rolls which are a little different with the added touch of flying fish roe. The volcano rolls are also tremendous however i'm not so sure if these are your traditional Japanese style sushi but nether the less wonderfull all the same. Expect to pay around £15-20 per person if ordering sushi and definately try their spicy tuna hand rolls, phenomenal. If you don't go it's your loss trust me. Check this place out if you like sushi
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Tim Laidlaw
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Sunday, May 13, 2007

A fantastic find, superb food at reasonable prices, quick, fresh and tasty. Good service, love it!
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Monday, May 07, 2007

We tried to book Gilgamesh or XO (both of which I have eaten at before) but there was no availability because of the Camden Crawl. We settled on Bento because of the great reviews on this site and I must say we were not disappointed. The food was fantastic particularly the black cod which was especially memorable as were the chef's choice mushrooms with tuna mayo. Normally the service at cheap Japanese places is terrible - not so at Camden Bento. The waiters here were courteous, quick and even joked with us as we ordered our fourth bottle of the sublime, light, hot sake - which should be rebranded as the 'no-hangover high'.

All in all, it was a great evening experience with a young crowd and a buzzing, fun atmosphere. Oh, how grateful I am to the unfortunates whose bookings prevented us from dining at any other establishment but the outstanding Bento. We will definitely be returning.
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JoCo
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Sunday, April 22, 2007

I have been to Bento cafe 4 or 5 times now, every meal I have had there has been perfect and so far it's the 'closest' to the food I had while I was in Tokyo. The Black cod is exquisite, the terriaki tuna/fish/beef are all very nice and the sushi is excellent. I would thoroughly recommend it to any fans of Japanese cuisine, however I would also recommend it to a first time sampler of Japanese food as there are plenty of tasty basic dishes that anyone can enjoy. The staff are polite, the resturaunt is clean and well decorated and I can't recommend it highly enough. Best of all though, the prices are very reasonable, you can eat like a king her for under twenty pounds.
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Steve Cox
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Bento Cafe has become my favourite restaurant and my friends and I go there practically weekly. It is incredibly well priced with delicious food, including the only sushi that has ever filled me up. The staff are friendly and I would recomend this place to anyone.
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Regular
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Friday, March 02, 2007

I have been once to the Bento Cafe before, for the absurdly cheap bento box lunch offer, which I highly recommend. Maybe it was also to do with my state of extreme hunger at the time, but the salmon teriyaki bento was superlative. Having lived in Japan, I was surprised at the genuineness of the taste- perhaps the dashi stock they use, and bonito flakes on the authentic tofu agedashi... Compared to other paltry bento offerings I've seen in london- including the take-away one at Piccadilly's Japan Centre, which has the most amazing(ly inexpensive and high quality) take-away sushi in London. The salmon flaked wonderfully, zinged with freshness, and the rice wasn't tainted with that typical 'waiting in the rice cooker for five hours' dryness that London's Japanese restaurants are so afflicted with. At the time I was dying to try the sushi, which looked interesting and varied (though the English names, are, I'll admit, a little odd- 'crazy boy'?! Also there's a reasonable amount of mayonnaise on the menu, but there you go. I don't think anyone realises how popular mayonnaise is in Japan until they go there....)

Anyway, last night, needing food but not really feeling like it, I stepped in to try it out again. Oh. Wow. We ordered the ingenmame-no-goma-ae, (green beans in sesame dressing), crazy boy sushi (eel, egg, avocado maki roll), umaki (a vinegared salad with cucumber, wakame and eel) and black cod in miso, nobu's signature dish for a snip at £13. And of course a little bowl of steamed rice.

The sushi first- meltingly soft, though one little niggle was that the rice was very slightly al dente- but the eel, egg, and avocado blended together perfectly with the right mixture of squish and melt in the mouth! Eel is something that can be kinda poor and dried out- defrosted kabayaki especially, or when it's been out too longer (because it's cooked) but it was done quite well. In the cucumber salad it was perhaps a little hard, though the rest of it was beautifully balanced between acidity and sweetness, crunch and zing.

Then came the cod, sizzling on a skillet and glistening with the sake marinade, accompanied by the green beans (perfectly dressed in sesame, so Nipponese! Memories... natsukashii yo). The cod, ah, the cod. I haven't been to Nobu but I can't imagine it getting much better than this. I feel sorry for all the English people ordering substandard fish at home, shopping at supermarkets, and never knowing what fish really - or really should- taste like. It simply dissolves in a fit of flavour on my tongue, it was good to the point of groaning embarassingly at my partner, ahh... The meal was perhaps helped by careful and balanced ordering, but if I'd been hungrier I could have gone for the gyoza or more sushi, all of which looked extremely good. The thing I liked best about the Bento Cafe was probably the way everything tasted so indescribably Japanese, in the way that supermarket sushi (christ!) and a lot of other food passed off as 'Japanese' (tempura? please. That's miniature fish and chips!) entirely lacks. Go, I implore you. It's reasonable too,- £30 for two, with a couple of beers and the best meal I've had in a long time. Service is a bit nondescript, but very efficient, too....
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Sophie
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Bento does the best sushi at an affordable price by far. Me and my friends have become addicted to the place and probably visit the restaurant on a weekly basis. I highly recommend the aubergine with miso sauce to start or the tuna sashimi salad, the black cod for main, and all of the sushi (especially their samlon and advocado rolls). The only problem is that it has become so popular you often gave to que- make sure to reserve a table and then you definelty will not be disappointed!
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Kate Simons
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, February 04, 2007

I stumbled along this place on a rainy and very crowded Saturday late afternoon, and was immediately taken in by the warm atmosphere and extensive choice on the menu, so much so it took me more than my usual time to take the menu in and after shortlisting my favourites, I made my choice - an aubergine smothered in miso paste (I forget the name of this dish), and a bento box with a main part of salmon teriyaki. Both delicious and great value for money. My friend ordered a bento box also but accompanying this was vegetable tempura which admittedly was not the most tasty of dishes as there was a strange texture to the batter and though it didn't feel too heavy, it left a strange aftertaste and tere was too much of it. At the end of the meal I was happy to see they took orders for taking out food as well, and we ordered some very tasty lychees to go.
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Daisy Crane
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Saturday, January 06, 2007