Bend-O Bento Japanese Kitchen

I usually don’t write reviews (good or bad) but I thought it was necessary for Bend-​O-​Bento. I went here on whim mostly because it was close to my work and teriyaki chicken sounded good. When I first entered, the ladies were VERY friendly and attentive. This is the one thing going for this place. I’ve heard good things about this place and am sad to be writing a review that is less than that.
I ordered the Teriyaki chicken, white rice, and cucumber salad on the side. When it was ready, it was in a tiny box and had such a small portion in it! It was a treat for me to spend $ 10.00 on lunch and was hoping for leftovers. To me, it’s typical to have a little bit of leftovers when ordering a dish of this nature. When I opened the box, it reeked of fish smell! The chicken strips were fatty, chewy, and lacked that «blackened» teriyaki flavor completely. The cucumbers looked old and flimsy! The color of the cucumbers were dark green and iridescent. I make cucumber salad at home often and my cucumbers stay fresh and vibrant, even the next day! The cucumbers also contained something «slimy and green» that tasted like fish. If I wanted a fish dish I would’ve ordered a fish dish! Who wants Teriyaki chicken to taste like fish?
Unfortunately I won’t be trying this place again because I’m turned off by my first experience. However, the customer service was exceptional but I am not there for the service, I came to get lunch and possible leftovers for dinner later on. I didn’t get any of that.

This place was amazing! Very authentic Japanese lunch, personable staff very friendly and food is amazing. Only complaint is that they are only open until 3pm on weekdays so its hard to find time to get there but still ome of the best in Bend! Best anywhere!

oishiyo! Delicious I’m telling you. Traditional simple and great for a lunch pick up or eat in. Not a varied menu but it doesn’t have to be. Love the power rice and onigiri. Definitely going back.

Excellent food at very good prices. The beef bowl was sooo good. The owners are great, friendly people, too!

Took my 2 young daughters there today and they were so helpful and food was amazing! Hard to find great food like this in Bend! Perfect for a park trip and lunch right next door Thank you for such a great lunch that was healthy and kid friendly:) I will be back

Very friendly service. Small place to eat in — probably best to do take out. Food was very good, but a tad expensive to make this place a habit for a midweek lunch stop.

I love that two very nice Japanese women run the restaurant. My first experience was excellent. The food was very fresh and the rice just sticky enough. I will definitely go back.

What a hidden gem here in Bend! The ladies in there are the loveliest people and were so accommodating! We picked up a few meals for the office and everybody only had great things to say about their lunches. They even made a special meal for a vegetarian that made all the meat eaters jealous! We will be back for sure! Thank you Bendo Bento for being a shining light on Wilson.

Loved this place! All of the ladies working here were so nice and their food is delicious! Definitely the most authentic Japanese food in Bend.

So good! The wait was a bit long, but only because it was during the lunch hour. I had the chicken curry (yum!), and my husband had the bibinba, which he thoroughly enjoyed. Wish they had a little larger location as it’s quite small. The ladies were very friendly and helped decipher some of the menu.

Such a small place but the food is the bomb! I tried their «bibinbap» I don’t know if the spelling is right but this one is one of the best! It’s actually a Korean type of food but they nailed it! I will definitely come back and try some of their other menu.
The owner is really nice and sweet and so are the workers. The place really gives me a Japanese atmosphere. The food are fresh and definitely one of the best small restaurant in town! well recommended.

So good! I feel like this is real Japanese cooking and flavors. Can’t wait to go back.
I had the Bibabop and it was all cooked perfectly!

This is a real treat in bend. The ladies in the kitchen here have a small menu but it’s wonderful. Don’t mess around, eat here and enjoy a wonderful meal. This place hasn’t last a step from real Japanese bento.

I really wanted to like this place, soooo much. I grew up eating Japanese food and it’s my absolute favorite. It was 11:45 on a Friday, i was the only customer there. I ordered the classic beef bento box for $ 8.95. The sides were spicy noodles and cucumber salad. After a few minute wait, the box was ready and I drove about. 5 minutes away to a park to eat. First, it was cold, (in 5 minutes?), second the beef was tough, third, the noodles tasted like fish. All in all, it was forgettable and overpriced for the food I received and I doubt I’ll return. Seriously, I really wanted to like this place.

Authentic Japanese food and a great selection on top of the daily special. The staff provided us with great customer service. The only concern was the wait time since everything is made to order, so if you are in a hurry, I would suggest to call in the order. I enjoyed my spicy beef bento box and the side dishes that they offered.

Today I called in and ordered take out. After picking up my order and reaching my destination I realized part of my order was missing. Not two minutes later my phone rang, and it was the kind woman from the restaurant calling to tell me that she realized she forgot part of my order and she was sorry. It wasn’t a big deal that something was left out but I really appreciated the effort she put in to call and apologize. So sweet! Love this place!

Love this place. My fav is the beef curry. Small inside, but a ‘bento’ place, by default, suggests a ‘to-​go’ status. There is a very limited bit of seating, inside, if really needed.
Great food, love to take it out to a park during my lunch break and enjoy the weather, when it’s nice.

Extremely friendly and helpful woman at the counter answered every question we had, and gave us a small sample of delicious curry chicken. I had the Deluxe Special Bento, which is a Classic Bento with my choice of a second entrée. My choices were the pan-​fried Fresh wild Alaskan salmon and Teriyaki Chicken. The salmon was a very thin filet (but for the price, a decent enough size), but with no discernible added flavor (thankfully salmon is flavorful by itself). The Teriyaki Chicken was the usual slices of white meat chicken in a very tasty Teriyaki sauce. I upgraded the white rice to Power Rice! for 50 cents (brown rice with stuff — way better tasting than white rice, and much better nutritionally). The two sides I had were vinaigrette cucumbers and spicy carrots. These were a bit more sour (vinegary) than I’d prefer (probably authentic — not Americanized), but still good. As others have mentioned seating is very limited, but even when dining in, the food is served in take-​out bento boxes. So if there’s no room you can easily take it with you (just drink the side of Miso soup before leaving!). Great place.

I have never been to Japan, but as far as I know this is the closest to the real deal you’re going to get in Bend. The rice was absolutely perfect, the cucumber salad was delicious and although I’ve never had noodle salad before for a comparison, it was very good!
I ordered the teriyaki chicken bento for some familiarity because I agree with another reviewer saying the menu was a bit confusing.
The employees were the nicest people I’ve ever met in the service industry and honestly I would want to go back to support their business even if the food hadn’t been good. Thankfully it was very good so now I have double the reason to enjoy the experience again! I wish the hours and location were more convenient, but it’s definitely worth the trip!

Newly opened in the light industrial area on the SE side of town, Bend-​O Bento offers bento boxes and rice bowls in a to go format. There are only about six seats inside, three at a low counter and three more at a high counter, so best to plan on take out.
FOOD:
Bento boxes include tofu burger or salmon or katsu or teriyaki chicken served with pickled daikon, steamed rice, bean thread noodle salad and miso soup (with tofu cubes and wakame) for $ 8.50 Katsu sandwich $ 5.00. Kids’ Bento for $ 5.00 Three kinds of rice bowls, one vegetarian, around $ 6.00
All of the ingredients are top quality (as example, pork for katsu is from local Pono Farms) and the food flavors are delicious.
Next time I’m going to see if the pickled daikon and bean thread noodle salad come as separate to go sides — both are SO good that I could make a meal out of them on their own.
HOURS:
Only open Monday — Friday until 3p, so swinging by for dinner take out or weekend meal not possible for now.
DRAWBACK:
That limited indoor seating as mentioned above. A couple of picnic tables on grass in front of the building will provide more seating in warmer weather. But in snow flurries today, not a great option.
ACCESSIBILITY:
One spot of accessible parking in the lot. Level in. Three of six counter seats are chair height. Outside picnic tables require stepping up over curb and are on deep grass so not accessible.
FUNDRAISER MARCH 11:
On Sunday March 11, the First Anniversary of the Tsunami in Japan, Bend-​O Bento will be hosting a «Shaken but Not Broken» fundraiser for Tusnami relief. Bento boxes will be $ 10 each and net proceeds will be sent to a relief effort in Japan. A good effort by by nice people serving up good food for a worthy cause. Go support Keiko and Yukiko and discover the delicious bento boxes too.