Tanoshi Bento

This place is TINY. Literally 10 seats at the sushi bar and that’s it. So I wouldn’t count on getting a spot. Requires a bit of luck. Also, don’t look at the tasty items on the wall when you go for lunch. Those are for dinner only. Too bad!
We ordered the «bento» box (figured that’s what they’re known for). You start with a miso, which was really good — the tofu and seaweed were quite good — better than your average packet miso. The salad was also quite good. The ginger sauce was not overwhelming and the vegetables were fresh. The Bento box itself (I got Pork Katsu) came with a small shumai, pineapples, rice, seaweed salad, and the pork cutlet on a bed of more veggies. I thought it was quite a nice display for the price of the meal ($ 10). The pork was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
Overall, just a really nice meal. It’s definitely not for groups, but if you happen to crave a cheap Japanese lunch box on a given day and want to step out for a quick meal on your own, this is a great option.

The Karaage Bento was not bad at all, very middle of the road. A good lunch, but nothing to write home about.

They have super fresh sushi here and i am definitely impressed. I came on a monday night so it wasn’t too packed but i did leave my credit card for reservation through Unilocal reservation just incase. Got here right when it opened and there was already quite a line, this place is super small so if you plan to come definitely make reservation or get here five minutes before 6 so you are guaranteed a seat, unfortunately i didn’t get the head chef but the girl i got was just as good. This place is quite expensive and i was not expecting the price tag for 10 pieces of sushi but none the less this was a good place. This place is an omakase only place so they first ask if you have any allergies and if there are any fish you dont like, i personally dont like mackerel so i notified my chef. i really liked the venezuela big eyed tuna which was different. ive had plenty of big eyed tuna but none like this, i also really enjoyed the poached scallop it was delicious and my most favorite was the king salmon roe (OMG mouth watering goodness, it pops in your mouth with every bite LOVED LOVED LOVED this peice) everything was really good the only one i didn’t really like was the spanish mackerel because she sesasoned it with cooked soysauce and scallions so it reminded me of chinese cooked fish. which i am not a fan of. the bill came out to be $ 200 with tax and tips for two people… which i found quite expensive but if you can afford this price tag definitely come give this place a try.

I like the food here, but will not come back. Unfortunately it took an hour to get my takeout, and we had to stand behind people who are eating for twenty minutes. :(

I really wish this place was open all day because if it was, I would order all the time. It’s lunch only so far. The portions are HUGE so come really hungry and sit at the counter, or you can take food to go. The donburi is really good. I think most of the meat is organic, which is a big plus!

Very good place for lunch. I like the salmon teriyaki bento. The sides are great. The katsu curry is good. The place is very small and only has a counter type seats. There really isn’t room to stand around and wait for the order to take away so it’s best to call ahead or order here.

A very small hole in a wall type of place with a wonderful selections of authentic Japanese lunch favorites. The service was prompt, and the food tasted very good. Any Donburi items, and Katsu Curry are must. Lunch boxes seems look, and I will try them next time. I would think the lunch rush hour might be a little chaotic, but we do not dine there at the peak hour. The next door are Sushi restaurants, equally tiny, buttoned very enticing.

This place is a hot mess. Unorganized, messy and sadly doesn’t live up to its «Tanoshi» name. Don’t assume that because the sushi omakase dinner (which is amazing), makes this lunch spot good. The staff is overwhelmed on work days with online orders, deliveries and the little 10 or so counter seats during lunch. So, it makes their dishes pile up in a dirty dish bucket (which we stared at all the while waiting and waiting for a don buri bowl). People picking up from working in the nearby hospitals or dr offices were so pissed waiting for their orders for over 35 – 40 min. The 2 wait staff forgot orders of people on the counter. The worst part was that our orders tasted mediocre at best. Oyako don was tasteless. Dry chicken breast, soupy rice, and waaaay overcooked egg. It was basically an omelette with ginger and radish with broth pours on the rice. Ugh… had high hopes. Ootoya puts this bento place to shame.

Enjoyed my Salmon Teriyaki BENTO BOX LUNCH at TANOSHI BENTO (blue-​purple awning, next door to yellow awning TANOSHI Sushi). FYI-​There are 3 TANOSHI restaurants here, 3 separate entrances. So my lunch at TANOSHI BENTO was delicious & just right. I had just come from an East 72^nd St doctor’s appointment & was starving, & I checked Unilocal to see what was nearby. I was so impressed with some of the reviews that I headed right over! And, when I viewed Unilocal I saw that I could enjoy a complimentary soda to boot!
My salmon teriyaki bento box came with Miso soup – so fresh, perfectly flavored, one of the best miso soups I have ever had! It was freshly made-​home-​made, not from some mix – just delicious! And, my salad, which I ate as my last course because I wanted to get to the salmon ASAP was yummy – dressing was great. The teriyaki sauce on my salmon was so delicious!!! Salmon was very good, & I enjoyed that sauce with my brown rice, too! The single piece of shrimp shumai was very nice. The fresh & light tofu with ginger was nice – there were two kinds of ginger with it… the pickled ginger that usually comes with sushi, & a Julianne red not sweet ginger, almost salty/​sour & finely chopped scallions. And my two delicious !!! types of seaweed: my favorite Hijiki, & a green seaweed with a wonderful & most perfect sesame oil & sesame seeds. I loved both! For my complimentary «soda», I chose a non-​carbonated can of Cold Green Tea. I enjoyed that at the end of my meal w/​ice. My bento box was $ 12.99 & worth it for sure! The service was friendly, fine, fun & informative. My server – I’m sorry, I did not ask her name, was working for someone on vacation. I enjoyed chatting w/​her, & along with her talent as a friendly & very knowledgable server, she is a dancer, & teaches hip-​hop! & other dance. I also LOVED seeing the map on the wall showing where fish come from & seeing warm currents/​cold currents on the map. Delicious lunch & a learning experience! How cool is that? Way cool! The restaurant seats about 12 people at the sushi bar & that is it, so come here when you want to eat. I’m told during lunch time it can be filled & a bit of a wait. I would say it is worth the wait. For today, I was quite lucky. TANOSHI Bento is usually open Mon-​Fri 11AM-2:30PM, but today they were open a bit later. They are open Saturday from 11:30AM-3:00PM.
Delicious food-​GO! I’ll be there again this week to try other dishes-can’t wait!!!

Good bento lunch place. I tried the tonkatsu curry, oyakodon and gyoza. They were all good but not outstanding either. A bit overrated. Great service. Empty place on a Saturday lunch with is surprising considering the 4.5 stars on Unilocal.If you live or work around it’s definitely a good spot but probably nothing compared to the real Tanoshi sushi place next door. Or is it?

It’s a little confusing, but this place is not the same as Tanoshi Sushi Sake Bar, which operates in the same space. During lunch, Tanoshi Sushi becomes Tanoshi Bento. Not having had the good fortune to have sufficient money to eat at the Omakase dinner operation, I decided I needed to try the next best thing: the bento. I’m not normally a bento fan, mostly going for sushi, but since moving to NYC from Vancouver (the land of the $ 5.95 sushi lunch special), I realized that non-​sushi Japanese food was 1) more filling, and 2) cheaper.
I was not disappointed in the times that I have ordered from this place. Thus far, I have ordered the Salmon Teriyaki Donburi as well as the Kitsune Udon. The donburi was one of the best that I have ever tasted bar none. The sauce was perfectly seasoned and flavoured, and unlike many other joints in the neighbourhood, they did not completely lay on the sauce. The texture of the sauce was also not the soupy goop that you get at most sushi restaurants in the city. A nice bonus was the wakame, pickled daikon and other assorted toppings. Typically when I get a donburi of any sort, it doesn’t come with anything, but it’s I was pleasantly surprised to have all the additional flavours. The Kitsune Udon was also really good. The broth had the perfect umami flavour, and the bean curd had the right texture and just the right balance of sweet and salty. The Noodles were pretty good as well.
All in all, I’m always satisfied when I go back there. Next time, I’ll be trying the Grilled Mackerel Bento, and now that Tanoshi Tei is open for business, I can finally sample some of the sushi. Some day, some how, I will try Tanoshi’s omakase…

I came here for lunch recently. The place only seats 10 at a time, so try to get there before 12. I had the salmon teriyaki, which was delicious.

Completely Japanese with counter eating, even though the servers are not. Quick and good service. If there’s a smile, it would have earned ½ a star more. My fried Oyster Bento Box was excellent, as was my companion’s Teriyaki Salmon! It honored the Unilocal check in incentive. Good value in NYC.

I had originally posted this as an update for Tanoshi Sushi, but I didn’t realize there was a separate listing for the newer nextdoor Bento. I think if they had made it clear that my reservation was for Bento, I would not have been so disappointed upon arriving and seeing my name on this door rather than the original location, especially after talking it up to my guest.
Here is my original review from last month:
I went back with a friend visiting from Istanbul. We were seated on the other side, which though they’re both holes-​in-​the-​wall, I also felt was even more casual to the point of being lax and inattentive.
I was on time this time, but our seating ran late. There were people lined up outside in the cold waiting to get in. My friend still had her suitcase, and they checked it next door. We had to interrupt their meal to collect it, and they all looked mightily annoyed. (NOTE: I had the same impression last visit. I feel unwelcome here.) It’s such a narrow space to pull her luggage through.
The freshness and quality of the sushi were top notch.

Definitely got my bang for the buck for the omakase at Tanoshi Bento.
Surprisingly, a great experience. The quality for the price was absolutely on point. Walking out with a belly satisfied wasn’t the best part but knowing it was a great deal for mouthwatering sushi was the winner. Each sushi was a burst of slight subtle flavoring, simple and well-​balanced. I truly enjoyed each piece very much. My favorite of the night was the Amber-​jack with pickled cherry blossom leaf. The way to eat this is smell the leaf, eat the sushi, and then eat the cherry blossom leaf. It wasn’t a particular ingredient that I liked or the fish itself but the whole combination was exquisite.
All the pieces were very palatable and had it’s own unique simple distinctive combinations. Affordable quality sushi deserves a 5 star. The pieces are probably not the same as those served at higher end sushi places but being able to pick lower priced cuts and making it extraordinary is what I called a great chef.
This is a casual hole in the wall type of place, no fancy pants. The hosts aren’t the nicest of the bunch, maybe a bit rude but that’s something I can easily look pass with the respect of the fishes at Tanoshi.
I originally had a reservation for Tanoshi Sushi Sake bar but had to cancel on the day of. I immediately e-​mailed them in the morning regarding the cancellation. I received a phone call mid-​day indicating that Tanoshi will allow an expectation and let me reschedule. In that sense, it was great customer service. They could’ve easily charged me a fee according to their store policy.
I called back again, indicating that we are available for the original reservation for the same day. The hosts confirmed that it was still available and scheduled me back on. Long story short, when we got there, my name wasn’t on the reservation list anymore. There was a mix up, so we got booted to Tanoshi Bento. Although the hosts messed up my reservation for the night, I had a great experience at Tanoshi Bento with a female sushi chef. Turned out to be a great night! I will try Tanoshi Sushi Sake Bar on the next visit.

68 dollar omakase for some of the best sushi you can get in this city? Just amazing. Add to the fact that Rachel (proabably one of the few female sushi chefs is just a pleasure to talk to). There’s no other omakase place in the city that I would go to. It’s seasonal fishes are always a nice little add on if you are still hungry after the omakase. But I highly doubt it. The portions are nicely sized and you will not go hungry afterwards.
Best deal in town!!!

** BYOB **
Omakase here is top 5 sushi places (maybe not top three, but it changes by the day you ask me) and very affordable. Book now!
Venue (⁴⁄₅) 10 seats approximately and all face the sushi chefs. Close seating to your neighbor can be bad if you get a bad neighbor or a couple that loves PDA (that would be my experience) Very casual and minimalistic. Nothing fancy but does the job! A bit worried when this place becomes too popular.
Food (⁵⁄₅) Omakase is amazing.
Here are the rememberable items:
Triple X — Uni, quaily egg, salmon roe (GET IT)
Ankimo — Monk Liver (GET IT)
Scallop — (GET IT)
UNI — Great but not as good at Soto
Service (⁵⁄₅) — Perfection!!!

5 stars? For a lunch only casual Japanese food place? You bet.
We have a dearth of good Japanese on the UES.
We have a dearth of bento shops in NYC.
We have a dearth of *anything* good to eat at lunch in the high 60s/​low 70s on York Ave.
Rarity = higher rating.
Is this the best bento in the city? Could be as there aren’t many bento box shops outside Japanese grocers.
Tiny place with just a few counter seats. Also do take out and delivery.
The bento boxes are authentic and tasty. I can’t get past the katsu (chicken cutlet or pork cutlet) and the kara-​age (fried chicken). I’ve always wanted to try the grilled mackerel but every time I walk in my mind turns to fried chicken or pork.
They also have rice bowls and soba and udon noodle dishes. Haven’t tried the udon, but the soba is just the right amount of al dente with that rich roasted buckwheat flavor.
Really nice little lunch spot. Has become my go-​to spot since opening.
Kampai!

Look King A. Stop harassing me. This place is not good and you cannot change my mind. It is mediocre sushi and that is it. No atmosphere. Not worth it. Go to Nobu 57 (I am here now and it is happening!!!) or Morimoto. So much better and crowd is amazing. This place is blah. Whatever. I am only being honest so leave me alone. If you notice I gave Masa 1-​star for being overprice and overrated. Same here. Not worth the money. So back off. I posted 25 review in 1 day because I just realized I can critique on Unilocal.I obviously did not go to all 25 places at one time. I was merely catching up with my notable favorites and dislikes and this restaurant I will not return. Nobu 57 I have been back 3 times in a row. So chill. You probably know the owner or are the owner. I have no affiliation with any company except that I am a fashionista and foodie!!!
I was there May 22. Again very mediocre sushi, even for UES. So back off. Sasabune is much better, Nobu 57 is awesome and so is Morimoto. Hopefully you were closed recently to change your food and your attitude.

Un jour nous étions deux mamans obligées d’aller au playground le plus vite possible sous peine de crise de nerf généralisée ! Mais il nous fallait aussi manger et faire manger nos progénitures… Ces bentos nous ont sauvé la vie car en plus d’être délicieux, sains, pas si chers, nous pouvions les emporter tel un picnic partout où il semblait bon à nos tyrans de nous traîner !

Far and away the best sushi experience I’ve had in my life. Apparently they recently began serving the same omakase as next door, so myself and a date took advantage of this last night.
The fish was absolutely top notch, and the rice that our sushi sat on was like nothing I’ve had before. You could tell that each piece that our chef served had been intricately thought out and planned to create a complex, yet discernible flavor profile that continuously evolved from the moment that it first hit your tongue.
Service was prompt, yet unobtrusive, and the BYOB option is always greatly appreciated.
Absolutely, ABSOLUTELY recommended. This was something special that I’ll carry with me for a long time, and unfortunately set a standard that I will compare every future sushi experience to.