Wrapped up in Bento
Sushi is one of the many options available at My Bento Asian Diner and Sushi Express near campus. Photo/ MCT Campus
The University area is flooded with restaurants. Just about anyone can find a suitable place to eat. Less than a mile down the road from the entrance of UNC Charlotte on University City Blvd. is a Chinese restaurant called My Bento Asian Diner and Sushi Express, or Bento for short.
“Bento has been around for two and a half years. The restaurant has changed significantly since then. At the start, we had 80 percent American customers and 10 to 25 percent non-American customers.
Considering UNC Charlotte is known for its high number of international students, we decided to make the style and food of the restaurant more Chinese to attract more international groups, not just from the university, but from anywhere in Charlotte,” said Luo, assistant manager at Bento.
Bento is located at the Harris Teeter shopping center, directly behind Macados. Although the shopping center is large Bento is extremely easy to find and parking is plentiful.
The restaurant is college friendly and many young adults are found dining there. Bento offers free Wi-Fi, HD television and a 10 percent discount for UNC Charlotte students.
Although a tad noisy, the atmosphere of Bento is welcoming. The place is small, casual, comfy and homey. Bento is decorated with a modern, yet dark style. The walls are painted with a brown-woody color and bright lights hang from the ceiling. Booths and tables are offered with a batch of chopsticks on each.
Bento would be an ideal place for friends to share a meal, as well as a couple on date. In terms of service, Bento wins a few hundred brownie points. The waitress was absolutely friendly and came back several times to check on the table and refill drinks. She was upbeat and ready to assist.
The authentic Bento cuisine consists of a Sushi Bar and regular food entrees, a.k.a. Bento meals.
The menu welcomes kids and offers a Kid Bento section. Menus are available in Chinese upon request.
The costs of lunch and dinner entrees fall within the price range of $6.25 to $7.75. The Sushi buffet costs a flat $8.75. Essentially, a customer can get any type of food for fewer than 10 dollars. Sounds like a deal for college students on a budget.
“The sushi bar is to die for. My favorite sushi here is the Tempura, delicious and fresh. The bar has a lot to pick from; however it might need to include a few other non-sushi options. It seems like only one type of rice and lo-mein was available when I ate there,” Alex Krzynski, UNC Charlotte sophomore.
Besides the sushi bar, the Bento cuisine comprises of a variety of meats, the Mongolian steak, Hibachi steak, Sesame chicken, Teriyaki chicken, Honey Sesame chicken, Shrimp of some kind and much more. Each bento entree comes with soup or salad, a bento role (egg, spring or veggie), a veggie of some sort (broccoli or mixed vegetables) and white, brown or fried rice. The rice can be substituted with lo-mein noodles. The tray even comes with a small sample-size piece of roll cake. The choices are endless.
The Honey Sesame chicken I had a few nights ago was almost perfect for my taste buds. It was soft, sweet and scrumptious. The salad needs more options for dressing, as Ginger and Ranch were the only two available.The rice seemed a little boring and not as fresh as it could be.
The soup options, on the other hand, are heartwarming. Soup bases include noodle and meat. However, as a whole, the Bento platter is worth it. You get a lot of choices for food for a fairly cheap price.
“The Hibachi steak was excellent. It was not too chewy or too rare. It was filling and went quite nicely with my salted broccoli,” said Jorge Caraballo, UNC Charlotte freshman.
The drink and dessert menus are not that extensive. Drinks include sodas, ice and hot tea, fruit soda, juices, red bull and sparkling water. Drink prices range from around $1.75 to $5 – a tad on the expensive side, but manageable.
Wine and beer is another story. Of course, the standard drinks are offered such as Corona, Heineken and Bud Light. Depending on what is chosen, wine (red, plum and white) costs $18 to $120.
The desserts are pretty unique. The Crème Brulee Cheesecake was creamy and worth the $6 dollars. I love both Crème Brulee and cheesecake, so having that combined into one made it all the better. Other options include a Daifu Mochi rice cake and ice cream.
My Bento Asian Diner and Sushi Express hours of operation are Sunday through Monday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Bento caters to private parties and special events. It even delivers and takes reservations.
