BENTO Dania Beach — Restaurant in Dania Beach

So I've never been to a Bento before, but did so yesterday because the ramen joint next door still wasn't open and I thought let's give it a shot. I tried the poke bowl and I was very, very disappointed.

The menu takes a minute to understand - bento seems to be one of those pick-your-bowl/base/protein models popularized by Pei Wei, etc. It's interesting because they have quite a bit of variety to choose from including their bento namesake.

Ultimately I ordered the mid-size poke bowl with two proteins and asked for double salmon. Rice, edamame, the usual suspects in a poke bowl. The wait was reasonable and the staff were friendly and professional. They seem to be going through a soft opening so it was take-out only. So far the experience wasn't a bad one - a bit of confusion early on with the menu, employees didn't quite know the menu, but really just things you chalk up to a new store and a soft opening. Not a big deal and the staff were friendly enough. Only one employee seemed kind of angry, with purple/blue hair, and slightly frustrated with both employees and customers. Again, not a big deal - people have bad days.

If the food had been even up to par, I wouldn't have judged too harshly. Knock a star off for being brand new and maybe change it on another visit when they've got their store in order, so to speak. But the food was really bad. Let's review:

I ordered a mid sized bowl with sushi rice, double portion of salmon, edamame, seaweed salad, tempura flakes, fish roe, shitaake, and "poke soy" sauce. What I got: huge amount of overseasoned rice mush, less than 4oz of protein/salmon chunks that were slimy, the rest of the add-ons seemed fine (I liked the mushrooms, quite nice), the roe was fine, and the "poke soy" sauce was a package of generic soy sauce.

The rice in and of itself I can chalk up to new people, it's a fast food joint, what did I expect, etc. The salmon, both on portion and quality, was unacceptable. I love salmon and have eaten it in many forms, including questionable ones, and many qualities, including questionable ones. This was squarely in the questionable category... And at least there was only a tiny amount topping my huge ball of rice paste to deal with. All this for $12!

So, what did I expect? It was only $12. Fair enough question. Poke Ramen over at Tower Shoppes, $12 poke bowl that smokes this joint. The poke joint by sunrise blvd and us1 in the shops back there, same thing. $12 can get you an actual good poke bowl with plenty of protein. I was simply disappointed by Bento's poke bowl in comparison.

To be fair, Bento is not just a poke joint - it seems to be primarily about the rice bowls and bento boxes. The staff were friendly and professional, the location is clean. I will certainly give it another shot and try out their namesake. But I can say with certainty that if what you're looking for is a poke bowl, look elsewhere. My current rating of two stars is based only on what I've had there, so bear that in mind.

As...

I really do not like leaving bad reviews but I just have to get this off my chest. My husband and I were on our way to Outback when I spotted this restaurant; it peeked my interest so I decided to eat here instead… I wish I hadn’t… We placed our order, left an 18% tip and even gave a five star review from the kiosk before even getting our food (dumb on our part, that’s what being nice gets us). So okay, we placed our order, cool… Sat and waited for the food, it never came. I had to go and inquire about our order after I noticed that other orders were being made and after noticing a gentleman who had come in after us receive his food before us… I completely understand that it’s basically a self serving establishment but I think that when a customer selects the dine in option, the staff should check on said customer if they’ve been sitting in the restaurant without any food or drinks for 40 minutes. (I guess it’s safe to assume that anyone can just enter the building and loiter.) Anyway… So I went and inquired about the order we had placed… The gentleman who took my receipt went in the back and had it prepared in less than ten minutes, great, but, he placed it in to go boxes. He said that he placed it in to go boxes because we had been sitting there for a while, it’s okay if we want to eat it in the store but he just packed it to go just in case we didn’t want to. He offered us a miso soup or salad for the wait, but we declined the offer, we just took the food and left. Despite him claiming that the order did not print, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that we were completely ignored! We left feeling like we were unwanted guest, especially because our food was packed in to go boxes without even consulting with us first. The message was loud and clear! To make matters worst, the food wasn’t even hot… leaving us to feel like and even assume that the ticket was indeed there and the food was made, but they didn’t want to serve us. We might be wrong, but that’s just how we felt. The food was good, the atmosphere, good, but we will never forget this experience nor will we ever return and patronize this business again. It’s my birthday by the way… I went in feeling excited and left feeling very sad. My feelings were really...

I give BENTO Dania Beach 4⭐️s. All staff were friendly and helpful, but Ruth in particular always went above & beyond. As a regular there, since our first interaction, she made sure I was well taken care of. If that was stopping her current task to help me with my order, making sure my dietary needs were met or even remembering things from my previous visit, Ruth deserves special recognition. So nice to see outstanding customer service from the younger generation these days which is so rare. Her smile and warm welcome is something I look forward to when visiting.

The only reason I didn’t give a 5 star rating is because of the kiosk initial order process. Though you could order with an employee if you would like, it may be hard to find one available and sets a distant, non interactive human experience from the start. We have become such a technological generation, that it’s hard to find human help or assistance anywhere these days. Thus, I would highly recommend keeping at least 1 dedicated employee to take orders for all the new customers or those that do not wish or know how to use the kiosk especially those like me with dietary restrictions. I have also seen other reviews regarding this same kiosk issue. Nevertheless, I love the food, atmosphere and service and will definitely recommend BENTO to others in the...