Bento39 — Restaurant in Novi

After eloping in New York City, my parents graciously hosted an impromptu wedding reception for my husband and I in my childhood home. We catered from Bento39 because my family is Japanese-American and we wanted to serve the food that we grew up eating and love. Though this store is known mostly for serving bento-style lunches, when we requested they cater our reception they happily accepted and exceeded our expectations!

The spread that they prepared for us had tons of variety. It contained lesser known in America staples such as oseki-han (red rice that's eaten traditionally during celebrations), osechi (traditional New Year's foods such as fish and stewed vegetables), and better known foods such as chicken karaage (Japanese fried chicken) and tonkatsu (pork cutlet fried with panko). I felt that it struck a good balance between traditional and modern Japanese food and it pleased all of my guests. The chicken karaage was particularly popular and delicious and I really enjoyed their potato salad. Bento39 also takes into consideration food sensitivities and preferences so I think that catering and eating lunch here can be a wonderful experience for everyone.

In addition to the delicious food, the service is excellent. The owner, Yukari, took the order in such short notice and even offered to give us more chicken (sadly we didn't have enough time to wait for her complimentary chicken as we were in a rush to pick up our order!) and was just a delightful and warm person to interact with. I'd highly recommend coming into lunch and order catering here, the people truly care about their customers and the food is...

This was the first time since before the pandemic started (my last visit here was some time in 2019). Regretfully, this place is going down the hill every time I come here. This time, I ordered Chicken Karaage Bento. First of all, I ordered only two bentos and they said it would be 15 min. I got there about 20 minutes later and still I needed to wait in the store for another 10 min. When I got home and opened up my bento box, I realized that my karaage looked like a collection of scrap meat, mostly fat and skin, which normally people throw out. Basically I got garbage parts in my karaage. On top of that, this place is constantly raising prices and portion is getting smaller every year. Before the ownership changed in 2018, I was a frequent customer but since then I only use this place a couple of times a year due to the obvious reason. I understand this pandemic is hurting any food businesses, but my opinion is compared to BEFORE the pandemic. So this place has started going down on quality and price before the pandemic, I guess. Too bad. By the way, I was born and raised in Japan so I know what authentic karaage looks like. Actually I can cook better karaage myself, which I should have done. No more...

My wife and I stopped by here over the weekend and had a fantastic lunch. We ordered the katsu curry, a ginger pork bentō, and the pumpkin and potato vegetable croquettes. We shared the food, and everything tasted wonderful. I really loved the curry in particular. It was spicy but not overwhelmingly so, and the katsu was the best I've had in America, or maybe even worldwide. It was tender and tasted great. The rice had a nice texture too, and the croquettes were amazing, especially with the tangy sauce that came with them drizzled on top. We also purchased a Boss coffee, and my wife enjoyed the complimentary green tea. The food was surprisingly very affordable for its quality!

There are limited tables for dining in, but the tables were very clean and had cute little vases with flowers. We dined in and enjoyed the atmosphere. The restaurant was pretty warm inside, but we went on a hot spring day, and the cashier explained that they only have one chance to switch over from heat to a/c. This wouldn't stop me from dining in again though, as it didn't detract from the experience.

The cashier, who also brought the food to our table, was the only person we interacted with, and he was...