Nippon Bento & Catering

Bento man comes to the building my company is at and I don’t usually have cash on me but when I do I hit him up! He always has a nice assortment of bentos, musubis, desserts, fried rice, noodle dishes, etc. prices are very reasonable too and the food is good :)

Has this company cater for an event. Hearty portions for a fair price
FOOD:
We ordered a selection of their Large Bentos, which comes with 2 meat/​fish options, noodles, rice, and pickled sides. I ate the salmon and chicken eggplant, but it was difficult to make a decision because they all looked great! The salmon was pretty good and I think the chicken eggplant was really tasty and saucy!
SERVICE:
With free delivery, this was an incredibly affordable option. The lady who delivered the food was right on time and really sweet!
PRICE:
I think the price is almost unbeatable. The bentos were only $ 7.75 each and there was free delivery. I would definitely recommend this place for lunch-​time catering option on a budget

I visited Hawaii the other year and this restaurant stood out as having very high quality food. It’s affordable, has generous portions, and their food tastes great. The mochiko chicken and butterfish are a must-​have.

The place is average in food quality although their catering price I hear is good. They supply bentos at low cost to large groups; I’m aware they cater too. Most times there is only one or two tables to sit, so it’s really a «take out» place. They food must be pretty good as many HNN and DHS eat there. No one got sick as far as I know.

I have had Nippon’s bentos at several business meetings. Good portions, good selection, great prices. They are my «go to» choice for having food brought in for a meeting. Plus, they delivery (minimums 10 bentos and you have to order the day before).
My colleagues really like the garlic chicken. I thought the butterfish was super. Both served with white rice, long rice, and tsukomono.

People only come to eat here for one reason…
Cheap,
Good portion,
most importantly… very very convenient location for people like us have offices close by.
Okay, that was three, I don’t know how to count, and that was it.
Honestly, as great as I think Verma is…
Food is really mediocre at best, but with the above three valid reasons.
This is actually THE restaurant I been coming back at most for the year.

The food is cheap and they do deliveries is what makes this place good. I use to work across the street and at noon bentoes were half off. I only go there for breakfast tho.

I don’t know about the other 2 or 3 bad reviews,
but I/​& my family enjoyed our bentos.
I need to make a stop to Nippon soon,
as all pictures looks so good on Unilocal.
We participated in the Martin Luther King Parade with HGEA
&
Lucky us! HGEA provided the bentos.
I had to ask/​email HGEA representative on where the bentos were from.
First I thought they were from Akyth, it was the same size as the keiki bento.
I’m glad it wasn’t from Akyth. :)
Here are the reasons I enjoyed my bento.
The rice was perfect, I don’t like soggy rice.
Dry is best! w/​furikake.
The spam is cooked–
I need to see that the spam is cooked before I eat any spam
&
the Mochiko chicken was very good!
Wow! I really enjoyed this bento!
I can’t wait to go to Nippon & as I saw the prices, even more so, I really can’t wait!

Nippon doesn’t have the best food in the world, but it has two very attractive qualities — the food is cheap, and they deliver. They are therefore a great option for me when I have to order lunches for work.
There is a pretty wide selection, so when I once had to get food 3 days in a row, I didn’t feel TOO guilty about ordering from here every single day. The mochiko chicken bentos were probably the most popular. Ordering was a really easy process — I emailed my orders in, and they gave me my total for each day and accepted a company check. Delivery was on time, and the delivery guy was always really friendly and offered to help me carry everything.
Overall, if you’re a busy/​lazy bee like me and don’t have time to pick up, Nippon Bento & Catering is a great option.

OMG!!! Did you read review by Erich K. Okay now read the owners comment about the review, classic. The owner says a combination of pork and seafood can cause stomach pains. Amazing new information, I must have missed that episode of Dr. Oz. Anyways totally irreverent, Erich K. had pork chops and chicken eggplant. Then the owner goes on to imply it’s the bodys poor condition that might be the cause of the pain. How does the owner know the physical condition of his customers? Is this one of those combo businesses like below Bdubs in Waiks? You can get car rentals, real estate and tortilla wraps there. His final conclusion is on the way food was consumed. Not enough liquid, to fast, to cold, to funny. That was the best back handed apology I’ve ever heard.
I’ve had bentos from here before and haven’t had any problems. You should still give it try because one of my coworkers likes this place, and he’s picky. I think most places should be given a chance unless they have a bizzillion 1 star reviews.

I’ve had both their bentos and catering and it’s really good! Always consistent so you know what you’re not surprised (which I like). I just wish there was a dine in restaurant you could eat at and that their hours were a bit better. If there is I don’t know of them and every time I call they’re closed :(

Good food. Decent selection. Respectable staff. Great and fast service, if you go early. pricing is reasonable.

Totally on the same page as David G… seriously…how does this place get good reviews?! And why are half the reviews from people on the mainland who all gave 5 starts? I think that’s very suspicious.
This place is dirty, the food isn’t that great, and the portions are regular. The mochiko chicken is ok. I feel bad for the mainlanders who think this is the best mochiko chicken ever. That means that the stuff they have at home is even worse than what they offer at Nippon. The butterfish is also not something worth talking about. It’s dry and doesn’t have much taste. Bland.
Apparently this place has a lunch wagon. I’m seriously wondering if the lunch wagon is really associated with this place? I can’t imagine that people would rave about such sub-​par food. Or maybe the actual store front is just so dirty that it affects the way I perceive the food. No, I don’t think so. The food is just that bad.
Bottom line, I could NEVER recommend this place. Hawaii is home to a lot of dirty hole-​in-​the-​wall places which I adore and sells wonderful food. This is definitely not one of them. Don’t waste your money here. Young’s Fish Market and Sugoi’s are just two blocks away. Get yourself some real food.

I work in the Dole Office Building and twice a week, we have our beloved bento man who comes through our office with boxes and boxes of delicious food. I don’t usually buy anything when he comes, but since I work in the front receptionist area, he always gives us a free bento (one for two people in the reception area, but my coworker usually doesn’t eat it, so I do!) I had one for the first time the other day since I woke up late and didn’t have time to make me lunch.
He gave me a fried rice bento with tempura broccolli and something else (i don’t know what it was but it was good!). The food was a little cold by the time he came to the office but I didn’t mind, I still ate it. I could’ve microwaved it but I was too lazy to walk to the break room.
Today, he came by and gave me another fried rice bento with a spam musubi! The spam musubi was so good! The regular price was $ 1.25 I think. I would definitely buy some next time he comes. Next time, I want to try the garlic chicken. The food always looks so good!
Maybe one day I’ll even stop by their actual location! :)

This review is for the lunch wagon. Nippon bento is available everyday M-​F at my workplace. I did not have any problems with this place until last month.
Caution: The bentos are prepared early in the morning and kept in coolers in the food truck. The way they store the bentos are questionable and seems like they may spoil very easily. I picked up a bento with pork chops and chicken eggplant. About a hour after eating the bento, I had severe stomach pains. After a combination of expelling the contaminated pork out of my rear and mouth did I feel a lot better. I will not buy anything from here again.

Been to this many times and foods just okay to not bad depending on what you order. Like any restaurant they cant make everything great although the mochiko chicken is good and is probably the pride of the restaurant since it is icluded in every already made bento no matter what you order. Fish dishes are good but noodles are just okay where is the tempura kinda bad. In making tempura the batter is one of the most important since you would experience tempura that’s crunchy but melts in your mouth to a chewy stale like tempura that you would not want to eat again.
I remember a Japanese restaurant in Moiliili accross Star market that was very reasonable and had awesome tempura but one day it was chewy and stale like and dissapointing so I asked the waitress what happened to the tempura and she asked me if i really noticed the difference so I told her yes. I always come here for the tempura but would not have come back after today if it was my first experience.
She said they ran out of batter so she went to Star market and bought the cheapest one there but now she knows it makes the world of difference.
Getting back to Nippon Bento, my main reason for going to this place is nowadays after 3pm the bentos drop from 5.00 to 3.00 so I end up buying more than I can eat. I go here for the value and friendly service to.
I would say worth checking out. Oh quick note: there is no parking!

How does this place receive good reviews? I am not trying to be difficult or argumentative, but Nippon Bento & Catering is extremely sub-​par. The food they offer is not high quality and the place is beyond dirty. I’m very surprised that the health department hasn’t yelled at them yet. I mean seriously: take a walk through the back/​kitchen and look how bad it is. Huge sinks full of soaking chicken left unattended as well as flies everywhere. If you are brave just take a stroll to the bathroom and you will see what I am talking about. The bathroom was so bad it would have been safer to go outside, lol…
A few positive points about Nippon Bento & Catering would be: the portions are large, prices are good and the service is fast, friendly and efficient.
Unfortunately, I feel it comes down to prices and portion size. There are a plethora of diners that want large amounts of food for cheap prices. The problem is when you seek this type of experience there are many aspects overlooked, i.e. quality and cleanliness, etc., etc. If this is what you crave then great, but do we really need to eat that much, sub-​par food prepared in deplorable conditions? Just my 3 cents…

I was on vacation in Hawaii and was very hungry. I decided to stop by this place since this place had a pretty good rep on Unilocal.Sure enough, this place didn’t disappoint. If there was a prize for the best Mochiko Chicken EVER, this place would win it. And then it would win it again. And again.
The best thing about this place is that it isn’t one-​dimensional. Sure, the M. C is AWESOME, but there’s more to this place. The portions are ginormously generous, the butterfish is awesome! This is the place to go if you have a BIG appetite, but a not so big wallet!
If I’m ever back in HI, I’m hitting this place up again. And again. And again.

HUGE portions. Yeah, and not just rice! I paid about $ 7.00 and my bento was large enough to attract attention and comments like, «whoa, Oh, are you gonna eat all that?»
The fish (mahi) was in an egg type batter with some small cut veggies. Very different. Salivate: drool.

Nippon Bento & Catering has been one of my favorite bento spots since I was a kid. Eating there is a great family tradition and I hope to share it with my children one day.
From what I remember, they currently have two locations. One in downtown and one off of Nimitz on Waiakamilo. I’ve been to both and I’m never disappointed. Once you have the mochiko chicken, you’ll get addicted. Look at me, been hooked since youth!