Bombshelter Bistro

I This definitely my go to place for lunch. However, I do not like Salmon and it is a bummer that they don’t have a red meat alternative on salmon days. I end up going good elsewhere. Also, being a strict Paleo eater it is hard to get food some days because the options are not always friendly. But overall, the steak and short ribs are my favorite along with the tomatoes and cucumber salad. I wish they would stop putting onions in the salad too!

This place is pretty whack overall. Never has the salsa verde which is the best sauce. Chicken is usually super dry. Out of onions ¼ times. Really all they have going for them is that it’s cheap — 4.75 for a chicken bowl and it’s pretty healthy and convenient. That’s just about it to be perfectly honest.

I used to love this place, but now I wish it would be replaced by a 3^rd party (non-​UCLA) company (Baja Buds?! Pitfire Pizza?!). Everyday they run out of items listed on the menu. The size and portions are different all the time, and they refuse to give extra pico de gallo. (What they give is NOT enough) Almost every time I order, I must take the food back. For the last few years, on a daily basis, they serve bad rice — the really hard parts that stick to the bottom of the pan. How many times have I hurt my teeth on those rices? I just take it back every time — and so should you! I have a wheat sensitivity, so I am more or less limited in what I can order at UCLA. This place might be OK for 1 or 2 times if you are visiting, but if you work here it’s unacceptable. Student workers make the food, and generally do a bad job. They also are in charge of ordering the food — so they run out of many items before 2pm. I want this place to close. I want better food options at UCLA.

Probably the fanciest place in bombshelter. And by fancy, I mean expensive.
I frequent bombshelter a lot during the school year, but I’ve only gone to this place once. That goes to show how much I love Fusion and Yoshinoya I guess.
I ordered the short ribs, not the most expensive thing on the menu but also not the cheapest. It also comes with two sides of your choosing: I got the potatoes and the slaw.
The short ribs tasted great. They were slightly dry, but it also came with some sauce. I guess that kind of makes up for the dryness, but not really. The biggest issue I had with it though was that it came with just two chunks of meat. Only two. Anyway, the potatoes were also really dry and overcooked. The slaw a bit too tangy.
I was slightly full at the end of my meal, but for the price, I definitely did not get enough food. If I had spent that money for a large combo at Yoshinoya, I would definitely be full with leftovers too. Just saying.

It’s one of my favorite options on campus. The food is very fresh and it’s one of the healthier options. I love the grilled chicken and the julienne veggies are delish!

I was desperate to get a quick lunch today because I forgot my lunch at home, so I decided to give this place another try. I got the turkey sandwich, which was delicious! the screen with the menu was down so there were papers at the cashiers with the menu items. However, there wasn’t a description, so I asked the cashier what was in the turkey sandwich, and he happily told me that it included avocado and bacon in addition to turkey. There were a lot of people since I went at 12:30pm, but I only had to wait around 5 min. I thoroughly enjoyed my sandwich. It was super flavorful, and there was a great contrast in texture. The bread and avocado were soft while the bacon was cooked perfectly crunchy. I liked how the bacon wasn’t overly fried and dripping with oil. There was also the perfect amount of sauce, and the avocado also gave the sandwich a nice flavor too. I actually really liked my sandwich and will likely come back for this sandwich again if I don’t bring lunch.

The best option for eating at UCLA. The turkey sandwich has real turkey and it is really good!!! I am fan of the short rib and the mushrooms. Quick service!!!

I brought a visiting friend here because I thought it’d be the classiest option since most items are made of quality ingredients and are served beautifully on real plates. Sadly, she ordered a turkey sandwich. The bread used is cheap, flimsy sandwich bread which can’t even hold the contents of the sandwich. It’s the exact stuff you can buy a loaf of for $ 2 at the grocery store. It’s reminiscent of a squished elementary school sandwiches. Labeled on the menu as «wheat bread»…all bread is made from wheat flour and can be called wheat bread, including white bread. This is indeed cheap white bread dyed brown toting around as healthy. Whole wheat bread is a different story.

My go-​to is the roasted turkey sandwich. Make sure to ask them to toast the bread for a little added yum! It’ll add a couple minutes to the wait, but is totally worth it.

Got the grilled salmon with roasted red potatoes and brussel sprouts. Salmon was cooked correctly — not overly done. I love potatoes cooked in any way, but ¹⁄₃ of the potatoes were so overcooked they were dry, leathery and hard. I dearly hope they weren’t leftovers that were re-​cooked or anything like that. The other ²⁄₃ were good except for being drenched in oil. Some pieces of potato were way over-​seasoned and salty. Liked the brussell sprouts. Mushroom wine sauce was okay.
$ 9.25 but I didn’t finish it in one meal. Quick service.
Haunted by the overly greasy, salty potatoes. Not sure if I’d go back.

I’m… a student. Why in the world would I want to regularly spend this much money on an on-​campus meal?
…Because I’m starving and even though I don’t want Yoshinoya or Subway, I refuse to walk all the way to north campus. And feel «too good» for cup noodle.
SIGH. It’s mediocre food that’s comparatively nicer than everything else in the vicinity. The combo with the salmon is the best thing here, but portions of their food always change, just as quality seems to vary by day.
Anyone else miss the food trucks as much as I do?

Attention low carb bruins:
Get the cobb salad (bacon, avocado, egg, blue cheese) with steak, hold the vinaigrette dressing and ask for the basil pesto instead. Delicious and fills you up nice.

For campus dining, this place hands down is your best choice. They have a great range of vegetable options for sides and overall pretty healthy food, like grilled salmon and chicken and roasted turkey. The prices are good too. The students working there are always nice and efficient. They bust their ass so give them some credit.
Maybe it’s because I’m getting old, but why do all the undergrads gravitate to Yoshinoya? I can kind of understand Subway, but Yoshinoya is just not good.

I have mixed feelings about this place. I ordered turkey + zucchini + side salad + pesto sauce.
The turkey was warm, moist and delicious, albeit on the salty side. Reminded me of a real thanksgiving turkey! And I saw them carve my pieces from the whole, which was refreshing to know. Pesto tasted freshly made — impressive.
Grilled zucchini also comes with onions. They were okay, very obviously mass produced and slightly overcooked. But had I known that it was actually zucchini with onions, I wouldn’t have ordered it. I’d rather have had all zucchinis, as I was expecting!
Side salad was drowning in a mysterious dressing. Not bad tasting, but way, way soggy and didn’t look appealing at all. I picked out a few of the greener leaves and left the rest.
I might try this place again, but order something else — the cobb salad on the menu looked pretty good.

I recently graduated from UCLA and am still on campus from time-​to-​time. So, I was happy to finally be able to check-​out the new bombshelter. Specifically their campus-​owned establishment.
For those who never experienced the old bombshelter, just know your options are 100X better. But Unilocalers never settle, so here’s why it gets 3-​stars.
The time for your food to get served is way too slow. The prices are decent (I got a salad that wouldn’t have cost much more if I had gone to Greenhouse in Ackerman). The serving size was adequate, not large but enough. Another person ordered food with grilled veggies and potatoes, while it was seasoned well, there was too much olive oil on the veggies and all of it was too cold! They have a good menu, some small refinements can make this the best place to eat on campus. For now though, it’s just alright.

What the heck Bombshelter Bistro?! You’re really screwing us over the way science professors screw their students on finals.
The first time I ordered the salmon, it was cooked to almost perfection & it was a good size. This time, their salmon was half the size & slightly over cooked. I’m glad I’m still paying $ 8 for half the size of the original salmon I had. Perhaps the dimensions are deceiving because it still weighed the same as the first one I had, right? NO. WRONG.
Didn’t really get full off of the portobello mushrooms (really good), garlic green beans (decent), & the minuscule salmon (had lemon caper sauce, delicious). Really disappointed in that portion size. If you can’t profit off giving us larger portions of salmon, use a cheaper fish! Come on, guys, get it together.

On the grand opening day, while most students were overhyped by Subway and Yoshinoya, I decided to check out what Bombshelter Bistro had to offer. I ordered their breakfast crêpe with high expectations, given that the newer restaurants at UCLA seemed to have raised their standards to extraordinary levels (ex. Feast, ilTramezzino).
The breakfast plate consisted of two standard-​sized crepes, with two toppings of your choice and two sides of your choice. I selected the nutella and berries crêpe, with potatoes and mixed fruits as the sides. Here are my comments on the food:
(1) The crepes, unfortunately, were mushy and too wet.
(2) An overwhelming amount of nutella was coated inside the crêpe.
(3) The mixed berry filling does not go well with the crêpe taste.
(4) The potato sides were a little too salty, although the portion was fair.
(5) The side fruits were acceptable, although it is difficult to get this wrong.
Service was so-​so. I specified my order to be for dine-​in but instead I was given the food in a to-​go box. This is why I was unable to post a photo of the crêpe. Overall, come with low expectations if you decide to try breakfast here.

came to the new south campus student center. walked past yoshinoya and subway because i’m not really a fan, and i can find them other places anyway.
third shop was closed, so i ended up at bombshelter bistro. looked nice, why not?
I got the roasted turkey sandwich… It was aight. Average.
The guy filling my soda didn’t wait for the bubbles to settle and ended up giving me a half filled cup. Thankfully, soda dispenser by yoshinoya for free refills. SCORE
+ for being aesthetically pleasing, but food is just whatevz. I wanted to try the pulled pork sandwich, but it was kinda on the expensive side for my college student budget. (greater than $ 5 – 6 for a quick service meal) maybe I’ll come back some other time and try it but right now, I don’t see what’s so amazing about the new south campus student center. it’s pretty, and maybe some people like the fact that yoshinoya and subway are coming on-​campus, but it REALLY doesn’t live up to the hype in terms of food deliciousness.

After tasting two other items, my initial review has been confirmed: welcome to the king of campus cuisine.
Turkey sandwich came with avocado and bacon, and used real slices of turkey. Minor bits of gristle at one end of the slices kept in from being perfect. But it was a great sandwich, especially for $ 6.
Also tried a grilled skirt steak w/​chimichurri sauce, with brown rice and veggies as sides. Veggies were good and the rice wasn’t dry, but slightly oversalted. Steak itself was actually nicely cooked, and the chimichurri sauce was nice and light. Still amazed that I can get a real steak from an on campus eatery.

Coming from an alumni standpoint, I was reading up on the mixed reviews people were having about this new «Court of Science Student Center», and how people missed the food trucks or how great everything looks. I decided to see for myself, being that a) I was in the area, b) I was a student when the ACTUAL old-​school Bombshelter was there, and c) because I got hungry.
I walked into the center, quickly passing up on both Yoshinoya and Subway, because of the matter that they had ridiculously long lines and because I can get those two off-​campus. The Fusion place didn’t sound too appealing to me, so it left me with the Bombshelter Bistro. Again, coming from an alumni standpoint, I am kind of glad that they kept the Bombshelter name, just for memories sake.
However, the food is nothing like what Bombshelter had; basically an upgrade, face lift, boob job, tummy tuck with a few needles of botox and laser hair removal. Okay, maybe not THAT much of an upgrade, but from what it used to be to what it is now, the bistro really gives the center a new edge.
Not knowing what to get, I just opted out for a roasted turkey sandwich, and played the honest card again, to see if they were going to give me the student discount. (Unfortunately, I didn’t, but that’s totally fine.) Now, for dine in, I’m used to getting my food on a paper plate or some paper tray of some sort, but I got an actual ceramic rectangular dish, the ones you see in ACTUAL sit down restaurant. Amazed what three years can do to a place.
All I have to say is, the new center is giving North Campus a run for its money, in terms of modernizing. And this new center reminds me of the food court in Westfield Mall of Century City or the USC student center.
Keep up the good work, and I hope to see more unique dishes coming out from the bistro.