Tom’s First Avenue Bento

Surprisingly good. I went there not knowing what to expect but was blown away. The food is simple clean and healthy. Perfect power lunch food.

Amazing service and fresh seafood and meat that is cooked in front of you. It smells awesome when you enter and the specials are on a black board and hung on the wall. Specials include crab and fish entrées. Owner is very friendly and can customize your order to fit dietary needs.

Great people and great food! Lots of protein choices and generous portions. Love their salmon and shellfish.

Ugh, at $ 14 with tip (no beverage), I feel pretty ripped off. I got the Hawaiian bento special, which sounded promising but was an expensive and utter letdown. The stringy, salty chicken thigh tasted like it has been boiled in soy sauce for hours. The mac salad had no flavor at all. The vegetables were cooked OK, except the giant pre-​bagged carrot logs, which were mushy. The chicken sausage was bland and gamey. The brown rice was fine. The best thing on the plate was the raw pineapple garnish, seriously.

The food is not only excellent but they are quick to serve it as well. Love getting food from here, my favorite is the panko prawns with a cesar salad underneath and a side of pot stickers.

Excellent! I’ve not only eaten a variety of bento from all over, I ran a bento joint back in the 90’s Always comparing the quality to which I have a high standard, these folks are the real deal for tasty bento. I’ll be visiting again soon.

Yummy! Vegetables were cooked to perfection with crunch and no mush! Garlic mashed potatoes, grilled salmon, and cod were all really good. Service was quick, friendly, helpful. Beware not to get lost on your way back from the bathroom, it is shared by 3 businesses and the hallway is like a maze.

Tom’s serves consistently great food and the environment is like you are sitting down to lunch with family. There should be more restaurants like this!

Was there for lunch. Arrived town almost 11pm last night. We were so craving
for some good food. We had Hawaii and steak bento. They were good. It was almost 2pm, so there were lots of seatings. Nice place to have something good and quick. This is not a formal restaurant, so just sit, eat and leave with happy stomach.

The star of the show here is the quality ingredients! Lovely steak, fish and veggies.
Four stars for friendly staff, great ingredients and offering a great paleo option close to my work. You can skip the rice or noodles and get veggies only if you want.
Saw a lot of guys; not many women. Why? Maybe because the options are large/​expensive ($ 10-​$ 12). Making for a sometimes-​only lunch treat. If there were $ 6 less meat/​same veggies options I would go more often.
Deduct a star for the messy and confusing sauce /​to go station. No space to queue, so you get in each others way awkwardly reaching over others, trying not to squirt them or make them wait. Choose sauces out of squeeze or original condiment bottles and they splash or don’t pour. The leaky go container and the ill-​fitting brown paper sack make for nice leakage. Who can carry a purse and do all of that, plus who wants leakage on their clothes?
On the menu would like to see same quality healthy veggies being used but served as they do at Sarku Japan — fried on the grill with sauces upon request and serve the meat over that. Much easier to carry out.
It would also be nice to be able to order on a website, pay and pick up without waiting in the sometimes long lines.
I predict if they would do the $ 6 option and the veggie option above, plus perhaps brighten up the place a bit they would have even more business, especially the ladies. Still appreciate having it nearby!

Awesome spot! Menu is all over the place but holy crap! Big portions here folks! Half chicken half sirloin with vegetables… broke da mouth! Be here early as the line goes out the door.

Met a friend for lunch and was thankful that I arrived a few minutes early. By 12:15, there was a line to the door. The staff worked efficiently and the food was prepared lightening fast. We both got the chicken bento. Each was enough for two meals. The chicken was delicious and lightly glazed. It came with a large portion of brown or white rice, some veggies and oddly enough… macaroni?
They also offered a variety of serve yourself sauces and to-​go boxes too. I was impressed by the quality of food. Each bento was $ 10. The only reason I didn’t give 5 stars as a lunch spot was because of the seating. There were heavily food stained fabric chairs at my table. Next time I’ll sit at the regular chairs. The décor could use updating but otherwise, this place was great!

I am unsure of what to think about this place. I agree with the numerous other reports that things are kind of bland. I agree with the numerous reports that things are really fresh. Does that mean it’s 3-​star joint? Hard to say.
I will mention something that some of the other reviews complaining about lack of flavor haven’t noted: there is a counter with sriracha, Tabasco, a third pepper sauce that I didn’t recognize, salt, pepper, soy sauce, and probably one or two other things I’m forgetting. All that plus the huge lemon wedge that you get on your plate (at least with my dish, the grilled cod with steamed veggies and brown rice), and you have plenty of flavor, you just have to add it yourself.
That said, I’ll give it 3.75 stars rounded up to 4. Nothing fancy, but fresh, healthy, filling, and reasonably priced for fresh seafood.

I really wanted to like this place but I just couldn’t.
The pros are that the food does seem to be fresh.
The cons are the difficulty in getting to this restaurant (unless you are walking from a nearby business) and the lack of flavor in the food.
I was asked to meet someone at this establishment for lunch at noon on a Wednesday. There are probably only 15 street parking spots within a 4 Block radius unless you want to end up parking in a garage which I finally had to do.
I ordered the steak, rice and vegetables. Again, all food seemed to be very fresh but completely lacked flavor.
For a convenient place to eat close to your work I guess it’s okay, I probably still wouldn’t go there though… But, if you are looking for somewhat healthy food to eat for lunch in Portland there are literally hundreds of better options.

Their staff was SO NICE! We spoke to a couple of people and also who we think is the owner — all friendly and happy to explain things. Since we came here while on vacation I’ll stick with 4 stars as we won’t be able to come back any time soon to check on consistency.
The food we had was outstanding. I had the fish special (and by now I cannot remember what kind of fish!) and my husband had the spicy salmon special. Both were so good and served with big piles of veggies and rice that were cooked perfectly and THE BEST DARN TARTAR SAUCE EVER! They make it there with their own recipe and it was amazing. I don’t normally go for tartar sauce on anything but fried fish and it paired perfectly with their delicious grilled fish.
The restaurant isn’t a lot to look at, kind of cafeteria-​like, but clean and well-​lit and it seems like a great place to grab a quick work day lunch.

I don’t get what the big deal is here. I’m not impressed.
I ordered the roasted lamb special. There is a good amount of meat. If the quantity of the food was all that mattered, I’d be a little happier.
The vegetables are a bit too crunchy and have no seasoning. They could use some salt. Rice is rice. The lamb while a big portion isn’t worth the $ 10 price tag. I’ll be eating bento from somewhere else.

After a trip to the new-​ish post office (the Waterfront Station), I looked across the street and Bento instantly seemed like the best idea ever and indeed it was. I used to come here in the early 2000s because of the fabulous grilled meat, vegetable, and potato combo plates. Beautiful simple preparation of all fresh ingredients and nothing else mattered but enjoying the food.
When I walked in, I might have stepped back twelve years or so. Nothing had changed: exposed brick walls, community tables, grill station with black accents. While the menu had changed to bento-​style, it was so much like the old restaurant that I realized it was more than likely the same owners.
I ordered the grilled chicken breast bento and got the brown rice and veggies on the side, The grilled chicken breast was sliced and generous in presentation, and that’s fine, but oh was it ever super tender and juicy. The brown rice was perfectly cooked, and the veggies were just right. Once you take your order to the side table, you’re able to get sriracha sauce, soy sauce, and Mae Ploy sauce along with napkins and silverware.
I guess you could say I enjoyed my bento (oh yes I did), but next time I’m getting the Hawaiian Bento. Saw somebody walk by with a plate of that and it would take little convincing to get me to order that.
Kudos must be given to this restaurant because they had smaller hand-​held menus to read as well as having their offerings on a tall chalkboard menu placed high up behind the grill station. They also have no music in the background. I really loved being able to eat and enjoy my lunch in peace after a very hectic morning at work.
I would consider giving five stars, but the folks at the grilling station and cash register were less than interactive and did not speak (other than to unsmilingly take my order), smile, or thank me for my business. I would consider giving them three stars, but the food is so good that it overcomes the lack of personality or hospitality. Smile guys, say thank you, and think back to the good manners your very nice parents no doubt taught you.

When I first started working in the downtown waterfront area, this was one of the first places recommended to me for a work-​week lunch. I heard lots of good things and I would always see a line out their door– even in the rain. So I had to try it out, and it wasn’t exactly difficult to find coworkers who were interested in trying it out with me.
The first time I went here (I ended up having several «lunch meetings» here) I ordered the chicken with brown rice and vegetables. Oy vey. Perhaps this is a «healthy» lunch, but the chicken was also horribly dry. The portion sizes are quite deceivingly large. Their take-​out containers are shaped as such that makes it look like there’s less food than there actually is. Also, side note, they do not allow you to bring your own pyrex, dishwasher cleaned, take out container here. And that really upset me since it looked like a more «progressive» restaurant with all its organic and local ingredients. Well, what does organic and local even matter if you’re using hundreds of plastic take-​out containers per day and refuse to let me bring my own? I definitely did not get take-​out here again. If you eat in the restaurant, they give you dishes and silverware.
So the food was ok. I liked the brown rice and vegetables. These were both steamed well, and neither turned out too soft, which can often happen when you steam food. I also appreciated their array of sauces. I loooove that they have the sweet/​spicy thick, orange-​y sauce that you find in some Thai restaurants. However, the small bento take-​out restaurant that used to be on sw 2^nd and taylor, Bentorific (
RIP) also had that sauce, and their food was much cheaper, and run by very friendly people. Man I wish Bentorific was still open. I always wanted to try their Elk. I digress.
So Tom’s chicken is not so awesome. But I did have their spinach salad with salmon and that was super good. This is a big spinach salad with no skimping on the salad fixings. It had some fruit, some nuts, and a ton of spinach and salmon. I would highly recommend this dish.
All in all, Tom’s is good, but definitely don’t believe the hype.

I’m not sure what the buzz is about this place. Went there for lunch on my business trip. The place is very casual and a little dirty. The chair cushions are so badly stained that I was hesitated to sit on it.
According to Unilocal,they serve Japanese Bento Boxes, which is mis-​leading. First of all, the food is not Japanese nor there was any bento box. It’s more like a plate of rice with some steamed veggies and a protein.
I had the grilled salmon with brown rice and steamed veggies. The fish was perfectly cooked, but was really lightly seasoned. The good thing is, there are many different sauces and condiments, which resolve this issue. The brown rice was on the soggy side and the steamed veggies had no oil or seasoning (bland!!!). The price is not that cheap either (lower teens).
Although the food is not enjoyable, I do applaud them for serving such healthy option. Then again, I question myself, would I pay $ 12 for a meal that I can cook at home for a fraction of the cost? No!

I’m pretty sure I just did my body good. I needed to grab something quick and take it back to the office. Grilled salmon, brown rice, mixed steamed veggies, and all the sweet chili sauce I could pour into a to-​go container. For once I may be energized and ready to tackle my afternoon rather than sluggishly shoving my mouse around in an attempt at semi-​conscious productivity.
This place essentially consists of two massive communal tables and a wall lined with seats set up so that you stare at, well, the wall. Yeah, I’ve seen better ambiance. But you can’t beat the friendly staff. And the guy running the register does his best to hurry people along so he can manage the line. Damn that line. Think Disney/​Space Mountain without the adrenaline release once you get to the front. But hey! Grilled meats, yay!
Seriously a solid lunch option if you’re on this side of downtown.