Bento Sushi

I’ve lived in Ballard all of my 24 years and I’ve been coming to this place since I was in middle school down the street. It may not be the best sushi you’ve ever had, but it’s definitely worth the price! You can get 16 pieces for $ 6.95 (choose two 8 piece rolls). I’ve never had a bad experience here with food or service. The staff is always friendly, miso is always promptly served just after you sit down. They have a huge selection of sushi and you can watch the chef make it just behind the counter. My favorites are the chicken teriyaki roll, california roll, and seattle roll. I’m surprised by other reviewers negative impressions of the food here because I’ve never had any bad food served to me at this establishment. Maybe there are a lot of sushi snobs out there… I guess I’m not one of them… This place is definitely worth a try! Especially for the money.

You get what you expect here. This place isn’t going to impress you with its bathroom or wait staff or décor, but this place has decent sushi for a low price. Tons of options too for bento boxes and bowl. In and out in 30 minutes for a meal.

Try the sushi! Unlike downtown sushi spots that go thin slice, these guys always have rolls and sashimi larger than you’d expect. Great lunch stop with huge servings, teriyaki combos with slices of cantaloupe and watermelon on the side, beautiful presentations and easy free parking outside. The owners are very humble and always friendly.

16 pcs rolls for $ 6.95? How can you go wrong? Really great food! Huge portions and fluffy rice. The owner is always there and is very nice. This is fast becoming a go to dinner place for us!

Good food, low overhead.
The food is not bad here. The building and facilities are very run down and off putting. The restroom was like an abandoned truck stop bathroom. I felt dirtier after I left than before I washed my hands in it.
The vegetable tempura bento came with way more food than I could possibly eat. Of course there is no better way to eat vegetables than to batter and deep fry them. If the food were the only consideration, I would definitely come back. Unfortunately, I might drive on by if I remember the disgusting restroom.

I was mostly disappointed with the food here. I ordered the Bento A that had salmon, tuna and shrimp sashimi for a great price (now I know why) The tuna was so incredibly disgusting… Chewy, and warmer than I prefer my raw fish. I had to spit it out. The salmon was really fishy tasting, you could tell it wasn’t fresh. Yes I know salmon is fish. But avid sushi goers know what I’m talking about.
The chicken breast teriyaki dinner plate was pretty good. So that was safe, but by then I didn’t have much of an appetite. Big Bummer! :-/

The owner of this store is a Japanese man who isn’t very comfortable with his English, so that should be taken into account. Mainly his daughter is the one who takes and serves orders. The food here is good for the price, it;s healthy, and there’s a lot of it. It is a quiet little corner store for those who don’t need to go to a fancy restaurant to eat a good meal.

Hidden gem. Cheapest, delectable sushi I’ve found in Seattle thus far. Doesn’t look like much on the outside but it’s yummy and the gentleman who runs the front of the house is the sweetest! I would come here often if I lived closer. :)

Best cheap sushi in all of Seattle. Very quick with to-​go orders!

This is one of the cheapest sushi places to visit in Seattle. It doesn’t look like much on the outside and inside but the service is personable and great.
Sushi selection:
They have a great selection at descent prices. My favorites are the Spicy Crazy Roll and Spider Roll — both less than 20 bucks.
Parking:
Small parking lot that can fit 16 vehicles.
Group:
The interior in not descent for a large group but would be comfortable bringing about 6 people.
Service:
Personable and Friendly. Very respectful.
Prices:
Probably salmon teriyaki dish in town. And it is pretty good.
Atmosphere:
Very chill atmosphere with modern music.
So, if you’re looking for a. low price place– Benton Sushi is a descent place. Remember — it’s not extravagant but it will satisfy your sushi craving.

I guess curiosity killed the cat. There are good 3 star restaurants on Unilocal and legit bad ones, and it’s hard to decipher which one is Meh-​yuck, or Meh-it’s fine. I drive by here almost every day and am quite flabbergasted by how long they’ve been open (easily 10 – 15 years). $ 6.95 sushi rolls and lunch specials seem to be their longevity magic.
Unfortunately, it being inexpensive may be the only perk. On a Saturday evening after the game the parking lot was packed, but only to find it overflow parking from the bar next door. The place was completely empty, except for a person waiting for take-​out.
We decided upon this scenario I’d get take-​out as well. The sushi rolls came out quickly, a combo of spicy tuna and shrimp and a specialty roll. The common factor among all the sushi was the rice. It tasted cold, chewy and refrigerated, so it was gummy and glutinous. I was afraid the deficit of a slow sushi place would be the freshness of the fish– surprisingly, it was the rice that was extremely unappealing.
The sushi was around supermarket or 7 – 11 quality, perhaps less due to QFC having a live sushi man creating rolls with fresh rice. Have you ever made the mistake of getting brown rice sushi from Trader Joes, with the rice being one congealed cold lump? Same things here.
To end on positivity, if I may. the service was extremely friendly and the food came out quickly. Just be warned about the gummy, cold rice.

I’ve read the reviews and we have eaten here from time to time in the last few years. Most reviews are from several years ago, so we tried to be objective, because many have cited rude servers and poor food. Our experience from January 2015 about 4 pm was fairly good– male server was kind and attentive. Husband ordered the beef yakisoba spicy and I ordered a sushi bento. It was clean but we didn’t visit the restrooms, so no comment there.
The food came in a timely manner. It was well-​prepared and large portioned. As foodies, we submit the food was fairly good. The tempura in my bento box was questionable, but the sushi was good/​acceptable and the soba relatively tasty.
How do I adequately review? This is the best I could do. Live in the area so wanted to be honest and yet return.
Would give more stars if food was stellar.

Ever since I moved to the Seattle area in January I’ve been obsessed with Bento! Sushi is one of my favorite foods, but I hardly ever get it because good quality sushi is pretty pricey. Bento offers a 16 piece roll for $ 7. It sounds too good to be true. After I tried their sushi for the first time I was amazed at the quality for the price. The only other thing I’ve tried from Bento is their miso soup, which is amazing as well. Their service is spectacular from what I’ve experienced. I’ve only had take-​out, so I don’t know how it is if you dine in.
I highly recommend this place if you like good cheap sushi!

Give Bento Sushi a SECOND CHANCE.
I’ve been living in Ballard a couple years now and I’ve seen some real improvements at Bento Sushi (got rid of the awful tinfoil in take out, added fried rice and white rice to orders, etc).
What keeps me coming back: The serving sizes are real big for the price! Teriyaki plates and sushi. Plus the ingredients all seem very fresh.

Totally straightforward, with a few nice surprises (the caterpillar roll was not only tasty but plated kind of adorably) and with super-​friendly service. The vibe is a little on the teriyaki-​takeout-​joint side of things, but our eat-​in meal late in the day was fast and pleasant. I can definitely see dropping in again — and at these prices it’s a no-​brainer for an inexpensive lunch treat.

Customer service is superb! Had Barley Tea, great calm change of pace. Veggie Roll was fresh and flavorful. Ichi Roll satisfied my girl’s craving for spicy seafood. The Gyoza was a nice blend of veggies and pork nicely encased in a crispy shell of a wrapper. The Shrimp and Veggie Tempura was a seasonal tasty and hot appetizer choice. Their prices were phenomenal! This was visit #2, will be back.

I visited in seattle from Japan. My family and I we had dinner with sushi and sashimi In this restaurant. They served really fresh and delicious fish than I thought. Especially their service was great! If I can visit in seattle again I ll come back to this restaurant!

My husband wanted sushi the other night and we decided on Bento Sushi because he could get raw fish and I could get teriyaki. We’d been there once a few years ago and while it wasn’t superior, it was okay. Well, this time, it was not okay.
My husband ordered two different types of eggs. He popped one of the sushi rolls into his mouth and right away I could tell something was wrong. He looked panic and then nearly vomited. The roe was rancid! I said we should leave, but he thought maybe it was a fluke for that one item. He tasted another type of roe he had ordered and it was FROZEN. Well, that was enough for us. We explained the issue to the waitress who was very apologetic and polite, but she still charged us half price for the inedible meal. We will NEVER go back there again.

So me and my girl for past three years have driven by this place and finally wanted to try the $ 6.95 roll they advertise on a big sign out front. Server gives us menus and we sit in any open spot he says. Fifteen minutes and no waters later we notice that there were only… lets say 3 other couples in the place. All had already been eating since we got there. A lady off the street walks in, goes and stands up front and the server starts taking her order with enthusiasm. «wtf», we look at eachother. Ha funny thing, girlfriend is the one that gets pissed right off the bat and is making comments to me about it, and not that quietly. I instantly agreed and joined in. Nothing rude or mean really, just voicing facts about the actual service. Gave them one more minute to make sure they noticed us but we’re still ignored. Think we scared them a little lol, I’m filipino she is black. I said «well, lets get the F out of here then love.» Walked out. Server had the nerve to say «thank you» in a seemingly sarcastic tone. I wish I could review for the food quality instead but, didn’t turn out that way. Instead we went to Oishii slightly down 105^th from greenwood, had a great time.
Good luck!

I’m not a sushi snob. I eat sushi off conveyor belts. I eat sushi out of plastic packages at chain grocery stores. I no longer eat sushi at Bento Sushi. In addition to the food not being good… the men’s bathroom. This bathroom looks like the employee bathroom in some basement dive bar in Chinatown in NYC. It’s shocking. Don’t go there.