iZen's Drunken Bento

Drunken Bento is a very popular sushi spot near campus. It has a small seating area but still enough to fit people in. Their sushi is half off when dining in and I'm not a sushi expert but this was a pretty solid option especially for it being right there next to campus. They also have many other options like different appetizers and some noodle soups as well. The service here was great! I let the waiter know of my allergies and he kept going back and forth from the kitchen asking about ingredients in what I wanted to order which I greatly appreciated. Parking is a pain here tho so beware...there is a lot across the street that takes quarters in the meter which is probably the safest best. I do definitely see myself back here trying one of the noodle soups next!

Parking is a bear but we found a spot a few blocks away. When we arrived the place was presumably full so they took down our name and asked us to wait outside where it was somewhere around 10 degrees. Said it'd be about 10-15 mins. Seemed like more than 20 mins later we were called in to a table. There were three tables open at this time so disappointing we were left in the cold. The staff are young and distractible as one might expect on a college campus. The food was very tasty. I had bulgogi and it met my expectations though it was a pretty small portion compared to what I'm accustomed to. I appreciate that they brought sides with the bulgogi.

I've walked by this place a lot, but had never been in until a friend suggested we give it a try. 5 stars on value. Dine in is at 50% of menu prices, so the tuna roll is only $3.75??? Are you kidding?For a sushi place, the food was brought out very fast, and the spicy lobster roll was maybe my favorite roll I've ever had! $5 cans of beer, some nightly specials, and a fun college campus vibe. This spot is on my list for a quick great value sushi meal.

So my go-to rolls are Yellow Tail, Hot Mama and Bengals. Sometimes I do a Sunday Morning, mostly for others, but I like it too. They have been consistently delicious the last year.The staff has been just as consistent in great customer service for dine-in and carry out.

I went to UC and probably walked by this hole in the wall hundreds of times, what a huge mistake. It's narrow inside, but they make the most of the space they have. The sushi was very good, super fresh. Also, the whole menu is half price and a real bargain, not like other half price places. Minus one star because something was up with our beers (cans of Rhinegeist Truth), either the beers were bad or the glasses still had soap residue as they foamed up like crazy. Otherwise, we'll for sure be back, what a great find!

I had a longer class Friday morning, so by the time I got out it was lunchtime. I decided since I parked so close to Drunken Bento I might as well stop in for a snack to go. This is only my second time here but I remembered a dish that dinner of my friends ordered before and I just had to try it...the Kani Salad. Shredded crab with cucumber, scallions, masago, and tempura flakes tossed in spicy mayo sauce. It is so good with a nice helping of crab, and just the right amount of crunch from the tempura flakes. This will now be my staple when I find my way here. The sushi was great too. I've had a few different rolls and have yet to be disappointed. I placed my to go order and was out the door in about 5 minutes. The service and staff are helpful and friendly, and always engaging with guests through out. It's a cute little spot, definitely worth a try. I also hear the college crowd loves this spot on the late night.

Small and mighty this place has been for almost 20 years. I've been a customer since 2008 and I'll try other places- but a knock out guarantee for great food/sushi/bento, is this hidden gem. Service has always been 100%, ordering is easy, I've never, ever had issues with sushi or entrees. It's one of my go tos- no hassle, no surprises, just exactly what I want, every time!

Absolutely love this place. Service is great, food is delicious and priced perfectly, and I love the small restaurant ambiance. Whether you dine in or order take out, drunken bento never disappoints!

With a name like this one, a patron should expect a fun sort of dive, and Drunken Bento definitely used to fall in that category. When I lived in the neighborhood 10-ish years ago, this place was always hopping, but you could somehow always get a table; and the sushi was fresh and fairly priced. I remember ordering *way* more than I could eat, because everything was good!Sometime during the intervening years, Drunken Bento has slid a bit downhill from the dive category to a state approaching brazen neglect. The young folk who work there are still fun and pleasant, and do still seem to care at least a little about the experience of the patrons. But whoever owns this place doesn't visit. If he did, I hope he would notice that the artfully stagger-stacked wood wall along the entire left-hand side of the restaurant is now covered in pen-scratch graffiti, dust and spider webs that overhang the tables. The bathroom floor has a cockroach wing ground into it, and the corners of every room now resemble hiding places or residences for six- or eight-legged inhabitants. My chair was so covered in crunchy crumbs -- probably leftover cold crunch coating that they use instead of actually frying the tempura -- that I stood back up immediately after sitting. No employee even noticed me vigorously cleaning for them. The food is still not bad. There aren't as many options as I remember, and the options they do have no longer seem like things I absolutely had to try. Nothing was delicious except the overly-small gyoza appetizer. The sweet potato rolls were tasty, if you could ignore their cold temperature and dryness. (See the bit about the crunch topping replacing real tempura.) But the spicy tuna is to be avoided. It resembles pink ground beef and the flavor of the fish -- is there fish? -- is completely overwhelmed by spice. To me this always seems designed to disguise the age of the tuna, and to be fair to Drunken Bento, I think lots of places do it. I also left (the first time) with a full bladder on purpose, thinking it would be better to hold it for another hour than see the insides of the bathroom. The hubby convinced me otherwise, but I'm still not sure he was right. The last thing I said was, "At least we never have to do *that* again!" But I'll miss the place that Drunken Bento used to be.

Fantastic food. The service is always very fast and friendly. Super great price as well.