Obento Rinka

After someone gave me two Rinka Croquettes (pronounced korok'ke in Japan) with their light & crispy crusts and flavorful fillings (curry, sweet potato, spinach, etc.), I had to see what else they offered. I got their "Healthy Bento" and Chirashi on separate visits. The Healthy Bento had 9 meticulously prepared items. The Seafood in the chirashi tasted very fresh even though it was already prepared and in the refrigerated display case. The Chiriashi had a whole (cooked) scallop including the frill, which I'm glad was left on because it was slightly chewy and tasty. This is the place to go for Obento! and not just Bento.

I wanted to give more stars but the food was rather unimpressive for my taste buds. Maybe I chose the wrong menu items. The service was very considerate and business like. The place is clean and busy with different choice bentos. I think the price for the bento and the flavor didn't make it for me. I will have to return again but for 2 bentos I spent over $30 and I wasn't wowed. I'll make better choices.

Takeout lunch in Honolulu, Hawaii...My friend and I needed to pick up some bentos for our homebound friend. We both hadn't been to Obento Rinka - and we had heard so much about this place - so, it was agreed that we get our lunch here.There's metered street parking. All of the customers run in and out of the shop, so there are sufficient spaces. The woman at the counter is efficient because she probably knows that everyone is parking quickly...My friend chose two vegetable-based bentos while I selected the Salmon one and the Hamburger with shrimp one. I figured that I'd eat the one that no one wanted. The two gals chose to eat the vegetable-based ones. I ate the salmon bento and left the Hamburger one for our homebound friend to eat for dinner.We all enjoyed our bentos. The presentation and quality are excellent. The sides that come with each bento are tasty, too!We also got a container of warabi mochi and a container of candied sweet potato... wow... these were delicious, too!I'd return for the butterfish bento and the Anmitsu dessert! Yum yum!!!

I love that Honolulu has so many of these cute little hole-in-the-wall bento spots. Perfect for grabbing a quick, healthy, and hearty meal. I came in around 11 am and there was still a good selection of bentos. The first one I grabbed with the misoyaki butterfish (duh) and one with fried shrimp, fish, and salmon. I also grabbed a side of their hijki, a seaweed salad that was bursting with umami. Picking out my bentos was such a pleasurable experience. The person at the shop was so sweet, kind, and helpful! I had a bit of decision fatigue when I came in and was encouraged to take my time looking around. Be sure to bring your own bag for your bentos! It's 15 cents for a small bag and 50 for a large bag. It is a bit pricey, we paid about $50 for two bentos and a side of hijiki. For the amount of time it takes to make all of the bentos- from the proteins to all the different sides, carefully placed in different sections... it's not hard to understand why.

We had a picnic at our daughter's school so we decided to pickup some bentos. Without knowing anything about this place we stopped by and they have some great bentos here!Full on Japanese bentos with nice packaging, everything nicely organized and beautiful in its little space. Food was delicious and the lady there was friendly. I'm so glad we stopped here as I now know a good place to get bentos.

So ono! We bought 3 bentos plus mochi with red bean to take on the plane. The saba was perfectly seasoned and cooked. The mochi was soft and pillowly. The red bean filling was so smooth and tasty. Found our next go-to for quick and healthy takeaway for the plane.

Obento Rinka makes the best bentos. When planning for my grandmother's funeral, we needed to order bentos for families and friends in attendance. As it was still Covid times, we wanted to ensure that each person had their own individual bento and we weren't going catering style. We opted for Rinka because their bentos are clean and light. They don't have that heavy oily feel (no shade Zippy's) but these are Japanese style. We ordered ginger pork, chicken karaage and salmon and they were all an absolutely hit.

Very Original Japanese Bentos Same as owner as Rinka Restaurant next to Whole Foods in Kakaako we ordered Makunouchi Bento includes 13 items plus ume chiso rice too many to items to mention and changes daily depending what's available on the side we also ordered Koroke another specialty item off the menu you'll need to order ahead for pickup time since they make to order each items of different bento's available each day not a tempura eater but their dipping sauces are exceptional a must try and their teriyaki beef cuts are not a thin cut but very meaty and thick other must is egg roll namasu Fishcake salmon shioyaki I wasn't able to finish the meal too many things to eat Here's pictures from Obento Rinka

Quality fresh bento!! Came at around 11am on a weekday and there were lots of choices ranging from $10-20 depending on the size and premium level of ingredients. The "bento of the day" was the cheapest and featured a lot of different tempura with rice and veggie sides. The fancier bentos were $17-18 and had so many different sorts of proteins in one bento- fish, steak, tempura, egg, oyster etc. All very fresh and ono!

Good bento only available in the morning . Afternoon is left overs. We were forced to buy bentos that we didn't like . We could have gone somewhere else but wanted to support small business