Zen Bento

Stopped in for a quick lunch. I decided to go vegetarian despite myself and ordered the golden curry. For about $ 5.50 I got an enormous bowl of rice topped with thick yellow curry embedded with potatoes. Though a little one-​note, it really stick to my ribs and I had just a bit under half left to take home. Idk why this is billed as bento though, it was definitely just a rice bowl.

The food was fantastic. The vegetables were steamed just right, not too raw, not too mushyn just a perfect wilt. Prices were fair and the menu can be totally customised to meet any dietary needs.

So good, fresh, quick! Really great customer service, every visit. Very well run, well organized restaurant. Everything is yummy!

FOOD:
First time I tried eating at Zen Bento was a year ago and I had the beef bento. The beef was tough and the sauce combination didn’t work out (forgot what it was). So I never came back until very recently. Now I’ve had their ahi tuna, salmon, and hawaiian bento. For both ahi tuna and salmon I combined z-​nut (peanut sauce) and zen (sweet&spicy). That’s the best combination that works really well for me (disclaimer: once I like something, I’ll pretty much stick to it for the rest of my life. Until I find something better). But today I had the hawaiian bento and they gave me teriyaki sauce, which is not bad at all! But my personal favorite is still their ahi. I’d like to try out their chicken and tofu next time, but I’ll stay away from the beef.
PLACE/​AMBIANCE:
Since it’s downtown, during lunch hours, parking can be a hassle sometimes. I also don’t prefer to dine in since it can get packed with people standing around waiting for their take out orders. So I usually opt for taking my food to go!
SERVICE:
The people are friendly. It’s a walk up-​order-​pay-​eat/​take out type of deal, so I also don’t expect a table service. As long as I get what I ordered correct&quickly, I’m pretty satisfied :)

A little speedy but totally worth it! I come down here for a quick, healthy lunch fix whenever I can.

Great customer service, fast, reasonably priced, tasty. Keep it up, gang.

I love this place. It’s fast and fresh for a quick lunch. I do think they put too much rice in the bowls, but it doesn’t stop me from going. I’m not sure why the one person said the portion sizes aren’t that big, they are huge. I honestly can’t ever eat the whole thing, but maybe she likes that gut bomb, fall asleep feeling after lunch. I always get the salmon, it’s my go too and I absolutely love it. If your in the hood check it out.

Always look forward to eating here. The tuna is always very good as well as the vegetables. Certainly not the easiest place to park. Downtown is busy right now as well due to lots and lots of traffic. it is hard not to recommend to
he food overall. So all in all a solid lunch spot.

In my opinion, Zen Bento is just a glorified Panda Express. While the food tastes good, it is nothing exceptional. I was expecting waiter service (maybe that’s why I wasn’t impressed). Instead you order at the front counter, seat yourself, and then wait for your name to be called to pick up your food. Everything is made to order and comes out hot and fresh, but then when you look at the portion size compared to the price it doesn’t add up. I’d go there again if someone asked me to, but I think it’s safe to say I won’t go out of my way to eat there again.

Always good.
I get the same dish each time … curry over noodles, with peanuts and green onions.
Never disappointed, except for the parking when I’m on the go, but that’s part of being a downtown location so I can’t complain.

Few veggies and meat, mostly just a big bowl of rice. Salmon was cooked nicely but i was expecting more for $ 10. Asked for a little more sauce, but that’ll cost $ 0.88. Really?

Very good, light teriyaki style bowls, with inventive, Asian inspired sauces. Proteins are typical, chicken, salmon, and tofu. I generally have to ask for extra veggies. Like the Zen sauce, which is a sweet-​and-​sour with saracha.

I have worked in downtown for 5 years now and still I love this place! ½ zen ½ teriyaki on a brown rice bowl with chicken for me! Hits the mid day hunger every time. Better now than ever before!

Zen Bento is my favorite place whenever i need to eat something delicious and I don’t have a lot of time. The Beef and Salmon bentos are my favorite. The rice, vegetable, and meat combinations with the different sauces available are great for lunches or after work dinner. I love this place.

I absolutely LOVE the food here! I honestly am kind of grateful they do not have a location in Meridian, as it would make it way too easy to eat here more often than I already do. This is pretty much my go to spot, whenever I am in the downtown area around lunch time.
Pick a rice: white or brown. Pick a protein: chicken, tofu, salmon, beef, ahi (YES, ahi can you believe it?!?) or veggie if you wish.
Comes with veggies and your choice of sauce. They have lots of great one’s to choose from. And you are more than welcome to have more than one if you choose.
Always so good. Fresh, hot, filling and reasonably priced.
Their downtown location is kind of small, so it is better to eat in if it isn’t during the downtown lunch rush. They also have a location in Eagle, which I have not been to yet.
Give them a try! So worth it.

low on protein
high on carbs
pretty much a «white bread bento»
see actual bento here:
zen sauce is «ok»

First place I’ve eaten in Boise and if this is an indication of how this city does food… I will not be let down!
Veggies super fresh and not over cooked. Sauce was delish!

I’ve eaten here twice now. The food was so-​so the first time I had the veggie bowl and Zen sauce. The veggies looked and tasted like they had been sitting out for a few days.
For some reason I gave them another try, this time going for the chicken bowl. Again, not too good. The chicken was a mishmash of brown and white meat, nicely seasoned but a little tough. But the veggies. Totally old. Again. They tasted and looked like World War II.
You’re better off going to Costco, buying some frozen veggies, chicken and rice and making yourself a bento bowl. At least it will be fresh’ish.

It’s probably good that my office is not closer because I would eat at Zen Bento everyday. The salmon bowl with zen sauce is one of my favorite Boise lunches! It’s a little spendy but the fresh salmon and vegetables are worth it to me.

It’s a simple menu — you select you choice of meats, which comes with steamed vegetables on top a mound of either white rice, brown rice, or yaki soba noodles. Then there’s an array of sauces you can choose to put on top.
This is definitely a lunch joint, and for that purpose it serves you well. The meal was flavorful and filling. The only things which were kind of a turn off was the relatively high price (around $ 14 for my salmon bowl and drink) and the puddle of oil which was left at the bottom of the bowl.