Kokoro-Tei

Has been around maybe two years. Opened another location at University. The quality can be inconsistent depending on the cook. Went to the one in Waikiki when it first opened; I waited long for the bento but it was delicious wait not worth the wait. Take out to me means fast… i waited almost 15 minutes. i have attended parties catered by this company and found the quality if food much better. I guess if you have time the food is adequate.

They Closed :(Why oh why. This was my go-​to bento place in Waikiki. I will start going to their other location. I did hear though that they’re opening up another location in Waikiki. I can’t wait to find out where!

I love this place! It takes about 10 min but they make your bento fresh. Their bento is very authentic Japanese and reasonable for the location. I have always enjoyed their meals. I would never buy over priced bentos at Shirokiya in Ala Moana center.

Kokoro-​tei is located behind the Marukame Udon restaurant. Although not many people speak English at this particular establishment, the prices are extremely cheap and the food served is fast, fresh, and amazing. I personally buy a bento from them about 2 – 4 times a week. Whenever I call, they tell me it takes 10 min for my food to be ready. How can you beat that?

Let me tell you why I’m one starring the Kuhio Kokorotei.
First a little background, sometimes I need to make orders of bento for work and I used to like the convenience of Kokorotei’s website ordering. I’ve ordered online before (orders automatically go to the Kuhio store), but in the past I called and asked specifically for the Beretania store. Yesterday I needed twenty bento for an event so I ordered online and didn’t bother asking specifically for the Beretania store. I put in the order at 9:00 a.m. and received a reply at 9:25 a.m. telling me the order had been received and would be fulfilled within 30 minutes at the Kuhio store.
That all seems well and good, right? I went about my business assuming that everything was taken care of. As lunchtime approached, I talked to a co-​worker and asked him to pick up the bentos. He called the Kuhio store and was told that they didn’t have the order and could not fulfill it. He persisted and did get the bentos from them though – exactly as I had ordered them online, but he was basically told, «go somewhere else.»
And that is exactly what I’m going to do the next time. Online ordering convenience means nothing if they don’t follow through. Plus they don’t have parking. Disable your online ordering you rude so and sos!

This Kokoro-​Tei is located on Kuhio Ave behind of Marukame Udon. I have past by this small bento location previously before but decided to stop in and grab a bento to go.
Looking over the Ranking of their best selling bento’s written on a board in Japanese/​English.
I decided the #1 seller of course, Tonkatsu Bento
The bento’s are made to order, so there was about a 10min or so wait. They have these four weird looking stools sitting just outside of their entrance to sit and wait.
Overall rating of this small Bento Place:
*Service 3.5stars (Order, Collect $$,.You wait over there!)
*Food 3.5stars (Found the Tonkatsu a little dry and tough)
*Value 4stars
I would come back and try some different items. After all it is made to order and convenient if your in Waikiki.

This is such an endearing little take-​out place located around the corner from our hotel. On our last night’s stay (yesterday), I decided I have to try this place for dinner so I ordered the rib eye bento box. For around $ 8, I got quite a generous portion of steak, cooked well done even though I said I would like it medium rare when they asked. It was still tender but rather spicy from black pepper. So beware! It also comes with rice sprinkled with black sesame, spaghetti, half a hard boiled egg and a piece of well marinated eggplant.
I love the idea that it is cooked to order and priced so low. If I live nearby, I’d definitely be a regular.

Small little take out place behind the udon place that’s always has a large crowd.
Service:
The cashier was friendly. No complaints.
Food:
The bento boxes were really good. I had the fried shrimp with the special tarter sauce and I loved it.
It’s CASH ONLY place and it takes about 10 minutes to get your food.
Overall:
I would definitely recommend this place.

Great prices for Japanese style bentos. Where else can you get a salmon bento for $ 4.70? Incredible prices! This store is difficult to find, as it is located behind the Subway store. In addition, the store front doesn’t have the appearance of a food store. There is a large photo display of their entire menu in front of their store. Almost every bento is under $ 6! I wanted to give it a shot and ordered the $ 4.70 salmon bento. To my surprise, it took about 10 minutes to cook my order, but I was pleased to know that the bento was freshly made (as opposed to pre-​made and re-​heated). I was a little disappointed that the bento was service in a white Styrofoam container, which looked more like a mini-​plate lunch from L&L Barbecue. The food was tasty and the best value for under $ 5 in Hawaii.

Much better service than beretania branch. Ordered Saba bento. Quick response informed me will take 10 minutes. Bento taste good. Will come again

Yay for cheap places to eat in Waikiki! It is so hard to find somewhere in Waikiki to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner on a budget. If you don’t feel like eating McDs or BK in Waikiki, Kokorotei is a good option. It’s kind of hard to find, but if you’re walking towards Playbar, just turn left and you’ll find Kokorotei. My bf and I went on a one night staycation, and had a budget of 60 dollars to spend on food for the both of us (lunch, dinner, dessert, and breakfast). We went to Kokorotei for lunch and breakfast and didn’t break our budget!
Lunch: The prices for the lunch bentos vary from $ 5 – 9, depending on what you order. I had the ginger pork ($ 6), and my bf had a hamburger steak ($ 7). If you are debating on whether to get the pork or the hamburger, take my advice and go with the pork! It’s a dollar cheaper, and you get way more meat. The hamburger, while very tasty, was very tiny. Everything in our bentos were so delicious!
Breakfast: Kokorotei does not advertise their breakfast. I think it’s because even though it is a fabulous deal, I think it’s dine in only for breakfast and their shop is very tiny. They offer three different breakfasts, and my bf and I got the salmon breakfast for FIVE BUCKS EACH. You read right, five bucks for a salmon meal. It wasn’t bad either. The meal comes with a piece of salted salmon, miso soup, rice, pickled ginger, salad, nori, and a soft boiled egg. They also offer a «simple» Japanese breakfast for $ 3 (soft boiled egg, pickles, salad, soup and rice) and another breakfast for $ 4 (soft boiled egg, sausage, daily small dish, pickles, salad, rice, and soup) but I think the salmon breakfast is the best deal.
Overall: Not as big as their location in the University area, but a great deal if you’re on a budget. CASH ONLY.

This is a great little bento place with very affordable prices! Located in the same building as Teddy’s Burger’s across the new Moili’ili Longs, Kokoro-​Tei offers japanese style bentos. No fatty mac salad, over fried spam or hot dogs here. Just fresh, quality food and lots of healthy veggies too. The bentos range from $ 5-​$ 8 and all come with rice and a variety of japanese sides.
The rice they use here is the high end japanese rice, and the food is fresh, well flavored and not too greasy. My favorite was the nori salmon — all those bonito flakes on the rice really hit the spot! The portions are not extremely large, so if you are a big eater, one bento may leave you wanting more. But for me, it was just the right amount of food to leave me satisfied and not feeling like I regretfully overindulged (don’t you hate that feeling?).
If you are heading to the beach, zoo or sporting event, this is a great place to pick up a japanese style bento!

I was roaming around and stubble upon Kokoro-​Tei. Boy am I glad that I decided to grab a small bento. I got the small salmon bento. If you’re having trouble deciding what you want, they have a list of the top choices.
There’s like 2 tables that you can sit and eat in the little courtyard, so togo might be the best bet. I ordered mine togo and headed to the beach.

I’m always looking for cheap places to eat good Japanese foods and Kokoro tei is definitely becoming one of my go to places in Waikiki. They have a pretty good selection from pork ginger, salmon, hamachi, and omurice and you can’t beat the prices.
I got one of the pricier items on the menu and it was $ 6.50. For two entrees you can get a mega bento which is $ 10. I’ve had the salmon and the hamachi and both were good and a very well-​balanced meal with sides of hijiki, kimpira, and kabocha.
I love love love omurice and theres is only $ 4.50 so I’ll be back to try that soon.
Everything is made to order so it takes about 10 minutes but its fresh and definitely worth checking out if you are in Waikiki and looking for a healthier lunch. It is behind marukame udon, next to Taka’s surf shop.
Unilocal 365: ⁰⁷⁴⁄₃₆₅

This place is definitely a hole in a wall. I came here for breakfast and got the sausage egg meal. The food is eh, reading other reviews I think this place is more known for bento boxes and not so much for their breakfast. You get what you’re paid for, don’t expect to be wowed away for a meal that’s only $ 3.90

Decided to try this spot out for a change. Happened to find it by chance because if you wouldnt even know it is there.
Basically, its a SMALL Japanese Bento Take out. There are no tables to sit at (after reading some reviews, it said they had tables… maybe before the renovation?)
The bentos are REASONABLY priced. I think they are a good deal considering how much food you are getting with the bento.
I ordered the BBQ Yakiniku. I believe it was around $ 6.50 for the plate. They do have a «monster Bento» for $ 10, which you can «customize».
They do have a «refrigerated» section of some pre made stuff, but if you order a bento off the menu, it is NOT pre-​made. The quality of food was awesome.
I will definately be coming to kokorotei to try more bentos. The only negative that I saw was that because it is «made to order», it takes a while for you to get your order. Expect to wait 10 – 15 minutes for your order, or even longer if there are people in front of you. If it were a 5 – 10 minute wait, I probably would have given it another «half star».

The purin/​pudding is AMAZING. Its $ 3.50 for a small cup, but every bite puts a smile on my face. They sell out pretty quickly. My fave is the custard, but they have others too (raspberry, matcha green tea, chocolate) but it’s pretty random seeing those. I would give this place 5 stars just bc of the pudding, but it’s a bento place so I have to look at the whole picture.
The bentos are cheap and not too bad, nothing super special in my eyes. My fave is the omu-​rice (omelette rice) bc it’s super cheap ($ 4) and super tasty. It’s a nice cheap meal for Waikiki!

Authentic Japanese bentos that range from $ 4 — $ 9. They also have a display with ala carte Japanese vegetable dishes.
Things I’ve tried:
Nori Kara Bento — $ 4.80 — great for a snack, a little to small to be considered a full meal.
Omlete Rice w/​gravy sauce — $ 5.50 — I split this with my co-​worker with another additional full bento. Perfect amount of food to be comatose after. The runny egg and demi-​glaze gravy over a ketchup-​based rice go great together.
Kokoro-​Tei also makes daily specials that include dishes like kurobuta shoyu pork and jumbo fried shrimp.

They have great BENTOs!
During my Honolulu stay, I visited them a few times.
I ate a Saba Miso Bento and a Healthy Vegetable Bento.
I really enjoyed them.

My ABSOLUTE favorite place for wafu style hamburger steak bento. They use 100% angus beef. Even the dressing on the cabbage under the hamburger steak is delicious.
Kokoro is this new bento place (in the Kuhio Banyan right behind Jack in the Box on Kuhio) that has top quality made to order bentos for a super affordable price. You can’t exactly see it from the street, but it’s worth the find.
Kokoro also has daily specials, and when they first opened, had this amazing kabocha croquette that I could not get enough of.
I have their number on my speed-​dial, because the bentos take up to 15 minutes to make (sometimes quick or longer, depending on how busy they are).
Kokoro means «from the heart» in Japanese, and they do put their heart into every little bento box they make.