West Coast Bento

This place is a fantastic value, just under $ 10 gets you a tray of rice and a skewer of meat. I recommend the lamb, but it’s quite popular so you’ll want to call your order in ahead. Also, you’ll just want to call your order in ahead so even if there’s a line, you aren’t stuck choosing from what’s available or left waiting for something to cook. The owner looks like he’d be much more comfortable body slamming you than making your lunch, but give it a try anyway.

Closed until April 2016. Great bento. See you then!
This is the Bento stand that started it all in Portland. Consistently good. You always know what you are going to get.

I found myself hungry on NW 23^rd at lunchtime today, and not being in the mood for pizza, Thai, or Vietnamese, found West Coast Bento and decided to give it a shot. The price is great, but my decision to get food here turned into a costly ordeal.
First off, the owner was unfriendly to me despite my attempts to be cheerful and outgoing. I received nary a smile from him and I sensed that he didn’t really want me in his shop. He was super nice to a clean-​cut kid in line behind me who appeared to be a regular; perhaps he hates beards?
My bento (in a brown paper sack), which I kept entirely upright, leaked teriyaki sauce all over my bag and ruined $ 102 worth of contents. I also lost about half hour of productivity at the office while I pulled everything out and washed it thoroughly. There was so much teriyaki sauce spilled that there were pools all over the office floor that I had to mop up.
This guy ruined my day. I won’t be coming back.

Well after 18 years or so finally I get to enjoy real bento! I remember it so well and now I can confirm something so basic is something done right by Dan! Do yourselves a favor and enjoy a wonderful lunch! Keep up the good work love it even more now after all this time!

Been coming here since the very beginning (25+ years) and without question, WCB offers THE best Bento lunches in the city, hands down. Dan’s beef is beyond tender and his chicken is superb. Quantities are more than satisfying and a good deal for the $$.
If you are really hungry (and I usually am), get a double stick of meat which will hold you beyond dinner time. In most cases, I reheat it for lunch the next day.
I’ve tried all of the other west side Bento places over the years and WCB comes up tops, each time.

Chicken skewer, chili sauce, white rice. Nice guy runs it. On my way now to get some for the family.

Reviews are funny. Either people post them that had a crappy experience at a place or a person posts them in rebuttal to a crappy post. There is a very small group of Unilocalers that review because it’s what they do.
I fall somewhere in the middle of each category.
West Coast Bento –NW Thurman location. I originally started coming here back in 1989. Dan Dan The Bento Man fed me all thru college. He opened another location down by the lotus (which later was closed) but the NW was always my favorite.. However it’s not owned by Dan anymore., another nice fella owns it. And his name is also Dan. He bought it from Dan 22 years ago. 7 Years ago Dan moved to the current NW location.
The food however is exactly as it’s always been. A big pile of perfectly cooked rice (white or brown) and a quality kabob of meat– perfectly cooked. Your choice of chicken, beef or if you are lucky Lamb! There are some other foods to order but I then to stick with the basics.
Things to remember — this place sometimes runs out of food. It happens. Get over it. Plenty of times I have swung in only to be told they sold out of the lamb or beef or even the chicken. Sucks, but it is what it is. His hours are 10 – 2:30. So if you roll in at 1:40 you may be shit outta luck. Or call and place your order!
There isn’t really much seating — benches under cover or 2 picnic tables out front no cover over these. Parking can suck — it’s NW duh.
He takes cash and credit cards now. It’s really a 2 man show, the owner runs the BBQ and the register, his helper cooks, preps and fills the 100s of trays with rice. It’s a great system and quick going. Relax, and prepare to take a nap after eating all the food. I try to eat only ½ and save the rest til later, but usually fail as its so damn good.

West Coast Bento is amazing. I haven’t had anything bad here. In fact, I start cutting the last few cubes of meat into smaller and smaller pieces so it will «last» a little longer.
My favorite is the beef skewer with spicy sauce and white rice. The sauce is almost more sweet then spicy, but it definitely won’t burn your face off. Also, the shumai is an excellent accompaniment.
Dan may seem gruff to mamby pamby hipsters, but he is a great and hardworking guy. If he doesn’t have a line out the door talk to him and you’ll see.
Go get some grilled meat on a stick, you won’t be sorry.
TIP: If you can call ahead, do so and order the beef or lamb.

I rarely make it to NW Portland but always stop in for the chicken skewer with chili sauce on white rice. Recently, I was offered a job in the area, and one of my criteria was proximity to West Coast Bento. I accepted the job. Although I hadn’t been in there for at least a year, the guy who still runs the place remembered me. If you are looking for a meal that will remind you of Tokyo, this isn’t for you. If you are hoping to find delicious food served in around a minute and for less than a Big Mac meal, you won’t be disappointed.

I’m late to the game because I just had my first West Coast Bento box yesterday! So delicious! I had the lamb and added three pork dumplings. A fantastic price point for great, simple food. No muss, no fuss, and the brown rice was delicious. The meat juicy and there was plenty of it.

All the reviews of this place are true. Yes, I said all. The bento boxes aren’t in the least bit authentic; they’re just a meat skewer with a crap ton of rice. Granted, the skewer is quite heavy with meat, I was still wondering how a bento box doesn’t come with, at the very least, veggies. I decided to call in my order. I ordered the Yakiniku Bento (beef teriyaki skewer) and two Char Su Bao (BBQ pork buns). I tried to order two Shumai (pork dumplings), but they were out (odd, since I ordered at 1.5pm on a Monday). The guy on the phone was kinda weird: I didn’t have his full attention and he asked me how long it would take me to get there since the meat was ready (I thought this place was made to order). When I got there, I walked inside to pay. The guy behind the counter greeted me, but it wasn’t until the guy on the barbecue stepped inside that I paid for and received my food. When he handed me my food, he told me that there was a woman in line as I was placing my order that also wanted a Char Su Bao, so he sold it to her, but then commented that it was good that I called in my order. WHAT?! So, I placed an order via phone before someone that is there in person, and they get part of my order. WHAT THE HECK KIND OF CUSTOMER SERVICE IS THAT?! I didn’t make a stink. Just took my food and left. (Kinda mad that I gave them a $.50 tip). The container was heavy (with what seemed to be a crap ton of rice). The bun was palm sized and good, though the frozen BBQ pork buns I’ve purchased from The Dollar Store are tastier (no, they’re really good, go try ‘em). The meat seemed slightly under cooked and rather gelatinous. The sauce on the rice was good, but nothing to write home about. Would I go back? Not sure. I assume the guy on the grill was Big Dan… he didn’t impress me. The food is ALRIGHT. Hopefully, I don’t get ill later like one review I read.

We walked by and it seemed like a good place for lunch. Unfortunately, our choice was not a great one. First of all, the set up is confusing. it’s not clear that you need to order inside. The owner makes your food outside while you awkwardly wait inside to pay. Not a good system.
The owner wasn’t very friendly or welcoming, and appeared to be in a hurry and distracted — even though we were the only ones in the place! He barked at us about the couple of items that left, and made us feel stupid and awkward for asking questions. I’m sorry, are we bothering you, sir? Is there somewhere else you need to be? He kept saying that the curry bento was very messy. Yeah, we get it, thanks. Then when we OVER tipped him, he made us feel stupid for giving him too much.
Food was terrible, chicken was undercooked, beef was overcooked. I don’t understand — how hard is it to treat your patrons with kindness and respect, and make them feel welcome in your establishment? Wished we had seen the Kenny & Zukes next door first.

I’ve gotta agree with some reviewers. These are not bentos and the food is not awesome. I got the chicken over brown rice with sweet and spicy sauce. Bentos at the very least consist of rice, meat, and vegetables. Dan’s bentos had meat over rice, and a store bought sauce poured over it. The chicken was cooked well, but the rice was mushy. Anyone could’ve made this at home. Although I do have to say that it’s a good place for a quick convenient eat.

i was very curious about this spot in my hood.
i worked from home recently and bento for lunch sounded awesome.
so i trucked it over to west coast bento, and i got the curry bento, and my dining partner got the chicken skewer.
what’s awesome: the price to size ratio. the curry is pretty darn good and chock full of veggies (but can you really do japanese curry wrong?)
another bonus: no extra charge for brown rice.
the chicken skewer and chili sauce are also pretty tasty.
less than stellar: shumai and baos at a bento place? (also apparently not very tasty either).
also less than stellar: less than accessible hours for a workin’ gal.
but, glad to have another lunch option if i choose to work from home again.

Best bento period. Dan marinates the meat until it is so tender you can practically cut it with the plastic fork. Also, beef or lamb is the obvious choice here.
What kind of a useless moron writes a review of a restaurant they didn’t eat at, then gives them a poor score because THEY didn’t have money? If you only eat at places that take CC I feel deeply sorry for you.
My only complaint is that they are not open more often.

Best bento ever! I’ve been eating bento there since it was originally Big Dan’s bento.
Get spicy chicken and don’t forget the brown sauce.

So we were in the neighborhood & have been desperately looking for good authentic Japanese food for awhile. We decided to try this place based on the fact it got 4 stars & one review said «this was THE place to go for bento». Let me tell you, this is definitely NOT the place! We were so disappointed (compounded by the the fact they only take cash & we didn’t have any) that we left! So I can’t comment on how the food tastes, but what they serve cannot be called bento. It is just various Japanese style meats with rice. A bento box should include salad, sushi rolls, rice & meat and miso soup! Our disappointment was also fueled by the fact that this place is run by Caucasians & included Chinese dimsum items!
So our review is based solely on its (non-)authenticity and not on the food itself. It could taste really good, but it’s not bento!

They offer brown rice as well as white rice for the teriyaki bowls.

Went here for lunch this week, there is no seating inside so take it with you and if it is nice try to find a seat at one of the two picnic tables outside. Just a note… still a little too cold for that just yet.
I ordered the teriyaki chicken with brown rice and I am guessing the guy that was tending grill outside and ringing us up inside (clearly a one man show and good at it) kept trying to get me to try the sweet & spicy chili sauce option which my boyfriend ordered. They were both very good and absolutely filling. I had never been there before so a tip, the creamy teriyaki is very good but take the chicken off the skewer and start mixing from the bottom up otherwise the sauce slides right off the grilled chicken rather than soaking in.
Also, grab a Bao while you are there, they are really very tasty… mmm…

This place is a good find. Made to your order, inexpensive, and quick! There are a few menu items to choose from, but all of them taste rather good. I’d say stay away from the Shumai side dish though, it doesn’t taste great.
So, you go in, get food, and go out and find seats, it’s very limited and is more of a pick-​up for food.