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I stumbled upon this place while looking for Taiwanese bentos for dinner as the place I usually frequent by 99 Ranch unexpectedly closed. However, I'm super happy I found this spot, since it is my new go-to for delicious Taiwanese food. Parking is limited, as it's located in a business park area of Pleasanton, and the restaurant itself is small. There are a few tables to dine in if you wish but the vast majority of people take their food to go. This place operates cafeteria style, where you choose your primary protein for your bento, and the sides are all laid out in front of you to choose from. You can pick up to 3 sides. You can just tell everything is made with care and all the ingredients are super fresh. The family speaks mandarin as well! Since it was my first time there, I took a look at what others were ordering and it seemed like one of the popular sides was the bean sprouts. They were indeed super refreshing! I went with the tofu for the second side and for the third side, I chose the braised egg for my husband and the eggplant for me. Both were excellent choices and the tofu was so good, and even had a bit of a kick. The bentos survived the drive home, traffic and all, and held up well in my insulated bag. The meats were tender and there was plenty of rice to soak up all that delectable sauce. My husband enjoyed his pork chop too. I can't wait to return to order some more bentos soon, and I'd definitely recommend Bentolicious for healthy, delicious, and filling bentos that are made with love!
A modest little take-out cafe tucked in between two popular Indian restaurants, Bentolicious serves Taiwanese comfort food in an comfortable setting. (It's one of the few places you can get cans of Taiwanese apple cider and Taiwanese rootbeer, along with homemade barley milk drinks!) Takeout is popular, but there are a few tables inside and outside for those who have the time to eat there. Staff is friendly and welcoming and helpful. Portion sizes of the proteins (chicken, pork chops, tofu) are generous, but the three sides (egg, kombucha melon, eggplant, etc.) tend to be on the smaller side - in comparison, 99 Ranch's lunch boxes seemed to be deeper and more evenly balanced. All in all, it was a positive experience and I'll go back there again.
7.31.26 +++Did u notice the camera right on front middle, on top of the display.. under is where they serve food. +++ I understand garnish is to make the vegetables look nice. But I encourage people to ask for more of some of the garnishes and see what they say. I understand it's not possible to ask for only garnishes to fill up the side dish, but if u want one more piece, let's say carrot (a garnish in one of the veggie dishes, with the veggie being the actual side)... will they say no? If you ask for more garnish and less side what do they say. In my experience, Cantonese staff tend to say no... but I've heard from other people that order multiple times a week told me that the Taiwanese lady golfer/commuter (is that the boss Jessica?) she was nicer about it and gave more of the garnish. ***Bentolicious credit the chicken thigh - it's good and different coz a lot of bento places don't have it. they are nice and include the smaller other half of the chicken thigh to fill up the plate. I give them credit for that. **My all time favorite bento place is O2 Valley~~~ But I've been told that it's probably more oily and the reason I don't complain is because the food is not laid out for me to modify... Ok. So then what about a小劉清粥 Taiwan Porridge? I've never had an issue when asking the line person to get more or less of something... Just for some reason at Bentolicious I've never been able to really modify on like less veggie and more of the carrot (from the same container). I understand the carrot is used like a garnish but I've not had good response when I just want a few more pieces of garnishes and less of the veggie... they give out alot of VEG and RICE and I usually just want less of that. ****All in all... mabye Bentolicious can do something like "point card customer reward system" to make it seem more customer friendly. ----------------------------------------------------------- I did talk to one person that goes alot. Says the guy boss gave a free soda to amigo for waiting due to delayed order, also there's a china contractor that the guy boss tells the Cantonese rice scooper to give extra rice coz working hard manual labor. But the funny thing is the Cantonese scooping rice staff didn't scoop enough and the customer asked for another side of rice. Soooo weird.... ...... So opposite of another place I went yesterday that has full service kitchen that carers to hundreds of people breakfast lunch and dinner 6.5 days per week. Told me to take eat as much beef otherwise they need to dump it all at the end of shift... Major kitchens probably have more bargaining power ...so they don't have to count each piece of veggie I guess? ... Bentolicious is doing well I would assume coz no competition (unless u count chick n tea or shilin). This not south Bay. I'm so ready to move back home please ... Even Los Angeles .. I really like 咪咪五波比 MIMI 5 BOBEE in socal!! Pleasanton... We deserve more.. why hasn't anyone opened up a new bento place yet!! At least Chicha San Chen is coming.... But just boba. The Pleasanton tptea doesn't even have popcorn chicken like the one in Cupertino has.
We went on a Friday night at 6:15 pm. It is very quick if the dish you order is available. The set up is a lot like Panda Express but I would guess fresher. For the tray you pick a main dish that has rice on the bottom, and 3 sides. It is plenty of food for $15.95. I chose the Basil Chicken. It was not dry and had a good ginger, soy sauce, with a little heat sauce. I would order it again. As one of my sides I picked the deep fried salt and pepper squash. Very salt forward but I loved it. Turn the other cheek if you have high cholesterol. I did have the broccoli stir fry which was crunchy. That subtracts out the fried in the squash right. Whatever I picked for my 3rd side was not memorable. I would go back. I would have given them a 5 star but my seat was sticky and the table not wiped down.
I chose this spot for lunch, I ordered online and it was ready within 10 mins! Lots of parking, it's in a plaza with other food spots but it's definitely a must try! It's my first time coming here and trying their food and it won't be my last. As I was parking, I saw the owner talking with the customers outside as they have tables out. Just seeing that, made me feel good about the spot that I'm trying bc the owner is so friendly so I assume they must care about the food quality and service they put out. I ordered scallion black pepper beef with your choice of 3 sides. Mines were soy sauce stewed egg, salt & pepper pumpkin and mixed veggies. First glance, portions are good and reasonable. Quality looks and smells amazing. The beef was tender and well seasoned, veggies in the stir fry plus the mixed veggie sides were still crunchy and vibrant in color. The egg was marinated for a good amount of time for it to have that color without being overly salty. The pumpkin was my favorite because it's seasoned with salt & pepper and jalapeños for the sweet salty and spicy kick. Plus they use a good chunk with light batter. I'm just mad at myself for not eating here before and I've worked around the area for almost two years now. It's now in my rotation to go again heh. 10/10
This is a great spot for a quick meal or takeout order. Favorite choices are the Chiayi organic chicken and the ichiban fried chicken for entrees. All of the sides I've tried are great too but the pumpkin is the standout. Love getting the HK style lemon iced tea as well. There is some seating inside but a lot of people get to go orders. They usually have a steady flow of customers when I've been there but service is still quick and friendly.
Bentolicious is located around the corner from Ssam Korean BBQ, down in Pleasanton. It's across the street from a popular Indian spot, so if you don't know where Bentolicious is just keep walking towards where there's tons of people just waiting outside of the restaurant, and Bentolicious will be across from them at the other building wedged into the last corner of that shopping strip. Bentolicious offers the Taiwan bento lunch experiences, which, as someone who grew up in Taiwan, I can tell you the menu and feel certainly gives off that feeling. It's also interesting they offer specific types of bentos that will mirror the famous bento train box styles that Taiwan has with their rail system, so that's fun. Since this is mainly a takeout spot, just know that the food is already cooked out, and put into trays so when you order they will just scoop and do the takeout for you. Of course the drawback is it may have been sitting there for awhile, but the upside is it will be relatively fast so that's good. Price wise, it's reasonable, particularly for Pleasanton, so good affordable lunch or dinner takeout spot. The basic menu item seems to be pick your protein, and then it comes with 3 sides. There's a variety of sides available here, which is some of the basic stuff you would usually find with the bento like cabbage and stuff, but there's also some stuff that's not so typical of a Taiwan bento, which is fine too. For the side dishes, they were actually pretty decent. The egg plant was tasty. The cabbage was so-so, it's cabbage. The fried squash was yummers. The tofu was also good and delicious. Egg was fine too. However, the fried chicken was underwhelming to say the least. I feel the ones we had today was completely overdone, and just dry and not good anymore. When we ordered, they did offer to fry it fresh, but I assume that just means they refried it, and refried it too much as a result because it was not even remotely what I had hoped for. The breading too, I got really excited because it looked like Taiwan jipa, but when I ate it, it unfortunately was not that. Final verdict? Bentolicious was okay. While there were certainly a lot of upsides with the sides, as those were actually pretty good, and for the price to include 3 sides, makes it all worthwhile. However, if your main feature (the chicken) was not good, it kind of ruined the experience altogether. While I may go back again in the future for some of those sides, I will have to see what other protein options to try out because that fried chicken was not it. Overall, I would still recommend it to anybody looking for a good takeout spot. Who knows, maybe they just overfried it that day for some reason, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now.
Since our office moved to Pleasanton, this has been a go to spot for lunch as it provides really tasty and high-quality food, with the ability to customize your Chinese bento each time. The owners and crew are friendly and efficient, and they also do an outstanding job catering at a cost-effective price. One of my favorite dishes is the organic shredded chicken, which is served over white rice and topped with both the soy sauce and oil-based sauce, with a choice of three sides. My favorite sides are the fried pumpkin along with the spicy eggplant and whatever sautéed greens they have that day. They have plenty of other main dish choices (eg, basil chicken, fried chicken, braised chicken leg, pork, etc. ) and various sides to choose from as well The restaurant isn't large but there are a few tables inside and outside to eat at if you like, along with bottled drinks if you want to purchase them. Would definitely give Bentolicious a try!
Small place with only a couple tables. Most people just order to go and eat elsewhere. Taiwan comfort food, bento (lunchbox) styles. Reasonable price. You get to pick one protein and 3 sides. Protein: Fried Chicken- supposedly their known dish. It was alright. Fried Pork Chop - dried and tough. And soaked in some overly salty sauce. Meh Sides: Fried pumpkins - not bad Mapo tofu - not bad Eggplants- not bad Stir fried Bean Sprouts - meh They also have special soup of the for additional cost.
This place has become mine and my wifes favorite place to eat when were in pleasanton. The food here is SO good, the railroad track pork cutlet is a must. They also do the hot sour soup sometimes which my wife loves esp during the cold months. The service is always spot on and its a great little place to grab a bite any day of the week.
Amazing food and service as always! Ingredients are never too heavy/oily. Authentic food with owners who have genuine passion about their mission and serving fresh food made with care! I usually get the railroad pork chop bento or the chiayi organic chicken bento. For my most recent visit, I got the railroad pork chop bento with the following 3 sides: tofu, eggplants, and fried pumpkin. The fried pumpkin is my favorite side. It's fried wonderfully and has a light and crispy batter. Their night market party wings are also one of my favorite items. The batter and seasoning is spectacular. Handful of tables inside. Plenty of parking in the lot. Love their concept and variety!
I actually came here a number of years back (pre-COVID) and glad to see it's still around and doing well. Even on a Monday, people were bustling in to get their bento boxes. The staff speak Cantonese, but they understand Mandarin and English as well. Bentolicious has a selective menu with some seasonal specials. You pick a main entree, three side dishes, and rice. I opted for the basil chicken entree with the stir fried eggplant, steamed veggies, and fried pumpkin (seasonal). Portion sizes are generous. The basil chicken was mildly spicy and the stir fried eggplant and fried pumpkin were cooked to perfection. If you're looking for a place with good Chinese/Taiwanese/Hong Kong style (take your pick) food with quick and friendly service, and generous portion sizes, come check out Bentolicious!
We were in the neighborhood and needed some lunch. We were looking around on Yelp and BentoLicious popped up and we were intrigued. In short, if you're in need to find quick food to-go, then hop on by! L O C A T I O N BentoLicious is located in a shopping complex kind of off on the side. Parking is a bit hard especially when it's a weekend or busy lunch times. We ended up parking near Maverick's and walked over. I N S I D E It's not a huge spot, but they have seating inside as well as outside. You start your order on the left side not at the cash register which is directly in front of the door. M E N U It's fairly straight forward. They have Taiwanese style bentos now....bento is a Japanese word for a preportioned packed meal so it's just used here in a way that it's a packed meal to go. They have a variety of protein to choose from: chicken (variety of styles), pork, beef, and a non protein of veggies which they place on a bed of steamed white rice. Then you get to choose 3 sides which you kind of point at. I wish they had signs of what each was but I hear that if you look at their menu, it's basically a subset of their vegetable entrees from their party tray menu. They had 9 to choose from when we came in. We opted to get the Railroad Pork Chop. It didn't look as crispy as we were hoping for but we still went ahead and ordered it and to get our crispy craving we ordered popcorn chicken which took an additional 10 minutes which we didn't mind waiting. For our sides, we chose the eggplant with tofu, sauteed bok choy and salt & pepper pumpkin. The pork chop was wet which I wasn't expecting though it did look wet when we got it. The flavor was a bit bland. I've never had Railroad Pork Chop, so I didn't know what it was supposed to taste like or how the texture should be, but the overall flavor just fell flat for me. The eggplant and tofu was great and I would easily come back for that pumpkin squash. The bok choy was decent and was really chosen so that we didn't feel too bad about not having veggies in our meal. It did have garlic which of course everything else did have, so I just took a pepcid to combat my ailing old stomach. The popcorn chicken was good, but wish it did have more white pepper to taste. I wish it also was more moist as it felt a bit dry. S E R V I C E We had called in initially to order but since we were only ordering one bento, they told us to come in so that we can choose our sides. We paid at the register easily by credit card. Fast, kind, and easy service! O V E R A L L If you want something quick and filling, definitely give this place a shot. If you're ordering outside of their bentos then perhaps call that order in so that you don't have to wait. Other than that, not too shabby.
Reviews are largely positive. People highlight the authentic Taiwanese flavors, variety of protein and sides, and fried chicken and pumpkin sides. Service is often described as friendly and quick.
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This whole hearty meal is first of all ONLY $8.95!!! It's crazy! Each bento comes with: - Rice: it's the kind that was cooked perfectly and holds together when picked up with chopsticks. Delicious. - Entree: get the Ichiban fried chicken... super delicious. Made with breast meat but it's super juicy and tender. It was lightly battered, Taiwanese style, too. - 3 veggies sides: so many options! Omg!!! Super exciting! They give you a total of about 10 options. I got the winter melon, mapo tofu and egg. read more
Tried out BentoLicious recently after hearing about it. I was excited for a Taiwanese place in the area. It can be a bit tough to find, so look for The Organic Coup and this restaurant will be just across from it. I went with the railroad bento because I love Taiwanese style fried pork chop. It came with the tea leaf egg and a slice of beancurd, mixed vegetables, and for the last side, I chose the eggplant. Unfortunately, the pork chop did not meet my expectations. It lacked flavor and did not taste like what you'd expect at other Taiwanese places in the south bay. The eggplant dish was decent and so was the egg. It would have been nice to choose a different side other than the mixed vegetables though, or to swap the space on the tray. My friends like the basil chicken so perhaps I'll try that next time. read more
2 years ago
Taste like home, right level of oil, salt, and healthy choices with plenty of flavor. We ordered Basil Chicken, ichiban Fried Chicken Breast, and Railroad Bento. All three bentos were unique in flavor. The portions are huge for one serving. Amazing! I will recommend it for family and busy individuals. There are seating but expect to make it to go because it's crowded even 30mins before closing. They take credit cards and cash. The staff are very friendly. The options are simple and yummy, but it's not for vegetarians. The main dish includes organic chicken (good) and pork made different ways. I will be back for other items. read more
A good place to grab lunch. Tasted like home cook meal and the good part is, there are plenty of varieties where u can mix and match whatever you like. I think they might be a bit on the pricy side, but hey, it's during the pandemic, i'm just glad they are open when i really wanted some taiwanese food. They are located in a plaza so plenty of parking around and it's definitely easy to spot them. read more
4 years ago
Love this place. Only discovered it recently but been eating here once a week. Even did catering for a small get together. Friendly workers too. Definitely taste homemade. read more
4 years ago
Bento boxes are a God send to offices in the area and BentoLicious without doubt, delivers awesome Taiwanese bento boxes. It is hard to find a hearty meal under $10 these days, yet BentoLicious offers scrumptious Ichiban chicken with three sides atop a steam rice. Now that's a great deal if you ask me! I am so enamored with the Ichiban chicken, I have not yet tried the other protein offerings. Oh and the salt and pepper pumpkin side? Absolutely delicious. What is even more great is that I do not feel bloated or weighed down after devouring such a treat. BentoLicious is and awesome spot to get a well rounded lunch for not so much money. read more
6 years ago
I'd give this place a 4.5 so rounding up to 5. I was pleasantly surprised to find a Taiwanese bento place in Pleasanton! The portions here are pretty sizable. They offer online order for pickup if you want to buy family sized meals, but we just walked in to order in person. Right now with COVID they have hand sanitizer at the entrance and have markings on the ground to indicate 6+ ft distance between customers. Upon checkout, they have pens separated by clean and used (for signing receipts if you pay by card). They also take Apple Pay which is super helpful for contactless payment. The owners speak both mandarin and English, and are very friendly. The standard bento box includes 1 entree and 3 sides. I haven't had a side dish that I didn't enjoy from here! They have a fried pumpkin dish that I think might be relatively new that was really good, crispy on the outside and the pumpkin was soft on the inside. But really, you can't go wrong with any of the side dishes. My husband got the eggplant tofu which was cooked well with a sweet vinegary sauce. This is a small family-owned business that's worth supporting! I hope they continue to do well in the current climate. read more
2 years ago
4 years ago
Delicious Taiwanese bento box place. Located close to Hopyard in Pleasanton. It is build your bento box. Lot of different chicken dishes. Lot of different vegetarian sides. It comes with white rice. I had the vegetarian Taiwanese bento box. White rice, bean sprouts with celery and bell pepper, spicy soft tofu, steamed bok choy, and steamed cabbage. It was so delicious. So fresh and healthy. read more
2 years ago
Business owner information
Leonard H.
Hello Bowen, I was notified by one of my regulars who saw your…
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Someone posted about Bentolicious and it ended up in my Instagram feed and instantly peeked our curiosity for dinner. This is exactly how social media is supposed to work. With that being said, it was my first time to this spot. When I arrived at 6:30pm, clearly others saw the same post because there was a line 4 deep. The owners were really friendly and I ended up with 2 bento boxes and 1 order of the special of the day - Fried Chicken Wings ! The best part of our purchase were the wings hands down (can this become a perm item?) because they were made to order (12 minute wait) and still crispy when they got home (10 minutes away). Would we go back to try other items? Yes! Plenty of food for 2 parents and 2 young ladies. read more
3 years ago
6 years ago
Bentolicious is one of the rare taiwanese restaurants out there in Alameda county! Meals are mostly bento style, with the dishes in heat trays. However don't let that deter you as the dishes themselves somehow still taste fresh! I ordered a lb of fried chicken cutlet and wow it reminds me of the homemade fried chicken I ate growing up especially with what appears to be tapioca flour breading?! It was piping hot and ready to burn my mouth and I was willing to accept for the yummyness. LOL jk it's hot but not gonna burn mouths , just make your stomach feel happier. Will visit again for another pound of that fried chicken perfection read more
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Still a great place to grab a good lunch! It was a beautiful day out and had my meal on their front patio. I ordered the basil chicken bento with fried pumpkin, potato and tofu. All were delish and hit the spot. Generous portions. For the partially hidden location on the side of a shopping center, it surprisingly had constant customers coming through but not too busy! Service was friendly and welcoming. read more
5 years ago
3 years ago
Came here after a long day in Pleasanton. I definitely enjoy this concept of bento boxes much more than the standard Japanese ones. This place looks family run and had a good amount of people when we went. Got the fried chicken bento with Bok Choy, Cabbage, and the Tofu as my sides. Chicken was light with a flavorful and crisp outer. The vegetables were good too, slightly salty with a nice flavor of garlic. The tofu had a little bit of the numbing spice but was quite bland. Would say their sides need some more seasoning but overall a very solid place. Would come back to try other things and do recommend checking this place out! read more
I think BentoLicious is kind of a corny name but it's easy to remember and that's probably why they chose it. This is Asian fast food and it's made up of traditional Japanese Bento boxes but a more modern version. I'm told that this is a Taiwanese Bento Box format and originated with the Taiwan Railroad in it's task of feeding workers quickly and economically. Once you enter, you get in cafeteria-like line and tell the servers behind the serving counter what you want. Everything fits into these simple plastic Bento Boxes. Per the posted menu at various locations around the dining room, you simply choose an entree and 3 sides and the servers will assemble them into your Bento Box. This is all served on a bed of rice. You can, then, proceed to the cashier and order your drink and pay for your meal. It works well and the line moves very quickly. There are 5 entree choices plus : Fried Chicken Breast, Basil Chicken, Chiayi Organic Chicken (don't know what that is), All Veggies, Pork (called Railroad) and a Daily Special. There over about half-a-dozen side dishes to choose from. These side dishes vary from day to day. All the completed Bento Boxes are priced at $9.50 - $10.50 depending upon the entree selected. One Bento Box is fairly filling and should satisfy most adults. In my case, I only ate half of mine and took the rest home. The food is all super fresh, hot and fairly tasty. Jim read more
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Fast service with a smile. I was a firstie here and they were very kind and informative as to how ordering worked. I went here on a Friday at lunch time (12:15pm). It was busy but steady and not backed up. I liked that you could see the food as you order it and they give you multiple options to choose from. I only stood in line for about 3 minutes and was out in under 6 minutes. Quick! I had the fried chicken, tofu eggplant and mushroom tofu. I loved the eggplant and the sample of the fried pumpkin I got. The rice was perfect, and again, the service was unbeatable. The chicken was a little dry but tasty. Minus one star because I think the tofu could have been better. The texture of the eggplant tofu was close to perfect but the inside flavor of the tofu was just nonexistent - I think if they marinaded the tofu or pre-seasoned it it would be much better. $10, super quick, and I'll say again - the service with a smile was great! read more
7 years ago
This place is pretty good! It's a little confusing if you're a first timer, but the staff is readily able to explain once they can tell it's your first time! I have no means of comparison, but for what it is it's, it's tasty and portions are generous! read more
5 years ago
8 years ago
I like all these simple Bento options opening up in Pleasanton. While Xushi is more on the Japanese side, for Taiwanese there is now BentoLicious. Honestly shouldn't take you more than a minute to figure out what you want: there are 6 options, mostly chicken but check the daily chef's special. Picking the three sides will probably take more time as there are more and you might want to see which pairs best or just pick your favorites. I went on a Friday with the chef special being black pepper beef. Figured I had to get that. They give you a lot of meat! Good flavor, too! I know I got a few veggies, but honestly couldn't pack it away. Between the Railroad (fried pork chop) and the ribs in black bean sauce, I definitely want to come back. And hard to beat the get in-get out model. read more
More info about BentoLicious
4833 Hopyard Rd E3
Pleasanton, CA 94588
Directions
(925) 201-3899
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https://bentolicious.us
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Ask the Community - BentoLicious
Is there a list or images of what the choices are for the sides?
Go back to their Yelp page and scroll down to their website/menu link. That will give you the bento mains list. Scroll down from their to veg entrees and those items are the side dishes.
Can rice be swapped out for extra veggies?
I tried asking today to skip rice and get more veggie instead, but the middle aged Cantonese server with bandana said no.
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