Obento is a flashy Japanese joint with nice lighting, big tables, and decent sushi. They have half priced sushi some days, which is great, except when you show up on days that are full priced (like me). The decor is clean and spacious, service is okay. I ordered the chirashi and my friend ordered the spider roll and sushi set. The chirashi had some good bites of fish, fresh and tender, but for the most part, the bento was half crab stick and tamago (egg) for filler. For 9 pounds, it was a little light on the fish, which made me sad. The sushi set looked good, with a good amount of tempura to fill you up. The spider roll, however, was very heavy on the rice, packed so tight and not recently, so that the rice was dense and a bit chewy. If my meal were a half priced meal, I'd totally rock the place with a three star review. The portion sizes were good and the quality sufficiently okay to eat there regularly. But to get what we did on a full price night, with no additional perks or service? Sorry. Two stars. read more

Obento - Chirashi - Japanese Near Me - Bristol, BST

Obento rocks. One of my favourite foods is sushi and it is quite difficult to find somewhere that does sushi well, and at a moderate price. Usually if a restaurant has good sushi, they really go to town on hiking the prices up. Then I walked past Obento one day and saw their 'half price sushi' poster in the window, and I am not one to pass up a good bargain, especially when there is sushi involved. When I got my sushi, I was so happy with it. They really put thought into the presentation of my food, eventhough I only ordered off the half price sushi range, which I really appreciated. Now the taste - fresh, light and clean. Their half price offer was only for a few months, but it seems to always be extended, which works fine for me! I have been here numerous times, and won't stop going anytime soon. They have the freshest sushi I have tasted for a long time - and I have been on the lookout for years. read more

See all

From the outside Obento is full of Eastern promise - there's cool low-level green lights and the word 'karaoke' blazoned on the outside. But once you get inside you realise just how unauthentic this restaurant is. The sushi is stodgy and glutinous with dry lifeless filling and the drinks are limited and unexciting. The service is always pleasant, but the restaurant lacks any kind of atmosphere. If you're looking for a taste of the orient I would head up to Beijing Bistro on Park Street on Tampopo in Cabots Circus. read more

Obento - Japanese Near Me - Bristol, BST

Japanese sushi restaurant, Obento sits on the commuter run between the centre of town and Temple Meads Station. The interior is eye-catching, brightly coloured if a little tacky, but it's great for families. Whenever I go in here, it's really empty, which does detract from the fun mood. This place does have it's moments. They are also a karaoke bar - you can hire a small room upstairs to hold your karaoke function. If you're not up for eating in, you can also take their delicious sushi away and munch by the river or on the train home. read more

Obento - Japanese Near Me - Bristol, BST

I've come to Obento to avail of their half price sushi offers! I love my sushi very much and the sushi here is not bad. It is however not brilliant, especially given the price. I would never go here for sushi if it wasn't half price. The bento boxes are not bad and fairly reasonably priced but again they didn't blow me away. The atmosphere of the restaurant is also less traditional Japanese and more wagamama canteen. I wanted to order zaru-soba and tempura but couldn't see it on the menu. I was amazed when they told me they couldn't make it. They have the soba, they already do tempura. Zaru-soba is easy peasy to make, I should know, I'm a dreadful cook and zaru-soba is one of my favourite quick easy dishes to make. I was a little bit gob smacked that they just said 'no, its not on the menu' and that was 'end of discussion'. read more

Obento - Japanese Near Me - Bristol, BST

When obento fist opened it was a breath of fresh air Well breath of fresh raw fish. But something must of happened a year or two after they opened. It seems that they have lost quite a lot of their food quality. I have not been there for nearly a year now after I was served some not so high quality sushi. They might be better now but I don't think I would go there again. read more

Obento - Japanese Near Me - Bristol, BST

The first time I went here a few years ago was the first time I had ever eaten sushi and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had the dynamo sushi roll which is salmon and tempura butter and it was delicious. If I was writing my review after that first experience I would probably give it 4 or 5 starts, but (and it's a big but), I have since eaten sushi at a few other places and they have all been better, which leads me to think that this first experience wasn't as good as I'm remembering. The service at this place is excellent though and the staff are very friendly, unfortunately with the opening of Yo Yo Sushi in Cabot Circus (which I haven't been to) this place might suffer. read more

Obento - Japanese Near Me - Bristol, BST

This place hit the spot. I some some less than convincing reviews so I was a bit hesitant, but the place was good! pro: solid sushi great staff well located con: decor of restaurant is so so no draft beer read more

I personally can never argue with Karaoke, this however is a sushi restaurant first and a Karaoke bar second. The food is too over priced, for what i paid i was expecting very good sushi. I was however greeted with some pretty average rolls. Still, it is a fun place to head for a few drinks and a bit of a sing along! read more

I could eat sushi all day, so I'm regularly in Obento. They offer a mid-week half price menu on about half of the sushi list - they are highlighted on the menu. If there's a pen on the table you can fill in your own order sheet which saves time too! There's free refills on green tea, although sometimes it takes a little while to summon the tea server! My favourite thing on the sushi menu is the Dynamite rolls. You get 8 pieces which is great for 2 to share. Although last time I was there I had 8 Dynamite rolls, and 8 California rolls as well as tuna and scallop sashimi all to myself! (The scallops are delicious, but not on the half price offer). If I'm honest the quality of the tuna/salmon etc is not 100%, it can be a bit tough, but I can't complain at the prices. Between 2 of us it usually costs about £20 with the half price offer. read more

This Japanese restaurant near Bristol Bridge can easily be spotted by its green and white exterior and big sign. Always keen to support independent restaurants over chains, I'd love to see Bristol's independent sushi restaurants survive the arrival of the likes of Yo Sushi. If you want a karaoke party, this is your place - you can hire out the upstairs room, complete with the necessary equipment, for a private singing session all of your own. If you want sushi, however, unfortunately there are better restaurants elsewhere. Obento always feels a bit subdued in atmosphere, probably because it's so often quiet, and in my opinion the food doesn't compare to other sushi places I frequent (such as the amazing 'Yen Sushi' in Bath city centre). I love sushi, and I'm quite happy to pay good money for it, but unfortunately Obento doesn't justify its prices. read more

The sashimi was okay, but nothing that exciting The presentation included plastic frondage which is never a good sign. The yakitori was super oily, the gyoza fell apart if you tried to pick them up--at least the miso soup was decent. The server cleaned up a 1/3 bottle of sake and two full sake glasses while I was in the restroom, then overcharged us 10 pounds on the bill. Luckily we caught the overcharge. The service is really disorganized and lax and the food is mediocre. Give this one a pass. read more

I had high hopes of getting some semi decent sushi from Obento when I stopped in to grab a couple rolls for take away; sadly I should have known better. The Dynamite Roll was basically a roll of rice with a bit of fish, a chunk of cucumber, and it was hardly placed in the tempura and fried. The Spicy Tuna was a little more promising but not much. There wasn't much spice to it and the huge chunk of cucumber overpowered the entire roll. The Philadelphia roll was by far the most disgraceful; it should have had cream cheese in it and instead was topped with mayonnaise, the inside was packed with the largest chunks of cucumbers I've ever seen in a roll. The edamame was ok but it's really hard to mess that up. Long story short, if you've ever had really good sushi, or even decent sushi, avoid Obento as you'll only pay far too much for poor sushi. read more

We came here on Saturday at 9.40pm. As we walked in the first thing the barman did was turn his look to the clock on the wall. We were greet and walked over to a table. We ordered nigiris, makis, tempura prawn and seafood udon. Our udon dish was tasteless but even though we decided not to complain. At the end of the visit we asked for the bill and realised there was a 10% service charge included (not discretionary). My friend and I decided to leave a tip cash so we ask for a bill without SC. Our surprise was that the waiter attending us didn't react on an appropriate way and responded that we were obliged by "the government" which isn't true!! A different person came back to the table to take the payment and she was making us questions about what went wrong during our time in the restaurant and if there were any issues to address with the service. At this point she make me feel very embarrassed as she was raising her voice and having an attitude. After she took all the payment from both cards (without service charge) I wanted her to know that I wish to leave the tip according to my experience to which she replied with a sarcastic smile and walked away. Obviously at this point and after the disappointment we decided not to leave any tip. On our way to the door we say good bye and thanked the staff near us however they looked away. We won't come back. I wish I read the reviews for this place beforehand! read more

Good location and clean appearance, but that's all that's going for this place. You go in expecting sushi, what you get is deep fried rice/fish platters, that strips the food of the expected clean full taste. The food also appears to attract flies, which you will find as a cloud of them arrive at your table with your food. Avoid, I will be. read more

Obentos is one of my favourite restaurants in Bristol. It's a great place for lunch or dinner. They have some great lunch specials on offer for a reasonable price. There are now 2 floors of tables, so if you have a large group, you can be easily accommodated. I tend to order sushi platters and tempura and have yet to be disappointed with the quality or quantity. Friends who are not big sushi fans have been won over by the chicken and pork katsu bento boxes. At my last visit, I ordered one of the new seaweed wraps and was very happy with it, and will order again. The staff are lovely and are quite efficient and helpful. The restaurant is very clean. I have to disagree with erzibet's review 100%, since I haven't ever seen Obentos in that state in the multiple times I've eaten there. I highly recommend a visit-they also do take aways if you can't sit down and enjoy your meal there. read more

Obentos offers great Japanese food, ranging from katsu curries to a variety of noodle dishes to particularly goodt sushi, though it comes at a price. This is one of my main issues with England and what they justify charging for Sushi. Go over the Atlantic and see what you can get for a tenner - you can afford to try several types and get a good idea of what the different types are. And with the thousand different varities of sushi available, being able to learn what you like saves the three years it initially takes when deciding on the menu. Sadly, not many people have the cash in English sushi restaurants to try a good variety and get a good idea of whats out there. Either ways, Obentos is a great sushi restaurant and well worth visiting for a lunch deal or a good bento box in the evening. Well worth a visit. read more

I visited this restaurant with friends who love the place. I'm not madly into fish though and whilst i accept that this is a strange place for me to come i still expected that there would be more choice for me. I love vegetarian sushi rolls but there wasn't really much of that going. I had to make do with vegetarian tempura battered vegetables which were bland and pretty average. Having said this, for those who weren't so picky there was lots of choice. The bento boxes are the best value, being quite big and reasonably priced. The staff did mess up our orders a couple of times but they kept the sake flowing which was handy! Deserts were the frozen type you also get in indian restaurants and so not worth the money. I have a feeling that with the new Yo Yo sushi just opened in cabot circus this place might suffer. But if you're a lover of sushi this is a sushi restaurant and it's all the same to me! read more

Visited about a month ago, and went for one of their bento boxes - miso soup, rice, pickles, salad, and tempura seafood and veg for around the £10 mark. A delicious meal, but hampered by the fact that we didn't get a great table - the two of us dining were sat on the same side of the table as each other, facing the wall! read more

Service was bad. They didn't put out the bowls or sauce pot. Salmon roe wrapped in seaweed didn't taste nice. Charged the ginger. Toilets are small read more

Obento is overpriced. Sushi itself is an expensive treat anywhere outside of its Japanese home, but the prices for individual rolls at Obento are particularly steep. The quality of the sushi? Yo is worse than Obento which is a way behind Itsu. It's not bad, but one would expect more for the price. The main redeeming feature of Obento is the karaoke rooms upstairs. I went here for a twenty-first birthday and the combination of a few bottles and karaoke is always a successful one. Their karaoke machines have a large catalogue of hits although the touch screen interface of the actual machines was counter-intuitive and unresponsive. We needed some help from the very polite and attentive waiters and waitresses. read more

I love sushi and had high expectations of Obento but sadly it just didn't do it for me. The restaurant was dirty and crawling with flies, the staff were unhelpful and rude and the food was bland and horribly greasy to the extent that myself and my companion both felt sick as it was just too oily. Maybe we got them on an off day but I definitely won't be back. read more

Obentos is highly recommended the variety of food on offer is a plus , as i am a sushi lover the goods are always fresh and the most important bit , it tastes great. There lunch offers are great if you want something quick before going back to work. As with most UK sushi menus it can be pricy but worth it. The restaurant inside is clean and the staff are helpful , which is always good. read more

You can expect delicious food, wonderful service and a really chilled atmosphere. Sounds strange but what makes this place stand out is the bathroom. Not only is it one of the cleanest, most stylish I've ever been in but they keep little scented candles in the corner of all the cubicles. read more

I am soooo happy to find a proper Japanese restaurant in Bristol! Being a huge fan of Japanese food and having lived in Shanghai and Hong Kong for basically whole my life, I am quite picky about Japanese restaurants. Yo! Sushi and Wagamama just won't do for me. I always prefer independent restaurants to chains. This place serves great food, very Japanese, at reasonable prices. The menu is expensive, covering almost every common Japanese dish. I would definitely recommend sashimi and sushi here. Personally I prefer the raw fish to the rice, but when the rice is of good quality and cold and with vinegar, I can't resist it. Fish here is very fresh. Salmon Teriyaki is really satisfying. I'm sure it is not hard to find good salmon here in the UK, so I guess the sauce is where the secret lies. If you want the 'full set', go for the salmon teriyaki bento box, which comes with rice, pickles, salad, miso soup and fruit. My personal favourite is the Yasai soba. Clear soup, lodas of oriental vegetables, fried tofu, and soba noodles. Simple. Soup has a nice sweet taste. Portion is large. Choices of Udon or Ramen available, as well as chicken/salmon/beef versions. There is a lunch menu from Monday to Friday, providing even better value for food. I've tried the chicken hotpot, and i love it. Staff here is mainly Chinese. Helpful and pretty efficient. read more

We were (apologetic) late last-minute diners, and the only ones there. The wait staff could not have been nicer or more professional, and our food was excellent. My partner says the Salmon Skin sushi was probably the best he's ever had (it was very tasty). Varied and interesting menu. Would have no hesitating recommending it to others. Hope to visit again before we leave Bristol next week. read more

This is a reasonable Japanese restaurant, though nothing to write home about, but the karaoke is fun and it's a great place for a large gathering. I had a birthday party here, and everyone had a great time, as the menu is varied enough that almost anyone can find something they want to eat. They don't just serve sushi, but it has to be said that the sushi is the largest section of the menu, and the reason why Obento is worth a visit. Prices are quite high, so this is not a place to visit on a budget. If you're looking for Teppanyaki, they do offer it, but the price is outrageous and the quality isn't that good, so I'd suggest you go elsewhere. There is another Japanese restaurant just up the road which might suit your purposes better. The staff are a bit slow here too, so you may end up waiting a very long time for your food. In short, not a terrible place to get Japanese food, but not a great one either. read more

This restaurant is fabulous and has been one of my favourites in Bristol for the past 3 years. The best dish is the dynamo sushi roll which is a salmon sushi roll and fried in a tempura batter on the outside. The first time I tried this it was very bizarre but it is addictive and soon we were back for more. The plum wine is lovely although pricey at £5. The rest of the food is quite affordable and the food is usually fabulous. I don't personally like the noodles but the bento boxes are very nice. The restaurant itself was renovated last year and there are private karaoke rooms upstairs. The yasai gyoza are nice as long as you try them deep fried. Management changed hands a few months ago but the food has stayed consistent. There is also a 15% discount on take away which is well worth getting. The temaki hand sushi rolls are really nice and they have a combination of mayonnaise with caviar style roe. The california one is great. read more

We love Japanese food and came across this place by accident while staying in Bristol for one night. The food was fine although not the best presented sushi and sashimi we have eaten. The meal was let down by poor service though. It wasn't busy but when we had finished the main course the table was part cleared and then forgotten. No refills of green tea and no one interested in bringing the bill. Pity. read more

Great sushi restaurant delivered through meals.co.uk

Really fresh sushi, with lots of different toppings available. Especially a must try is the spider deluxe roll - so pretty and so yummy yummy. And when I went there was a special offer going for half priced sushi. Cheap, easy and delicious. Highly recommended read more

lovely delicous food. i love this place friendly too