It’s hard to find authentic Chinese food in Tallahassee at the caliber that one is accustomed to. After tasting the yellow fried rice from New China, I had to find another approach to my Chinese craving.
A friend persuaded me to try Bento.
Located on West Tennessee Street, Bento is an Asian-inspired kitchen that explores different classic Pan-Asian dishes. The options range from bowls and boxes to teas and rolls.
When you first walk in, it is a spacious area with moderate lighting, tables in the center and a line of booths following the far wall to the right.
Looking at the menu I had to make a hard decision, I was stuck between wanting to try something new or playing it safe. I wanted to try sushi so I took a look at their specialty rolls that intrigued me. But it was served as a 10-piece and I knew I didn’t want more than 4 in case I wouldn’t enjoy them, so I opted to save that venture for another time. There was already a 30-minute wait for sushi.
At first I decided to order the Pao Pao Spicy Cream Chicken, but to my dismay they were out of brown rice for the night.
I ordered the chicken fried rice and krab wontons instead. The service was quite fast and they offered a water cup right when you ordered to compensate for the wait. Even with an ordering mistake they quickly adjusted to my requested changes.
When I got the food it smelled really good but didn’t give too much of a soy sauce aroma like normal fried rice. When I started to eat the rice I noticed small remainders of white rice and that I had more chicken than rice. Eventually, I ran out of rice to pair with the chicken and soon noticed the chicken itself didn’t contain a good amount of seasoning to stand alone.
As I started to eat the Krab Wontons they were a nice golden brown on the outside but with very little crab and more cream cheese than expected.
Overall, my food experience from Bento was average. I wouldn’t mind going back to see what I may have missed out on by playing it safe.