bento box

best sushi ive ever had.. i love chefleeand his sushi creations at the bento box. it is really worth the money and time. best sushi in wilmington, nc...probably in the whole state! :)

unmatched excellence in wilmington. just got back from our second time visiting chefleeat bento box tonight for a celebratory post-wedding weekend dinner with mom. we were once again treated as personal guests. you won't find bento box in any taste of wilmington or top chef competitions...since chefleehas already been there, done that. you can tell they take pride in the freshness, presentation and above all - flavor! of everything on the menu. we are new in town and have been slowly looking for a sushi place to call home, looks like we found it. our first visit was nice experience on a saturday night, sitting front row center and talking toleeabout everything from his time in palm beach as a celeb chef to how the fish is flown in fresh from around the world. we started with excellent seaweed salads and a regular salad with amazing ginger dressing. my fiance loved the low carb cucumber & tuna rolls and i could have eaten 2 full pain rolls, extra painful. then we just had them throw together a sashimi platter of their liking and everything just melts in your mouth (like good sushi is supposed to). fresh horseradish, superb ponzu sauce....all in all very much worth the $$. and to top it off, you have to try the chocolate potstickers...rich belgium chocolate pastry wraps with caramel...absolutely a must (hence the capital letters).

our second visit was pretty much an all star recap of our first night, but add the dim sum. there is a backstory on how he gets his dim sum, and it tops anything else we've had in town (like everything else on the menu)......we will be back for third and fourth and fiftieth visits if i have anything to do about it.....

chefleeis the best! he took care of me and my friend. we had exelent service and exelent food. the chocolate pot stickers are amazing!!! they will be seeing more of me!!!

mixed feelings. i have mixed feelings about the bento box. the food is generally excellent, fresh, light and delicious. my favorites are miami vice, caterpillar, crabbie pattie and the chocolate pot stickers. chefleeis the incognita: he can be charming, interesting or he can be abrasive and off-putting. my solution is to order take-out, because the food is worth it.

i travel all over the country, and this is one of the best sushi experiences i have ever had. not only was the food fantastic, but it was artfully displayed, and chefleeis amazingly skilled and also took the time to have a genuine conversation with me while i dined. i would recommend this to anyone looking for quality and service unmatched!

best sushi in town. bento box seriously does have the best sushi in town. i'm in there at least once a month and every time i go back its better than the last, i'm not sure what chefleedoes but his 'delicious roll' is addictive. if you're a wilmington resident and haven't been yet i'm not sure you've been doing with yourself. if you're just visiting it will make your whole stay worthwhile.

chefleedoes an amazing job at preparing the fish. the bento box dishes come with an amazing variety of top of the line sushi. check it out!


-----22 feb, 2013-----

bento box is an amazing restaurant, especially for college kids! i'm serious top of the line sushi for an amazing price. i'm going every week now and i love it. the fish is amazingly fresh it melts in your mouth. no one could possibly dislike this place. hands down the best sushi i've ever had. can't wait to go back! just try it once and you won't be disappointed!

bento box. after trying out all of the recommended sushi restaurants in the wilmington area, the bento box is by far the best. i usually stop by at least three times a week for lunch or dinner indulging in fresh-great tasting fish selections. i usually get a variation of nigiris and sashimi combinations ranging from blue fin tuna, salmon and escolar. being a college student, i am able to eat at the restaurant thanks to their affordable deals, such as the sashimi bento box-my personal favorite. try this restaurant, it will suffice your sushi needs. chefleetruly dedicates his time into being able to serve the freshest fish in town.

foodies and fish lovers - this one's for you. i have been waiting to write this review for a long time, my friends.

now that i no longer work at the bento box, i can finally let loose and tell the world precisely how i feel about this restaurant....

i know, i know, you were hoping for a massive bashing, but what better review can there be than from a former employee who will happily continue to be a customer for years to come?

i'm a sushi fiend, and i'm also picky about my sushi, and after more than three years of trying out sushi restaurants in this town, i can definitively say that the bento box has the best sushi in wilmington.

that said, let me give you the insider scoop on a few things. for starters, unless you know you're the type of person who enjoys heavy, saucy, broiled seafood, *do not order* the palm beach, port city or lobster roll. no one on the staff thinks these rolls are incredible sushi. if it were up to the them, they'd be cut from the menu. but there's a portion of the population who can't get enough of these rolls, and for those people, they stay on the menu.

here's the thing - chefleegoes to great lengths to bring in fresh, sustainable, and, when he can, local seafood. this man cares about fish, and he thinks you should, too. if you catch him at the sushi bar during a rare quiet moment, he will talk your ear off about some fish. do yourselves a favor and try some rolls that really highlight his efforts.

for starters, some of my current favs: the delicious (good training wheels for anyone attempting raw fish for the first time), miami vice and sesame shrimp (for those ready to graduate from plain old shrimp tempura rolls), pain (for those who like it hot - ask for it "painful" if you really want to light a fire!), counselor and ny (when i really just want to taste my fish), and one tree hill and rainbow kc (for days when i need to chill on the carbs).

and don't forget that these guys have a full kitchen in the back ready to rock out an ecclectic asian menu. try the lemongrass chicken (*so* worth the wait) or red curry - of which i'm finishing leftovers as i type.

yes. i went back to my former place of employ just two days after my last day of work in order to get the curry. because even after working there for nearly a year, i'm still head over heals for the bento box.

and *that* should say it all.

lee knows sushi!!. my wife and i enjoyed the challenge of finding the best sushi joint in town. hands down the bento box is it.lee(the owner and chef) is a master at what he does and an artist of food preparation. he has monitors throughout his restaurant so if you chose not sit at the bar, you can enjoy watching him prepare your meal via camera. he should have his own reality tv show, if you just added a little more kitchen drama. thanksleeand staff, my search ends here. p.s. don't be shocked, butleeis a white guy, on the outside.

excellent. i lived in hawaii for 4 years and currently live in chicago. i've been to all the best sushi restaraunts in chicago. bento box is far better than anything you will find in chicago. it's also about half the price. i'm a huge sushi snob because i have not found anthing close to what you can get in the aloha state in the us. most places try to give you lots of rice/avocado or whatever non-fish thing they can throw in there. i was lucky to go with a friend of the owner/sushi chef, lee, and he just askedleeto make us some good stuff. although i was a little skeptical of the "americanized menu" with a lot of tempura and not so much fish in each of the rolls. butleehooked us up with a bunch of rolls with a good sushi to non-sushi ratio if you know what i mean.

the rolls with the thinly sliced cucumber instead of seaweed wrappers are great. the fish thatleebrings in is top-notch. again, it bests any chicago sushi restaurant in quality. just look at the color of the tuna..its a deep maroon. perfect.

the only complaint is that they only have low-sodium soy sauce. can't understand that.

perfect sushi. four of us sat at the sushi bar on a not-too-busy monday night, and chief sushi chef and owner, lee, started us out with his selection of choice slices of sashimi: big-eye tuna, escolar, yellowfin, and salmon. all were excellent. the signature rolls were unusual and delicious, and the service was top notch. customized orders were easily accommodated, and the suggestionsleeand nick (another sushi chef) offered were wonderful. this was our first time there (for 3 of us), and we will definitely be back whenever we are in the area again. i think the quality, taste, and presentation at bento box compares with the finest sushi restaurants in los angeles, hawaii, and new zealand that i have visited. 5 of 5 stars for the food, and 4.5 stars for atmosphere and decor. a very satisfying experience. highly recommended!

no. 1 grade sushi. to the absurdly obnoxious (and pretentious) reviewer below, "escoffier chef," you clearly are misguided and don't know much about top-notch high-quality fish.

i've been eating at bento box regularly for the last 3 years and keep coming back solely for what is the freshest, highest-quality fish available. i've lived in nyc and l.a. and eaten at all of the famous amazing sushi places in each city. the fish chefleeuses is equal to or better than those places.

i've attached 2 photos to the bento box page for people to see the definition of top-notch #1 grade fish.

in other news: the rolls are very creative and consistently superb. wilmington is very lucky to have such a high-quality restaurant.

sushi paradise. i went to bento box last week and i'm a fan for life. i've had sushi from all around wilmington and bento box is far superior than all others. chefleeis very talented and creative, and is a master of his craft. if you're in town and fancy sushi, bento box is the place for you.

bento box is without a doubt the best sushi ive had in wilmington. if you want to sit at a table and enjoy a meal or chill at the sushi bar and watch chefleedo his thing, bento has it. i would highly reccomend bento box to any sushi lover that's in the wilmington area.