There has been a buzz in the Yelp community for YEARS about U Kitchen (UK), a Japanese restaurant that serves bentos, plate lunches, sandwiches and sandwiches. UK, located in Kokea Center, with popular neighbors of Yohei Sushi and Subway, UK is known for their balanced and healthy lunch options. They opened their doors for business in Aug 2021 offering economical and balanced Japanese lunch boxes. Many Yeeps rave over their Nori Bento, which has deep fried fish filet, fried curried chikuwa, potato croquette, mochiko chicken, house green salad, macaroni salad, Japanese seaweed, Japanese pickles and rice. All of this food for &5.99. Here's the catch: this special is only offered between 8am to 11am. Lucky me for having a sister who works graveyard shifts and picked me up the Nori Bento one day and dropped it off at my office for me. I was impressed with the presentation and volume of food for that price. After taking a photo, it was time to dig in. As recommended in Jo Y.'s review, I reheated the deep fried items in the toaster oven to liven up my bento. Indeed deep fried foods taste better when eaten hot and the exterior texture crisped up. I also reheated the rice after removing the greens and macaroni salad and indeed, it was a good meal with a generous portion as I couldn't finish it in one sitting. So why only 4 stars? Most of the bento components were commercialized, premade items and deep fried. Would have been nice with components of braised, stewed, pickled and/or steamed (i.e. nikujaga, nishime, namasu). The bottom line: you cannot go wrong with the Nori Bento for $5.99. Great volume and decent food.

Best hidden gem off of Dillingham Boulevard. I say hidden because of the ridiculous rail traffic barriers on Dillingham Boulevard. U-Kitchen is right off of Kokea Street. U-Kitchen has a very friendly staff and the best authentic Japanese bentos.

Surfing IG and lots of food places pop up. I was rather impressed and decided to try it. I ordered the pork kakuni - very flavorful. The portion was good for me. The portions are on the smaller side. Lots of rice, mac salad, and mixed greens. I'm not in the area too much - all that horrible road work (they should have done it in parts rather than the whole length) I digress. I wanted something for breakfast and lunch. This fit the bill. Ate half for breakfast, the other half for a late lunch early dinner. If I'm in the area again, I want to try their menchi katsu.

Food was very good . If you're looking for a quick lunch and are in this area , U Kitchen is the spot to come. Service is very fast too , just too bad they don't have table to sit inside.

Oishii....but to get there sucks with constructions!!! But it's worth the traffic jam Had the chicken katsu...pork tonkatsu..sukiyaki bento Bought...grilled salmon and miso butterfish for my friend

As often as I see this place I've never wanted to go here for lunch. Today my coworker really wanted to go here. I almost didn't buy anything but decided to just try their Sukiyaki Bento. I'm glad I did. It was delicious. I'm definitely buying this again.

Was craving for something Japanese and yet not over priced. Searched Yelp and came across U-Kitchen. Read the reviews and looked at pictures. A lot of good reviews so gave it a try. It's located next to Yohei Sushi on Dillingham. Right now, because of the rail construction, it's a bit pain in the @$$ to get there but it's worth it. It's take out only. So you order and you wait outside. I saw many do phone orders. The staff are very friendly and the shop is clean. We ordered Mechi Katsu, Menchi Katsu Curry, Mushroom Chicken, and Hamburg Steak with Egg. All plates came with some mixed greens and macaroni salad. The macaroni salad was not too much mayo so it was good. The Menchi Katsu was a good size patty and very good. Although, we didn't care for the sauce on the menchi katsu. It was a bit sweet for our taste. Hopefully, next time we can omit it? and just have the regular tonkatsu sauce instead. The curry was okay, just a little on the sweet side for our liking. The hamburg steak was a good size patty with lots of demi sauce. I knew I'm not a fan of demi sauce but wanted to try it anyways. They cover the patty with lots of it. A pretty thick demi sauce. The best plate was the mushroom chicken. the chicken was tender and the gravy was good, not salty at all. I'd come back for the menchi and the mushroom chicken.

Enjoy trying out new places. Decided to grab some take out. I got the salmon katsu which comes with Mac salad and tossed greens. My coworkers got the hamburger steak and garlic chicken. The salmon katsu was crisp and delicious. It was drizzled with some sauce but I added a bit more of the katsu sauce. It hit the spot. Definitely would check this place out again. Probably would need to go a little earlier because they also sell musubis and bentos.

A hidden gem so to speak... it's right on Kokea near Nisshodo. Japanese bento lunches that taste like they were made for a sit down meal with tablecloth and flowers. That good! We ordered Garlic salmon and Hamburger steak. Each serving was large enough to satisfy anyone. It included rice, tossed salad (with seared hot dog) and a delicious new Mac salad! Prices were reasonable considering portion size. Only thing to request is a larger scoop of macaroni salad. Service was excellent and the place is clean and neat. Open every day for breakfast and lunch. This place is a must and it is worth the drive on Dillingham Blvd too!

U kitchen is in a little strip mall across LCC. They have many bentos and plate lunches for a reasonable price that's stacked high with flavor. My go tos: Grilled salmon Breakfast bento ($5 can't go wrong) Their salmon katsu, chicken katsu with curry, Menchi (beef) katsu with curry are my other favorites. My hubby and sister loves their garlic chicken. All their plate lunches comes with rice (2 scoops), Mac salad, and toss salad. Reasonable prices, great service, delicious food. Take out only. Enjoy and happy yelping!