Niban- a quick Lunch

Hello.  You are reading mmm-yoso!!!, a blog about food.  Kirk is still on vacation.  ed(from Yuma) is still working.  Cathy is here, sharing with you a meal she and The Mister shared with each other.

 
I've posted about Niban two times.  It is conveniently located on Clairmont Mesa Boulevard at the SouthEast corner of 805, in the parking lot with the Starbucks, McDonald's and Souplantation.  This is another place The Mister and I grab a quick lunch or dinner when neither of us wants to cook.  There are large menus taped in the front windows and also a display case of the specials for that day at the doorway.

You walk in, order, pay then have a seat.  Soon, someone comes by and grabs the numbered receipt you were handed and asks what your beverage choice is.  Hot tea is always free.  There are two lunch specials on the back wall, behind the cashier.

 

This is the lunch Bento ($5.25).  It is served on a divided round dish.  Fried calamari, a fried shrimp and a piece of fried fish (tasted like cod that day), rice and tartar sauce.  Six pieces of California roll (made with krab), a piece of nigiri. At the 5 o'clock position, a sort of crabmeat fish cucumber salad...no place else on the menu and enticingly good.

 
The other lunch special, gyoza ($5.25).  You are asked if you would like your dumplings fried or steamed.  This time, we chose steamed.  Very thin dough, filled with ground pork and vegetables.  As you can see, miso soup, salad and rice accompany the dumplings, as well as a vinegar-soy sauce.  
 

Above, the fried calamari appetizer ($4.25). We almost always order this, with lunch or with dinner...or for lunch or fo dinner... Five pieces of breaded, crispy fried calamari steak accompanied by some lettuce and sauce.  Hot spicy sauce.  *Not* Thousand Island dressing, even though that is how the sauce appears.  I think the sauce has sriracha as a base. I used to think it was jalapeño, but since becoming more familiar with sriracha, it seems pretty evident that those peppers are what is in this sauce.  It compliments the fried calamari steak quite well.

Good daily specials, good food, nice people.

Niban 7081 Clairmont Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92111 (858) 268-0465

Comments

[foodhoe]

that all looks really good. funny that they have fried calamari/shrimp/fish instead of tempura... but that spicy sauce sounds delicious! weird but I am not able to comment here using an ipad, it keeps telling me to enter a valid url.

[NaimSan]

Eeek. Had one meal at Niban and it was utterly disgusting. The place was filthy and they served us HALF COOKED Gyoza. Total amateur hour. Sorry, you are off base on this one.

Any place that caters mostly to drunk college kids has lousy food.

[Cathy]

It is an interesting bento, fh. All the food is good here. I think I will have to finally break down and get an iPad, just to see exactly what the problems are with the commenting...
You know, NaimSan, I have had at least 100 meals, all eat-in, at Niban over the last decade and never once have I seen drunk college kids as patrons. Many couples, families and a lot of single people. Oh, and all of my meals here have been cooked properly and tasted really good. I am sorry your sole experience here was so bad and really don't understand why you did not bring it to the attention of someone working. Welcome to the commenting side of our blog.

[The Food Detective]

I like fried dumplings. My student's dad works here. He says that his dad brings home really good rolls. I didn't even know about this place until he told me and you blogged it!

[caninecologne]

hi c- i haven't been here in ages, but i remember liking my bento - tempura shrimp and sushi rolls.

[Carol]

I used to come here all the time when they opened. Saved me the trip to Ichiban in PB. Haven't been back in years though.

[Faye]

I use to love this place b/c they had unreal prices for their lunch bento specials. I thought they were way better than the Sushi Deli chain. But the last 3 visits there, I found the quality of their sushi to be *meh*. Figured, for me, that it was better to go elsewhere and pay more to get better quality. But I'd still go back if my friends wanted to meet there - but I'd only order their specials of the day b/c they really are cheap/affordable.

[Cathy]

I just thought we'd try the steamed dumplings instead of fried this time, FD, never had been given a choice before. Cool that now you know about Niban from independent sources.
It's pretty much the same, cc:food, location, quantity, quality, price...
Carol- We were supposed to meet here for lunch, one day long ago, weren't we?
Sorry you had a bad experience here, Faye. I do usually order a special, but then the calamari or the katsu chicken salad also shows up.