Rakuzen

Bento boxes for everyone! This place really does live up to it’s tag line– Simple Japanese. The food is worth walking off Lygon St for.
There’s three areas of this small venue. Inside, outside and a sushi take away window. The food was fresh and suitably Japanese. Which is always a pleasant surprise.
The staff are friendly and attentive.
Price wise you can’t beat this place for good quality food. $ 21.80 for two adults having lunch and soft drinks.
*note this is a cash only venue.

This place is good for both grab-​and-​go as well as sit-​down meals. Near the entrance, you have the sushi bar with pre-​made rolls you can pick out and get instantly. If you are looking for something more filling such as udon or a bento, that is available as well!
Ambiance: A modern look with an Asian touch. The place is very clean, which is always a plus. They have their chopsticks in a container at each table and get this — multi-​coloured chopsticks! I was thoroughly intrigued hahaha. Their music… could do with some change. I mean, sure it is just music and it should not be a big deal, but playing Korean pop at a Japanese restaurant? Also Katy Perry when she’s singing about sex? I looked awkwardly over towards the little boy to my left who can’t be more than 8 years old and his mother. The bathroom was a bit weird because it doubled as a storage room. There were boxes all over and shoes on the floor.
Customer Service: I had a young Chinese waitress (I heard her speak Chinese to one of the chefs) and she was nice enough. It felt a bit awkward though because sometimes I can tell that she does not really know what to do when the customer is busy deciding on an order. She just hovered over my table standing and waiting while I was looking at the menu.
Food: I ordered Gyoza, Salmon Sashimi w/​Chicken Bento, Miso Soup, and just regular water (not bottled). The food came at respectable times and had a great value as well. The menu is displayed right outside of the restaurant as well as pictures and labels of many of their different meals all over the restaurant. The complete menu itself seems to have a lot of variety, so I would trust to find something you would like here. They have bento boxes, sushi, ramen, udon, curries, rice bowls, etc. She gave me the Miso Soup first. It was pretty tasty. You can’t really go wrong with Miso Soup though. Next came the Gyoza (5 pieces) and that was absolutely delicious! Soft, and still juicy on the inside! Yum! Finally came the Bento, but that could do with some work. It came with Salmon Sashimi, Rice, Chicken, and some sort of mash that tasted terrible so I just left it alone. The Salmon Sashimi and the Rice were good, but the Chicken was fried and was way too buttery in my opinion. The only flavour I was able to taste from it was just butter, so I had to constantly eat it with large scoops of rice for it to be edible.
NOTES:
~ No split bill.
~ The seating isn’t cramped, but with the structure of the tables I don’t recommend it for large groups. Maybe 5 people maximum.
Overall, I would come here again. This place is cheap and has a lot of variety. But the food was just alright.