Before COVID, this new Boise restaurant was to open in May. Now it won’t open at all.

Teriyaki rice bowls make for fast, health-conscious takeout food — so Zen Bento was well-positioned to stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.

That doesn’t mean the longtime Boise favorite isn’t curbing expansion, though.

Zen Bento has reversed course on a planned new location at 2340 N. Bogus Basin Road. Targeting residents from the North End and Highlands neighborhoods, owner Rene Iwamasa had hoped to open the restaurant in May. Zen Bento would have shared space with Reed Cycle in the recently renovated building, a former car wash.

“We are bummed to report that Zen Bento will not be pursuing that location at this time,” Iwamasa said in an email Monday. “Our customers were expressing such excitement to have us at that end of town but now are equally as understanding as to why we are not moving forward with it.”

Even before COVID, the last three years brought steady change for the locally owned chain. Zen Bento was forced from its State Street location in early 2018 after the building was demolished by the Ada County Highway District. Iwamasa soon opened a new store at 2454 S. Apple St. in Boise. In 2019, she closed the Eagle location of Zen Bento after 15 years in that city.

Currently, there are two Zen Bento restaurants, both in Boise: the Apple Street store and the popular downtown shop at 1000 W. Main St.

Zen Bento opened its first restaurant in downtown Boise in 1996. After nearly a quarter century, its menu of tasty rice bowls and salads still offers customers “peace in a lunchbox.”

“We have been very thankful that we have remained open during this time, Iwamasa said, “and that our business model was pretty much where we needed to be in order to ebb and flow with things. I feel so badly for so many restaurants and businesses out there.”

This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 2:59 PM.