the Houston Press, Kristy Loye said that the song features a "level of cultural examination" which separates it from the macho and heteronormative heavy metal music of the 1980s. "Lunchbox" contains elements of "Fire" (1968) performed by Arthur Brown, a pioneer of progressive rock whose work influenced the band. The track features the sound of small children saying profanities, an effect which Matt Zakosek of The Chicago Maroon noted was later used on Outkast's album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003). Metal Hammers Alec Chillingworth felt that the song's "wacky, stomping hook" is similar to the music of Jack Off Jill. Critical reception Metal Hammer ranked the song 66 on their list of "The 100 best metal songs of the 90s", saying that "The seeds of Manson becoming Public Enemy Number One in the United States were being sown on his 1994 debut Portrait Of An American Family, and despite this not being the most terrifying song in his repertoire you just can’t deny the power of the chorus." Metal Hammer readers voted the track the seventeenth greatest heavy metal song of the 1990s. The Miami Heralds Howard Cohen said that Berkowitz's "musicianship, songwriting, and industrial guitar...gave early Marilyn Manson its musical credibility on songs like 'Lunchbox,' 'My Monkey,' 'Dope Hat,' and 'Cake and Sodomy.'" In Exclaim!, Monica S. Kuebler called the track one of the band's "indispensable goth club classics from the mid-'90s". Similarly, Ben Crandell of The Washington Post wrote that "While the band drew attention for its theatrical excesses, it prospered in large part because of the musical credibility provided by the gleaming, industrial-gear shredding of [Berkowitz's] guitar on early Manson songs such as 'Lunchbox,' 'Dope Hat' and their hit cover of the Eurythmics' 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).'" Bloody Disgusting's Brad Miska said that the "dirty, edgy, and uninhibited" song "was part of my musical awakening and self-discovery as a teenager." He added that after hearing the track, "Marilyn Manson quickly became my favorite band." Kristy Loye of the Houston Press called the track "fresh" and praised it for bringing a "level of shock and interrogation of acceptable performance hadn’t been seen since the glam/punk heyday of '70s-era Iggy Pop and David Bowie." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that "With its relentless but danceable industrial beat and death metal guitars, 'Lunchbox' was one of the standouts on Marilyn Manson's debut album, Portrait of an American Family."