marukame udon

fresh udon. where there's a looong line up of folks waiting to buy hot soup on a roasting hot day, you know it must be good :) the noodles are freshly prepared in front of you while you wait in a cafeteria style line - pick your soup and then wander over to the tempura and masubi bar. i was a little leery of the tempura sitting out under a heat lamp, but it was perfect - crispy and not greasy with great flavor. i had the chicken and eggplant. there are cold noodles if you're craving an udon fix, but can't deal with a hot bowl after waiting in the line in the sun. around lunch and dinner time, the line is quite long, but i walked right in at 3 pm.

second time in 4 days with the wife. authentic udon. got the cold bukkake this time on a warm day. excellent. would recommend to anyone looking for great udon!


-----23 may, 2014-----

awesome food. line was long as other reviews stated but only took about 10mins at 1pm. was looking forward to this place since before the vacation. did not disappoint. had the kake udon was fresh and a great price. $21 for the wife and i.

must try!. went 3 times while staying here. really good food worth the waiting. had also take out very generous portions. love to have one open in a the mainland.

fish. good

as other mentioned, there's always a line, but they move quickly. best udon i ever had. and my not-so-fancy-japanese-food husband likes their curry udon too. worth the wait and definitely come back again. i managed to convince hubby to have lunch there again t'row :)

excellent!. discovered this udon shop on our most recent vacation. it is "cafeteria style", serving several types of udon (hot and cold) and then, if you want, there are several types of tempura to choose from and musubi or inari sushi. the price was excellent and the food just as good as if it were a regular style restaurant. we ended up going back a couple more times. the udon noodles are made on site (you can watch them put it through the machine like a giant pasta roller) and had the right amount of chewiness. the tempura is light, crispy and not greasy at all. don't let the line snaking out the door deter you - it moves very quickly. definitely recommend this place!

before heading to honolulu, i had heard rave reviews about a popular noodle shop called marukame udon. it was rumored to have not only great portioned noodle soups but great flavouring as well. furthermore, given how there was almost always a line up, whether morning or late at night, that was definitely a good sign!

one of the best part about my hawaii trip is all the yummy food i ate. my boyfriend and i hit up a lot of places that were highly rated on blogs and urbanspoon so today i wanted to share with you some of the things we ate. if you are ever planning a visit to hawaii, i hope you find this post helpful. and if you aren't planning to visit anytime soon,  just sit back and feast your eyes.....

i have sworn to myself to not use the all cap/screaming method of typing. it just looks so ridiculous...but this case is different. you have to check this place out! marukame udon in waikiki is so good, i want to scream it from the roof tops and do somersaults and marry it.

fantastic freshly made udon - cafeteria style, cheap, amazing spam masubi. we've gone to this place two days in a row. everything about this place is amazing. beware: always a long line to get in.

great food!. we went there for lunch and were lucky to not have a line up when we got there. usually the line is about 20 people long outside the restaurant. the food was great. fresh and quick service with an a la carte menu offering. you pick the style of noodle, hot or cold and you select from the number of fresh tempura that you want. i had the cold udon (forgot the name of it) and had the shrimp and eggplant tempura. mmmm was it good.

well worth the trip. great concept too. love to have one in vancouver!

love it. place is so busy and worth it! haven't had anything i didn't love. cafeteria style eating and cash only. service 5/5 food 5/5 value for ur money 5/5!

awesome udon. i've tried it all. and it is all wonderful. only thing i wasn't happy with was that there are no refills on soda. great japanese traditional style noodle place.

the cheap and cheerful udon masters. don't expect the most amazing meal you have ever eaten if you are heading to marukame udon but what you can expect is a long queue that moves quickly, hearty food that will keep you going for long after you eat there, a cheap bite to eat (an uncommon commodity in waikiki), traditional japanese udon that are home made, and a tasty soup. i enjoyed my meal there with my mum and we both ordered different soups, mine was the curry udon and mum's was the beef udon. i preferred the beef udon with the delicious beef broth. i found the curry udon a bit heavy, certainly if you are eating a large one! there are also tempura options to pick up on your way to the final counter where you pay. i certainly think marukame is worth visiting while you are in waikiki though it should be considered as a fast-food option rather than a restaurant dining experience.

i guess this is what would be considered japanese fast food. it's very good handmade noodles with wonderful tempura sides. i prefer the cold broth on the noodles because of the warm weather. this has become an inexpensive staple in my waikiki diet on visits here.