marukame udon

secondtimein 4 days with the wife. authentic udon. got the cold bukkake thistimeon 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.

this was one of the first restaurants we noticed during our vacation in hawaii as it’s so full packed of customers lining up outside their premises. initially we were tempted to queue but it was just too long for us so we thought why not try on a later time, the line might be shorter anyways the restaurant is just around the corner from our hotel so we can check it always. we then moved on and continued where we are heading for the day which are the waikiki shops. as the day ends we headed back to the hotel and at the sametimechecked if the queue got shorter to our surprise it became longer, we still did not queue.

wonderful place to eat at anytimeof the day. if you know the righttimeto go, you wont need to wait in line for long. fresh, easy to order, affordable and delicious! the only problem is the long queue and seating.

firsttimehaving udon. great experience. the line is out the door but moves fast as it is the ordering line. service is very fast and effecient. a regular size bowl is roughly $6 and fills you up and there is tempura for about $1.50/piece. the broth is made of seaweed and fish broth.

an absolute must try in honolulu! while the rest of hawaii is fairly pricey, marukame udon is amazing value for money. bowls of udon start at 3.75 and topping are about 1.50 each. so if you pick a bowl of udon and a veggie tempura like my friend (pictured) you can have a really satisfying meal for $5.25! i went a bit crazy with the toppings and my meal was still only $10.90. the udon itself is the best i've ever tried, perfect al dente texture. expect to wait a longtimein line, but being cafeteria style your food comes out instantly so it kind of evens out. i only wish i could bring this place back home with me!

unforgetable place to dine in .. very busy most of thetime..you go in line pick your stuff direct from the chef ... pay and take it to your table ... the show by workers there and fast service shows you how busy they are in addition to the line outside that may take u an hour to get in .
but when you are there ... u live in heaven with this tasty amazing udon .. nothing is better when u are in hawaii .. its an escape from pole bowl for a bit in hawaii .

i had the nikutama udon (hot) and my partner had the special of the day which was the egg udon. the nikutama soup base was delicious and the noodles are indulgently thick, silky and a hint chewy - just like udon noodles should be! the japanese beef was a tad too sweet for me (i may have enjoyed the bukkake flavour more) but it was nicely braised and i liked the green onion, crunchy tempura toppings and the extra egg. it gave the udon lovely textures - just don't mix it too fast or you'll lose the crunchiness!

my partner's egg udon special was also delicious! the soup is a lot thicker with egg throughout so it's much more filling than the regular flavours.

however, the tempura sides were a big let down. it may have something to do with thetimeof day we arrived (3pm for late lunch), but we got the tempura sweet potato and mushroom and both were a bit stale and cold. the fried chicken was also no longer nice and hot but it was still good, i could tell the chicken would be really good if it was fresh from the fryer.

the spam musabi was just something i wanted to try in oahu but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. just your regular spam sushi.

overall i really loved the udon and would come back here when i'm in the mood for something soupy. it's also really great value for your money and the cafeteria style of it makes the service super quick.

wow wow wow! firsttimeeating here and firsttimeeating udon was incredible! don't let the long lines turn you away. service is fast and easy and delicious! though finding a place to sit is hard.

last year, i remember seeing so many great reviews online for marukame udon with pictures showing long line ups of people waiting to get a seat. but unfortunately, we never had the chance to check it out because we were only in oahu for 4 days and had a tight schedule. so thistimearound, we made sure to visit the restaurant to see what all the hype was about!

after a grueling 8 hours of waiting on a plane and waiting for a rental car, we came out with a free upgrade for our rental car. we upgraded from the cheapest compact car to a moderately priced mid size suv. however, this was a bit confusing as the rental car attendant just pointed to the lot and said the grey suv, so we had to get her to explain. finally, we went in a few circles looking for the exit onto the main road. after a snack at costco, we finally proceeded to our hotel. lets just say it was a long day, so what better way to end it than getting some udon at marukame udon. there wasn't that much of a line, but by thetimewe left, or around 8 pm, there was a line and a half. we waited for about 10 minutes, which gave us plenty oftimeto choose what different kind of udon you want. on entering the establishment we saw someone making fresh udon. unfortunately i wasn't quick enough but managed to get another snap. anyways, the way you ordered was to tell the chef what udon you wanted, toppings or not (of course toppings!) and grabbing some tempura left under the warmer. none of us grabbed any musubi or anything like that because it was prepackaged and we had enough food either way. udon is really filling, you know. finally, you would grab chopsticks, tempura sauce and pay for your order. our's came to $31 u.s.d for 4 bowls of udon and tempura. by the way, this place has a 4.8/5 rating on zomato and was put as the 10th best place to eat in the united states according to yelp.

the only negatives about this place are that the lines can be 30 minutes or more long (totally worth the wait) and there's no bathroom. most of the establishments in this area do not have bathrooms. the food is delicious and affordable. my favorite was the curry udon. my son and i ate here several times during our week stay on the island and we will definitely be back one day. the worsttimeto go is around 8-9 at night, expect a wait if you do. but you must go, you won't regret it.

marukame udon is legendary in town as their udon noodles are made fresh, daily from scratch. what more could you want? i have no idea how we’ve missed marukame udon in our past trips out to the island but i made sure to make a stop this time. we walked by this place almost everyday and there was always a lineup, no matter whattimeof the day. but don’t fret, the line moves quickly.

given the massive lineup outside, you’d assume the wait would be very long. thankfully, it only took us about 15-25 minutes to get in the door. you’d also assume that getting a table is difficult, but the turnaround is surprisingly fast and by thetimeyou’ve paid for everything, there should be a table ready for you. it’s really efficient.

full review on the blog. link in comments.

had to wait a loooongtimeto get in and eat freshly made udon, but it was amazing. cheap and good quality food, but if you add lots of the extras, it all adds up. add one or two, but no need to go crazy as the udon is quite filling.

had the curry one, which was fantastic and the udon with dipping sauce on the side. had to wait for mine and when i asked about it, they realised they had forgotten and gave me extra noodles as a way to apologise. needless to say, i didn't finish it all...

if you're staying around here, i'd highly recommend you drop by... early.

such good value udon for the price. we arrived and the line was huge however it moved fast and gave me plenty oftimeto suss out what i was going to get. it was also fun being able to watch the whole process from the noodles being made then ending up in your bowl. my sister and i had the regular sizes, not the large, and we took around half home with us as it was plenty! yum yum yum!