Marugame Udon: Affordable Japanese noodle soup in Honolulu

One of the top places my friends and I wanted to eat at in Honolulu was Marugame Udon, a casual Japanese restaurant serving udon noodles. They are featured on a lot of social media/foodie networks and during our stay, we’ve walked by a few times and there is often a long line outside. They have more locations in California and Texas as well.

Interior

Once you get inside, you find yourself kind of in this cafeteria line-up situation. Grab a tray and following the direction of the line (there is only one-way traffic here). There will be cooks asking you which noodle/entree you want. After you tell them, they will prepare it for you right away and you literally get your bowl of noodles in less than 6 seconds.

Next, you continue to move down the line to the tempura station. You can essentially use tongs to pick up whatever tempura items and sides you want onto your plate/tray. Each item will have the name and price listed so you know exactly what you are picking up.

Lastly, you get to the cash register where you can order beverages. After you pay, you pick up your tray and you can find a seat in the restaurant or go to their condiments station where you can get some additional sauces for your tempura, napkins, a cup for water, etc.

Based on the flow of the restaurant, you don’t really go in and seat yourself first before you order your food because you’ll leave the line to order the food. But do not worry, stay in the line and pay for your food once you come inside – there is a lot of seating available and people eat quickly and leave. The only downside is that if you have a large group (4+ people), you may not be able to find spots together.

There is a constant flow of people coming in and people leaving, almost the the point like a well-oiled machine. It is actually crazy how optimized this restaurant is even though there is a lineup everyday, the line moves so fast!

Food

This is what my boyfriend and I ordered. Please note that all prices in this post are in USD and as always, I round up if it’s more than 0.5.

Kama-age udon ($5-6)+ shrimp ($2)+ big chicken katsu ($5)+ tamagoyaki ($2)

My boyfriend orders the kama-age udon, which is dine-in only. Large portion is around $6 and small portion is around $5.

These are very plain udon noodles direct from the pot, served in hot kama water with a side of kake sauce. My boyfriend ordered this hoping it would be similar to tsukemen, which is a kind of dipping sauce ramen, but it was really just very plain. I think even the cook was surprised he ordered it lol. You can select hot or cold for all your noodles and he chose hot. Either way, I don’t think you should order this since it is a very simple noodle soup and doesn’t taste like much.

For tempura, he chose a shrimp, tamagoyaki (rolled egg), and a big chicken katsu.

Nikutama ($10-11)+ shrimp + potato coquette ($2) + squid ($2)

For my meal, I chose their popular nikutama, which is their udon noodles served with sweet and savory beef, an onsen (hot spring) egg, and BK sauce. Large is $11 and small is $10. Since it is only $1 difference, I chose the large but really I couldn’t finish it and there was a lot of noodles left.

For tempura, I chose squid, potato coquette and the squid. All of them were ok but I wouldn’t say they were hot or freshly fried as they’ve been sitting on the counter for idk how long.

The nikutama was delicious! It has this really lovely light and savoury broth and the meet is a little sweet, goes really well with the chewy noodles. The onsen egg is amazing – so soft and breaks so easily. The tempura flakes are yummy but get soggy real quick so they only add texture for your first bite maybe. For $10 a bowl, this is a high quality bowl of noodle soup and very authentic.

Final thoughts

Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

All of us really loved eating at Marugame Udon. We even went back a second time because we enjoyed it so much and it was super affordable compared to many other choices in Waikiki.

Compared to the curry udon that my friend ordered, I think I still like the nikutama more because I like the broth more, but if you love curry, the curry udon should be your choice. The curry itself is not thick and has a similar consistency to the regular udon broth and in terms of taste, it more closely follows Japanese curry so it is on the sweeter side.

For me, I think their regular size is more than enough food, especially if you plan to add a lot of sides like tempura or rice or some musubi. If you don’t like udon, they have some rice bowl options as well and they also have a vegan udon option!

The atmosphere is very casual and you can come in wearing your swimsuit or beachwear and no one cares. I love how quickly the line moves and just how the whole restaurant operates (how optimized it is). I think it’s truly genius, but don’t let the operational excellence fool you! There are staff who work quickly in the kitchen and clean up after you when you leave the table so I would still leave a tip for sure even though most of this is self-serve.

Overall, I think Marugame Udon is worth the hype and the (short) wait if you are in Waikiki and want to check them out. They are opening a location soon in Vancouver and I can’t wait!

Sincerely, Loewe