Im happy to say that my friends and I finally made it to Marugame Udon, about a year after it first opened. For those who may be unfamiliar with Marugame, Marugame is a popular udon chain and this is their first location in Washington (their other locations are in California and Hawaii). Their Waikiki, Hawaii location, in particular, always has a line of tourists out the door and so I never got a chance to try it until now!
Marugame keeps its menu fairly simple. They have 14 different udon and rice entree items including Nikutama (sweet beef with soft-boiled egg), Kitsune (tofu skin), Tonkatsu (pork), and Curry (both on rice or udon). They are best known for their NIKUTAMA UDON ($13.49 for regular size) and so that's what my friends and I ended up ordering.
Marugame is a counter-style service and so you order your noodles (which they make right in front of you!) and then take your tray to go choose the tempura of your liking and pay at the end. Their tempura choices include jalapeño, shrimp, tamago, sweet potato, pumpkin, potato croquette, green bean, and chicken katsu. Each are priced individually. They also have green onion and tempura crunchies for free at the end in addition to self-serve tempura sauce and spicy pepper flakes.
The NIKUTAMA UDON broth was super flavorful, sweet, savory, and umami. The noodles were cooked to perfection- chewy, slippery, smooth? and slurp-able! The beef was cut thinly, tender to chew, and really soaked up the flavors from the broth. The egg was creamy and cooked just right when stirred into the broth. The regular portion was also just right and I was definitely full by the end of it!
The tempura was fantastic- nice and crunchy and not overly oily! My friends and I lucked out as we happened to get a batch of SHRIMP straight from the fryer- yum!! Between the SWEET POTATO and the kabocha PUMPKIN (both of which I love), the sweet potato was the clear winner. The pumpkin was cut too thick and was bland in taste. As far as the tempura sauce, the sauce was salty, slightly vinegary, and a little bit sweet. I like that it's served warm and that you can help yourself.
The atmosphere is super casual. There is lots of seating, but the tables and chairs are packed together pretty tightly, so don't be surprised if your neighbor accidentally backs their chair into yours. The decor is very modern Japanese.
Service is good and we got through the ordering line within 5-7 minutes (this was at 6pm on a Sunday). And the woman who was just putting the shrimp out, was nice enough to plop some right into our bowls! Note that you have to bus your table at the end, but there was a worker today who was clearing the bowls at the bussing station so we didn't have to clean our own bowls or sort trash from recycle. Not sure if that's normal routine or if she was just being extra nice, but it was a nice added touch to the service!
Compared to U:Don (another chain in Seattle that I had multiple times throughout college), I can honestly say that Marugame is higher in quality and flavor. As someone who has been to Japan before, I can say that their udon is quite comparable to the real stuff you get in Tokyo!
Overall: 5/5 for food, 5/5 for service, 4/5 for atmosphere read more