Situated on the hill just above the Kaimuki Community Park is a small Japanese restaurant that has made a reputation for itself serving delicious “maguro themed” dishes. This restaurant is aptly named “Maguro-Ya”, meaning “maguro store.”
A chef at work behind the sushi bar
Inside the restaurant customers will find an array of small tables and a small sushi bar. Hanging above the main dining area is a large wooden section of a boat, giving the restaurant a “dockside” feeling. The walls feature small pieces of art, in addition to many signs representing the specials food items currently being offered.
Parking for Maguro-ya is available on Waialae Avenue (meter parking) or just behind the restaurant. The parking lot is shared with neighboring businesses like Big City Diner and Verbano’s. The parking in this lot is operated by a computerized ticket management system, which will run you a couple of dollars for a visit to any of the restaurants.
As soon as we walked into the restaurant, we were greeted by the wait staff and sushi chefs. Soon after being seated we had ice water and hot green tea on our table. Maguro-ya offers a number of complete meal sets, in addition to sushi and udon.
Salad
For my meal I ordered the Yosenabe teishoku (set). The teishoku sets come with a salad, chawanmushi, kobachi, and tsukemono. The salad pictured above utilizes a popular Japanese salad dressing thats is very refreshing and tangy.
Yosenabe
Yosenabe is a very traditional Japanese “hot pot” dish that typically features a variety of vegetables and seafood boiled in a flavorful broth. Maguro-ya’s version of this dish included chinese cabbage, enoki mushroom, tofu, green onions, shrimp, scallop, clam, crab, maguro, and noodles. The base broth prepared is already very delicious, but the real treat is in the combination of flavors from the items within the broth. By the end of the meal the broth is rich in flavor and oils from the seafood, making it even richer and all the more enjoyable. I thoroughly enjoyed this yosenabe, and would recommend it to any would-be customer!
Shrimp & Vegetable Tempura
Hot Udon
For my fiancee’s dinner she decided to try a three-part dinner combination teishoku. Although Maguro-ya specializes in the use of maguro in their dishes, they also do a great job of preparing other traditional Japanese foods. The tempura and udon were both great and everything you’d expect from a nice little Japanese spot.
Assorted Sushi
The dinner combination teishoku included a sampling of sushi, which highlights the use of maguro. The cuts of maguro and hamachi in this sushi are fresh, absent of the unpleasant “overly fishy” taste you might find at a lesser establishment. The sushi rice is well seasoned, although tonight it was not molded quite as well as it usually is. Despite this minor flaw, the sushi was still very enjoyable.
Final thoughts: Maguro-ya is an excellent place to go for a reasonably priced experience in Japanese cooking. The restaurant lives up to its name by doing a great job in its maguro centered dishes, from sushi to tempura. Service is friendly, fast, and efficient. Maguro-ya provides a very clean and bright atmosphere, very conducive to conversation. All-in-all a very well rounded Japanese restaurant, offering great food and service.
| Service: |   |
Above Average |
| Food: | |
Above Average |
| Atmosphere: | |
Above Average |
| Overall Value: | |
Above Average |
*Star ratings are based in comparison to similar establishments.
Maguro-ya
3565 Waialae Avenue Suite 108 Honolulu, HI 96816
Phone: 808.732.3775
Tags: Hawaii Food, Hawaii Food Review, Maguro-ya review, Maguro, Yosenabe
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