The Express

So I decided to be adventurous for lunch and drove futher… Went to the Marukai Marketplace and ate inside their food court. The food court itself has many restaurants and after checking out each one I decided to go with this one.
I chose the combo that has the egg and chicken over rice and a bowl of miso soup. The total came out to around $ 8 which was not bad. I bought a can of soda there but i guess next time I could buy a Japanese soda inside the supermarket too. The portion of the food was huge. The food was tasty but I couldn’t finish all of it. The janitor came over to take my tray away as soon as I stood up, so kudos to him!

Ordered the tonkatsu ramen.
I can’t help but taste the strong hint of MSG on the broth. It completely took over the entire dish. The texture and firmness of the noodles was good, and the chasu wasn’t bad. I was hungry enough to eat most of it.
I got full from it, however, it still left a huge unsatisfied feeling.
I’ll probably come back to try their sesame chicken. Might be awhile, though.

I like the food here, it just sucks its cash only but hey, we walked around with cash on hand before debit cards existed, haha meals of choice for me if you want to fill your belly is the saba, sesame chicken, and gyu don!

Nice big bowl of Curry Udon on a cold rainy afternoon. This is worth traveling for. Under $ 10, you can’t go wrong.

A good selection of noodle soups and it «express» as advertised! Put my to go order in and promptly was given my noodles and soup in separate containers ready to be enjoyed at home. I tried the chicken udon, which was different than any other udon I’ve had before. Broth that I assume was chicken based, tender chunks of chicken, cabbage, fish cake, green onions. It tasted like comfort.

The sesame chicken though!!! That’s what I keep coming back here for!

Cash only.
Latino cooks and staff.
Turns out, you can’t really mess up calrose rice and Golden curry. So that’s a safe buy. $ 7.25
No alcohol in the food court. Bare bones atmosphere but the outdoor seating is cozy.
The Express is, as the name suggests, fast and efficient.

Bring Cash. They don’t accept debit or credit cards.
Not real clean.
BUT, the food is good.
Its convenient for a quick bite to eat right before doing the regular shopping or right after — without having to go to a separate location.

Don’t expect Santouka or even Shin Sen Gumi quality ramen here. Both the tonkotsu and shoyu ramen bowls are lacking. I had a raging food-​induced headache after eating here — I suspect it was the salt or MSG in the soup.
And the full-​figured woman who works in the back is MEAN.
This is not the food stand’s fault, but the food court seating area is just a mess — sticky, dirty and depressing. It’s probably a good thing this Marukai is being converted to a Tokyo Central Market. The food court needs some major upgrades to be in line with other Japanese market food courts.

Little gem hidden in the Marukai food court! This place serves everything from different donburis (rice bowls) to ramen/​udon and many more! I especially enjoy the gyu don (beef bowl) and my parents like the chicken udon. The portion sizes here are huge and the prices are very fair. Definitely worth a visit to fulfil any Japanese food cravings

Worked up a good appetite for Japanese food? Want something delicious and cheap? Well you found it. I got the Katsu curry, it was a good price and it was so much I didn’t even finish it. Grocery shopping at Marukai is always exciting for me, but eating in the food court is the icing on the cake.

Oh boy. Why does this place have good reviews?
Got the #2 Maguro don combo set and before getting it I asked the guy behind the counter if it was fresh. I should’ve gone with my gut feeling and gotten a warm dish like unagi or yakisoba. Shoot me.
Maguro let’s just say… was FROZEN!!! Wtf?! I asked if it was fresh. Fresh doesn’t mean frozen fresh. Such a disappointment for almost $ 12!!! That’s what hurts the most. Could’ve eaten something from Marukai for cheaper and tastier and it wouldn’t cost $ 12! Gigantic miso soup and rice were the only decent thing.

Gross, dont eat here! I witnessed one guy toggling from handling the food with his bare hands and then taking orders and handling cash without washing his hands. Another guy came groom his lunch break, picked something out of his teeth, just rinsed his hands (no soap) then picked up a breaded chicken with his hands.
None are wearing any masks.
Too bad, this was one of out favorites places. But they just lost a customer.
They really deserve a zero rating.

Good prices and a solid, basic menu.
The oyako don isn’t overly salty (like most places are) and it tasted almost like my grandma’s oyako don.
I wouldn’t mind coming here again if I ever find myself frantically looking for a quick bite to eat.

Came here for lunch with my coworkers. I ordered the Tonkatsu ramen. To me, the soup base to a good ramen is very important and unfortunately I didn’t like the soup base at all. It tastes nothing like a Japanese ramen. I just ate the noodles and meat and avoided the soup as much as I could. :-(It was extremely salty and seems like MSG was added because of was so thirsty and drank like 4 cups of water the entire afternoon.
The tonkatsu ramen has a few big chunk of meat. There are bean sprouts in Japanese Ramen??! well, I don’t like it. :-o
We also had the curry ramen, and kimchi ramen. My coworkers also complained it was salty.

Went here the other day during my Marukai trip so I decided to grab a meal here since I’ve never eaten at the food court before. I was in the mood for some ramen so I got a tonkatsu ramen. It came with 4 slices of pork, bean sprouts, 1 large piece of naruto, green scallions and seaweed. I thought it was odd for them to use seaweed in ramen. The broth was decent but I was disappointed in how they don’t even give you a half or whole hard boiled egg.
Overall ramen was so-​so but I do want to try their katsudon next time.

I wanted to try something new and since we were headed to this fantabulous Marukai, I thought, what the heck, let’s try a place in the store!
I apologize in advance, sorry for making you view the pics in eating the taco at Taco Bell fashion.
Ginormous portions!
I ordered the #42 fried saimin $ 6.50
— Comes with two fried wonton/​gyoza, chicken, cabbage and carrots. It was pretty good and there was enough leftovers for two more meals!
Mom ordered #26 assorted tempura $ 7.50
— We are spoiled by Otomisan’s tempura i’m afraid. The tempura batter wasn’t very crunch as we like it. However, they do give you enough to feed an army. Comes with rice, a huge salad with a dressing I did not like very much and miso soup.
Hubby ordered the #8 chicken Katsu $ 7.25
— Comes with salad with the mystery dressing, miso soup and rice. Chicken was a little flat/​thin, but fried pretty well. Rice ok, and miso soup was tasty.
Don’t think I will be back, as it was ok. But, I would definitely would rather stop at Otomisan before or after our shopping trip than to eat here… This place works if you haven’t been spoiled by good Japanese food or are a teenager or person that is into quantity, not quality.
Food — 3 Stars — meh, i’ve had better! Great prices
Ambiance — 3 Stars — it s a food court…
Service — 4 Stars — very friendly, courteous man behind the counter!
As in the words of my Unilocal friend, Winnie H. «Bring some greenbacks because it’s cash only.»

If its a journey for you to get to marukai then it may be worth grabbing a bite to eat before you head home. For us locals, its just another good quick bite to eat. well… not THAT quick… and thats because they prepare everything fresh when you order. Portions are big and prices are very reasonable.
i got the karaage chicken (or whatever they call it) piping hot with some cabbage salad in one bowl, another big rice bowl of rice, and another big bowl of miso soup. All of this was about $ 7.99 if i recall correctly. Ive also tried the yakitori plate which comes with miso soup, and two long skewers of yakitori over a huge bed of rice and some «kimchee» pickled veggies.
Like i said, it takes a little bit for them to prepare it but theres a big sign above the register so that you know that right up front.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm that sesame chicken side order was HUUUGE. delish crunchy and tasty.
Friendly Asian men and the awesome lady cook. Thank you for making it delish. The only part is they do take forever so if your in a rush for work I’d call ahead. But there Motto says «we don’t cook until you order!» which is always always good.

Ya know, for $ 5 food court food, the shoyu ramen was pretty impressive as far as food court food goes. VERY generous portions of pork that was actually pork and tasted the part. Broth was salty as expected and cleaner in the finish than most would think from an express counter. Didn’t taste any MSG. Noodles were pleasantly firm.
All in all, not too shabby.
Gyoza came frozen from a bag in the store so they tasted as they should: Mass produced and fried.
Tea for $ 1.50 is a Styrofoam (why is Styrofoam capitalized in Spell Check?) cup and a bag of green tea. This was probably the only thing I didn’t like.
Clean. Friendly. Prompt. Good eye contact with smiles.
I’d come back.