Maguro-Ya

Maguro Ya is one of my «go to» places when I’m in the mood for a good teishoku. I usually get the Unagi teishoku, which is served with sashimi, mini Zaru soba, green salad, miso soup & a cooked spinach dish. They used to serve the teishoku with chawanmushi as one of the items, but it was replaced by a cooked spinach dish. The unagi is perfectly grilled & tender.
I was feeling hungrier than usual since I missed lunch today, so we ordered ankimo — monkfish liver (special menu item on the wall) and uni nigiri. My bf had the tempura combo with Zaru soba & ume shiso maki roll. The ankimo is 4 slices of monkfish liver with cucumbers, radishes, grated daikon, green onions & served with ponzu dipping sauce for flavor.
My uni nigiri was very fresh. My bf enjoyed his ume shiso maki roll & crispy tempura which was offset by the cold Zaru soba.
They have a wine, beer & sake menu & I had the ume on the rocks & my bf had the large Asahi beer. Good drinks to accompany the tasty food.
Service is quick & friendly. Reservations are recommended as this small restaurant of about 10 tables + sushi bar, is popular with groups for family dinners & couples having dinner out.

I love there egg custard thing but thy don’t serve it during lunch. Otherwise than that it was really good. Service was good but my mom wanted more tea during her meal, but the lady came after we finished our meal and was paying for the bill. Definitely want to come back again

My family and I love Maguro ya and go about 4x per year. The quality if their food, the flavor, the variety of okazu in a teishoku meal and the service are all wonderful! They are a little pricey, but you get what you pay for.
The maguro prepared three ways is a wonderful standby. My daughter always gets the salmon teishoku and loves it. I like to try the various fish specials and have enjoyed all of them.

Sadly, I can’t recommend this place yet. The sushi seemed of average freshness only. Whilst seated at the counter, we faced a cluttered pile of fish, of varying appearance. The craftsmanship of the nigiri was shoddy (the too-​large fish wrapped in nori came apart as I hefted it to me; subsequently I skipped the chopsticks and went with fingers :/​hmm). The walls were plastered with menu add-​ons written on paper and taped up. We had to ask for printed menus or instructions. I wouldn’t mind the hole-​in-​the-​wall quality except the prices were ambitious. Nope. Skip until they grow up a little.

Absolutely authentic Japanese cuisine. The head sushi chef has over 20 years of experience. Highly recommended.

This is one of my go to Japanese restaurants in Kaimuki.
The price is fair, the location is convenient, and the food is good. I usually order sushi and main dish. The quality is as what you would expect for the price. The menu doesn’t have any fusion or trendy type of dishes, which is sometimes why I picked this place. Reminds me of when I was younger.
Parking is located in the Kaimuki shopping area, I’m not sure what it’s called. There is another parking lot across the street which is not quite as close where they have metered parking.
The service is usually pretty good. The food comes fairly quickly. But the last time I went service was below expectations. We had to repeat our order of time. And she kept coming back to reconfirm our order. Still, one of the sushi did not make it to the table.
Atmosphere wise, it’s fairly quiet. We usually make reservations because sometimes it can be busy.
Will definitely visit again.

Dropped in, sat at counter bar, nice greeting and rocking, old school, Japanese sushi! Chef was legit, fish out of this continent, ain’t no California style rolls, wraps and mayo infused junk.
Someone said racist to haoles, I say WTF, not my experience!
Would highly highly recommend for real deal old fashioned sushi action. Like few
Others.

Just went there for lunch with friends.
I ordered their lunch special with sashimi ($ 17.50)
It came with fried tofu with ankake sauce, a stick of yakitori, few pieces of tuna sashimi, rice, miso soup, pickles, and a cut of fruit for desert.
Sashimi was very fresh and good. I kinda regretted that I should have ordered sashimi teishoku.
To my taste, ankake sauce and miso soup were bit too salty since I have cut down on salt intake for quite awhile.
One of my friend ordered «maguro iroiro «($ 21) that was variety of sushi of tuna. It sure looked good.
They have all different type of seafood dishes. I would love to go there for dinner and have some beer or sake with those dishes.
Lastly, Green tea they served was super good. It was probably one of the best green tea I’ve ever had outside of Japan.

Delicious tempura soba! I don’t usually drink the soba broth, but this one was flavorful with a smoky quality that was most enjoyable. And the pork tonkatsu was equally delicious, moist and tender. The various tsukemono on the tray was different than normal offerings and tasty!
The warabi mochi rolled in kinako with a honey dipping sauce was light and just right as a finish to a delightful meal!
A most enjoyable experience! Woo hoo!

The first thing that hits you when you enter is half of a good sized boat sticking out from the wall near the ceiling. It’s pretty cool, I wonder if that’s what traditional Japanese fishing boats look like? At first glance it just appears to be a huge version of the little sushi boats you’d find at a conveyor belt type sushi joint. Either way it’s unique and neato daddy-​o.
We ordered the house sake cold which came in a nice bucket of ice to keep it chilled. It was smooth and good and got things started well. After much deliberating I decided on the butterfish teishoku which was really melt in your mouth kine good.
The place was packed for a Sunday night and had quite a few Japanese speaking groups present which I noted as a good sign that we came to the right place. They have quite a few other things on the menu that looked good so I definitely will return.

The food was fresh. Service friendly. Price above average.
We Tried a combo of hot udon, sushi, and tempura and a chef’s recommendation sushi sampler, which came with miso soup. The sushi sampler saw some of the standard fish selection, such as tuna, fatty tuna, shrimp, tamago, and two tekka maki but also included some interesting fish I had never seen before. The tempura was four pieces: a shrimp, sweet potato, broccoli, and eggplant. The udon soup could have been more flavorful but the noodles were fairly firm and tasty.
The prices were a little above average. Each dish came to about $ 20 for lunch. And I didn’t see an option on the menu for any meal less than about $ 15.
The servers were polite and kept refilling our waters although the food took a while to be prepared.

Lucky for us they were able to seat 2 right away, very uncommon on a packed Saturday night so I definitely appreciate the accommodation. The green tea at the beginning of the meal was a nice addition as well.
While browsing the menu I noticed things to be quite expensive for what I’d get at other sushi restaurants. I ended up getting the Tempura Ju which is pretty much a donburi. It wasn’t mind blowingly good as the tempura was soggy by the time it arrived which I’m assuming had to do with the sauce being drizzled before hand.
All in all it was a good experience but the food wasn’t anything to be super excited about.

The magurozukyshi is excellent, a great value, and very tasty! Must soup, rice, salad, ahi katsu, sashimi, grilled tuna, fried tuna, definitely feast!

Uncle took the family here when we were visiting him. The food here was delicious. I got the maguro rib karaage and I loved it! I would definitely go back if I could.

The worst thing about going to a sushi place and expecting to have a «great experience» is asking to sit at the bar over the phone while reserving… then getting there and realize there is no room for you and your girlfriend– so its off to the dark corner of the restaurant where everyone comes in and blows the napkins off the table and loom over you while they wait, staring at you eat. Sadly, this is what happened.
** To be fair, there were 2 seats available at the bar– but absolutely no room for two and no one willing to move an inch to make any room.
I usually order the omakase at any sushi restaurant, so that’s what I did here… I HATE when they give you a whole plate of omakase and that’s it. Hurry up and eat before the nori gets chewy… This is what they did here (I understand why they have to do it this way, again– that’s why we requested to sit at the bar). The sushi was an OK experience. The sad thing is that most of the nigiri were super common, run-​of-​the-​mill sushi– I was lucky that I got my Uni! Where was the ikura w/​quail egg in so many of the pics?! The Chu Toro?! O Toro?! I got maguro, sake, aji, unagi, ika and tamago etc…
Long story short, the seating mix up kind of put a damper of the whole experience. However, it could have all been saved with some nice omakase selection like I’ve seen in the pictures– it was not.
** If I go back, I’m definitely going to order all of my sushi ala carte so that I can have exactly what I want and when I want, instead of a“let down mystery chef’s pick” who didn’t seem too concerned about keeping up customer satisfaction.

Came in right when they opened for an early dinner at 5pm, made a reservation and everything just so I was guaranteed a table and we arrived and got seated right away.
Very nice quiet/​hole in the wall place, loved it because I just got off of work and just wanted to relax and eat my dinner peacefully.
The menu has all kinds of things as well as in their wall, but I just wanted a combo and I order the noodles, tempura and nigiri set with a side of natto and uni and it was delicious.
With that set you can get cold/​hot soba or cold/​hot udon and since it was a hit chilly out, I went with my instincts and got the hot udon.
The udon was very flavorful, the noodles were yummy and chewy.
The assorted tempura it came with was alright, it came with ebi, broccoli, eggplant and something else but I wasn’t a fan of broccoli and eggplant tempura. The ebi was probably the best out of the bunch.
The nigiri was really good, maguro was fresh, and as well as the hamachi didn’t want ika so I asked my server if I could sub It for more ahi and it was okay and that was really cool of them because most places don’t allow to change/​substitute items.
The uni. Oh god, I love how buttery and amazing this uni tastes, the uni was also a nice golden color and not dark and orangey. I totally recommend you trying the uni here if you love uni!
The natto was really good, I like how it came with nori, sliced daikon, and wasabi. Usually I have to eat natto with rice just because sometimes it’s very strong in taste but not the one here! Definitely recommend that when coming here!
Service was really good, bunch of young men but at least they weren’t snobby and they actually took care of us and catered to the table!
I would definitely come back here and try bigger sashimi/​nigiri selections!

We had the Maguro Zukushi and the Maguro Rib/​Sashimi Teishoku.
I know this is going to sound like blasphemy, but I didn’t like it. Fried Ahi just seems to lose its good taste and moist texture when cooked all the way through.
The miso soup was fabulous.
Everyone seems to love this place. Sorry that I don’t see why. Would have liked a new restaurant to be a fan of.

After getting a haircut at Winam Studio, it was time to decide on a place for lunch! There is a great number of gastronomic delights in Kaimuki but the high ratings and tantalizing food pictures led us here last weekend. I am so glad we tried Maguro-​Ya because it’s every bit as good as people say!
We walked in before peak lunch hour but the restaurant already had a good number of patrons. Since it was early-​ish still and lunch instead of dinner, we were able to get seats without a reservation and without waiting.
We ordered the Kitsune Udon (because I had been craving udon all week haha) and the special of the week – Maguro Rib Karaage (can’t come to a place called Maguro-​Ya and not try their maguro!). Both were so delicious! I didn’t think the udon would be as good as it was, given that this wasn’t a place that specializes in udon. But the noodles were pleasingly chewy and the broth had an incredible depth of flavor. Slurping that bowl of udon was unbelievably satisfying! The maguro rib karaage was teishoku style and came with sashimi, miso soup, rice, and tsukemono. I thought the ponzu sauce for the maguro karaage was too salty but otherwise, the teishoku was quite good.
Reading other Unilocalers’ reviews now, I really want to go back and try the Maguro Zukushii, Karei Karaage, and sushi! Boy am I glad that my hair salon is located in the culinary mecca that is Kaimuki!

The husband and I received a gift certificate from our friends. We were in town so we decided to use it. The parking lot is in the rear of the restaurant so we entered thru the back door. Restaurant is clean and ambience has the feeling of a traditional Japanese restaurant with the small wooden tables and chairs. My baby’s car seat did not sit well in the seat but the old Japanese lady that seated us was very nice to put 2 chairs under it for safety. I thought she was very sweet.
The menu looked very limited but there were some specials on the wall also. My husband ordered the Maguro (Ahi) Rib and Karaage Teishoku, I ordered the Saba Oroshini Teishoku (Saba cooked in radish broth), smoked salmon sushi and cold sake and our son had a miso soup. Food was delicious! I’ve never had Saba in broth before but I’ll definitely have it again. It was surprisingly good! We were so full we didn’t have room for dessert. Hopefully next time…

Maguro-​Ya was great !! We got the teishoku set and I was pretty surprised at the good quality and the value. This was our first time to Maguro-​Ya so I’m comparing this dinner to several other recent experiences at similar Japanese Restaurants.
Location and Parking: Right next to Café Laufer facing Waialae. Some very limited street parking. But, easy parking in the public lot directly behind this group of restaurants. No validation but pay at the kiosk just before you drive out. Inexpensive rates and once you get the hang of it this will become your go to lot. You can enter the restaurant from the back door or walk around to the front.
Reservations: Just make the call and get the reservation. Was nearly full 30 minutes after the doors opened for dinner.
Menu: I was so excited that I forgot to take pictures. But I got the maguro zukushi set. This totally 5 Star teishoku dinner was one I won’t soon forget. It consists of ahi 3 different ways. Ahi fried, grilled and sashimi. Lots of side dishes and an appetizer sort of dish in addition to rice and miso soup. For $ 19 this was a huge high quality meal. I’m going back and this is what I’m going to get again. My wife also had a $ 19 set with tempura. That was good also. Daughter chose a spicy tuna roll. She really liked that too. She also got a dessert which was ice cream and castella cake. She loved it.
Sushi: In order to experience the full Maguro-​Ya experience, We ordered the $ 20 sushi plate which was 8 pieces of ahi sushi as an appetizer. I watched the head chef making it from a distance. But, this sushi was a bit of a disappointment. The rice was not sticking together and it had no flavor. The Ahi was second quality and didn’t have much flavor or texture either. No way to sugar coat this mediocre sushi tray. The sushi bar was packed with happy regulars though. Perhaps they get the real sushi. I didn’t know what to make of it.
We recently ate a similar teishoku meal at Sushi King. That was pretty good too but it was $ 21. Overall, I’d say Maguro-​Ya had Sushi King beat.
Deduction for the sushi as noted. Can’t recommend the sushi. (see update below) Everything else including service was great. We are fans of the teishoku.
Update: Dec. 2013: Returned for just about the same meal. The sushi plate mentioned earlier was re ordered too. Second time it was quite good. Great meal. I’m bumping it up to 4.5 stars. We are going back!