I was a bit excited to see that Marugame was coming to San Diego. I had already left Honolulu when the super hyped-up location opened there in 2011. And even though I wanted to visit when I was "home", I really wasn't into heading into Waikiki to check them out. Over the years we had "almost" visited the locations of Marugame Seimen, which is what they are known as in Japan, while in San Francisco , South Coast Plaza, Tokyo and Osaka. And more recently we passed locations in London and Taiwan!
So, knowing that Marugame had opened in the "home of fast casual noodles in San Diego". That would be UTC, I wondered how the masses would be responding. I decided to head on over, arriving 10-15 minutes before opening to check things out. I had Qin West which is right next door as my "plan B".
Thankfully, there were only two people ahead of me in line when I arrived 10 till 11. Of course, I chose a weekday.
That photo above is from when I left the shop.
At a few minutes after 11, we were let in.
The noodles are rolled and cut inhouse, then prepped for all the world to see.
There are menus displayed and posted along the way to help you with the ordering process.
Because, when you get to that window, you'll need to place your order. Chances are you'll have a mass of hungry people in line behind you.
Once you order, your bowl will be put together and placed on a tray, then you will head to the tempura station to add items to your bowl if desired. I'm not the biggest fan for tempura that's been lying around, so on this day, I just had my udon.
Then you pay. My advice to you would be to immediately head to the Utensils area once you finish paying to get your chopsticks, spoon, napkins, and tempura sauce.
As I walked to the counter, the couple ahead of me, who had already had a seat came over and almost knocked my tray over as they cut in front of me to get their utensils. This area became a bit of a bottle neck as folks would suddenly realize they needed napkins or they had forgotten tempura sauce, head on over and cut off folks heading there from the cashier. You just know that this would never happen in Japan.
I had a seat and took a quick look back at the line and this is what it looked like.
As for what I ordered; well, it was the Regular Nikutama, Sanuki Style (i.e. with green onions and tempura flakes), which was $12.55.
This was a nice bowl. The highlights were the wonderful soft poached egg, which added a wonderful creaminess to things. And the noodles, slippery, springy, with a nice chewiness. This was much better than expected. The broth didn't seem hot enough for me, though I did like how the soy sauce, and light sweetness balanced out the dashi in the "BK" (I remember when they called this, ahem bukakke) sauce.
The scallions are a must as they add a bit of "sharpness" to things, though the agedama really helps with textural contrast initially, it'll get soggy quick, though it does add another range of textures to things. As for the beef, which is like beef teriyaki, they call it "sweet beef" on the menu and they weren't kidding. It was chewy and overly sweet for my taste.
This was an interesting visit. I decided to press my luck and the following week, headed on back with the same strategy. Which worked just as on the previous visit.
This time, I went with the Kitsune Udon ($9.45). I ordered a soft-boiled egg as an add-on. Then, when I reached the tempura bar, my curiosity got the better of me.
Now, what I was given as my "boiled egg" ($2.25) was not what I expected. So, I ended up getting a shrimp tempura and the tempura tamago as well. All three added $7.75 to my bowl. Check out that $2.25 half "boiled egg", I'm wondering if they made a mistake?
The shrimp tempura was not bad, still crisp, much better than what I'd recently had at 8th and B.
But the egg, which is basically tempura tamagoyaki was really sweet……I think we're seeing a pattern here?
I was interested in the Kitsune Udon, mainly because I've made my own version at home on occasion.
I didn't care much for the kakejiyu, though weak in dashi – umami tones, was sneakily salty. I was chugging water the rest of the afternoon. The udon was again the highlight of the bowl. The menu mentions that it's "sweet" fried tofu (aburaage) served and like the beef, they weren't kidding. What's with all the sweet stuff here?
It was good to be out of the place by 1125 as the line was growing ever longer.
I'm thinking that as long as you don't get waylaid by the tempura and katsu, the prices are quite reasonable. Though I'm not a fan of all the sweet stuff. I'll probably just get the BK Udon with egg next time. I will wait a while before visiting again. The staff work hard here and I'm sure there have been some soft opening "bumps" in the road. There's one really nice older gentleman working the dining area, as I went to place my tray at the station, he grabbed it and said, "no worries, I have this" both times!
You can also do takeout if the line and wait seems too long.
On my last visit I heard some crunching as I walked out the door. Guess who was getting some tempura?
I'm sure he wasn't complaining about anything?
Marugame Udon
4353 La Jolla Village Drive (In UTC)
San Diego, CA 92122
Current Hours:
Daily 11am – 9pm