Marugame Udon

Ramen has always been the star noodles in the Bay, but Marugame Udon brings yet another card to the game: Udon. Marugame is located in Stonestown SF, the first location in nor-cal. It is part of a widely popular franchise in Japan. There are two names for this whole corporation: Marugame and Marukame, but they are basically the same. At Marugame, Udon is served in an interesting way. Customers line up for the assembly line, in which workers take fresh Udon that’s made from scratch to boil and add broth to. Once you get your bowl of Udon, you move on to the toppings area where you can choose from a variety of tempura and musubi. Then, you pay, add toppings (green onion, cilantro, tempura crumbles, and sauce), and grab a seat anywhere you want. Critics have been raving about this spot, calling it the “most authentic Japanese Food experience” and “the best Udon SF has to offer.” Today, I went to see if it really lived up to the hype. I went through the entire process described above, but it took a long time. The line outside gave us a solid 15 minute wait, and the assembly line was slowed down because the Udon making part was slow. (You would think that because it’s an assembly line, it should be faster, but that was not the case). For us four, we ordered 3 bowls. You can choose from their various creations and decide size and whether you want it hot or cold. We ordered their Nikutama and Curry Udon. We had ordered a small Kake Udon, but the guy misheard is, and we didn’t want to hold up the line. We also got sides of shrimp tempura, chicken, imitation crab musubi, and vegetable tempura. After all that time, I was finally ready to dig in. It did not live up to my expectations. Although the udon was fresh and I loved their smooth texture, the broth for both Nikutama and Curry were both just average. Nothing was particularly amazing and I think I really would’ve preferred just eating the noodles by themselves. The sides were also pretty average. They were good, but not amazing. Overall, Marugame really did not live up to the hype and it really isn’t worth the wait. Bottom line is, Marugame serves average udon at lower prices (not the tempura though- 1.9 per piece). Once the lines get shorter though, I would say try it out. You may enjoy it a lot more than I did, and it is a pretty unique place. It just isn’t as amazing as people made it out to be. Atmosphere: 3.5 Service: 2.5 Taste: 2.5 Price: 3.5 Uniqueness: 4 Presentation: 3 Overall, 19/30 or 63.33% #marugameudon #marugame #udon#tempura #stonestown #japanesefood #sf #ambersfoodreviews