Marukai Market Place

This comment is just about the customer service counter where I went to get a raincheck. There were 2 people there but the guy helped me. While helping me, he decides to take 2 phone calls while making me wait when he’s talking to the person and also to inquire with another co-​worker about a product that the person on the phone was apparently asking about. I’m not sure why he felt the need to make me wait there while he took those calls especially since I was there first. And not sure why the other girl couldn’t have answered the phone while he was helping at the window. And when I asked him after he took his second phone call if I could just get my raincheck so I could leave, he starts mumbling something under his breath. Not sure what kind of customer service that is! Just make sure you have lots of time if you need to visit that counter!

I give up on this place! Used to have a wide variety of bentos. Since Don Quiote bought Marukai a couple of years ago, Marukai has been in decline. Less and less lunches and other things. After going here for a decade, I’m no longer going to waste my time here.

This is my favorite place to get spicy tuna hand rolls. They are simply the best on the island. Whenever I am around during lunch time I always get my cheap but delicious spicy tuna rolls here. I absolutely love this place!

You don’t need a membership for this location. They’ve change the rules. Anyone is welcomed to look around and shop around. I usually come here to pick up a small lunch bento or sushi roll for the-​go. Many of the already cooked food choices are deep fried: fried mochiko chicken, fried fish katsu, and fried calamari. There aren’t many food selections that contain vegetables but they do sell individually packed and pickled veggies that are sold separately.

1 — You no longer need a membership to shop here. If you are a member you get the ads & coupons in the mail. Though anyone is able to view the ads online at
so there is that.
2 — Marukai Corporation U.S.A. Is owned by Don Quixote.
That being said this is my go to stop to shop for supplies to make nabe (hot pot) when the weather is cold. The sliced pork & beef is quite cheap especially when on sale. They also carry shrimp, tofu, noodles (varies varieties of Sun Noodle without the soup which is much cheaper), Arabiki sausage and so forth. Which makes it one stop shopping.
SERVICE: For as long as I can remember you bag your own groceries. This was to keep the costs down. Personally I don’t mind but just pointing it out so that you know. Most of the times if they are not busy they will do it for you.
PARKING: Most of the times I don’t have a problem but then again I avoid the area on Tuesdays when the theaters next door have all day discount prices on tickets.

Over the past few years, whenever we’ve been in the Kaka’ako area getting our caffeine fix, we have noticed this store. We don’t have a membership which is usually required for entry into their wholesale market in Kalihi. But, our brother-​in-​law is currently a member and usually shops there. He has shared many delicious Japanese snacks, sauces and made-​to-​order poké from this Japanese specialty store with us at family gatherings.
Recently, after reading a review by fellow Unilocaler, Jennifer Y., I was prompted to go into this site as it does not require membership. My husband mentioned that he was interested in checking out their poké section, because of our brother’s-in-law choices at a recent family potluck, as well as the rest of the store.
As soon as we entered, we were welcomed by friendly workers and they kindly directed us to their seafood department at our request. There were 2 women working this refrigerated case. Both were helping a customer who was already there. But, when we arrived, one of the ladies greeted us and asked us if we wanted to sample any of their poké and then pointed above herself to a sign showing sauce selections… Wow! There were 10 different kinds to choose from. In addition to selecting your sauce, you get to select the type of fish or seafood that you want for your poké. How’s THAT for customization, eh?! We selected Kim Chee Top Shell (a type of sea snail similar to abalone) poké, smoked salmon poké and lomi salmon (tomato salad with diced salmon). Each poké had its own flavor and texture which we’d return for.
As for our abbreviated tour of the rest of the store. well, there were bottled or canned products in there that I’ve not ever seen before or may have seen previously at J-​Shop (the Japanese gourmet store) in the Pawa’a neighborhood. They have locally sourced and organic produce and some imported fresh items. All of the items are so colorfully packaged just like their candies. Gosh, all of the displays are dizzying in this Japanese grocery/​department store.
We’re planning to return for their fresh ahi poké or tako poké with one of their sauces and to spend a little bit more time to browse. The next time, we’ll make sure that we eat a meal before going into this store so we won’t have to hasten out with growling stomachs or end up buying up a whole Japanese products to «play» with.
#565

Being non-​members of Marukai, my husband and I have never ventured into this or their Dillingham store until seeing a recent ad inviting non-​members in for a visit. After reading Gabriel T., Emi H. and Nat N.‘s great reviews, we had to investigate.
So with our appetites in tow, we began our exploration at their prepared foods bento station. Sorry, that’s about as far as we got because now we had to deal with the «eyes being too big for our stomachs» factor.
Okay, so two words… MOCHIKO CHICKEN. We bought two servings along with one pack of their inari sushi all for under $ 10. Very delicious and worth it!
Incidentally, as the cashier was ringing us up, I inquired about non-​membership week at the store. She replied that the Ward store is open to the public year round. Yay! cuz we’ll be returning for the mochiko chicken as well as the other prepared foods at the bento station.

I’ll sum up the Marukai shopping experience for those who have not been there:
1. The meat section is awesome and the sliced beef and pork are great quality. 5 stars for that.
2. Japanese goods sections and stationary is cool. 4 stars for that.
3. Vegetable section is expensive. 0 stars for that.
4. Customer service is terrible, specifically at the check out register. –8 stars for that. Let me explain what you may experience on your visit there:
At the check out, there is one cashier and one additional staff there who I assume is a bagger of some sort. The cashier is ringing up the items and the bagger puts it into a shopping basket. I take out my reusable bags from home and ask the bagger if she can please put it into the bag instead of the basket. She looks at me, takes the bag and puts it into my shopping cart. Then she proceeds to put the items in the shopping cart instead of in the basket or the bag. Not one word from her. She looks at me with a blank face as if I’m speaking in Greek.
The cashier tells me that they can only put items into the basket. I asked her why they cant put it into the bag instead of the basket. She said that’s their store policy.
So you’re telling me that you cannot put the items into a bag which is in exactly the same location as the basket? They both refused. **Mind blown** I ended up bagging the items myself.
To the store owner and store manager, I don’t really blame the cashiers for the poor customer experience. They are doing exactly what they are trained to do by you. I assume this training is very strict because they cant deviate from a simple task to make the customer experience any better. I have to say that I will never return to Marukai to shop after this mind boggling experience in frustration. That is your reward, a lost customer for life. Get your act together Marukai management and staff. Your customer service sucks.
Aggravation ¹⁰⁄₁₀.

I’ve been coming to both Marukai Markets for some time and feel I have neglected them a review for too long.
First of all, I love Marukai. I love that this is the place for one-​stop Japanese food shopping. I also love all the imported Japanese sundries. They have so many very cool items that you can’t find anywhere else – stuff that makes for unique gifts for folks on The Mainland. Just look. You will find!
Moreover, I have to hand out props to their customer service. You see, I work on a ship that travels between Honolulu and the Mainland. Two weeks ago, I somehow left behind a number of items that I purchased. I didn’t realize my mistake until I was back aboard my ship. I immediately called the store but had to leave a message, as it was past closing time. I went back today – two weeks after the fact – and they had all the items I forgot reserved at the customer service desk. They even had one item that I forgot to mention in my voicemail message. These people here are so honest and thoughtful. Five stars!

There is such a huge variety of stuff here that it’s great for picking up something quick or browsing around for deals. Their musubi and poke are really good and cheaper than average. They offer a good deals on tofu and fresh noodles. Beer can be really cheap sometimes too. They have all kinds of interesting and useful gadgets and containers for the kitchen that it’s hard to leave without buying at least one piece of plastic.

They sell special edition Kit-​Kats here! I was able to get kabocha kit-​kats this past fall and just picked up some hazelnut Kit-​Kats yesterday! They also have a good selection of cheap Japanese tableware, I got some nice ramen bowls for a reasonable price. They also have a wide selection of Japanese groceries and their produce sale prices are good. I also just tried their multi-​grain rice salmon musubi and it was very delicious!

I’m a frequent shopper here. I always come down here for the Bento. It’s not the best but what can you ask for cheap food.
If you’re on a budget and hungry, just stop by at Marukai Ward. You can never go wrong with $ 5.00 Bento.

I remembered going to this store several years ago where I needed a membership. I was thankful to the manager for giving me a free pass for the day because I really wanted to check out this store. The store was stocked full of neat items, from rice bowls to sashimi.
I came back again this year and was happy that they got rid of the membershp. Evey now and then would drive down to Torrance, CA and go to Marukai but it is definitely not the same Marukai as in HI.
This store was neat/​clean and stocked full of stuff. If I can finally afford to live in HI, this would be my main store for all my necessities. The employees were very nice and helpful with a big smile on their faces.
I’m looking forward to going back to this store again.

They may not have the best produce, or the best bento, or the best poke, but they have it all. Marukai is half department store and half supermarket. You can find everything from Green Tea Kit Kat to Hanalei Poi. The variety is endless, and there’s always something to discover.
The hours are convenient, and the parking is ample. Occasional sake tasting too. It’s especially convenient for me, because it’s in my neighborhood. The workers are nice, and I have become a regular customer.

Having shopped in Marukai in Torrance, CA and Costa Mesa, CA, it’s hard not making comparisons. This one is older, dumpier and less organized. The ones in California still requires a membership; nice to see this one doesn’t. It had all my needs but it just seemed really disorganized and messy in there.

This was my first time to come to marukai now that it no longer requires membership. This is located across the ward warehouse (auahi street). I came in on a Friday at 11ish and if you’ve been living in Oahu long enough anything after 9am (or any grocery store open by then) is already busy and crowded for absolutely no reason. Friday’s are usually grocery stores favorite time to start lowering their prices or offer massive promotions of all sort… just another fancy way they get you to buy those wilting produce stock just before they dispose them. Anyway, the prices here are somewhat comparable to just plain ridiculous. An example of ridiculous are the produce that are almost $ 4/​lb (like radish and Bok Choys. only the most common stuffs most Asians would buy). If you’re not too lazy you can drive up to nijiya and buy the same exact ones at possibly $ 1.99/lb especially if you’re planing to buy for one person. The comparable store to this is Don Quijote where it’s so unorganized and just cluttered in every way. It’s also very dirty when I went to buy some shrimp (now that I’m thinking about it im getting worried about what I bought). So in conclusion, this place gets 2 stars, one for convenience & the other one for no membership (anymore), you may be better off going to DQ, since they open 24hrs and you can even swing by Walmart right close by to finish the rest of your grocery shopping! Or even better just wait for the Saturday morning farmers market help out your local community and wake up earlier
Oh and don’t forget to bring your own bag:-)

All I need are some ChuHi’s and all would be well in this world!!! They didn’t carry any cans, but I did find Sour Cream & Onion flavored Cheetos, a few of my favorite Japanese toiletries, bento boxes, curry, ramen bowls, miso, and Soju! I’m a very happy customer and don’t mind the $ 15 annual membership at all! Score!!!

A low key version of Don Quijote.
Small produce section.
Good selection of bentos, musubi, and cone sushi.
Spicy ahi or crab inari (3 pieces $ 2.99) not bad.
Assortment of Japanese and Korean goods.
Booze.
All at competitive prices.
Bring your own bag.

I’m so glad this place is open to public now. I don’t shop here too often so I didn’t want to get their membership. But I love to look all their Japanese housewares and gadgets. They have every small to large containers in all shapes and forms. You can also find gardening tools to stationeries.
Other half of the store is filled with mainly Japanese food. If you want Arare from Japan, this is one of the place to get it. You can’t beat Arare from Japan. It’s the real thing. You can also find yummy Japanese snacks like green tea Crunch and green tea Oreo. They also have ready made bentos for purchase.

I am not a member here. I come along with my member friends sometime.
It seems like they have Hiroshima Daifuku Sale until 04÷13÷15. $ 2.99 for 5 small Daifuku. Frozen Daifuku traveled from Japan. These are very tasty!
They seem to have regional food fairs occasionally.
For this delish Daifuku, I rate 5 stars!