Maruhide Uni Club

I knew about this place for awhile but after learning that this place was about to closed, I purposely made a trip to here one week ago before they closed and I was not disappointed.
Maybe the fact that everyone learned about their closing, they all made a trip out here to try their famous uni. When I got here at 12:40, I happened to be able to get on their wait list as the last one. After waiting for about 2 hours which is past their lunch hours, I finally got to step inside the restaurant.
I ordered one of their uni bowl with everything in it. The only other time that I had uni was when I went to the Quality Seafood in Redondo Beach a few years ago. For my first taste of the uni here, I can’t believe how good it is compare to the one in Quality Seafood. Unlike those there which is very salty and mushy, the ones here are cut perfectly to shape and I can actually taste the freshness of the uni rather than just the seawater.
I wish this place would still be opened so that people can experience the delicious and fresh uni offered here.

Unfortunately, Maruhide Uni Club is closing for good due to owner’s personal reason.
Ambiance: small and family style restaurant, average waiting time two hours.
Service: the waiter is a bit pushy and not very patient, though the rest of servers were very nice and friendly
Food: it’s the heaven for Uni lovers.
Uni Club Don — *** Uni, tuna, salmon roe, salmon, scallop, yellowtail, squid, Uni egg omelet, served on sushi rice, with small salad and Uni soup
Uni with chili — *** average taste
Uni with squid — **** fresh, recommend
Uni in olive oil — **** refreshing, recommend
Sea urchin cream pasta — **** so creamy and flavorful, recommend
Price: for their high quality Uni, it’s reasonably priced, expect $ 30~$ 40 per person
Fortunately, their factory store in long beach is still open

[Review #158]
2016 Unilocal 100 Challenge (²⁰⁄₁₀₀)
A good friend invited me to have lunch at one of her favorite restaurants, Maruhide Uni Club. Sadly, Maruhide Uni Club will be permanently closing its doors on 05÷21÷16. =(
That said, the restaurant is located in a small plaza along with other businesses so parking can be a challenge. Upon entry, there’s limited patio seating that’s typically given to walk-​in patrons whereas indoor seating requires reservations. It was especially crowded today at lunch, probably its regular customers trying to get their uni fix before they shut down permanently.
Maruhide Uni Club specializes in all things sea urchin [uni]. A very small salad is served with your meal… for my first & last meal here, I ordered the ever popular Sea Urchin Cream Pasta.
My order took awhile to arrive, but when it did, it was served hot & you can smell the uni radiating from the plate. The pasta portion was a bit on the small side (probably because I’m currently nursing my LO & need a slightly larger portion than my norm) with a decent serving of uni. I enjoyed the creamy pasta with a hint of saltiness from the über fresh uni. It was a simple yet complex dish loaded with flavor. =)
My friend had a rice bowl that looked delectable. I liked that they used sushi rice for added flavor whereas most restaurants use plain rice.
While I’m not a regular patron (it’s too late now), I’m sorry that Maruhide Uni Club’s closing their doors at the end of the week. A gem of a restaurant that will sorely be missed. :-*(Come & get your uni fix here… you have 2 days left!

Enjoyed the uni here very much. Unfortunately uni club is going to close down permanently next week. Bye bye uni club!

Absolutely fresh uni ever! We ordered the sampler and loved it!
On the sampler we ordered.
–Yuzu and chili oil: my favorite
–Original: my husbands favorite
–mixed with squid: yummy!
The Uni pasta was creamy and delicious! My daughters loved it!
Mixed bowl was amazing. You get a mix of scallop, yellowtail, tuna, salmon, roe, squid, and of course uni!
It was fresh and the quality was outstanding.
I’m sad to know that they are closing May 21^st so go in and enjoy every moment as it is very rare to have an establishment that has this level of quality!

Finally came back here!
Regular menu is descent and their service is as good as I remembered! We were late for 20 mins for our reservation but they were not only understanding but was able to hold our table (we felt bad but that was just so nice of them)!
Uni cream pasta was ok. Very yummy but more cream than Uni. Sashimi don and chefs choice sashimi plate were impressive. Fresh and good portion.

If you LOVE uni (sea urchin), you gotta come to Maruhide Uni Club! Specializing in anything uni, Maruhide is the perfect place to satisfy your cravings. They have other sushi there but the main draw is obviously uni.
They’re closed on Sundays and Mondays and they have an afternoon break the rest of the days that they’re open so be mindful of when you decide to come! We came on a weeknight and luckily, it wasn’t that crowded. For how expensive uni is in a typical sushi restaurant, you would imagine that the prices for uni would be outrageous here since they do have an uni specialization. However, everything on the menu is pretty affordable.
I would recommend getting an uni bowl, that’s the best way to get the best bang for your buck. I opted for the #6 uni, salmon hamachi don ($ 23.80). It’s served over sushi rice and also comes with a small salad and uni soup. The salad isn’t anything to write home about but then again, I didn’t go there for the salad! The bowl comes LOADED with uni which is a dream. You can tell with every bite that each piece of uni is extremely fresh and tastes great. I’m salivating just thinking of going there again to indulge in some delicious uni!
Service is quick and the staff is friendly. They also sell boxes of uni for you to bring home. A little box costs $ 10 which is pretty good considering it’s restaurant quality already.
I’ll definitely be back!

This place is heaven on Earth for uni lovers like me! I ate so much uni in one meal… jk I can never have enough uni lmao
The service was really great, the waiters were attentive throughout the whole meal. It took us a while to read the whole menu since they offer items that are very different from other Japanese restaurants.
The Chef’s Choice Sashimi that was noted to feed 2 – 3 people, but idk if I was just hungry or we really could eat, that was more like for 1 person only. It consisted of a 2 – 4 pieces of sashimi from Yellowtail, Otoro, Tuna, Red Snapper, Sea Cucumber, and Uni! Everything was extremely fresh and high quality.
We also got the Uni Shutou taster. Uni Shutou is basically uni marinated with different kind of seasoning and a bit of sake. Honestly still prefer to eat uni fresh the way it is, but it was really interesting to try the taster.
Since our tummies were still not satisfied, e decided to get the Uni Pasta. It was definitely the BEST Uni Pasta I’ve ever had! The cream was made with lots of uni, and the uni that came with it was also very buttery… DROOOOLS.
After the meal, we decided to take some uni togo (LOL). Too bad they ran out of the fresh boxed ones, because it’s 10% on Saturday! We still ended up taking the salt water ones home, and drained it at home to eat. STILL DELICIOUS!
Will definitely be back!!!

UNI UNI UNI UNI UNI!
If you love uni served in a variety of ways, this is the place for you!
The important take-​away from my review: MAKE RESERVATIONS! Even if you’re standing outside after parking your car, stop, get your cell phone out and make a reservation! Why? If you don’t have a reservation, even if the restaurant is half empty, they will only seat you outside. Outside isn’t that bad, except that there are flies and remnants of flies (we have a couple of wings fly into our bowls, but luckily it was after we were done… I hope. We weren’t observant when we were eating…). If you do get chilly, they have heat lamps they can turn on outside.
It’s best to come in a group for the sake of trying a variety of items, family-​style. Our group of 5 ordered:
* Uni cream pasta ($ 18) — it’s actually a small portion! One person can order this alone and still be hungry. However, out of the two pasta we ordered (spicy spaghetti being the other), this one is my favorite of the two. The pasta comes with two slices of bread, which is best eaten after dipping it into the uni cream sauce (it’s otherwise sort of dry and flavorless).
Spicy spaghetti napolitana ($ 17.80) — also comes with two slices of baguette bread. It’s not really spicy and the uni taste is not as strong as the cream pasta. I preferred the uni cream pasta over this if you are picking between noodle dishes.
Uni bowl ($ 18.80) — the classic. Comes with miso soup with small bits of uni. My favorite of the meal. Just looking back at the picture I took on my phone makes me crave an order of this. *_​* Over 16 pieces of uni shine over a bowl of white rice, cucumbers, tamago, and radish.
Uni Toro bowl ($ 24) — also comes with miso soup with uni. The toro was fatty all right, but I’ve had better cuts of toro elsewhere. About 4 – 5 pieces of toro is added in, reducing the amount of uni normally in the bowl. A good choice if you want some variety of fresh seafood in your rice bowl.
Chef choice sushi ($ 39) — uni, salmon roe, squid, sweet shrimp, toro, mackeral, scallop, and some other white fish I can’t remember with 6 pieces of a cut roll (cucumber, squid?, and uni sauce!). Everything was so fresh!
All of us received a starter salad — your basic iceberg lettuce with tomato and snap pea with a dressing that has a hint of uni. Seriously not one thing in our meal did uni not show up! We were in uni heaven.
Ooh, if you decide to order hot green tea, each person gets their own mini tea pot (hence it costs $ 4 per person for tea).
Parking — they’re located in a small plaza with somewhat compact spots. Good luck if you have a truck.
Take-​out — they do not do to-​go orders, but if you have leftovers to take home, they have to-​go boxes for you to do so. Yes!

I’m here finally to do some serious uni clubbing! This place has been on my bookmarks for more than 6 months, six months! Like many other foodies, I love uni absolutely. To go to a restaurant that serves everything uni is like my dream come true. You might think it’s all hyped up and all that, and as much as I hate hypes, this place is pretty down to earth with great food, friendly service and simple yet elegant décor.
Reservation is highly recommended. When we arrived, we saw the sign outside saying their uni was sold out. The feeling is analogous to a salesperson telling me they don’t have my size after I fall in love with a pair of shoes. We still had to walk in and ask what that’s all about. The hostess kindly asked if we had reservation. I said yes and that’s when she broke the good news to us. They had the uni reserved for those who made reservations! So I guess you call in not just to reserve a table but to reserve their uni too!
Despite the exclusive product that they carry, the uni from Channel Islands, Santa Barbara processed at their own processing plant, their service is not snobbish at all. Everyone we interacted with was friendly and helpful. A few even joked around with us!
The food was amazing. We got the uni pasta (~$ 17), which is one of my fav dishes of all time, and also the Uni Club Don (~$ 23). The uni pasta sauce was delectable, creamy and full of uni flavor! The few pieces of uni on top were fresh and savory. The most surprising part was how they cooked their spaghetti perfectly al dente because the pasta could be overlooked when the focus was the uni. The Don came with a salad with delicious uni dressing and a light refreshing broth soup with kelp and chunks of uni. The sashimi and other ingredients in the rice bowl were all fresh and tasty! The uni was of course tasty and the portion was pretty decent. Their maguro quality was bomb — fresh red color with fatty taste of tuna! The whole bowl was licked clean, including the delicious rice.
Almost all uni pieces in there tasted sweet and savory, except for one piece in our rice bowl that was slightly off-​color and bitter, but that was due to the kelp it ate and how each uni just tastes differently. I’d say all the uni except for that one piece we had in the meal were sweet, creamy and delectable.
Their gyokuro green tea was so freaking good! The server gave me a thumbs up when I ordered that haha.
At the end of the meal, I got myself a souvenir — a 4oz jar of frozen uni to go! I don’t know how it will turn out but will write an update later.
Love this place! So glad we checked it out and can’t wait to come back again!

If uni was my passionate lover, I would definitely be in a world of hurt. I had a little too much of it and my gout flared up. My left foot swelled up like a grapefruit and made it uncomfortable for me to sleep and my mobility wasn’t great for days. Yes… love definitely HURTS! I literally wanted to cry and at one point wanted to cut my foot off to end my misery. Sadly, that didn’t happen. :)
Wait time: We didn’t have to wait long because we got there right when it opened, but from other reviews the wait can go up to an hour. Make sure you call ahead and make a reservation.
Location/​Parking: Located in the Cherry Plaza. Has a decent amount of parking spaces, but if you can’t find any… you can park along Redondo Beach Blvd.
Ambiance: Loved the ambiance! It was quiet and relaxing. Call me boring, but I love places like that. Great place to enjoy your company and catch up.
Service: Great service! Waitresses were friendly, attentive, and kept our water cups full. Our food came out super fast also.
Food: We shared two plates…
1) Sea urchin pasta: Yum-​O! The sauce was very creamy and the Santa Barbara uni was exceptionally fresh, had a sweet taste, but the portion size could be a little more giving. The noodles were al dente! Loved soaking the two pieces of bread (included with the dish) into the creamy sauce. Overall, the dish was heavenly to eat!
2) Sea Urchin, Salmon Roe & Tuna Bowl: Comes with miso soup. Every thing from the sea urchin, salmon roe, and the tuna was fresh and delish! I do admit I was having some fun eating the salmon roe. It’s was like having those popping bobas explode in your mouth. YUM!
Would love to come back, but I’ll probably limit the amount of uni intake! :)

3.5 stars!
My review might be slightly biased because we didn’t get to try too many of their dishes.
Came here on a saturday night without a reservation (I didn’t know you could make one! :O) And the wait was 45 minutes for an outdoor table which was fine.
We ordered the uni egg omelet as an appetizer which actually to me was not very good. I usually love eggs with anything, but I think the uni and the egg flavors didn’t mesh very well. I would probably skip this. (²⁄₅)
Uni cream pasta: ⁴⁄₅. The pasta was cooked to perfection, al dente, and the creaminess of the sauce was not overpowering at all (which I felt has occurred in other uni pasta places). The uni was delicious and super fresh. The flavors all meshed together perfectly. I just wish they served a tad bit more uni! :)
Lastly, we also ordered green tea which came out to be 4 dollars per pot which was a little pricey, but they do give you fresh green tea leaves with a cute tea pot! I would advise sharing a pot with someone.
Overall if you’re craving uni, definitely come here. It beats all other uni places that I’ve been to so far! But I would probably stick w/​the uni pasta and try one of the bowls next time! :)

Goodness gracious why is this place so far from me? If you love Uni and Sushi in general, Maruhide has got to be on top of your list to try out. Everything was exceptional from the salad with uni sauce, the uni cream sauce pasta, the uni flavored miso, the uni croquet, and the uni don’s full of fresh sushi. The love of uni is proudly shown and tasted in all of the dishes. The only thing you won’t find here is uni dessert.
Reservations are highly recommended. Even on a Tuesday night this place was packed house, and there aren’t that many tables.

If you are an uni lover, then this is the place to go! Maruhide offers uni by the tray, literally! Their entire menu features uni, although I prefer to eat it on its own.
Maruhide is a small restaurant, so I highly suggest calling ahead and making a reservation. Unless you go early, there may not be enough space or time for walk-​in diners. The parking lot to the plaza is also very small, so I had to find street parking. The staff is very friendly and quick for service.
Our meal began with a clear soup with uni bits in it. We also had:
Uni roll — seaweed on the outside, with uni and avocado. The roll was small for the price, and didn’t really taste like uni. I wouldn’t order it again.
#7 Una Don — salmon, tuna, white fish, egg, tofu, fish egg. Beautiful chirashi bowl that showcases fresh fish. This was my favorite thing we ate during our meal, and how I prefer to eat raw fish. No fuss, just freshly cut sashimi.
Uni cream pasta. This was a very rich dish. The uni is cooked into a savory buttery cream that serves as the sauce for the pasta. A unique twist on serving uni.

UNI, UNI, UNI, UNI ALL DAY, EVERYDAY!
Ok, I never knew Uni Club existed. My eyes widen when I opened the menu and saw every dish had uni. If there’s such place as uni heaven, I think I’m there. I had a hard time ordering because everything looked delicious and I wanted to try it all, from the uni sashimi bowls to appetizers, uni egg custards, and uni pasta. I tried the Uni Club bowl. The fish was very fresh, but my favorite part was the uni omelet, it was fluffy and creamy.
The uni are fresh caught and local. Everything here was well put together and delicious. I applaud their creative incorporation of uni in various, diverse dishes. I can’t wait to come back again to check out their dinner menu.

Still five stars!
The freshest uni I ever had I had here yesterday.
Ordered #7 and so happy.
It looked like chirashi bowl, tasted just wonderful.
Very friendly service also.

Uni… Uni… Uni!!!
Call me crazy if I’m too hyper now. Beacuse I’m literally a Uni killer.
This restaurant is Amazing!
I’ve been waited to try this restaurant so bad cuz I’m such a uni lover. So I put this restaurant on my bookmark a long time ago and today I finally made it! Btw, I was super super excited to try this place like a crazy person.
I made an reservation tonight at 5:30. We drove down to torrance from LA just for here.
We came exactly at 5:30 and we seated immediately. Server was Korean, she was super nice and friendly! We tried ankimo (special), uni sampler, uni sushi, and uni pasta.
Ankimo was amazing, Uni was very fresh and pasta was just perfection. Only thing we didn’t like was the uni sampler which was too salty.
After we killed all the Uni, we got the yellowtail collar at the end. OMG seriously, it killed me. Sooo delicious, fresh and soft!!! Highly recommend!
Everything was great and perfect.
I will definetely come back again later!

Came here on a Wednesday for lunch at 11:37am. The line was already surprisingly long and the entire restaurant was filled 7 minutes after they opened. There was some drama between a waiter and one of the other parties that was waiting so heads up, you do need to sign your name onto a list to get in line.
The wait for me and my friend took about 30 mins before we were seated at the bar. They have an extensive menu but it’s also very easy to understand. Since it was our first time both my friend and I ordered the Uni Club Don which is basically a Chirashi. Due to weather conditions in Santa Barbara the Uni we were served that day was from Peru. Considering the price of the chirashi and the overall quality and quantity, I was decently happy. This was my first time having Peruvian uni and while it’s not bitter/​fishy like bad uni, it was fairly bland which was disappointing. The scallop was good but the rest of the fish was average quality (not bad at all, but also not spectacular). Overall, it was a good meal especially considering the price and the selection of fish. I wasn’t too impressed but I am excited to come back to try some of their more creative Uni dishes.

If you love uni, this is uni heaven! I had fresh uni at the 626 night market the day before and this uni comes in a close second! We had made reservations so there was no wait but there were a couple people lining up before doors opened so a reservation is recommended.
We ordered the uni don, the uni cream pasta and the uni tasting!
The uni don had: uni, yellowtail, scallop, tuna, squid, ikura and tamago. So fresh tasting and it was a huge portion!
The uni cream pasta had uni through and through: in the cream sauce and topped with two huge pieces of uni!
The uni tasting was good but the most disappointing of all that we ordered. I don’t remember what exactly were the different kinda but a couple of the ones we ordered were bitter. Of all the ones we got, the only non-​bitter and best-​tasting one was the frozen uni! The frozen texture made it really creamy and sweet, something totally unexpected!
Overall, great place if you love uni. I especially loved the uni cream pasta because it’s not very common but the uni don bowl had really fresh fish! ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would come here again.

If you have an acquired taste for uni, then this place is made for you. There is uni in EVERYTHING, even in my seaweed soup that came with my uni don, and I have a hunch that they mixed a dash of uni in the salad dressing. The pricing is very reasonable because they are very generous with their portions and more importantly, they’re very generous with the uni. The uni pasta is pretty good, the sauce is super creamy and retained some of the uni taste. They also give you 2 pieces of bread in case you have sauce leftover after you finish the pasta. The uni/​sashimi bowl was amazing, I usually don’t finish my rice with anything but it was so delicious with the uni that I ate all of it and that’s saying a lot. The uni don comes with some cucumbers, a leafy lettuce, onion strings, seaweed, ginger, and the rolled egg thing but with uni mixed in it. Mm yummy!
Service here is super amazing as well. We didn’t make reservations and were seated outside and the waiters went through the trouble of finding and turning on the heater machine things and even offered blankets, which is unusual but it’s the thought that counts. I never had to request a refill in my water, they were super attentive considering the limited seating outside. The people who work here are super sweet and cheerful which made the overall experience very happy.