Tokyo Central

I haven’t been to this store since it was Marukai. I’ve recently been checking out more and more businesses in the area (Eastside) because my friend moved from San Diego to Diamond Bar.
This store has lots of prepared food besides all the pre-​packaged foods (snacks, refrigerated or frozen). My favorites are the Japanese crackers. We came to Tokyo Central mainly for snacks to take on our road trip to Las Vegas during the upcoming 4^th of July weekend. We got some Japanese chocolates, rice crackers, and baked shrimp chips. The prices seem slightly lower on some items than other Japanese markets.
Overall, the store was clean and there was no wait at the check-​out lines. In order to use credit cards, you need to purchase at least $ 30.00 worth of items.
Xie Xie!

I love Tokyo Central! Tokyo central is a Japanese market which sells all kinds of Japanese goodies. I got overwhelmed with the selections here; sushi, soda, snacks, instant noodles, etc… I am a bit crazy about Japanese snacks, e.g. green tea kit kat, pocky, etc… I could find every Japanese snacks I want here! Also, the store was pretty neat and organized. The only downside was the store was kind of packed and the aisle narrow…

Anyone who gives Tokyo Central below 5 stars, seriously? As an Asian, this store fixes most if not all of my cravings. Snacks, instant noodles, sake, like everything. I can live in here and not complain!

I brought a flat grill over the weekend and wanted to do Hibachi style cooking. This place as an amazing mix of Chinese, Korean and Japaneses items. I spent over an hour just looking at everything! I even signed up for their club card since I know I’ll be shopping here at least twice a month.
They have a Kobe Shabu style cuts of meats to freshly made sushi for sale.

I seriously i wished I lived walking distance to this place… I would get so fat…
I love all Japanese markets but this is one of my favorites. It used to be called Marukai, but I guess it’s under new ownership now? You need a membership card to buy anything here, but no worries its only $ 1!
All their fish is top quality, no matter how I cook it, it turns out juicy and flaky! I especially love their packed lunches and premade sashimi/​sushi. They also have a build your own poke stand that serves fresh poke (around 10 bucks). They have other eateries in there too serving awesome Japanese food.
Tokyo Central, FTW!

Everything you could wish for in terms of Japanese goods and groceries can be found here. My review will focus on the to-​go bento boxes because they have blown me away; as aesthetically pleasing as they were, I didn’t have too many expectations for the bento boxes. This is one of the few things I was very glad to be wrong about. On my first visit, I tried the katsudon and it was shockingly better than many katsudons I have tried in restaurants in terms of flavor and balance. Most katsudons at restaurants tend to be too sweet, salty, dry, or bland. This one was beautifully balanced and even my mom, who is very particular about katsudon, praised it. Of course, it will be a bit soggy since it is pre-​made but that can be partially rectified by taking the katsu out and baking it for a few minutes in a toaster oven while you heat the rice separately. On my second visit, I tried the salmon & oden bento box and that was beautifully delicious as well. The salmon stayed soft even after microwaving the bento box with a wonderful balance of richness and seasoning while the oden vegetables each presented the best of their individual flavors. Even the furikake rice was delicious. Whoever is preparing the bento boxes at Tokyo Central is doing it with great care and love. I just wish this place was closer to my school!

Love the variety of Asian merchandise they have here. The market has a full variety of Asian foods, from Chinese to Japanese to Hawaiian!
Parking close to the store can be sometimes a challenge, depending on what time of the day you arrive. Because next door is a 24-​hour fitness, you will find that the gym patrons take up half of the parking during peak workout times.
When you walk in, to the far right, they have a self serve food area and fast food Hawaiian place. Then the store itself has such a wide variety and they have a little of everything you can think of from food to novelty items.
They offer a membership. Not sure if it’s something you purchase, but they offer members cheaper prices and they are labeled throughout the store.

What once was Marukai now is Tokyo Central. Now that Sushi Boy is grown up they replaced him with Sushi Paradise. The market itself has been redesigned and revamped not that it wasn’t any good in the first place but sometimes we need change. Change is good, they offer the same great customer service but with a more open atmosphere. They carry a bout load of different imported products from candy to intricate toys. I mostly come here for the grab and go ready to eat sushi and sashimi boxes. Made daily you know your getting a good product. I still haven’t tried the poke station but will when I get a chance. Also don’t forget to get a discount card for future savings and they’ll also send you a monthly newsletter.

One of the freshest poke’s I’ve ever had is found in this Japanese specialty store.
Surprisingly, it’s at a little booth run by an older Japanese lady. There’s no third party purveyors, no middle-​man involved, or even an intermediary time when they cut it and place it on ice. You know it’s fresh because it doesn’t have that fishy, ammonia smell to it. It smells fresh! Even the color is evenly pink and the texture is nice and firm.
The poke bowls are super cheap. I paid $ 7.98 for my poke bowl. No tax no tipping involved either. You pay at the cashier and then you can eat it at the tables and chairs. Other poke restaurants have poke bowls that cost up to $ 13, and then there’s tax, tip, and drinks. Here, it’s just straight up fresh seafood and poke bowl and clean filtered water. A «come as you are”-sort-of-thing
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The actual grocery store is amazing. They have a café with Hawaiian dishes. Of course, I only get Loco Moco. But I’m sure the other entrée is good too. I also like their green tea matcha.
The store is clean and organized. They have a huge selection of groceries (vegetable, seafood, fruits, home goods, etc). They specialize in Japanese and Hawaiian items. There’s an animé section in the corner. I like animé so that’s a go-​to section for me. They also have books if you want to know more a out Japanese culture (kanji, costumes, history, etc). They have an amazing alcohol selection (distilled, beer, wine). Good craft Asian brands are hard to find. They have a selection of TEA. Tea lovers must come here.
I could go on and on about the stuff they have. Ask if they carry something that is generally a Pan-​Asian item, then Toyko Central probably does have it.
If you like making sushi at home like me, then you’ll definitely like this place. They carry a huge variety of sushi rice. They even carry rice from the Niigata region of Japan – the best in the world for sushi, but very expensive. It’s called Akafuji Koshihikari. It cost like $ 50+ (out of my budget). I usually get the $ 20 – 25 range sushi rice.
They also have a huge selection of Takuan, the sweet yellow pickle from Japan. I didn’t know there could be that many variations of Takuan. But if you’re looking for things to put in your sushi. This is the place.
I could talk forever about how great this Grocery store is. But it’s something to see for yourself. If you want to do a Costco-​like food sampling, then they got that here too!

Sushi and Sashimi!!! The only 2 reasons you need to go here. Everything else is just a bonus.
They have a huge array of prepared foods from slabs of sushi grade fish to gyudon (beef bowls) They have a cold (refrigerated) and hot foods section. The hot bar items can be a little pricey because they price per weight.
I love coming to this market, but find it a little difficult to do all my grocery shopping here because I can’t get my everyday stuff like greek yogurt and cereal.
All in all, just come here to stroll the aisles and just to look at all their unique items.

One of my favorite things about this market is the huge selection of fresh sashimi and sushi! They have pre-​cut sashimi and if you don’t see a selection of sashimi you want, they can make it for you. There’s hand rolls and sushi rolls at the sushi station. You can also order there too. There are also individually wrapped nigiri which is perfect if you want to make your own box of nigiri.
Not only do they have Japanese items, they have Hawaiian items too, such as Hawaiian Host chocolates! There’s also a poke station where you can make your own poke. I was a bit hesitant but since so many people were getting poke, I decided to try it. It’s good for a quick bite after shopping. Would I go out of my way to get some? There’s so many poke options around so probably not. You can choose as many fish as you want but regardless, they weigh the seafood to a certain amount.
We always end up getting more items than we were planning to but there were a lot of different snacks and goodies you don’t normally find anywhere else!

I love this place so much! Perfect when I get a sushi craving, but don’t want to go to a restaurant. Their boba bar is good too-​try the apple tea, it’s delicious! Everyone is super friendly and helpful: D They also have a section with Japanese candies, a section with Japanese beauty products, and I can’t wait to try the poki bowls!

I probably get a little more excited about Asian supermarkets than your average person, but this place blew me away! Their prepared food section is large and reasonably-​priced, and all of the food looked good. I tried the tonkatsu curry bowl and thought it was delicious — juicy and still crispy despite being premade, and the curry sauce was packed with beef and veggies.
Their aisles have a broad selection of Japanese products and boast just about everything you could want — sashimi grade fish, a pickle bar with tons of varieties, and multiple varieties of Japanese ingredients that are hard to find in any form elsewhere. I loved that they have little signs that explain what each product is, making it accessible to non-​Japanese customers even while it caters to the most specialized needs.
It was a little weird that they charge you a dollar for their loyalty card, but for the savings it offers it’s worth it. I also liked that they recycle bags for you if you bring them back in. I will definitely be back here — I’ll probably have to resist the urge to go too often!

Tiny but packed plushy and gundam store, hot to-​go buffet, plenty of prepackaged sushi and poke bowls, indoor seating area and wifi, helpful staff and great selection of cooking accessories.

Walking in, there’s a cute store to the left that has a lot of animé items & other cute kawaii things. Then you have a ‘food court’ to the right — it has sushi & a lot of hot items as well.
The market itself is pretty decent sized. Has a lot of different items so I mean, if you’re looking for asian things — they’ll most likely have it. Good quality too! I must say it is pricey but you know, you want quality — you gotta pay a little more.

Good grocery selection.
Beef from Harris Ranch.
Visually pleasant and easy to navigate
Comfortable cafeteria for both dining alone and dining in groups.

Did I really not write a review yet for TC?
I’ve been in love with this store since it was Marukai.
You wanna take a mini vacay to Tokyo, see art, buy beautiful Japanese ceramics, eat fresh sushi, tempura, browse fun products including beauty products?
Go to Tokyo Central, you won’t be disappointed.
I love browsing the aisles of exotic sodas (creamy melon soda, anyone?), chips/​snacks (shrimp flavor potato crisps), candy (green tea Kit Kats) and produce.
The sushi at the take out area is delish, and my fave roll of all time, that masago coated creation of my dreams. They have a cute little eat in area, with ice water, condiments for you. Great for a quick bite and reasonable too.

I still love coming here! They have a large variety of Japanese snacks and food. Now that they are Tokyo Central and not marukai, they have a larger selection of cooked food and sushi/​sashimi.
When I’m not in the mood to slice my own sashimi, I get the pre-​cut ones. Fish, whether it’s precut or not, is always fresh. I’m so happy that I can buy my uni here without it costing me an arm and a leg.
On the weekends, they have food to taste, just like at Costco!

Shopping at tokyo central makes me feel like I’m on an episode of top chef, in particular their seafood collection. They have some of the best cuts of seafood for sale and everything looks and smells fresh, something that can be difficult to manage when it comes to raw fish!
But what I really like about this place is the complementary pieces that make this spot great. From the poke bowl stand to the hot food bar, this place offers reasonable prices and high quality on their to go and prepared foods. When’s the last time you saw agedashi tofu as a hot bar item?!
They also have a fair selection of produce and all types of snacks and Japanese inspired items to buy. Lastly, they have a great collection of sakes and other liquors, and a great selection of Japanese craft beers you won’t be finding at other places.
This place is like a Japanese inspired whole foods, less focused on the organic piece but fully committed to providing high quality products. Will be coming here for whenever the Japanese food craving hits!

This could be as close as being in Hawaii. Tons of cool, neat, food and goodies.
You can probably spend some time in this place. No joke.
Goodies you would normally grab in Hawaii and bring back, you can find here.
Sushi spot that you can watch them make your sushi and take it home.
Food court to grab a bite to eat there or take home.
Just a little feel of Hawaii and a place to pick up some cute nick nacks!

Expensive expensive expensive expensive!
Everything about this place screams gentrification of Japanese goods. Mitsuwa is the alternative but there doesn’t seem to be any around this area.
However their single dinner or lunch preparation is actually pretty decent in price. Overall I find that this market marks up everything from noodles to frozen good. I can find it cheaper virtually anywhere else in any Asian market but what surprised me was their seafood section where I found slabs of otoro for $ 75 dollars a pound. A nice small piece would run you about perhaps $ 40 – 50 dollars and I find that extremely nice since otoro is hard to find anywhere else, let alone a supermarket.
If it wasn’t for the otoro and their prepared food section I would have marked this as 3 stars.

Membership market (only $ 1 for lifetime membership) located in a plaza with 24 Hour Fitness and a post office. Plenty of parking.
Taken place of the old Marukai Japanese market, I have been to Tokyo Central only a handful of times and really do like coming here (despite their high prices).
Like a typical market, you can find produce, drinks, dry food items, and of course fresh cut sashimi in the seafood section (towards the back of the store). But what makes this particular market unique is that they also have a hot food section (pay by the pound or by the item) with plenty of tasty selection to choose from. There is also a little seafood counter for poke. You can also get those tasty mochi desserts made by Fugetsu-​Do in Little Tokyo in LA here too.
You can also purchase tasty Hawaiian snacks and other food products.
You can also purchase kitchenware, beauty products and houseware.
The employees at the registers that I have interacted with are pretty friendly.
Will definitely be back.

My favorite grocery store near my house!
I come here all the time, mainly because it’s super close to my home, but also because I love Japanese food. This market replaced Marukai… Tokyo Central is Marukai but much improved! They added a hot food section and an expanded sushi take-​out area. I would describe this market as a Japanese version of Whole Foods. The hot food section is charged per pound, so be careful, it’s easy to rack up a huge tab… it adds up quickly! What I like in the hot food section is the tonkatsu and shrimp tempura. Sometimes if you show up during off hours, a lot of the food is dried out, but usually the tonkatsu and shrimp is consistent. Sometimes they have ribs or curry and both are pretty decent.
Their sushi section is good too. You can buy individual pieces of nigiri for $ 1.50 each, or you can get poke bowls and other sushi bentos. There’s also onigiri, katsu-​don, teriyaki bowls, and ramen bowls that are heat to serve. There’s a dining area like Whole Foods that has a microwave and utensils.
The market has everything you need to make Japanese food and a lot of toiletries and cookware imported from Japan. There is some American food items here, but this place won’t replace your standard American market.

I can stay at a grocery store forever, especially one like Tokyo Central! I love looking at the sushi packaged for customers to take on the go, the hot food section, and the perfectly marbled meat. They also sell a lot of Hawaiian goodies here! I love the hurricane popcorn :) It’s a must try!
The staff are extremely helpful as well. The bf and I were looking to see if they had a tonkotsu soup base for shabu shabu and the cashier went out of her way to look for it. When she couldn’t find it, she told us how she does shabu shabu which was super simple and easy but we wanted something more flavorful.
Be sure to sign up for a membership card! The first time I came here, I declined not knowing it was only $ 1! Silly me, I could’ve saved more money.
Next time, I will be back when I want to make my own sushi! Just looking at the different cuts of fresh fish got me drooling…

When Tokyo Central (TC) took the place of Marukai, I was super disappointed. I’ve made a couple of trips here and honestly, I feel like they carry most of the same products as before. TC still focuses on Japanese and Hawaiian products, but their take away selection has more to offer.
Sushi– They have individually wrapped sushi that allows you customize your own bento box.
Buffet– TC offers a mini buffet. First, choose your take out tray as they offer several sizes and fill it up! They charge you by the weight of your tray. They offer a variety of items from sausages, tempura, croquette, salads, yakisoba, etc.
The produce is always fresh and I always end up looking in the candy and snack section for novelty treats.
Make your way down to Tokyo Central for all your Japanese and Hawaiian needs!

i love everything about this place, i was looking for a green tea kitkat and this place came out. the moment you come in, there’s a sushi counter where you can see different types of seafood. i was surprised they really promote their matcha stuff. there’s green tea kitkat, green tea crunch, green tea pocky and everything! this place is similar to mitsuwa, though i havent tried eating at their food court, but they have groceries, snacks, packaged sushi, seafood and bento. i think they even sell appliances and other toys, and also hair products and other stuff. i had to drive about an hour just to go here, but it was worth it.
oh btw, there’s a one time membership fee for a $ 1. so take advantage of that to get discounts and rewards! you wont be disappointed. will come back here again!

Love love love love love the junkfood and candy selection, but dislike the price.
The new market definitely have a lot more selections on food choices with the pok bowls ($ 7.98 pre-​packed, $ 7.98 custom with a dollar extra for avocado or imitation crab. There are also salad/​soup bar, traditional mochi dessert section, and hot food bar with $ 8.88 per lb.
The market pretty much has everything from cosmetic, kitchen supplies, health related to other randim items. There are also a mini shop by the entrance with stuff animals (on sale for $ 30) and Gundam models.
The only sad part is it’s does not the best deals. :(Only bought a few junkfood and already coated $ 34.

Very huge Japanese supermarket. It used to be a Marukai and looks like the owners are probably the same as they seem to have just rebranded themselves. You can easily get confused if you are in Japan or in the US as most of their items are from Japan (from all the drinks and food to their misc stuff). The staff here are very friendly and majority of them were Japanese.
They sell one of the most marbled pieces of meat I have ever seen for a US Japanese supermarket. They have member and non member pricing but all you need to become a member for life is just pay a one time $ 1 membership.
I’ll definitely be coming here again for my Japanese shopping!

They have a dollar membership card, so you should definitely join to get a lot of discount prices! This is a great place to go for Japanese snacks. Green tea everything! They also have a place to buy Japanese food, sushi, and random food, which is a great option! There are so many things to check out here!

Having recently returned from a trip to Honolulu, it’s only normal that we would miss all the snacks, coffee & mac nuts we found there. It’s a way to reminisce. To our nice surprise, we found this market. What used to be here was another Japanese market that sold items no one really wanted, and can also be found at Daiso for a fraction of the cost.
Tokyo Central has been at this location since mid-​March 2015. They managed to fill the existing space with a produce section, a huge sushi /​bent box /​prepared foods station, a bakery, a seafood station (where you can buy high end blue fin tuna & other sushi grade fresh fish) and aisles of snacks, frozen foods and a bunch of useful and useless household crap.
I was happy to have found a few brands of coffee that I purchased from Honolulu, as well as cookies, pancake mixes and mac nuts. The prices are higher than the island but that’s to be expected.
The employees are most likely all Japanese. Though several of them barely spoke any English, they were very polite & helpful.
On my first trip, I aready found at least 2 dozen items I either want to restock, or to try. But instead of listing everything you can find here, just scroll through the tons of pictures I took. Better yet, go check them out for yourself.
Notes:
Ask any cashier for a rewards card. It’s only a dollar and you get the sales price, just like any supermarket. So worth it.
They have a lot of prepared foods, so don’t fill up before you come here. Many things to try.
From my experience, it’s a good idea to come here right before going home, so in case you guy some frozen treats, they won’t melt in the car.

I’ve been awaiting the day to check this market out and it was pretty cool. A bit smaller than I’d expected, but it was still filled with plenty of recent Japanese imports like snacks or beauty products.
When I first entered, I was greeted by tons of fuzzy stuffed animals– shibas and alpacas and hamsters lining the shelves; basically all the cute stuff you’d want to decorate your room with. After a good amount of time spent in this section (you pay for these items at the nearby customer service or if you want, at the regular cash registers), I was able to wrench myself away to check out the food.
They are stocked with plenty of imported teas and soft drinks– pretty much enough to fill a row of vending machines if they were lined right outside the market just like they would be in Japan. If you thirst for Japan, you’ve come to the right place. There is also a selection of Japanese craft beers and they offer six-​packs of Asahi Black. I don’t know why, but it’s so hard to find the Black versions of the Japanese beers in LA. If you haven’t tried the black versions of Japanese beer, you must! They are absolutely delicious and I prefer them to their originals.
The snack aisles were a bit smaller than I expected, but they still had plenty of choices. I came here specifically for the Nori-​Ten snack and was disappointed to find them sold in only regular sized bags, not massive Costco-​sized ones. Oh well.
Also, they have a section dedicated to green tea/​matcha-​flavored snacks, so if you’re a fan, don’t miss it.
The sample ladies all spoke fluent Japanese, as did everyone staffed there now that I think about it. I was able to get some gyoza on sale price, so be sure to get your rewards card for $ 1 for your extra member savings and points-​earning!
Of course we had to try the deli section– it’s only fair since it’s there! The aroma of that section reminded me very briefly of Tokyo– that all too familiar smell of miso soup and whatever else was wafting from the kitchen.
Deli items:
Curry Croquette– ok; pass
Shrimp Tempura– ok
Agedashi Tofu– ok
Takoyaki– GOOD; octopus inside had a unique dried squid flavor that was delish; hope that wasn’t coming from their yummy bonito flakes though
Okonomiyaki (mini) — pretty good
Miso Chicken Karaage– GOOD; tasted like regular karaage but found tons of fat in mine.
Spicy Tuna Onigiri– it was spicy but eh, pass
Tempura Onigiri– this was pretty good but the seaweed is not separated from the rice like the other onigiri…
You’re able to pay for your groceries at the café section, which made things much simpler. The only not cool part was the fact that their water had a notice that said the filtration system contains arsenic … I would suggest they change their filtration systems so that people getting water, whether it be customers who are eating the deli food or their own workers who also have lunch there, are not susceptible to this arsenic-​laden water. ANYWAY. Just a suggestion.