Maido! A Marketplace of Japan — Attraction in Lower Merion Township

It's not bad but it's not great. As someone who has been going to Asian markets all her life, there's a few cons about this place. Which I'll get into in a second. If this is your first ever Asian market, you're going to love it. And i think this is a great start for what else is out there, but i don't see the hype. Nonetheless, i came, i saw, i supported. But i won't be back. Now onto the cons~

-This place doesn't have its own parking lot. It's either metered street parking or metered parking lots. Sure you can wait until after 4pm and it'll be free, but then that's stupid because everyone is waiting to do the same thing which means you won't find a parking spot. I went earlier, didn't mind the meters. Parked in the Schauffele Plaza parking lot. Lots of empty spaces. It's 2 hours max. And Maido was across the street.

This place is SUPER small! And everything runs pretty pricey. The shelves kind of feel bare, but that could be because of the pandemic I'm not sure. There's a lot of selections and choices that you'll find in any other Asian market in Philly and not so upticked.

The area itself around Maido is very condensed also. Lots of traffic. So i believe it entirely when someone shows up on a weekend or anytime after 4pm and tries to find parking. Lots of shops and restaurants nearby so you're competing with everyone else, plus in general, a lot of traffic!

The stationery is a very small section, as is any selection of the store. The stationery is one corner of the back wall, that's it. Still cute. But you really won't find that much. It's very basic.

It's taken me years to come check this out because i knew because of the parking, the congestion, the fact it's so small i wasn't going to be too thrilled with it. But i was picking up my niece for the day and thought she'd enjoy it, and she did. She did a little haul for her friends. But for someone who is grown and can drive themselves around, this wouldn't be my first pick or...

I’ve been on the hunt for some traditional Japanese comfort meals on the mainline. I was really excited to try things from Maido’s kitchen! Make sure you grab some Ramuné drinks in the mini fridge before you order. Ramuné is this amazing Japanese soda that has a marble you have to “pop” out into the drink. It is very fun and the drink is so good!

We ordered the Takoyaki and a small order of udon to start. We really loved how flavorful the broth was for the Udon. The Takoyaki was very unique and so tasty! For our main meals we ordered a bowl of the katsu curry bowl, which comes with white rice, amazing Japanese curry, and nicely crisped pork cutlet. The cutlet was not dry and added the right amount of texture to the bowl. The chicken teriyaki don was absolutely amazing. Classic teriyaki flavors with nicely caramelized chicken and well cooked rice. It was also really nice to be able to take our left overs to go easily. The bowls they come in are the ones you can take home, all you need is lids.

After eating, the beauty of the whole experience at Maido’s is being able to shop for most of those ingredients! The store is so organized and filled with Japanese snacks and other items. Overall this shop is a hot spot! Pretty busy, so try to come during off hours to have a smooth dining experience! I can not wait to visit again! Great place for lunch or...

I’m sorry to have to write this review but my first visit was beyond disappointing :( The product selection is extremely limited. For example, I came in looking for skincare and although there’s a small section of it, it does NOT include the most popular items someone would find at a respectable Japanese bodega (which is what this really is) in New York, for example. The products available were also extremely OVERPRICED, like a 30% markup than online. Secondly, there were no notebooks! and the Japanese are known to produce some of the finest paper products. Such a wasted opportunity for the owners to NOT include those. There’s a store in NYC called Konichiwa (actually there are many of alike stores in the city) that has everything in stock. Anyway, the shelves with produce look like they could use some good scrubbing as there was debris and dust. Eeww The “restaurant” section was abysmal as well. Poorly lit, much wear and tear, disgruntled staff, limited seating. No cute bags with the logo of the establishment. Will...