Maruya Honten Nagoya Station Branch — Restaurant in Nagoya

One of many extremely satisfying meals which I had whilst in Japan. I have had unagi, or eel, at many restaurants across Japan and this is one of the better places. Even though Maruya Honten is a chain, they sure make delicious unagi. What made this unagi stand out from other restaurants is that it is prepared Nagoya style. Some people may not know this, but all across Japan, unagi is usually steamed and then grilled and served. What Nagoya does different is that they do away with the steaming of the unagi and go straight to grilling. I find that the umami flavours were just a bit more concentrated. Now, what I ordered was the traditional hitsumabushi meal - grilled eel over rice. Grilled eel like I said was delicious and grilled to perfection, flavourful, soft - perfect. The rice was amazing with just the right amount of savoury and sweet unagi sauce. What makes this meal special is the way it is eaten. First you enjoy yourself a bowl of the rice and unagi as is, so you may taste how the unagi and rice are alone. Second bowl is to be enjoyed with your choice of condiments. In the form of shiso leaves, green onions, pickled vegetables, and fresh wasabi. This gives the meal a totally different element of flavours. Third bowl is to be enjoyed exactly like the second bowl, but this time with a soup or tea poured over top the rice and unagi! This is like rice and unagi served three different ways! All delicious! And if you haven't devoured everything by your third bowl - which I highly doubt - you may enjoy the rest however you please!

Please, in my opinion it is something one must try while in Nagoya, as unagi is not prepared like this anywhere...

Japanese restaurants serve unagi don (only served unagi rice eel rice).

I heard from many influencers and post introduced this restaurant , which serve very good taste or unagi rice in Nagoya. So... give it a try. Reach the restaurant around 11am and the qué was very long (many people's qué) ; they restaurant do prepared some chair from seated outside , but there is till have some ppl need to qué with standing at very end (toward to next door restaurants). My qué seem to wait for more then 1 hours. So... Decided come back early of evening time (it could be shorter qué).

Came back early evening around 5pm, the qué is shorter, but... still have to wait more the 45 min. At the end decided to pack back (take away) the unagi ton (you can decide the portion of the unagi desire , and the price is charged depend on the portion of the unagi). Food is ready very fast on pack back (take away) customer. The menu was pretty simple and you just choose the amount of unagi you want to have. The taste of the unagi was nothing fancy and the taste / grilled with the sauce are taste lighter (taste not rich type of the unagi) = not greasy, not flavourful and the rice given was Abit too moist (Abit too sticky). If the rice cooked with Abit less water (it could taste better); this is just personal preference.

The price is apparently higher than other unagi rice from other restaurants. I would give this restaurant a 5/10. Personally felt not worth for the qué and Quite disappointed as I got higher expectation on enjoy the best unagi don on such popular...

Having read the great reviews of this place, I had high expectations of the food here and it certainly did not disappoint. The unagi is really good, crispy and fresh and the portions are rather good. I had the egg with unagi as well and it was heavenly. While it might be pricey for some, that is to be expected as unagi is not cheap and I feel that this is rather reasonably priced for the quality of unagi. Prices are 3800Y for one portion.

Nagoya's hitsumabushi is different from normal unadon (grilled eel on rice). The eating procedure is rather unique for hitsumabushi - firstly you divide the eel and rice into 4 portions. The first portion is eaten on its own; the second portion is eaten with the various condiments provided, like wasabi, radish, seaweed; the third portion is eaten with the soup provided and the last portion is eaten however you like! It is quite an interesting experience and I would definitely recommend this restaurant to eat at.

It is conveniently located in Nagoya Station too, at the 9th floor of Meitetsu Building, so if you are just stopping over for a while, it is not too far away! Opening hours are from...