Pork Tamago Onigiri Makishi Market — Restaurant in Naha

I waited 50 minutes and was 2 person away from the counter. However, I got triggered after observing the staff up close for 10 minutes and decided to leave.

I’ve traveled 47/47 prefectures of Japan and visited over 3,000 restaurants in Japan so I have many datapoints.

I ran a stopwatch on my phone to see how long it took them to serve each customer. There is no reason it should take 5 minutes between each transaction. The staff came out to call order number 31 and 32 but no one responded, possibly because this is a tourist trap for foreigners who don’t know Japanese. No attempt was made to call out the number in other languages. The issue is the staff at the counter left their post to walk to the seating area to look for the numbers. I got triggered by how inefficient and badly organized this was. It reminds me of playing Overcooked with people who aren’t very smart. The other issue was the staff who originally came out to call the number had such a bad attitude. The shop has barely been open for an hour. It’s not like they’ve been (over)worked for half the day. It’s also not like they were working very diligent. If you have this attitude, just don’t show up to work.

The main reason I waited in line is to show my mom how a badly organized business and mediocre product with some branding and social media hype can print money. I’ve ate here 2 times in the past by myself. I ate it multiple times to say with absolute certainty and without fluke that the food is mediocre.

I don’t use social media to search for food, but it’s obvious to me this must have been made famous in short form video social media. There were many Taiwanese in line.

At the end of the day, it’s a simple dish. It should not take long to prepare. The ingredients are decent but otherwise it’s basic without any culinary schools....

Must-try when visiting Okinawa! Pork Tamago Onigiri is a delicious Okinawan-style rice ball made with SPAM, egg, seaweed, and various toppings. Simple yet incredibly tasty, it’s worth grabbing one even if your hotel provides breakfast—perfect for eating on the go while exploring! 😋

The Makishi Market branch is clean and well-organized. There’s only an ordering counter inside, while the seating area is located diagonally across the street. Besides Makishi Market, you can also find branches in American Village, Naha Airport, and Motobu Town, making it easy to fit into your itinerary.

Each rice ball is freshly made to order, so expect a short wait. While waiting, be mindful not to block the entrance of the shop across the street (we saw the owner step out to remind tourists about this 😅).

✨ Recommended Menu Item: Deep-Fried Shima Tofu with Abura Miso – Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, the island tofu pairs perfectly with the shop’s homemade abura miso, delivering an incredible aroma and flavor. Combined with Japanese rice and SPAM, it's both satisfying and delicious—highly recommended for first-timers!

✨ Final Thoughts: 🔹 Go early to avoid long queues. 🔹 Great for takeout, especially if you’re on a road trip. 🍙 🔹 If you love crispy seaweed, eat it fresh! 🔹 No trip to Okinawa is complete without a Pork Tamago Onigiri—this simple rice ball will win you over with just one bite! 💛

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Pork Tamago Onigiri (aka Po-tama) is an Okinawan chain specializing in onigiri with a Hawaiian twist. This is like an Okinawan version of spam musubi, the famed Hawaiian snack. The difference is that their version is open-faced, like a sandwich. The location at Makishi Market in Naha is the original location. Unsurprisingly, there was a line when I came here, but it was not too long.

There are many varieties of onigiri to choose from. The constant ingredients in all of them are a slice of spam, tamago egg and rice inside a sheet of nori. Hence, this place is not vegetarian-friendly. Unlike spam musubi, an additional topping is added to the onigiri. This includes offbeat toppings like bittermelon tempura, mentaiko and sea grapes. I decided to order the sea grapes version, which is an Okinawan specialty.

Once you have ordered your meal, you wait nearby and pick up your food at the counter. The seating area is a few meters across the way in another building from where the food is made. The sea grapes onigiri was really interesting. It was like eating some seaweed caviar on top of a spam musubi. Being from Hawaii, I have eaten many spam musubis over the years and think it is worthwhile to give this place a try to compare them. The original is similar, so I think the limited and special varieties are the ones you...