Maru — Restaurant in Upravna Enota Ljubljana

@foodie.slovenia/ Yoshihiku / Spicy tuna with avocado / Mixed sushi plate Food: 🍝🍝🍝🍝 Service: 💁💁💁💁 Price: 💲💲💲💲 Free parking: ✅ Student coupons: ❌ Conclusion: Maru is a japanese oriented restaurant in Šiška district in Ljubljana. It has really nice ambient especially if you get the table on their terrace. The first impression that you get when you are seated is that this restaurant is really neat and you are about to get a really pleasant gourmee expirience. We started of with some really nice japanase bier and two starters. First we tried the dish called Yoshihiku regards from kitchen, which is named after the chef. This dish was absolutely astonishing and delicious. It offers a lot of visual content and it is really impressive because you can really see all diverse techniques that japanase cousine has to offer. Second dish was spicy tuna with avocado. Tuna was seasoned nicely and plating was neat. For the main course we decided to try some mixed sushi. It was exceptional! Rice was cooked perfectly, very well seasoned and the temperature and texture of it were right. Fish that was used was high grade. Like with every fresh fish we were able to see it by the eye that they use only really fresh fish. For dessert we tried out cinnamon flavored dish which had a quite similar texture like a pudding but still it wasn't a pudding. It was unusal but for us it was a pleasant ending to a nice and delicious lunch. If you enjoy asian cousine you definitely won't be...

'No soup for you!'

Entering Maru was like walking onto the set of the 90's sitcom Seinfeld: getting served was contingent upon not upsetting the 'Soup Nazi'. It was a Wednesday night, and we had come without a reservation. Although there were plenty of empty tables, the waiter seemed displeased about this. He told us he would need the chef's approval to serve us. The waiter returned and reluntantly seated us. When ordering, I asked if I could have a sushi roll with both avocado and cucumber. The waiter looked at me with disdain and told me that sushi was supposed to consist of a single flavor at a time, and that the chef refused to mix tastes. He clarified that the chef was an itaemae who had been trained at the finest culinary school in Japan. Moreover, we had upset the chef enough already by coming without a reservation, and we were lucky to get served at all. The waiter further clarified that the restaurant was not a 'sushi bar' (although at least half of the menu seemed to be sushi), and so we shouldn't expect our sushi to be made quickly.

I order sushi about three times a week for lunch at a no-frills restaurant in a strip mall on the outskirts of Washington, DC. At my DC restaurant, I am served quickly and the sushi is arranged beaautifully. At Maru, the pieces of sushi were tiny, the presentation was luckluster, and the food was overpriced.

So if you go to Maru, be sure to make a reservation -- and for goodness sake, don't try to order a Philadelphia roll or ask for...

Visited in December 2022: Absolutely the best Japanese restaurant in all of Slovenia and probably Croatia. Dined twice during my short visit. Service and food is as good as before. Sashimi platter was so fresh and melt in your mouth. Having been to other places in Ljubljana, they are the best Japanese by a long shot. The waiters were excellent as well.

3 years ago: I went on Monday without reservations and there was only one table occupied at 8pm. I asked the waiter if there was a need for reservations and he said it is best to but usually on Mondays, business is slow but they appreciate a call even if its five minutes before.

Had planned to come with my friend later this week and we couldn't confirm until the day itself and had forgotten to make a reservation (Friday). It was raining heavily and we thought to try our luck but no avail. There was a sign that wrote "Reservations only". So definitely call if its Friday or the weekend. It was disappointing as I was visiting and really wanted to go back a second time with my friend.

That said, on Monday evening I ordered a large sashimi platter. There were 10 different types of fish including squid and octopus. All fresh and melt in your mouth. Really good price compared to other Japanese restaurant in the city.

Shame about the reservations as the restaurant has only a few tables but weird they don't serve on the...