Marugame Udon — Restaurant in Aliso Viejo

Marugame Udon - A Bright New Spot at The Commons Aliso Viejo

The famous Japanese udon franchise Marugame Udon has opened a brand-new location at The Commons in Aliso Viejo, a freshly developed plaza featuring several exciting new shops. The restaurant boasts a two-level storefront with high ceilings, creating an open, airy dining hall feel. On sunny days, the space is filled with natural light, making it a very inviting environment.

Dining here is a cafeteria-style experience. Customers line up, move through the counter, and build their meals step-by-step. First, you choose your udon base and the bowl size—medium or large. Add-ons like extra sliced beef (niku) or a soft egg are highly recommended, as they complement the udon beautifully. Staff will also offer free toppings like green onions and tempura flakes to customize your bowl.

Next, you can pick from a variety of delicious tempura sides, including fried sausage, fried red potatoes, karaage (fried chicken), and fried pumpkin. Finally, you select your drink, though it’s worth noting that the drink prices are relatively high—you might prefer grabbing a beverage at a nearby Daiso or grocery store after your meal. Luckily, they offer free ice water.

I chose the Nikitama Udon (hot version), and it was excellent—a perfect balance of udon noodles, soft-cooked egg (tamago), and sliced beef (niku). The noodles were tender yet chewy, and the broth was rich without being heavy.

The dining area is spacious, and there’s a large outdoor patio where dogs are likely welcome. Plenty of parking is available in the plaza, making access easy and stress-free.

Overall, Marugame Udon at The Commons offers a quick, satisfying, and customizable meal experience—a fantastic new addition to the...

Hubby surprised me with lunch during Grand Opening weekend. We arrived near opening time and the line was out the door. They have menus inside and outside, so you have plenty of time to see what they offer as you move quickly through the line.

The restaurant is open kitchen so you get a view of the whole experience from their handcrafted Sanuki-style udon noodles to customizing your rice/noodle bowl with various tempura toppings. We chose to get three bowls: Regular Nikutama ($12.55), Regular Tonkotsu ($12.55) and Chicken Katsu Curry ($11.95). For your udon, it comes with complementary scallions and tempura flakes, but we opted into the flakes only.

I enjoyed the nikutama since it felt like a beef bowl with an soft-boiled onsen egg. The noodles were bouncy and chewy, but the slippery noodles left me lightly annoyed that I couldn't eat faster due to my own lack of chopsticks skills. Hubs tonkotsu broth was rich and flavorful, which came topped with chashu pork, miso ground pork and seasoned, hard-boiled egg. The katsu atop the curry was really good too. It tasted like it had a hint of pepper and the curry sauce was non-spicy. The only thing that wasn't to our liking was the moisture of the rice. It was too wet and felt mushy.

Overall, it was nice to finally give them a try. I'm sure once more things open up such as 99 Ranch (I'm most excited for that!), I'll be frequenting this plaza more often. Also, their gift cards...

I’m usually a big fan of this Udon Chain, but the one down in a Aliso is not good. The service wasn’t the best, it seemed like no one really cared to be there.

But that’s not my concern, It was the food and cleanliness. I ordered my food and asked for a seasoned egg and they grabbed a plastic bin of the eggs and they were all mashed together, then the server gave me a tiny piece of a crushed seasoned egg, It was gross.

After I paid, I started to eat my meal, the broth was barely hot it was lukewarm, the hard boiled egg that it came with just dissolved in the broth, it was barely cooked. The extra seasoned egg I bought was disgusting, I regret eating it.

I had a few bites and I had enough. It was gross. I placed my tray over towards the trash area and saw piles of dirty bowls and trays at the window. Also seeing a bunch of employees through the window cheering in the back to each other. Not bothering to clean up these piles of bowls.

I know this location opened up last month but there’s no excuse for having the bare minimum.

If anyone wants to try this Udon Restaurant, PLEASE go to the one in South Coats Plaza. It’s smaller spot, but it’s so...