Maru Sushi & Grill — Restaurant in Midland

MARU IS WORTH EVERY PENNY

I am a sushi freak. When I go to any city, I'm eating two things if you have them... sushi and Korean. Luckily, Maru has a bit of both.

This brings me to the next fact about me... I am a sushi SNOB. No Meijer or supermarket sushi for this cat. If you're sushi & skillz aren't high quality, I'm not coming back.

Pull up a chair and let's get into it!

INTERIOR: The restaurant is fairly small, but with great decor and was open, airy. Just a very pleasant place for a quick bit to eat, a small business lunch, or full-blown dinner. Just a great atmosphere all around.

STAFF & SERVICE: The staff was amazing..., particularly the sushi chefs I talked to, which were two dudes.

As always, the sushi bar right in front of a chef is the best seat in the house, and Maru was no exception. One chef gave me a few different grades of tuna to sample while waiting for my appetizers, and when I ordered my meal, another chef gave me extra nigiri.

I harassed the heck out of these poor guys (in a good way, of course), and they put up with my bull, my questions, and my bad jokes. Not only did they roll with my bad dad jokes, but they also took the time to tell me about the different cuts & grades of tuna, about sushi in general, special events that come to the area, along with their different sushi specials throughout the year. They were just all-around pleasant, fun, and informative, and we had some great laughs.

One of the sushi chefs was a woman, who was also very friendly, but we didn't talk much because this lady was busy hustling her butt off slinging rolls, while we typical, lazy guys joked around (jk! jk! Lol). This awesome chef is who made my special rolls, and let me tell you... she made them perfect.

PRESENTATION As you can see in my pics, the presentation was great. Personally, I think the garnish on my special roll plate was maybe a bit overdone so the plate looked crowded (see photo), but that is purely a matter of personal preference. And honestly... I didn't care because the food & the conversation was amazing.

QUALITY The raw seafood was as fresh as you could possibly get and very high quality. The otoro tuna literally melted in your mouth. They also carry several different grades/quality of tuna (depending on season), which was great because you don't find that everywhere.

The rice ball & sushi rice had great texture and flavor, and I love their kimchi

SPECIAL ROLLS: The Soy Joy and Ocean's 12 were absolutely amazing. When (not if) I go back, I'll be torn between trying the other rolls and just getting these two rolls again. Not much more I can say about that lol

PRICE: As I said above, my meal was: House salad with ginger dressing Kimchi & rice Yellowtail nigiri (2 pcs) Akami tuna nigiri (2 pcs) Otoro nigiri (2 pcs) Soy Joy special roll Ocean's 12 special roll Large Sake

The cost of a similar order at most places I've been to would range from $60-80. My tab was $110 which is a bit pricey, but as I said above, it was WORTH EVERY PENNY

SUMMARY: Great atmosphere, great food, great service, and great conversation. What more can you ask for?

Get your butts down to Maru... you won't regret it

Brian Extreme Hydro...

We had a party of 9 last Saturday the 12th. Of the 9, we had 4 who had never been there. We talked up the restaurant about how great the food and ambiance is. Our group was excited to eat there and celebrate my husband's birthday. We had to wait about 40-45 minutes to get our table. We had reservations at 6:30, and were sat around 7:10-7:15. We ordered drinks at the bar while we waited, which took a good 20 minutes or so -- fine. Once we were finally sat, we were done with our drinks. Our waiter takes our drink orders. He comes back after a good length of time with 7 of the drinks. He said the other 2 were coming. We ordered our food in the mean time. 45 minutes after ordering our drinks, and stopping our waiter twice, we still hadn't received our 2 other drinks. A manager walked by, and I asked her to help us. She retook our orders, and ordered the drinks for the remainder of the group as by now their drinks were gone. She comes back with all of us drinks. She apologizes, and states the waiter never put the 2 drinks on the ticket. Two things, super awkward she threw her employee under the bus as we still had to interact with him the remainder of our visit, and three of the drinks ordered had been long islands -- they were completely brown. I had just waited 45 minutes for my drink to receive an overpriced pepsi. I stopped our waiter, who stopped, looked up and took a deep breath before coming over to me -- I apologized, and explained that I wasn't trying to be difficult, but I had waited a long time and now my drink wasn't right (Took pics for reference). He replied with "well, it is just one of those nights" super sarcastically. Mind you, we have been super nice the whole time -- just asking for our missing drinks and for our drinks to be mixed right as we know we will be paying a decent amount for them. 2 of the people who ordered Sushi had their meals way before everyone else, the third person got their Sushi about 5 minutes later. They were at least halfway done when the remainder of the food was served (Hibachi meals). One person from our group didn't have any silverware -- so she stopped the hostess as we hadn't seen our waiter for a couple minutes. She was told they were out of clean silverware. The hostess did her best to get her silverware to her within a few minutes, and helped us get the side sauces we had ordered. She was really great. The food orders were all messed up, but by that point, we were clearly were seen as the difficult table, so we didn't say anything. We were given 25% off of our bills by the manager (they offered), which we did appreciate. While it softens the blow of still paying for an expensive meal and drinks, we expected so much more. We apologized to the couples who hadn't been there before, (and don't have a desire to come back), as this isn't their norm. We expected so much more from a restaurant that is supposed to be a "higher end" restaurant. Hopefully others can have a better experience...

Everything, just everything, was perfect during my experience dining with Maru. Originally, I dined with a party of three, which grew to a party of five after we spotted some friends. The staff eagerly accommodated us by seating us directly next to each other, and even offered to rearrange tables and chairs if we wanted to sit together at one table. The food was lovely and delicious: I loved the Philly roll and the gyoza. However, the absolute stars of our meal were the crunchy shrimp roll and the chestnut tea. Speaking of the tea, our server was extremely hospitable, and when we asked what brand the tea was, they brought out the entire tea package for us to snap a picture of. This exchange would only account for a small percentage of the total, and the perfect service we received from the staff. Our server's recommendations truly elevated the dishes to an entirely different level. I would highly recommend two things: the spicy aioli and the delectable basil oil for your side salad. Speaking of the side salad, when my girlfriend and I ordered, we thought that since we only spent $16 (enough for a side soup or salad), we would receive one salad or soup because we spent only enough for one. It was to our surprise when our server handed us two salads with the best ginger dressing I have ever had in my life. That may seem like a small detail to some, but after bad food experience after bad food experience from other restaurants. It was very refreshing to be treated like our patronage was appreciated and not just a business transaction. Lastly, I want to add that the portion sizes are fantastic. My friends, who joined us after we arrived, have picky 5-year-old-esque palates. They ordered the hibachi teriyaki chicken, which they really enjoyed, and the portion sizes were huge. My experience at Maru was terrific, and I want to...