Maru Japanese Noodle Shop — Restaurant in Tucson

We decided to try the beef udon and curry udon with shrimp tempura here. It was nice that the dry ingredients were separate from the udon soup in the takeout containers to prevent the ingredients from getting soggy. After pouring the soup into the dry ingredients and trying it, we were pretty disappointed. First, I found it odd to have baby corn in the udon. The bok choy topping was fine but I feel like they should have added a slice or two of fish cake and some green onions or something to garnish it. Something just felt like it was missing and I've never had such toppings in basic udon soup dishes. Next, neither of the broths were good. I've had your typical traditional udon soup broth both in Japan and at authentic Japanese restaurants in California and even made it from scratch myself and this just tasted so off. The beef udon soup was way too salty and was missing that hint of sweetness in it. The dashi taste wasn't obvious at all. Maybe these flavors were present, but the saltiness definitely masked any other flavor that was there. The curry udon soup was also overly salty. I could taste the curry flavor, but the broth should have been a bit thicker, not like the thickness of curry but slightly thicker than typical udon broth. Both soups were just so salty that it took away from the taste of other ingredients. The udon noodles were a good texture though. The beef in the beef udon was also nice and tender. We split the shrimp tempura between the two udon soups and it was also pretty good. The tempura batter wasn't too thick and it was crunchy. But again, the saltiness of the broths just masked any good taste present in everything. By the time we finished eating, our mouths were somewhat numb...

My 10 year old daughter and I have been to MARU multiple times and we have not had any issues until this evening. We arrived at 7:24pm & placed our order ( 2 Beef Udon in fish broth , 1 California roll and 1 avocado roll). The guy who took our order said to us that it would be 20 minutes, if that was okay for us. I told him I did not mind waiting. So , my daughter and I sat down and waited. After 30 minutes , our food was not ready so I inquired about it. The owner/chef stated , “ Your Udon is finished, he’s preparing your sushi right now”. So I sat back down because it seemed like it would not be much longer. 45 minutes had gone by, our food was still not ready and everyone that came after us was gone. We were the only 2 people sitting in the restaurant. It was at 55 minutes, I got frustrated because my daughter was hungry & it was almost an hour since we placed our order and our food still had not arrived. Even a couple sitting next to us was shocked , and asked us “You guys haven’t received your food yet?”. I then went up to front and told the owner/chef, it was almost an hour if we could just get a refund because its late. His reply (rudely in front of my 10 year old) was “ You have to understand, its only two of us and its Friday night”. Then he continues to say “I can give you a refund but next time don’t order sushi on a Friday night when its busy”. He was so rude and unapologetic. If I was told from the beginning that the Sushi would be a while ( an hour) I would not have ordered. His behavior was so gross I wanted to get out of there. I didn’t even wait for my refund. I told him to keep it and left. My daughter & I loved MARU but sadly after this we will not...

My official Review : Mary Japanese Noodle Shop

Hello everyone, here it goes. So I came here twice so far. Let me tell you though my experience was okay at first and knew it was a bit there lacking from my first impression. Don’t get me wrong first time there wasn’t terrible it was just mediocre. So I thought hey try again it won’t do any harm . First off it’s not a place to really be catered to , you order at the front and have a seat while your food gets prepared which I usually don’t like but I let that slide. So yeah I went for a second time to hopefully get the better of the prior experience and hope for the best. Well to tell you, I’m very glad I did. I went and did my thing ordered and got my ramune and sat down. Just let me tell you though when I say down and had that first taste of that ramen I was in heaven. I immediately could tell it was made by a different cook. I mean it literally spoke and slapped my face in comparison from the bowl I had the first time, like this was made with love and a good technique, truly delicious. The last time I ate I didn’t even finish the broth but this time I ate it all , sipped that broth and was sad that it was over. I was incredibly pleased to the point I had to know who made my food. Her name was Amber, truly a sweet person and humble. Just know if she is working her magic back there you’re in for a good time. I highly recommend trying this place. I will definitely be back again. Thanks...