Maguro-Ya

What a hidden gem in the heart of Kaimukī!This is a very old-school kine Japanese restaurant, which I love. No blaring music. Unassuming store front. Signs for seasonal specials on the walls. Traditional decor. Teishoku with lots of unique side dishes. Complimentary hot sencha served in addition to water. Flavorful, homemade (rather than instant) miso soup. White rice from Japan (with free refills). And of course, delicious food!The menu can be overwhelming because there are so many items to choose from. You can ask the waitress what they'd recommend. I usually get the miso butterfish teishoku or tempura teishoku. One time my husband got the teishoku with various preparations of maguro and he really enjoyed it.The restaurant is on the smaller side and can get busy during peak hours. It's also in a paid parking lot shared with lots of other businesses so parking can be tricky sometimes. (Also, make sure you pay for parking at the kiosk before heading back to your car--you don't pay at the exit gate).I wish there were more restaurants like Maguro-ya still!

My friends and I were looking for a place to grab dinner, and one of them suggested this restaurant, indicating that it was one of his favorite restaurants.It's located in between Happy Days Chinese Seafood Restaurant and Kim Chee Restaurant No 2 on Waialae Ave. There's a paid parking lot behind the building for $0.75 an hour. If not there, there are paid and free street parking spots around the entire neighborhood. Street parking becomes free after 6pm.I ordered their Maguro Rib Karaage and Sashimi Teishoku. It came with a set of sides and rice. For some reason, I read it as "Maguro Rib, Karaage, and Sashimi" - a three protein meal but it was actually "maguro rib karaage" as in deep fried maguro rib LOL. Whoops, my mistake. However, the maguro rib karaage was really good! Lots of flavor and didn't have a fishiness to it. It was just a lot of work to eat as it was the rib. The sashimi wasn't a favorite. I didn't think it was as fresh as it could have been. I got a variety of different sashimi including sea beam, tuna, seared tuna, and sauced tuna. None of the tuna was fresh in my opinion but they were better than the sea beam. The sea beam was very chewy and had a weird fishiness that I could not stomach. A huge perk about the teishoku was the amount of food it had. I was getting so full 2/3 of the way. My group also shared a Spicy Tuna Roll and a Mentai Yamaimo Roll. They weren't that special in my opinion. The spicy tuna roll was definitely much better than the mentai yamaimo roll. The mentaiko, unfortunately, wasn't as fresh as I hoped, and it lacked the delicious fishy kick that makes it mentaiko. They were a good starter as these sushi rolls could either be a handroll or cut roll to share among everyone. The night we went was a Thursday night, and the entire restaurant was completely full. However, there weren't any parties waiting outside to be seated. We waited about 30-45 mins for our food. It might have been because we had a table of 6 people, and they wanted all the food to come out at the same time. Our shared order of sushi rolls came out a little before our entrees did. Thankfully, we weren't too pressed for time and talked the entire time as we waited. Overall, this was an okay restaurant. I haven't tried it before but happy to have tried it now. My expectations in Japanese food may have increased over the years due to my frequent travels to Japan, so it may seem like a semi-miss for me here. However, the service was impeccable as everyone was nice, and our waiter continuously checked up on us.

Glad to know this 25 year business is still going. Congratulations!Paid Parking lot. No lunch specials. Can be pricey. Great Service. First time here and came by accident. We were actually heading to another establishment for lunch. But since they were closed, I noticed Maguro Ya. we walked in through the back door and to our surprise friends were there eating lunch. They mentioned they come here often and it was really delicious. So we took a table and ordered Chicken Oyako Donbori and Misoyaki Butterfish Teishoku. Both were very good. Spent more than usual for lunch. Food and service were good. Don't expect current social media post. Their Instagram is not maintained. Not sure if they have TikToc.

My husband and I were in the mood for Japanese and we recently decided to try Maguro-Ya as we live nearby. Inside has the feel of an authentic "old-school" Japanese restaurant and it was nice that our waitress was a native Japanese speaker. The food was excellent and fresh. We started with a maguro appetizer which we ate up quickly. I love agadashi tofu and the tofu here was served piping hot and the dashi very flavorful. I also enjoyed their tempura and kappa maki. My husband ordered a tempura, sushi, and udon combo and he enjoyed it very much. I thought the udon broth was really good. We look forward to coming here again.

We've enjoyed eating at Maguro-ya in the past but have not been there for several years so were happy to see the quality and service remain. My husband and son and I went in for an early dinner last weekend and even though they called to push back our reservation by 15 minutes because they said it was busy, when we arrived there were several open tables. (From past experience, we always make a reservation!) Parking is easy behind the restaurant in a large paid parking lot.For appetizers, we ordered edamame and some homemade fish cake. They were sadly out of chawanmushi (my favorite!) and agedashi tofu. We had nasu misoyaki, which came during our meal, which was very delicious - half a Japanese eggplant, slathered with miso and baked. It was so soft you scooped it out with a spoon.My husband and I both had the Maguro Teishoku, their signature dish with maguro served three ways: sashimi, deep fried Katsu, and broiled. It came with rice, miso soup, some small little sides, and a salad. My son had the three item teishoku with misoyaki butterfish, sashimi, and tempura. Everything was delicious and despite being crowded, the food came out quickly. I was hoping to save room for some dessert but was too full and took home quite a bit. There are always specials up on the wall that look delicious. I know they will be fresh so maybe I'll try one on our next visit!

Be prepared, because this place has a wide variety of dishes you can pick from! Personally, I was super overwhelmed by just looking at the menu. ***What I ordered ~ **Sashimi & Tempura Teishioku (8/10) ~ Hearty, good, and filling! The tempura was crispy and cooked to perfection. As for the sashimi it was okay, they gave a few chunky pieces and some seared one as well. The only reason why this wasn't a 10 was because there wasn't anything crazy that stood out to me. Simple and it's like a you get what you get. **Unagi Pressed Sushi (10/10) ~ Cooked and crispy! I love the flavor of the unagi sauce and I love that it was cooked so perfectly too. I would highly recommend getting this!! Overall, Not bad! I wouldn't mind coming back. HOWEVER, it is SUPER hot in there for some reason. Not sure if they keep the AC off, but luckily we were sitting by the front door so when customers would come in and out you would get a small breeze. Lastly, service was okay. You would kind of have to wave staff down to get something.

Dining in on a Sunday night and was super disappointed. We ordered Premium Nigiri($48.50), Local Favorite Sashimi($42) and Nabe Teshoku($35.50). The fish was not fresh at all and didn't look appealing either. The quality is just not acceptable for the price that we were paying. We will not return again unfortunately.

A friend told me recently he doesn't go to a "new" restaurant unless someone takes them there. I can understand that, wanting to be led somewhere good rather than be disappointed. If you've passed MaguroYa and haven't quite taking the deep sea plunge, take this as a guide from your trusted neighborhood foodie!Omakase has gotten very popular but if you're looking for a classic sushi spot, look no further. MaguroYa translates to Tuna Shop and I've never been disappointed by the quality or freshness. If you're a fan of tuna I recommend ordering maguro iroiro. You'll get different cuts and experience different aspects of the staple fish! But you really can't go wrong with anything you order on their extensive Japanese menu.Make sure to peep the specials lining the walls! We started with these tiny sardines that you can usually find dried but they had it fresh topped with grated ginger and scallions. It was an almost sweet palette opener! Followed by blue fin tuna which was a refreshing way to start the meal. Another nice surprise was enjoying shrimp caught in Makapu'u. They were so sweet raw and we enjoyed them fried too.We ended with ahi belly nabe. Scrumptious! I was expecting udon so I politely asked if we could get a side. Goro-san was happy to fill our ceramic bowl with udon and we were able to enjoy the delicious broth along slivers of long noods. And finally a salmon skin roll, with crispy skin as well as a nice amount of salmon meat. I especially love the crunch of the gobo and the veg that left the meal feeling bountiful but light.This may be a new spot but it's an old spot for all who have been able to enjoy Maguro Ya over the years. Maybe this special establishment can be a nice addition to your staples, too. Thank you time and time again, Gorosan and kind staff!

Maguro-Ya.More like Maguro-Ya gotta wait for 45 minutes for everything you order! But at least the person who we first ordered with tells us in advance, so we're not twiddling our thumbs waiting for our order.This place is located in Kaimuki near 11th Ave, next to Happy Day. There's metered parking out front, and a paid parking lot in the back.The inside is your typical Japanese restaurant with the sushi bar, wall lined with pictures and writings, short back chairs, and etc. We sat at the bar, which was the only seats available. It was fine until a large party showed up next to us that was inconsiderate and oblivious of others around them--usual talking loudly and obnoxious, add in incessant coughing, and chose not to move over when there's clearly space on the opposite side. Gladly, we were able to move to an open table. Even still slightly tight, it was way better than the bar.Starting our order at the bar. . .Chawanmushi. 45 minute wait.Yakitori. Also, 45 minutes.Dashimaki Tamago. 45 minutes.At this point, I was beginning to give up and thought about just leaving since everything is a 45 minute wait, but since we're already here...The Misoyaki Butterfish (came out first) was very good. Tender and flavorful meat with a nice crispy skin.The Maguro Poke was surprisingly very good. Soft tender ahi that was very prepared and dressed. Tasty and flavorful, and the accompanying pickled onions, sea asparagus, and pine nuts went very well together.Edamame! Forty-five min.... Not 45 minutes, but still took unusually long (after our butterfish and poke came out) Nothing to say about this. Just boiled soybean with a little salt.We added on a Negitoro Shiso Age after we moved to the table. This qualified for the 45-minute wait, but was never informed...Meanwhile, our Unagi Hako Sushi arrived. Upon first look, I don't see this was prepared correctly as it was quite messy. The rice was not compressed, there was no shape, and all the pieces fell apart when picked up with chopsticks. It's like as if the sushi was mistakenly rolled, and then tried to reshape it to flat sides. The rice was under seasoned as well. This was OK. Probably better off just ordering the Unagi Don for $10 more.The Shiso Age was excellent. Battered and fried very well. The minced fatty tuna filling was tasty, and went well with the herbaceous shiso. The curry powder put it over the top! Overall, I enjoyed the food at Maguro-Ya. Except the Unagi Hako Sushi, everything else was well prepared and well seasoned. Service was excellent. Since I now have an idea about the wait time for certain items, I'll be more prepared next time when I try more items!

It's a bit of a drive from Waikiki but worth it for some authentic Japanese food. Maguro-ya literally means tuna shop. As the name implies, fish is their specialty but they have a variety of Japanese classics such tonkatsu or teriyaki.I have been eating here for several years and always come here at least once while in town.I recommend teishoku--main dish plus several sides (miso soup, salad, pickles). You can't go wrong with a tonkatsu or sashimi plus tempura teishoku. I always enjoy maguro zukushi teishoku (tuna prepared 3 ways: sashimi, grilled, and deep fried).Service is great with polite staff. The atmosphere is bustling and very casual. Perfect for dinner without having to get dressed up. Bring your appetite.Parking is convenient in a muni parking lot behind restaurant (usually a few dollars).