Maru Korean Bistro

My husband and I had a date night here on a recent Saturday evening and our experience was...very average. We had reservations for 7:30, but we got there around 7pm due to an earlier event ending sooner than we thought. We were prepared to wait if the place was exceedingly busy, but that's not why we ended up having to wait. We got to the front desk and noted that there was a larger group of guests but then only 2-3 other tables with customers. Despite it being not as busy as we were expecting, no one noticed we had been waiting to be seated for about 20 minutes. The waitress who did finally notice and seat us was very pleasant and did let us know that because the larger group had just put in their orders, our food may be delayed a bit, which was fine with us.We got a bottle of soju which was tasty (but we were served dirty cups) and the sweet and spicy veggie dumplings to start with. Before our app came out, our waitress brought out complimentary seaweed salad and kimchi, both of which were very tasty! The kimchi didn't taste super fermented, but it did taste good.The dumplings themselves were a little bit chewier than I like and the sauce was very sweet without really any heat. They were overall fine and we finished them, but would probably not order again - at least not with the sauce.My husband got the crispy chicken which came highly recommended by our waitress. I wanted to get the jap chae, but after putting in my order, our waitress came back to tell us that the kitchen was out of the noodles needed for the dish. I ended up getting the stir fried noodles with vegetables and made spicy. My dish was definitely spicy, no doubt about that! But the flavor otherwise was disappointing - it just didn't taste like much. My husband was similarly disappointed, saying the chicken didn't have a lot of flavor.Throughout our meal, there were several guests that came in and were told that the restaurant wasn't seating any more guests for the rest of the night due to higher demand earlier in the day.Overall our meals were fine, but the whole experience was odd and I probably wouldn't return. Our waitress was super sweet throughout though!

Love this place - the food, the ambiance, and service! My favorites are the raspberry wine and fruity sojus. The beef bibimbap is excellent and I highly recommend it. Also love the sweet and spicy pork dumplings. I wish they had a website to make viewing the menu and making reservations easier.

We were joined by friends at Maru and were quickly seated in a booth on a Saturday night at 6pm with no reservations. Phew! We like to share wherever we are, so we ordered for the table Sweet & Spicy Pork Dumplings (6 pc for 9.95), Fried Kimchi Teriyaki Dumplings (8 pc for 9.95), Beef Bulgogi with an egg (20.95 +1.5), Beef Jap Chae with an egg (18.95 +1.5), Spicy Squid Pork Belly (23.95), Spicy Chicken Galbi (19.95) and shared a Jinro Chamisul Soju (16.00) between three of us while our other friend enjoyed a Hot Green Tea (3.00).Let me say up front, we're a loud group and we take our time eating, but service was wonderful and we were treated warmly. Staffing was short that night (they had to send staff to one of their other restaurants) but they were always kind and never forgot a request. Over the course of three hours we devoured our meal. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, had deep flavors and were balanced delightfully in saltiness, sourness, sweetness, bitterness, and spiciness. Pure definition of siwonhan-mat. I was shocked to see that we had leftovers in the end, as we all were devouring the food. Kudos to Maru on providing good portions. We all left filled and happy. Next time I want to try the Kimchi Cheese Rice Balls, Bibimbap, Kimchi Beef Fried Rice and one of their Ramen's. Drooling already!

I'm always happy to see Milwaukee get more Korean food. There's a lot to try, but I'm partial to the spicy stews and noodle dishes. I have dined in at Maru a couple times and also gotten delivery. The food has been consistently good, if slightly pricey. The decor at the restaurant is cheerful and the service is nice even at off-peak hours.I tried the soft tofu stew on my first visit because it's one of my favorite dishes ever. Maru's is good. It's pleasantly spicy, comes with purple rice, and you can get an egg on it. The budae jigae is something I was trying for the first time. It's also nicely spicy and as filling as it sounds. I would get it again. I also had the spicy chicken when I ordered delivery and I thought the sauce was really addictive. The same purple rice was excellent for soaking it up. I had the duk mandu soup and it was delicious and not spicy.The restaurant is clean and bright inside, with signs advertising the food and flowers in the window. I'm in this area quite a bit on the weekends so Maru is getting added to my restaurant rotation.

Maru will hit the spot when you're craving Korean and are limited to Milwaukee's very sad, ethnic food options. Maru serves casual, home style Korean food - not elevated but are simple meals you can share with friends. Pros: - Thank you for being the only MOSTLY authentic Korean restaurant in the entire Great Milwaukee Area - It's not fusion - Portion sizes are large and good for sharing- Attentive service Cons:- Only two banchan (tiny side dishes) were served, a spicy pickled bok choy dish (which I'm not sure is even an authentic dish??) and a potato dish. Traditional Korean restaurants will give you at least 5-6. I guess this might be their way of cutting costs. But c'mon, how could you not even include kimchi as one of the Banchan?? - Price is steep for what you're paying for. Onto the food:- Food here will satisfy the craving, but it's definitely not the best Korean restaurant I've been to by FAR.- Tteokbokki was actually pretty good! My fave thing that we got. The tteok (rice cake) was cooked well (chewy, not soggy or undercooked) and sauce was yummy. Sauce wasn't too sweet and had a nice kick. I liked that it was actually spicy. - Bulgogi: Flavor was pretty good - tasted like bulgogi. Some pieces were huge and difficult to chew. The option to add egg is definitely not traditional. This was alright -- not the best meat quality. I'm guessing they probably have to import it or freeze the meat because this is Milwaukee and it's hard to get a hold of Asian ingredients. Sigh, am I being too picky? - Budae Jigae: Broth lacked real flavor or depth and just tasted like I was drinking kimchi juice. I'd skip on this. Also, I think they forgot to put tofu in it because I don't think I saw any in the soup. I think I'm being harsh on Maru because I'm from California and have had Korean food 20x better. Sorry Maru. For what you can get in Milwaukee, Maru is so, so great! For bringing mostly authentic Korean dishes to the Milwaukee food scene, Maru is awesome.

I usually make the trek out to Chicago-land for all Asian food but I was in the area for elite boba & was craving Korean food so here we are! My friend & I looked at the menu extensively all day to decide what to get for us & our boyfriends since they let us take charge. We decided on Korean fried chicken with the sweet & spicy garlic sauce on the side, the kimchi dumpling stew, the beef bulgogi add an egg, & the pork shoulder lettuce wrap set. We were so happy with our order haha. The Korean fried chicken came out first & the chicken itself was okay, my boyfriend did not like the breading at all. The sauce however? WOW. So good! I ended up dipping everything in that sauce haha. Then came the pork lettuce wrap & the bulgogi beef w egg. Both were delicious! Building a lettuce wrap felt so nostalgic I haven't done it for such a long time. The bulgogi beef was my favorite over the two it was so soft & I liked the flavor on it. Lastly but definitely not the least, the kimchi dumpling stew came out. This is what I was waiting for. I immediately took a sip & it hit the back of my throat so nicely just like I wanted. Perfectly spicy & oh so comforting. My friend & I split that since our boyfriends wanted no part of it but I honestly wish I got a whole one for myself. It was definitely my favorite thing of the night.Absolute perfect bite was the beef bulgogi dipped in the sweet & spicy garlic sauce with the purple rice soaked in that delicious kimchi stew broth. All the flavors just melded together it was so so good. It was sort of lacking in some things like tofu & pork bellies but I personally care more about broth so I didn't mind. Also they only gave two banchans which was unusual, kimchi was extra charge which was even more unusual lol. So I took off a star for that along with the Korean fried chicken just being okay. Overall we had a very good dinner & our server was wonderful especially with how busy they were! For being in Wisconsin this honestly exceeded my expectations, they were very low to begin though. I'll have to try char'd to see how they compare.

Highlights 1. Amazing (and authentic) Korean Food2. Friendly Service3. Generous PortionsVisited Maru on Saturday night for a birthday dinner. We had 5 in our party, did not have a reservation, and were able to be seated immediately. I would say you probably don't need a reservation (even on weekends) to get seated fairly quickly, but of course it's all dependent on what is going on that night/party size/etc. Korean Food is typically shared family style (my favorite way to eat!) so our table ordered a ton of plates to share. The portions are GENEROUS. All 5 of us went home with leftovers. Everything we ordered was loaded with flavor and had just the right amount of kick. We tried the bibimbap, beef bulgogi, sweet potato noodles, a very delicious kimchi stir fry tofu type dish, Korean wings and of course a few delicious Sojus. Service was fast and friendly. We didn't realize when we arrived at 8pm that they actually close at 9pm but the staffed stayed a little late and let us finish up our meal. I'm still thinking about the food and can't wait to come back!

Wow yum! So glad there is a new option for Korean food in the Milwaukee area!Stopped by on a Friday afternoon with some friends, and we decided to share a bunch of things to try out the place.Between the 3 of us, we ordered the rice cakes, stir fried noodles with seafood, dol sot bibimbap with beef, and the beef bulgogi.Parking was actually not an issue, which I was really surprised by especially on a Friday night! Service here is great, everyone is incredibly friendly.The food came out fresh and absolutely delicious! I think my favorite definitely had to be the stir fried noodles. The noodles I would akin to a chewier udon noodle. There was the perfect amount of flavor coated on each noodle. I also really appreciated that the dishes here aren't super salty, and the natural flavors are really hi-lighted in each dish. Love that they do purple rice here, so good!Unfortunately there was only one type of ban chan available-- the spicy cucumber. It was incredibly delicious, but I was really hoping there would be more variety!

Such an adorable looking space. The decor/seating is very nice for a date night, or special occasion.The complimentary pickles veggie plates were one of my favorite things, soooo much nicer than bread rolls or things you get at American restaurants! I asked for the glass noodle dish to be spicy and over all I think the heat could have been higher but the flavor was delicious and well rounded! - this was my first time having soju and it wasn't bad but also not my favorite. Very sweet and zero carbonation. So If that's what you are looking for go for it!

I've visited here 3 times this past year, and can't wait to come back! All of the food I've tried has been incredible, the interior is beautiful, and the servers are very attentive and kind. You can't go wrong with anything on the menu!