Musubi Love

Spam Musubi is another food my kids could eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. They always get excited to see Spam Musubi on the menu. My kids and I were born and raised in Hawaii. Hawaii after Guam is the biggest consumer of Spam. You can't go wrong with a Spam Musubi and so I thought. Moving to San Diego I notice a handful of places do not use the molder which helps hold the rice together; thus the spam musubi falls apart at the first bite. I am happy to say Musubi Love does it justice. The rice ratio is perfect, good size spam, holds its shape, and is consistent. Musubi Love sells other types of Musubi and I'm here for it. If you can't decide which Musubi to try, I suggest getting the Musubi Love Combo. You choose 3 onigiri or musubi and get to choose 1 side. Eating several items in one bite thanks to the nori wrapped around it just makes it better. I liked the shrimp tempura, it had a nice crunch to it. I also tried the Lava Chicken rice bowl. It's similar to Homestyle Hawaiian and it's one of my favorite dishes. Another item you should try is the handmade lemonade. You can get the original flavor or add up to 2 flavors. I like lychee, strawberry, liliko, or mango. I talked to the owner of the shop and she was working a one-woman show that day when we first tried it out. She is the daughter of the creators of Homestyle Hawaiian (another Hawaii-inspired food place that my family and I can't get enough of). There is a private parking lot. There are a few seats in the store. As of writing this, the shop is temporarily closed. We can't wait for it to reopen. Hopefully, they will keep the items that we enjoy to eat. 2024: 4/30

3.5 stars so rounding up to 4!Was looking for a snack and saw that Musubi Love had many options for both onigiri and musubi.My fiancé and I tried the following:Spicy salmon miso onigiriShrimp tempura onigiriSpicy crab onigiriWe opted to get all of the pan fried for an extra dollar each.All of them were pretty tasty! Service was decently quick and the girl behind the counter was nice.I wish the spicy salmon miso was 1) a tad spicer and 2) had more of the miso flavor coming through.I did enjoy the shrimp tempura one, especially with the sauce it had. My fiancé said that the crab was good but that compared to the salmon, it had less filling. These onigiris are pretty large and rice heavy.If I were to order onigiris again, I'd probably opt to only do one as pan fried. Pan fried does add another level of texture but having both of mine pan fried made it feel pretty oily and a bit heavy. Pan frying also made it a bit more difficult to bite through so it was messy to eat since all our onigiris fell apart.Overall, tasty options for a snack and would come back to try other menu

After returning from a recent trip to musubi central (aka Hawaii), I noticed this business showed up as a new listing so I wanted to try their products as a comparison. Musubi Love has taken over the suite that used to house Homestyle Hawaiian in The Galleria Plaza of National City. The signage of the former business was still prominent and made it difficult for me to realize that Musubi Love now operated out of that space.The inside was narrow and small with a service counter and a couple of countertops along the windows that had two stools each for on-site dining. Besides musubi, the menu featured onigiri, rice bowls, sandos, fries, sides, and a few specials. Each of the eight types of musubi cost either $3 or $3.50. The six kinds of onigiri ranged in price between $3 and $4. One of the specials was the Musubi Love Combo. For $12, you can get any three musubi or onigiri and one side.I selected the following for my combo along with a Tuna Mayo onigiri. * Teriyaki Spam* Spam & Egg* Spicy Sausage* Corn CheeseThe size of the musubi was good, however the assembly needed a few tweaks. The nori wrap was chewier than what I had recently experienced in Hawaii. When I bit into it, the seaweed pulled and caused the musubi to fall apart. The meat was a bit saltier than I liked and should have had a closer ratio to the rice.The chopped tuna and Japanese mayo in the onigiri were a very creamy mixture. A tad less mayo would have been my preference. For the corn cheese, I had no issue with the product itself, but for some reason, an extra $0.50 was charged. This side was tied for the least expensive of the five choices so it wasn't because my pick was the priciest one.I also agree with the slow service as my order took about half an hour to be prepared and boxed up. Perhaps the workers were on "island time" as other customers after me also had a long wait for their food. My experience at Musubi Love was at a three star level.

While presentation of the onigiris looked appetizing, I would have to say the lack of seasoning in the filling for the ones I ordered hindered my rating for this place. I also tried their tuna poke bowl for variety from the menu and their Mac salad. Ahi Poke (3.5/5): The ahi was fresh and was mixed with mayo, krab, red pepper flakes, and topped with furikake and seaweed salad. The toppings were good, however, the rice was a bit mushy for my liking.Tempura Shrimp Onigiri (2/5): No flavor at all and this definitely needed some sort of sauce. The only seasoning was the coating of furikake on the rice.Tuna Mayo Onigiri (2.5/5): This one had more taste to it due to the tuna. Otherwise, this was very bland as wellI'm glad I got to try Musubi Love and think that the place is cute and what got me here was the onigiri. I feel like adding soy sauce packets or putting some sort of sauce in the filling would make them taste better in my opinion!

Stopped by on a Saturday afternoon, ordered and waited about 20 mins for our order (we ordered about 9 musubis, 3 onigiri, and a bowl). It's part of the Homestyle Hawaiian family business, so if you like their flavors, you will like this menu as well. My kids enjoyed the spam and egg musubi. The korean chicken musubi also was yummy! My friend enjoyed her salmon bowl. The cheese corn is such a yummy side but fell apart in the onigiri.Prices are $3-4 per musubi, which i think is fair. It is heavy on the rice when considering the ratio, and it was a little greasy/messy in the to go box. Still, we enjoyed our quick meal.The girl at the counter was very helpful and they are considerate of those with food allergies.

OVERALL: I had high hopes for this place. I'm always supportive of mom and pops shops. However, the flavors were just...bland :( The rice balls fell apart and it just felt like sloppy work. :(FOOD: I ordered three Musubi love combos to try the extra sides. - Onigiri: I ordered a salmon, tuna, and shrimp tempura. All the fish tasted dry and no flavors. I was worried that the furikake would be too overwhelming but I think its more for looks than flavor. - Musubi: I ordered chicken Katsu, Korean chicken, and fried Spam and egg. Maybe the intention is that you need to add the sauce (which did give it that one note flavor) but by itself, no flavor! In fried chicken?!??! That's crazy to me!! The only thing that had flavor was the Spam and egg...because the spam was salty. - Mac salad was good, nothing crazy. Not too much mayo. Corn cheese was good too. **It fell apart within seconds! Not the hand held type of food it is supposed to be :(SERVICE: I waited about 20 minutes for my order on a Saturday afternoon. The girl was nice, offered me sauce, there are only 4 stools in there, so small space overall. PRICE: $3.50 is not too bad of a price, but mostly rice and aesthetics and no flavors to back it up, it was hard to justify. LOCATION: Located in a parking strip, lots of parking but also lots of shops there to compete with.

Loved this little gem.Food was amazing. Had a Cubano Sando with cheese corn on the side.One Sando is likely enough for two. They taste amazing.The cheese corn was very good, but portion size was a little small. I had the mango lemonade and it was really worth the $5 it costs.Pay attention to the hours and days they open.

Musubi love is either an inside addition to or replacing L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. This was confusing and I had a hard time finding it. I was too hungry to take too much notice once I was inside if they still offered the L&L menu or not. It's a small storefront with only 2 long tables to sit at along the front - maybe 5-6 people max on both sides combined, so better for takeout! Service was quick, my food was ready in about 10-15 minutes. I ordered the musubi love combo, you can mix and match three onigri or musubi and one side. I tried the tuna, and spicy crab onigri and original spam musubi with a side of cheese corn. It was really good! Except I don't think the spicy crab onigri had any kick to it..:still tasty. I would definitely come back to try other combinations and items. I was also originally curious about their kalua pig rice bowl--might just have to stop by again to try that ;)

Ironically I loved the onigiri, drinks, and corn cheese more than the musubi. While Musubi Love has plenty of potential, there were a multitude of improvements that should be made to enhance customer satisfaction.The parking lot was small but cars went in and out given the 30 minute limit. There were two tables inside but this was best enjoyed outside as there was little space. There appeared to be only two employees and the service was extremely slow. I almost given someone else's order before receiving my actual onigiri. Few minutes later, I got my spam musubi. Then when I was finished with my food, I received my beverage and had to prompt the server for my forgotten corn cheese.=ORDERED=*Spam and Egg Musubi: very skewed towards the rice. Personally would have wanted the rice to be sticker for better structural integrity. The eggs were fluffy and a tad bland. The spam was smothered in sweet sauce but otherwise the musubi needed more flavor. The seaweed was on the thicker side and I struggled to take a bite without ripping the entire exterior with it.*Spicy Salmon Miso Onigiri: primarily tasted mayonnaise with the salmon. Wished there was more filling and the dollop seen in other pictures on top. Moving forward, I hope to see a richer, savory mix with greater emphasis on the "spicy" and "miso". Additionally I was disappointed that I wasn't informed that pan frying the onigiri would cost a dollar each. The onigiri came with either teriyaki or katsu sauce.*Corn Cheese: surprisingly packed with flavor. Had a crispy bits of cheese well mixed with buttered corn. Stellar side and I found it to be better than some of the offerings at Korean restaurants.*Passionfruit Sunset: such a fun drink and all the options were unique. Composed of passionfruit, strawberries, yogurt and sparking water. Not too heavy and I appreciated the fruity themed drinks that paired well with the rice dishes.=IMPROVEMENTS=*Call out the name of the order rather than placing the order on the front table to prevent order mishaps*Mark off dishes that were brought out and note which ones still need to come out*Place utensils in the main dining area instead of having customers ask*Wipe down the tables*Add the $1 fee for panfrying the onigiri to the menu*Shoot for the side dishes and drinks to come out firstHopefully these kinks will be ironed when I return in the future but as is, Musubi Love stands at a strong 3 stars.

We came during our lunch hour, Musubi Love did not disappoint. I tried the Oniguiri Trio ( Tuna mayo, spicy mayo, bacon oniguiri). I also had the mango lemonade, my classmates ordered teriyaki bowl, french fries, spam and eggs musubi, katsu musbi, and they were all delicious! I love the option of having the oniguiri pan fried, made it so much yummy to eat!! Definitely recommend. ChloeIs the owner and she is so nice.