Marukai

Compare to Mitsuwa Market, I think this place is priced more reasonable. This market is a Japanese super market filled with the Japanese snacks and goods. They have groceries also!!! They have cool house hold items, hair products, body stuff and lots of cool make up too.
If you’re ever looking for some Japanese snacks in the Cupertino area, come here. The staff here are nice and they would help you find certain things if needed. There’s security by the door. It’s clean and tidy in here! I would recommend this place to everyone! :)
Oooh. They have variety of snacks and since its summer time right now, they have a lot of items on sale.
+ plenty of parking in the lot!

Fresh meat here! and they have black pork which I chose to cook for my family! also I like their bara chirashi!

This was a pretty big market considering that it is a Japanese market. Many Asian markets are pretty big but the ones labeled to be one specific heritage usually end up being pretty wimpy but not this one! They had all kinds of snacks, produce, ramen, sauces etc. that you could dream up. They even had a really great cosmetics aisle with many good brands and every-​day brands that Japanese people probably could not find at any other place.
The staff was pretty nice and the entire store was very organized. There were plenty of workers stocking stuff and walking around for you to ask questions to.
They had a pretty impressive meat and fish section with cuts of meat and fish that you would not normally find at an «American» market.
There is plenty of parking and the plaza this place is located in had plenty of other cool places to visit like Daiso, Yogurtland, and One Pot Shabu — which we ate at for dinner and it was AMAZING!
I would definitely recommend anyone to go here if they wanted to find some authentic Japanese snacks etc.

This supermarket is awesome. Meat are so fresh and so much variety you can choose from. Love to buy the beef and chicken run at this supermarket.

Marukai market offers a variety of japanese products, ranging from freshly made sushi, sweets, beauty supplies, pastries, drinks, and home utensils. They also carry some stationary items near the registers and even some clearance items from andersen’s bakery.
Just note that you can find the exact same product next door at Daiso for a cheaper price. *Cough cough* like the pocky. So ya know, swing by at Daiso first before going to Marukai.
The store is clean and organized and the employees are alright. If you do need any assistance you will need to ask, don’t expect anyone to come to you.
I got a bunch of cute hello kitty items for Mother’s Day and I’m sure my mom will love them. I hope she doesn’t mind if I keep the hello kitty tin can and use it as a planter lol ;p

I love this place! Every possible variety of Japanese products, from soy sauce (dozens of kinds) to beer, can be found here. You can easily put together a Ramen meal from here: Cha Shu (BBQ pork), Menma (pickled bamboo), Naganegi (like a big scallion), Kamaboko (fish loaf) and all kinds of Ramen.
The staff is super friendly. There’s even a microwave to heat up any of the very fresh, very inexpensive «bento» meals they along the back wall. I would miss this place if I ever moved!

Awesome is how I describe this store though not as large as Matsuwa, but they do have large selection of fresh produce, meats, sushi, premade bento lunches, assorted snacks along with drinks, household items and their prices are inexpensive not as crowded and parking is plentiful. I really liked this store it’s so well organized, clean and their cashiers are very polite.

Great selection of Japanese foods and kitchen/​makeup/​household goods. And it even has a whole aisle devoted to goods from Hawaii. Haha I spend a long time looking at these with my bf from Hawaii. It’s legit. I buy premade meals here all the time. They’re okay — I get it bc it’s convenient but don’t expect the most tasty poke for example. It’s meh okay. If you want really fresh poke, I recommend Aloha Fresh which is in the same plaza (from Marukai, walk the direction toward Daiso and keep going. You can’t miss it). But the grocery store itself and selection of goods in Marukai is very good, albeit a little expensive as others have pointed out. Nonetheless, I’ll keep coming back!
In terms of parking, the lot can get pretty crowded. Marukai is next to Daiso and Elephant Bar and the plaza is full of other restaurants — lots of Chinese places I need to try, this Korean tofu place, and Malaysian (Merlion– which, off topic is really good!). I’ve always been able to find a spot, just need to circle the lot a couple times!

Cool place to check out but very crowded. Watch out that you don’t bump anything breakable. Produce and everything is very pricey. I bought matcha kitkat not realizing it’s $ 5.98 for 5 funsized pieces. WTF!!!

I spent more than $ 100 in this grocery. I couldn’t believe it, especially I’m just back from Japan.
The meat and fish were so fresh. I admit I bought too much meat that I have to put them in the refrigerator and freeze them.
獺祭 is one of the most famous sake in Japan. I couldn’t find it during my visit in Tokyo this winter, but I found it here! What a surprise.
I also couldn’t believe that I could find the famous tissue nepia here. $ 12.98 for 3 boxes. It is super soft and nice for people who are suffering in the allergic seasons.
It’s not crowded like Mitsuwa. I enjoy my time here. Can’t wait to come back again.

Their service quality became lower than before. They ASK customer for bagging:(so far I only experienced same request in Ranch99 supermarket, never in any supermarkets. The one named as «IRVINE», male cashier, looked like first day of the job, he was doing nothing beside scanning the items I bought even he saw the stuffs piled up in the corner. TERRIBLE SERVICE!
I used to like shopping in Marukai since the parking lot is better than the Mitsuwa, but I am really disappointed.

You really can’t beat the prices of this place’s premise sushi & bento boxes. Chirashi don for 10 bucks, sashimi 15 – 25, unagi don, spam masubi, hand rolls, etc. The rest of their groceries & fresh produce are a little on the pricier end but that’s expected. I like this Japanese grocery store better than Mitsuwa because it’s not as crowded. (Mitsuwa has a great food court tho!) love the cute ladies inside handing out samples — pork belly, rice balls, chips.

The only place I’ve ever been to, outside of Japan, is that little dinky Japanese convenient store in Japantown. It sort of reminded me of Carrefour city in France. Small and convenient, and you can buy natto there, only one brand, and fairly expensive.
I don’t know the south bay like I used to. Had not been spending any time down there except for the occasional work thing for like 20 years. It has changed. Marukai is one of those changes I think.
It takes a certain type to appreciate natto. But you are looking at this type. I love fermented anything and everything: Kimchee (Korean), stinky tofu (Chinese), sauerkraut (German), kombucha (Japanese and Chinese), Lutefisk (Norwegian), fermented pork sausage (Laotian), and Hakarl aka fermented shark meat (Icelandic), been there done that made that. Enter natto. Natto is fermented soybeans but not just fermented, these guys are super fermented: Chinese and Korean have their own versions but it is less pungent. Think your chicken with black bean sauce dish, which many have had in your American Chinese restaurant. These guys are stringy, tangy, slimy, and flavorful (I really just mean pungent).
Marukai carries not just the one kind I’ve seen and bought in Japantown but at least 20 different kinds of natto. They come in a pack of 3, and the back soybean is the most pungent kind of all and is the very best. Their weekly special allows one to try different kind of nattos.
Then the raw fish selection. It’s amazing with clear marked labels telling you the origin. I bought three different kind of fish to make myself a nice sashimi dinner, it was way more than what I could eat in one setting and it’s super inexpensive. But that’s not all, the package all came with real wasabi, not the fake wasabi. Who does that?
My favorite find was tamago. For a large generous slice, it’s less than $ 5. I can eat that all day and I did do just that.
I now put a side not to my trips down south. Stop by at this supermarket and load up on Japanese things.

The best Japanese supermarket in the area in my opinion. It’s not crowded like Mitsuwa always seems to be and the employees are all very friendly.
The best part is the fresh cut fish and sashimi they have in the very back. They have chirashi dons (mixed raw fish rice bowls) for $ 7 and so many bento boxes to choose from! Make sure you come earlier in the day (before 6pm) to get a wider selection since they sell out quickly! The fish here is always fresh and packed the day of. They do have sale items on fish that was packaged the day before (not as fresh but still delicious and safe to eat; cheaper too!)
There are free samples with cute Japanese ladies offering you delicious kobe beef on weekends.
If you love Japanese snacks, this is the place to be, with aisles to choose from, including rice crackers, dried crab, chips, mochi, a million pocky flavors, a million kit kat flavors, ramen you’ve never even heard of, and more!

I’ve been to their Little Tokyo location in Los Angeles and loved the selection of Japanese goods and octopus they have. I have an obsession over making Takoyaki and knew Marukai had the best boiled octopus selection. On the day I came they had a lot of octopus legs (two per package) but at $ 26/​lb. Ouch! Since they didn’t have singles, I was stuck to purchasing almost a pound of boiled octopus. :(
I wish there were more Marukai locations in NorCal because going to Cupertino from where I stay is very inconvenient.
Although it’s on the pricey side, I highly recommend Marukai if you’re looking for good boiled octopus to make Takoyaki with!

I love this place.
The selection is unrivaled and prices — super competitive.
I wish there was one closer to SF. But even located as far as Cupertino — its well worth the drive. One negative is that the lines were pretty long, but they moved fast.
The little detail that takes Marukai from 4 to 5 stars is the attention to detail when labeling fish! The packages specify country of origin and whether it was farmed or wildcaught.
Its small things like that give a business competitive advantage. I found Marukai when my local fishmarket closed unexpectedly. One point that always bothered me about my local vendor was that they either didnt know or didnt want to disclose the source of their fish beyond country of origin. This is why Marukai is worth the drive from SF.

We went there couple years ago, bought cherry flavored Mochi. The Mochi was dried and stiffened, which indicated it has been stored wrongly. We gave another chance to go there yesterday, bought a black Sesame Mochi Ice Cream. When we opened a package, ice cream has already melted and refrozen, stitched all together. I am very concerned how they store frozen products. I am very dissapointed for such an inadequate business they have. I am never going back. If you choose to go there AVOID frozen product!

I was recently introduced to Marukai and it is pretty good to its counterpart competitor Mitsuwa down couple exits.
What makes marukai stands out is the overwhelming selection of products it carries. The place is very neat and tidy. Although they lack a food court compared to Mitsuwa. They have legit japanese waygu steaks on the weekend (who even does that???, super expensive stuff right there).
Overall, if you are into japanese things, Marukai won’t disappoint!

So I’m ACTUALLY here like every single weekend. Love love love the sushi selection here (in the back of the store). It’s the perfect place to grab some delicious food to go. They have rolls, sashimi, nigiri, and even donburi and katsu if you’re not into seafood. I love the shrimp tempura roll, the dragon roll, and MOST OF ALL, their tuna sashimi. The tuna (and fish in general) is SUPER fresh, and they have a pretty good variety of combinations (tuna with salmon, tuna with yellowtail, salmon with shrimp, etc etc.) so you’re pretty much guaranteed to find a combination that you’ll like.
Prices are kind of high, but the quality that you get is so worth it. Lines get long on the weekends, so we usually have one person wait in line while the other person runs to the back to get the food. Overall, I highly recommend trying out the sushi here. It’ll become a once a week habit in no time ;)

Marukai is one of my favorite Japanese grocery stores in the South Bay. Their produce is pricier than most but what sticks out is the quality and freshness! :)
Seafood is always very fresh, including their farmed Sal-​Mon, cod, and Sea Bass.
Their chicken is GMO-​free is free range! …definitely worth the premium!
Despite being a seafood grocery store, there is no odd smell and the staff are very polite (just like in Japan!!!)