Maruya Sushi

The cute old couple are the sweetest. This is the tiniest little hole in the wall. There are two little stools facing the window but, I’ve never really seen anyone eat inside. Most usually take out. I’ve had their futomaki and tuna nigiri. Both pretty good.
They must be doing something right in order to have stayed in business for so long.

Others have noted the saba roll for which this place is known. It was good, if you like saba. And the lemon really does help. However, I brought it home for a friend and forgot they didn’t like saba, so ended up eating the whole thing myself, so was a little over-saba’d.
Yoshimi (the super nice lady who runs the place) was the only one who in there the two times I have been in. She handmade all my nigiri and rolls (all excellent, esp Hamachi and Sake nigiri and the Oshinko roll). The first time I was in, I also ordered ume/​shiso flavored rice around a cucumber, but when I got home, I realized she had forgotten to put it in the bag. I was disappointed. So I called and let her know. She was profusely apologetic, and told me to remind her when I came back next time. So, about a week later, I went back, and she totally remembered me (while I had in embarassment ask her name again). She threw in an order of edamame for me that time, as well as the forgotten roll from before.
Love that it’s right around the corner. I’ve only been in when no one else was there (eg late afternoon), and it takes a bit of time, but is worth the wait. Waaaaay better than anything pre-​packaged at Nijiya or any of the other Japanese markets in J-​town. And also better than some of the sushi in some of the actual restaurants as well. Highly recommend, as long as you have a place to go eat it afterwards.

I came here on my first trip to Japantown and didn’t realize how rather out-​of-​the-​way it is. It’s not that it’s even that far, really (UC Berkeley helps build strong calves!), it’s just that it’s on a street so spotted with non-​Japanese restaurants that I was pretty sure we had left Japantown.
That being said, the saba is TOTALLY WORTH IT. The thinly cut lemon slices balance the strong fishy smell of the mackerel PERFECTLY. It’s a really unique taste. Even writing about it is making me crave it again… ahhhhh.
I want to say that I’ll try other things on the menu next time I stop by, but to be honest, I’ll probably just get the saba again.
Service was EXTREMELY curt, but it was take-​out, and the old lady gave us the correct number of chopsticks, so all in all I was pretty satisfied.

In life you gotta seize the opportunity at hand. No wait at the tailor. Loft parties with Myon & Shane 54. Hillside mansions in Ibiza. Grandparents offering to take you to Trader Joe’s. Maruya being open.
Apparently in business for 45 years, I bet there were one of the first, if not the very first, sushi joint in the city. This engaging husband and wife team make up great sushi for takeout only, which is pretty awesome in my book. And did I mention they have been doing it for 45 years?
Enjoyed my veggie roll, likely won’t remember it for long. But I won’t forget experiencing a little bit of SF sushi history.

S’okay. I didn’t realize too much vinegared mackerel can get tiresome. It was good, though, and you definitely get a lot of food in the tray. There were lemons on top of the mackerel and the roll was wrapped in soy paper.
You get a taxed if you eat in. There are three stools to sit on inside. Most people take their order to go. There isn’t a lot of selection on the menu, and that’s by design. There’s shiso on the menu, though, which is different and welcome.
Service was to the point, but if you’re behind someone in line the wait may be longer than you expect.
Recommended for take-​away sushi made fresh if you’re hungry, but share the saba roll.

Maruya is unique, and a completely satisfying experience IF you order thoughtfully.
While all menu items are expertly prepared, it’s best to focus on the oshizushi and makizushi here. Why? Because though it serves high quality fare across the board, Maruya is expensive for take-​away sushi. Most items are priced about the same as at sit-​down sushi bars. So, if you order nigiri (they offer maguro, hamachi, tako, ebi, ika, and unagi — and sometimes sake, but it’s not listed on the menu), you probably will wonder why Maruya gets so many five-​star reviews on Unilocal.You would do just as well to buy your take-​out nigiri from Nijiya Market a few blocks away — you’ll still get an authentic, reliable product, and you’ll spend less.
To fully appreciate Maruya, order the signature saba sushi (it’s oshizushi style, not nigiri) and the shiso maki (gorgeous!). And don’t compare these to nigiri you’ve had elsewhere: that’s strictly an apples-​to-​oranges exercise. If you need more to satisfy your hunger, a good third item would be tekka maki (fish option), or oshinko/​kampyo maki (vegetable options).
Note: edamame, seaweed salad, and miso soup are bargain-​priced!
If its California roll was made with crabmeat instead of «kanikama», Maruya would get four stars from me.

I had a major rice/​seaweed craving the other day so I hit up Maruya after work.
20 minutes later it was pure bliss.
Futomaki
Tekka maki
Inari

There is a special place in my heart for saba. When it’s done correctly, saba tastes great going down, and then for the next few hours, gentle burps remind you of the excellent marinade, the terrific slice of lemon, and the supple squeezed rice.
The woman let me sit in the window. I think I was her first customer. She took her time making my Saba sushi ($ 9.95) and served it on a plastic tray with a cup of miso soup.
Another couple came in after me and ordered some rolls. I was not exactly evesdropping but I know that the 3^rd customer that came in was told to wait 15 mins or more. I love you sushi nazi. You make me feel special. Especially when you make others wait.
This was the hottest cup of miso soup. I burnt my mouth 3 times before I learned to wait. How does she get it to such atomic temperatures? I can never replicate it at home. She’s like superman with those welding eyes. Ka-​Pow.
It was a good place for a snack. It was just the right amount for lunch (maybe a little too much, 9 pieces). It puts nigiri in perspective. I wish I could eat here more often.

Ack, I wish I would have known this place was take-​out only! More importantly, i wish I could have known that this place puts wasabi on EVERYTHING! Minus stars for epic amount of hidden wasabi. Hidden under the mushy squid, hidden in the ground chicken, hidden everywhere! If I wanted wasabi, I would make use of the little glob on the side of my plate! It took forever to make the rolls too. Like, 20 minutes for three different types. Must be hard work to hide that much spicy green stuff in someone’s food.
Also, the rice is really odd and floral here, wasn’t sure what was up with that. I was starving and, by the end of my meal, I kinda wanted to cry (although that may have just been to accidental nasal inhale of the aforementioned hidden wasabi. DAMN YOU, you cute little old people who run Maruya!!)

Maybe I’m missing something. Everyone on it’s review is raving about this place-​so, I check it out for lunch today. I get the battara and the wakame salad. I don’t mind waiting-​you can’t rush perfection, right? Plus, the owners are really nice and very welcoming.
I really wanted to like this tiny «gem» as some as proclaimed. When I ate the salad-​it was unusually warm and a bit chalky. Yes, chalky… I’ve NEVER had it chalky, warm and with bits of some sort of clumpy mess in it… i couldn’t stomach it, so unfortunately the trash enjoyed it.
The battara wasn’t bad, though. I enjoyed the freshness and authenticity of it all. but, maybe I just need to try something better to really keep me coming back.

I’ve not been back here in a few years and decided to retry the sushi today after dragging myself away from all that hi-​cal, hi-​fat, fried kiosk food offered at the Fillmore Jazz Festival-​street fair. I popped in for a quick fotomaki ($ 8) and 2 pieces hamachi nigiri ($ 1.75/each). They were OK, not great. Hubby didn’t like the rice, said it wasn’t seasoned enough. The fotomaki didn’t have any of the fillings I like in it — seaweed, gourd, egg. And the hamachi didn’t taste like the top-​notch hamachi I’m used to (such a food brat, I am).
The elderly couple (wife makes the sushi, he just turns to bark the order at her, even ‘tho she’s ony 3 footprints away from him) told me that it costs $ 1200 for 2 days to rent the street fair booths, some of the tiny booths might be about $ 500. They were asked if they wanted to rent a booth & she said, «Are you crazy?» Can you imagine how much sushi she’d have to sell to make up the cost for rental?

summer hours means i finally get to try this place. stopped by at 5pm on a friday and it was very quiet in there. the lady was not super friendly, but nice.
i ordered 1 tuna, salmon, and hamachi nigiri. usually when you say «one order» they give you two pieces. i walked away with three pieces TOTAL.
$ 5 dollars lighter, and still hungry, i just wasn’t impressed. it could be the ginger that smelled like wet towel that turned me off.
everyone knows my top pet peeve is stinky wet towel smell!
2.5 stars

We saw 3 chairs by the window.
It was a nice Saturday afternoon.
An old couple were in the kitchen. I know that the old lady makes sushi.
I asked the old man, «Can I sit there?»
He said, «Fine.»
So we sat down for the 1^st time eat in here.
I always come here to take out for last nearly 30 years but I’ve never sat inside. It was nice. We had such a lovely late snack.
Maruya always make GREAT Oshi-​Zushi.
Oshi-​Zushi is originally Oosaka style Sushi.
It isn’t Edomae (Tokyo) –Sushi.
You don’t need to be SO professional making Oshi-​Zushi but Edomae does.
INARI $ 6.25 for 6 piece.
It’s very special Inari mix with Konbu (thin sliced hard sea weed) and Goma (sesame seeds)
Also the bean curd has been cleaned very well. Most JiveAss Pseudo Chinese Sushi place’s Inari is TOO SWEET because they use the bean curds right out the can in which soaked in syrup.
BATTERA:
Kansai style marineted mackerel on sushi-​rice, $ 8.50 for 1 roll.
Futo-​Maki $ 8 for 1 roll.
Very standerd, nothing fancy but GOOD.
The old lady makes more Sushi but I don’t care.
Because she isn’t professionally trained sushi chef.
So the Nigiri isn’t really professionally done but she does pretty good job.
Standard Oosaka Oshi-​zushi has 3 kind.
Battera, Sake (salmon) and Anago.
To cook Anago (sea ell) for sushi, you need professional experience.
Maruya doesn’t have Anago.
Also no alcohol.
No free hot tea.
And closing 6:30 pm !!! (Tuesday to Saturday.) That’s too early to close for Sushi bar.
So, this isn’t a traditional Japanese sushi place.
Take out only.
But,…
I still like Maruya.
The great Japanese Old school home made take out Sushi.

This place actually had decent sushi– and at a very reasonable price! The Unagi was really tasty and fresh.
My complaint? Their hours suck! They close at 6p.m.- I haven’t even considered what I’m going to have for dinner by that time!

I got the saba sushi here and split it with a great friend. I think it’s plenty for 2 people as a snack. I must say, this was the first time I ever had saba sushi and I really enjoyed it. The lemon slices kind of scared me at first but it’s actually very refreshing! So, I liked it very much and started trying saba sushi at other places. I think it’s just not as good anywhere else I’ve had, they really did a great job here. Even if it’s just take-​out sushi, I think it’s better than what I’ve had in the restaurants so far.
The couple that owns this place is an old couple, they’re really friendly. Some guy inside who looked like a Japanese gangster told us that this saba sushi is really the traditional kind. Anyway, it’s delicious and I really want to try it again!

Maruya has real, fresh sushi at reasonable prices. They do not do the complicated rolls you see at a lot of places stateside (think tuna, salmon and avocado with shrimp tempura and wrapped with yellowtail) — just simple, traditional options that you would actually find at an old school sushi joint in Japan.
If you like unagi nigiri, try Maruya’s. The unagi is perfectly cooked and had a fresh, delicate flavor. Unlike a lot of unagi you get, there was no sliminess and the fish flavor wasn’t overpowered by the sauce.
The couple that runs the place is super nice and totally endearing. They make your sushi very carefully — it takes a while but it’s real good and come on who doesn’t like a little slow food once in a while.
You can do take out, or sit at the three-​stool wooden bench and read one of the Japanese newspapers they have out (or just look at the pictures — cover story last time had a small dog dressed up as an airplane pilot, WTF).
They close at 6:30 so this place is best for lunch, an afternoon snack, or take-​home dinner.

Every time I pass by this place, it seems to be closed. So, on Saturday, during the day, I was overjoyed that it was open!
The menu is small, and I thought the rolls were a bit overpriced. A California Roll is $ 7.50. Still, I was jonesin’ for some sushi, and was determined to check this place out.
Total «mom’n’pop» shop style. So it took about 5 minutes to make my roll, as they make them fresh for each customer. My California Roll was really really good. The rice was just sticky enough, and I could taste the vinegar ever so slightly. The avo was fresh, and the imitation crab tasted really fresh. The most memorable part of my roll was the toasted sesame seeds. They had this amazing smoky flavor, and tasted like they were really freshly toasted.
Love this place, wish there were more like them here in the city.

Takeout-​only sushi with fair prices and friendly, even helpful service – what more do you want?
I was intrigued by the $ 9.50 «egg roll», which the lady cheerfully explained was a vegetarian futo-​maki (which I pretended to know and later wikipedia’d – it means «big roll»), except wrapped in a layer of egg instead of seaweed. Needless to say I was sold on the idea – I love veggie sushi because then I don’t have to worry about my pathetic fish-​texture-​describing vocabulary, not to mention the sustainability of our oceans. Yet the egg ensures you get a proper, protein-​rich meal. She was also kind enough to warn me against buying anything more, because this was going to be plenty (and it was – imagine a giant burrito cut into slices).
It took a little trial and error to figure out how to eat this (my Japanese co-​worker suggested stuffing the whole roll into my mouth – and to keep a glass of water handy in case of choking). Eventually I figured out that if you press one of the chopsticks against the «seam» of the roll, you can take a bite without collapsing it, and then finish it off on the second bite. Brilliant!

Just 2 blocks from my apt but I cant go as often as I want to since they close early.
Sushi is great. On par with the best in the city.
Definitely get the wakame salad.
Owner’s husband is from Hiroshima so dont get them started on where the best okonomiyaki is from.

The lady is so nice! I phoned in my order and picked it up 10 mins later. I had the unagi sushi and California roll, all for $ 9.25.
Easy to park since it was later lunch hour and grabbed my lunch box and headed home! Tasty, fresh and no hassle lunch. Wished they had more roll offerings but ok, will be back to try other nigiri items.