The meat was a bit overcooked and under seasoned. The tea with whipped cream add-on was chunky and didn't add much to the drink. the service was good. the place is clean. read more

Delicious ice cream! I love the cute decor and laid back vibe Service was prompt and polite, the workers explained to my husband and I how to order and what each item on the menu is. read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Upside down Mix Ice Cream - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

Worth the 30 min wait. This place was packed to the gills. Really enjoyed the mixed ice cream and the taiyaki. It was the perfect size. It was 104° and necessary fir a cool snack. I'll come back for the filled taiyaki. read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

Very cute little ice cream shop right next to this tiny Asian market! Definitely a fun little area to check out and great for cute photos!

Stopped by to try out their ice cream. If you don't know what you're looking for, you would probably miss this place. It's in a small shopping center. I ordered the taiyaki upside down cone. It came with two toppings. You do have to choose one topping from list #1 and the second topping from list #2. I chose the matcha ice cream with strawberry and a strawberry straw. It was a real good combo. I only wish they had red bean paste as a topping option. They also have hot food. I bought a spam Musubi. They have other dishes too. Parking is on site. The inside has plenty of seating. read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Spam Musubi - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

Such a fun, tasty Japanese inspired spot. I came across an online article introducing this spot and had to check it out. I ordered the taiyaki soft serve, sweet, and savory options. For the taiyaki soft serve I tried the vanilla & matcha swirl which was oh so good. The match was not overly sweet or earthy tasting - really well blended. The taiyaki is like a nice fluffy waffle in a fish shape. The food was a cool as it looked. You can add topping for the soft serve, I opted in for the Oreo dust. For the taiyaki sweet I got one fill with Nutella. It was like a waffle with Nutella filling. Very nice! For the taiyaki savory I did the mozzarella with jalapeño. It was cool to see it in a savory option which worked out just as good as a dessert. This place has many options and is still growing so I'm looking forward to another trip and trying more of the menu. Service was great and decor was simple and crisp. read more

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I have been seeing this on Instagram lately and decided to try it. I recently had taiyaki for the first time after buying frozen ones from Costco. I knew I wanted a taiyaki cone with soft serve. The first step is to choose the ice cream flavor, vanilla, matcha, or mix. I decided on the mixed soft serve. Next, you pick a cone, upside-down cone, or cup. I chose the upside-down cone since I knew I would take a photo and didn't want to rush to eat it before melting. Finally, you can choose up to two toppings, which I chose matcha powder and fresh strawberries. Once it came out, it made for a nice photo, especially with its Instagrammable backdrop. The soft serve and toppings tasted as expected. However, the taiyaki was a bit stale. It was pre-made beforehand, who knows how long ago and just thrown on top of the ice cream. I did not appreciate that at all. After that fiasco, I felt I had to try their taiyaki with filling. I assumed that would be made to order and ordered one red bean and one ube. Luckily, my assumption was right, and it was made fresh. Both came out warm and soft, with the gooey filling. This semi made up for the stale taiyaki from earlier. However, aside from being a larger piece, the freshly made taiyaki did not taste any better than the frozen kind I recently had from Costco after putting it in the air fryer. While the photos and videos look good for the 'gram, the stale taiyaki with the soft serve deterred me enough from wanting to bother coming back, despite being satisfied with the filled taiyaki. read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Mixed Taiyaki upside down cone - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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My son and I visited this weekend evening & we loved it! The place was clean & the staff was friendly. I read some of the reviews that said the waffle cones were soggy? Ours were not at all soggy. They had a subtle crunch and tasted amazing!! We loved SomiSomi when we lived in Hawaii & these treats definitely brought back great memories. read more

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Waited over 40 minutes for our order. The dude realized our ticket was accidentally punched after we questioned it. Instead of making our order to fix the problem, he continues to take other orders and had us wait. Went back to counter to ask when it would be done and he already seemed to forget our order. We eventually asked for a refund. Dude was clueless. read more

Sweet customer service, clean and cozy dine in experience, and the treats are delicious! read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Green Tea Ice Cream Taiyaki - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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Great experience! Tasty food, chill atmosphere and friendly staff. Definitely a hidden gem! read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

Great soft-serve ice cream with plenty of hot and cold toppings. Definitely loved the Nutella stuffed fish cookie. Yum! Staff was eager to assist and the place was clean and bright. Would definitely go back. read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Vanilla w/ Nutella stuffed fish cookie - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

Service was ok. We ordered on grubhub two drinks, the jasmine tea with cold foam and chrysanthemum tea with cold foam. By the time we got to try the drinks we had already left the establishment. The Jasmine tea was a 6/10 just basic and had salty cold foam, unsweetened. The chrysanthemum tea on the other hand would be a 0/10. It was undrinkable. It has a bitter almost chemical taste. I tried to put sugar packets to balance out the sharp taste but it only made it worse. Terrible terrible tea. I drink chrysanthemum tea all the time and never has it tasted anything like that. read more

My wife saw this on TV and asked me to go with her. It is a nice new build shopping strip kind of place. They make sort of a stuffed fish shaped waffle called a taiyaki. They are small, so you'll need to order more than one. You can choose between sweet or savory fillings. I had ham and cheese with jalapeño. It was good. Nothing spectacular. I also had an order of takoyaki, which are fried octopus balls. I really liked them a lot. The only drinks right now are lattes and Ramunes. Those are those little bottles with a marble in them that all taste kind of like Big Red. Tea and lemonade are coming soon. You can also get soft serve ice cream in the fish waffle. My wife chose that. I had a red bean paste one. I think this is a great snack place. Not hardy enough for a full meal. read more

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Provably wanted to go to the store next door, but they were closed so we stopped by the cafe. Best idea ever. I got a boba teas andStuffed Fish . It was too cute and delicious. The customer service was great, I was offered several recommendations. We sat and enjoyed our food. read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Mix Ice Cream Black Milk Tea Pepperoni & Mozzarella Taiyaki - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

The cones are soggy. Even the part that isn't in the ice cream. Went on the weekend and maybe the place was dirty because they only had 3 people working but everything was sticky. The tea was not good. I would not go again.. read more

Glad I returned!! I decided to re-purchase the bulgogi, which was just as delicious as the last time. I also tried the spam musubi which was something new for me. I love coming here for a small meal and a nice ambiance setting. read more

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Came for dessert. I was pleasantly surprised. The soft serve and Taiyaki were amazing!! Definitely recommend

The hot taiyaki was so good! I wish they could mix the fillings.. add a little of 2! The ice cream one was equally as good and the teas were amazing! The service was friendly and made suggestions so we were very please! The ambiance was cute, it was nice and had some light music playing in the background that would not overshadow conversation Overall it was a fun dessert date. I like the open kitchen concept so you can see how clean it is. read more

Hanamaru has a good seating area and the music isn't played too loud at the place. There are no outlets in the seating area, so it wouldn't be the best place for studying. But, they have a really cute decor wall, where it is perfect to take pictures! I went around Lunar New year, so they decorated accordingly. I tried their jasmine green milk tea and the matcha ice cream. The jasmine green milk tea came with sugar not mixed at the bottom, so make sure you do that before you take your first sip! I couldn't taste the tea, and it was very milk heavy. Down side was that they didn't sell boba at this cafe. The matcha ice cream was very sweet, but it was dense in its matcha flavor. It almost had a bitter aftertaste, which I enjoyed! The amount of ice cream in the cup size was also very large! I couldn't finish all of it, so it would be nice to share with a friend. (The cup was $5 versus the one with the taiyaki being $7-8) This cafe is also next to a Japanese store with a lot of snacks, so I highly recommend you to check them out while you're there. read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Jasmine Green Milk Tea - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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Super fun trendy Japanese ice cream. Flavors change weekly- we've had the matcha, ube, and vanilla. The upside down is soft serve topped with the fish waffle and two toppings. The waffles are also available warm, filled with your choice of flavors (I like the ube.) Probably a good idea to check out the menu in advance so you don't feel pressured by people in the line behind you. read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Vanilla & ube swirl "upside down" with Oreo dust and strawberry. - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

The food was delicious! It took a little bit of time to get our food, but it was very fresh! read more

Hanamaru Cafe - strawberry Matcha Latte with almond milk Matcha Ice Cream taiyaki - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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A cute little shop. The taiyaki (fish pancakes) were delicious. They come out warm and soft with mild sweetness from the filling you choose -- I usually go for the red bean and ube. When it comes to the actual dishes on the menu, the service is a bit slow in making them. When my friends got their dishes, they said it was good but could be more flavorful. I'm not too sure if it's the best place for a meal unless you plan to wait a while to receive it. However, it's a great place for a snack or dessert. I would give this place a 5/5 if the service was better. read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Red bean and ube taiyaki. Ice cream cup with taiyaki pancake. - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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Japanese sweets are a nice treat, service is good, no lines, quiet ambiance to hang out and enjoy your cold snacks in mid-afternoon. read more

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I recommend getting a few hot taiyaki and a side of soft serve that way you have the contrast of hot and cold

My husband and I were excited to find a Taiyaki place during out two-week stay in San Antonio! We ended up visiting Hanamaru multiple times. Hanamaru Cafe does offer more than just Taiyaki (both filled and ice cream cones). They also have a whole range of drinks, spam musubi and even hot dishes like bulgogi (Korean beef dish). Everything we tried, was delicious! The only downside we did experience every time we went, is that service is fairly slow. It's understandable because the menu is so extensive and there were only every two to four staff members there, and every time we went almost every table had people at it. Also, it's a bit hypocritical to not offer straws "to save the turtles" but then serve all your drinks in plastic cups lol read more

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Loved the variety of food. My son was dying to taste the takoyaki and it was delicious. read more

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My daughter and I love coming here for "ice cream fish", and the other menu items are delicious, BUT the wait is extreme! I don't say that to be a drama queen, because legitimately the wait is so long that you have to set aside 30 minutes just to get your order of ice cream. And even though they seem to have more help behind the counter now, it still takes just as long. They tell you to be prepared for the wait on certain menu items, but it's still quite the delay between ordering and receiving. I won't lie, it's the biggest turn off in returning for me. I really wish they could stream line some things so that some menu items were more dependable. This last visit will probably be our last because my kids don't like waiting that long for ice cream, which I really can't argue with that. read more

The food and ice cream are pretty good! The staff are a little rude. I'd rate it higher but the customer service isn't the nicest. read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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Cute place for boba and snacks! Spam musubi was so warm and tasty. Great service, convenient location right next to the Japanese market read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

Loved all of the food and the drinks were great. we had Oolong tea, Nikujaga bowl, Bulgogi, Takoyaki, and Ube Taiyaki read more

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I had food delivered from this place and everything came in one piece. It's the first time trying it and I liked it alot. I liked how you can get any Taiyaki filling you want. I had the red bean and PB&J filled ones and the red bean tasted better to me. They were not that sweet and I prefer it like that. I really liked the macha ice cream with the cone. It had a soft and chewy cone and would recommend anyone to try. I appreciated that the cone didnt get soggy and held the ice cream well (basically a fish shaped waffle). I also did like the bowl too with big chunks of potatoes, beef and rice. The drink was very pretty but nothing fancy its just lemonade. Overall would recommend and I'll be sure to eat there next time. read more

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Missing the Taiyaki we used to have whenever we visit Mitsuwa up there in Edgewater, NJ just by the Hudson River. Luckily we found this tiny cafe that serves freshly made hot and crunchy Taiyaki. We tried the Ube filled Taiyaki only to be disappointed big time, oh well at least we know we're not ordering it again. While the Ube filling looks purple enough to pass as Ube, it's does not taste nor smell like ube at all. Tasted just like a bland mashed either sweet potato or regular potato, actually it doesn't tasted sweet at all. The hot and crunchy batter was just wasted with the "ube" filling they put inside. I guess if you're not Filipino or Asian, you'll never know how bad the "Uber" filling was. Anyways, thanks to the Custard and Red Bean filled Taiyakis we also ordered, these two saved our sweet cravings, also the Matcha and Vanilla ice cream cups are delicious. Fresh tasting and so creamy and not overly sweet. We would definitely be back again here for more visit, although it's still nothing compared to what we were used to back in NJ, as long as we don't order the "Uber" filled ones, we'll be good. read more

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This is a cute little place with great ice cream. Is it worth the price? No, definitely not, but it is worth the experience. My husband and I really giggled at the fish waffles. They were cute and fun and actually pretty tasty. They did have an odd consistency, im not sure what it is but it's more jelly (I'm not sure if that's right) like in texture than fluffy like a waffle. Not a huge fan of the texture but I did like the slight sweetness and I thought it paired well with the matcha. Their matcha ice cream was probably some of the best I've had. It surprisingly wasn't overly sweet like most matcha ice creams I've had are. I appreciated the more bitter taste of the matcha. They do have a sign on the door that says no public restrooms, but they actually mean that they're only for people who purchase something. We went on a Thursday afternoon and there was no wait to order. Most people there were studying or working which I found pretty cool, they must offer free Wi-Fi. I think this place is worth coming to once or twice. It was almost $15 for our two items. read more

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I'm so glad SA have taiyaki ice cream!! Taiyaki cones are basically mochi waffles shaped like a fish. The texture of the cone is chewier than waffles. It's DELICIOUS! You have a lot of options with the cones, but they also have taiyaki pancakes which are filled with either a sweet or savory filling. They also serve takoyakis ehich are pancake balls filled with octopus, a true snack in Japan. They also serve drinks, but there is a water station in true Japanese form. Be prepared to wait about 30 mins depending on ehst you're ordering. We ordered the soft serve icecream and 2 plain taiyaki cones....that was a 30 min wait. You may find yourself standing and waiting as seats get taken up quick. It is worth the wait and I definitely recommend everyone to give this place a try. We came on a Saturday around 4 pm if that helps. The soft serve ice creams sre just the typical soft serve ice creams, the star of the show is really the fish cones. Definitely support your local businesses and check this place out! Don't forget to go next door to the Japanese grocery store for cool Japanese items. read more

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Friendly service very helpful with questions about the menu. Tasty food good snacks. Nice inside with music and good amount of seating. read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Butterfly tea lemonade and Cold vanilla taiyaki - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

The best Taiyaki in town! I love the chocolate chip one. If they had a chocolate strawberry one that would be perfect too. read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

This place has really deteriorated since opening. It's the only place I know of in SA that serves taiyaki. However, depending on who makes them, it may be soggy one time, then crispy and quickly turning soggy the next, or even super crispy (and too tough). No consistency. When they do make it right, it is pretty good. My favs are the custard and nutella filled ones. You just can't expect the same tastiness you get in cities like Houston or Dallas. The last time I was here we ordered the upside down taiyaki with matcha soft serve ice-cream. If you like a stronger, more flavorful matcha then Cafe Maiko has better matcha ice cream. The pastry was better this time. I got the green tea milk tea and it was disgusting. Milk water would be the best way to describe the taste. I took 1 sip and had to threw it away. What a waste of $5. Was going to order some Taiyaki to go, but the drink just killed my appetite and service wasn't so great so was hesitant to give them more business. read more

Hanamaru Cafe - Japanese Near Me - San Antonio, Texas

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I have seen this advertised a few times in a few groups. I decided to take my kids there after dinner last night. I am a HUGE fan of Taiyaki with red bean paste and vanilla ice cream This place did not disappoint. Huge servings, lots of flavor and fun. The restaurant and the bathrooms were super clean and well maintained. I got the Taiyaki with red bean paste and vanilla ice cream. My son got taiyaki with strawberries and oreo crumbs with vanilla ice cream. My daughter got taiyaki with caramel and oreo crumbs. The servings were HUGE and we were unable to eat all of it. Definitely worth checking out. read more

Here to say the takoyaki were absolutely amazing!! The service was awesome, my only complaint would be that it took forever for everything to come out. My drink came out lazy and i was already done with my food at that point. Otherwise definitely recommend. Cute place. read more