This place is just ok. This place is equivalent to a Yoshinoya. Food was averagely priced for the typical teriyaki bowl place. However, the rice to protein portions are pretty bad. More rice than meat/fish. I ordered the spicy tuna bowl, and there was not enough spicy tuna for the amount of rice they put in. This thing was also $10! Oh well. Can't complain when I am already done with the food. read more

I've found the food to be consistently good and this is a good value. The ramen is delicious! I'd have to say that they almost lose a star for convenience because I usually find they are understaffed and the orders takes longer then it should. The people there DO seem to work hard. Just not enough of them. read more

Mako Bowl - Japanese Near Me - Pasadena, California

I ordered the chicken bowl with all veggies instead of rice. The staff was friendly and my order came out quickly. The chicken was tender and flavorful. Everything tasted like it was freshly made. The only reason why I didn't give 5 stars is due to the charge for substituting the veggies for the rice. read more

Simple. You crave teriyaki and you order it here. You get teriyaki and you eat it there or anywhere. Kinda wish your place was a little kinder to the eye. See you later, I am going to bed, bye-bye. read more

Yummy food. Good prices. I pair a teriyaki chicken sandwich with a California roll. Makes for a good lunch. Always playing 80s top hits on radio. read more

I recommend staying away from this joint. I ordered the beef galbi and I literally just got bones. It's ridiculous that this business feels that they can operate in this manner and basically steal your money. I even tipped them! read more

Mako Bowl - Beef bones - Japanese Near Me - Pasadena, California

The food is ok for Japanese Fast Food!... I happen to like a different Japanese Fast Food Restaurant better than this place, but that's because they actually have the food that's on their menu. Mako tends to not have certain items at times. Don't look at the menu on the wall... Look at the pictured menu on the counter???... read more

Average the chicken is good but the vegetables tastes terrible! I liked the sauce but as previous reviewers noted you get super thirsty eating the teriyaki sauce. read more

This seriously was one of my favorite spots when i lived in Pasadena but it has really gone downhill. Went in with the family and decided to eat in and as soon as we walked in I felt like we have made the wrong choice to eat there. The dining room was pretty empty and most people seemed to order to go and I don't blame them. The dining room was pretty dirty and the tables uneven so anytime we moved our soy sauce spilled from the little plastic cups. The bench by the wall moved and you could see all the trash the accumulated there since god knows when. When we got our food...wow it was disappointing to say the least. The portions had to be 1/3 of what they use to be and the veggies dry. We paid $30 and some change for 2 small chicken bowls and 1 large chicken/beef plate and we literally left probably as hungry as when we got there. There are way too many teriyaki spots to even waste out time driving to this one. Shame on you Mako...your dining room is gross and your portions a rip off. read more

Mako Bowl - Good for a quick lunch, really cheap for a raw salmon bowl with avocado. Super healthy, super fast and super good! the bbq ribs is really good here too! i get the combination plate with all grilled veggies insead of rice and a double salad!!!! yum read more

For Japanese fast food, this place is pretty legit. I used to come here every other day years and years ago when I worked at Sears. Now, I come here more sporadically. I usually get the spicy tuna bowl or the salmon bowl both with avocado. Not the best you're ever gonna have, but it does the job. The sushi is good if you don't feel like going to a full on sushi bar. The chicken teriyaki is good. The chicken is always tender. The chicken katsu can be a little rough sometimes, meaning over cooked and dry. Their macaroni salad is so so, a little bland for me, but still good. Chicken udon is fairly good too. Not too salty and great when I have a cold. Service can be a little slow, but I usually only come here when I'm not in a rush, or when I've hopped off the freeway because traffic was really bad. So, no big deal to me. read more

I came here looking for an alternative to Inaka Gourmet b/c the consistency of the spicy tuna rice bowls has gone downhill lately. Perhaps the ratio of the spices is different or different spices are used? Who knows. I ordered the salmon & avocado bowl which came out to a little under $10. I got some coins back. I didn't wait long for my order. I eagerly dug into the salmon first. Eh. I had some avocado which not only looked good but tasted good as well. I had another bite of salmon & found myself reaching for one of the soy sauce packets & conservatively drizzled it over my salmon. Then, progressively I finished that packet & used another whole packet. Anyone who knows me knows that I rarely ever use condiments, especially w/ sushi or sashimi bowls such as these. Maybe I've been spoiled w/ quality fish but I wasn't really feeling the bowl. Likes: easy parking in the Ralphs plaza, short wait time, the avocado & decent prices. Dislikes: So-so salmon. It's good for when you need a quick meal in the area. At least I didn't get sick. Perhaps it's what I ordered. I'd like to come back & try the chicken teriyaki bowl. read more

I think mako bowl is just your standard chicken teriyaki bowl restaurant. While it's good in taste, there's nothing that stands out to make it unique on its own. So on to customer service... there's also nothing spectacular there either. Nothing really jumped at me to say, "hey! Mako bowl is dope!" I was going to go with the salmon bowl but it's a little pricey for fast food so I just went with the standard teriyaki bowl, which was good and well priced too. I would definitely come back to Mako Bowl for lunch. read more

Pretty standard spot. Solid for a quick bite on your lunch break. Not anything I crave, but it'll do when you're hungry and are looking for something quick on your lunch break, or something. Everyone there seems pretty nice. Oh, and for an extra $0.35 you can get extra veggies. I personally like Haiku Kitchen around the corner better. read more

Love the food but as someone who watches their diet for medical reasons, it really pisses me off the MakoBowl can't seem to publish nutritional information. Their competitors do. So...... 5 for taste/prep and 0 for nutrition transparency. read more

I'm not picky about fast food Japanese, but Mako Bowl may as well be Lean Cuisine. This isn't a big deal, but would you really pay $10 for an overly salty plate of ribs and chicken? Next. read more

This is my go-to place to get either Chicken Katsu or Teriyaki Chicken. Affordable. Brown rice is 75¢ extra, just a heads up. Will always choose this place over any other competition like B-Mans...etc. read more

Expensive for what you get. Even with the up charge for extra meat in your plate, you only get a scantily amount. Do yourself a favor and go down Rosemead Blvd to Ono Hawaiian BBQ. They don't skimp on your food there. read more

This one of my favorite places. I ate here a lot when I worked in Pasadena. Now I stop here whenever I go to Mt. Wilson. They moved some time back to a bigger location in the same strip mall. The food is very simple but amazing. This place does Teriyaki bowls right! The veggie are steamed perfectly. The sauce is not overpowering. I like the chicken, beef and salmon but the veggies are my favorite. I have eaten Teriyaki bowls at many places but no one does it as good as Mako Bowl. So simple so good! read more

Fiance and I came here for a casual and easy dinner. I ordered the teriyaki chicken plate with sides of garden salad and potato salad and a order of shrimp gyoza (4 pieces). Fiance got the chicken katsu plate with sides of garden salad and macaroni salad and a side order of spicy tuna roll (4 pieces). About the food: Not good! I'm a very easy person to please when it comes to food and even I thought this place was bad. To start, I asked for potato salad and they gave me macaroni salad. Fiance asked them to fix their error so I got the potato salad. Then I actually tasted the food. The teriyaki sauce on the chicken was super salty. I've never tasted teriyaki sauce that was so salty before. On top of the fact that the teriyaki sauce is very salty, they dumped a whole lot of it on the chicken. Even the rice didn't help to balance the saltiness. The shrimp gyoza was pretty bad. Inside was some sort of unrecognizable mush with pieces that I guess you could say resemble tiny, baby shrimp. These were also super salty even without dipping in soy sauce. I tried one of my fiance's spicy tuna roll and these were also pretty bad. They were really ugly to begin with. I'm not expecting gourmet rolls from this place but can they at least try to make it seem like they didn't just mish-mash rice, nori, and tuna into what they call "a roll"? I tried a piece the fiance's chicken katsu. I guess if you're going to come to this place and order anything, you might as well get this. I would still have to say that the chicken was really greasy and fatty. I know this is a fried dish but I've had chicken katsu at other places that were not so greasy and fatty. About the space: They must not clean tables well! When we walked in, the place seemed clean and neat enough. My fiance and I sat by the wall/bench area. Another customer came and sat at the table next to us. We then noticed a gross, body odor type of smell. We thought the customer next to us had some hygiene issues but then he moved to an outside table where another customer had finished and left. We noticed that the smell lingered. We realized that nasty, body odor-ish smell was coming FROM THE TABLE! I don't know what kind of nasty, old rags they use to wipe up after each customer. As if the food wasn't unappetizing enough, the smell just sealed it. We'll never return here again. I suggest you eat something else in this strip mall. read more

Decent japanese fast food. $3 for 4 pieces of rolls. Tried all three: Salmon avocado Spicy tuna Shrimp tempura was the best of of the three. Nice clean decor. Service was fine. Lot parking with Ralph's. read more

Even the veggies were awesome, I could even ask for just veggies no rice - the chicken is just perfect with the veggies, and everything is made fresh right there in front of you! Great service, friendly staff. read more

Why have a hole when you can eat a "Mako Bowl". Excellent and fresh! I recommend this mako bowl to all. read more

Mako Bowl - Chicken bowl with brown rice and salmon avocado rolls. - Japanese Near Me - Pasadena, California

So I was in-between buying shampoo and going to confession (for all you non-catholics, it is holy week, all things Jesus) I was at the point where I would chew off my own hand and spied Mako Bowl. What drew me was there seemed to be a pretty decent crowd. I am not creative with my food choices, so I went with the the vegetable bowl. When I initially opened it I thought uh-oh, this looks like it might have the earmarks of Yoshonia (can't spell right now, the fast food joint) where you arteries harden just looking at it. But I was very pleasantly surprised, vegetables were super fresh, rice was good, just a hint of teriyaki sauce. It stayed pretty busy the whole time I was there. I did order large and it was a ridiculous amount of food (and a soda) for $7.00 Will go again... read more

Their spicy tuna bowl is filling and has a perfect amount of heat. This place is always good for a quick lunch or dinner. I like the chicken bowls here, and the combo plates are pretty filling. read more

I normally like this place. It is decent and food is tasty. Yet I have to say that lately on my last two visits, their BBQ beef ribs have not been tender and I had to throw it out. It was just horrible - very dry, hard and inedible. It was also not marinated well. It just seemed as if they cooked it in a hurry without much thought to quality of the beef. Unless they start to improve, I will not be returning. I also ordered their seaweed salad and it did not have the vinegar dressing on it. It tasted like it was dipped in water only. Please don't let an otherwise decent place go down the drain. I feel like I wasted my money. read more

Would give zero if possible. I've been going here for years and spent thousands of dollars at this place. Ordered 5 chicken bowls for my crew and a Katsu meal for meal. I like the sauce for the katsu so I asked for 6 little packets was told only had three so asked if I wanted any teriyaki sauce I said ok give me 2 spicy sauces to which the kid replied I have to charge u for the 2nd one. I said are u f ing kidding me. If my crew wasn't hungry I would have just got my money back. I WILL NEVER RETURN TO THIS PLACE. YOU JUST LOST A 10 plus year customer over a ram akin of sauce. Great management team. Guess that's why u only have 3.5 stars read more

This place was a surprise! I must say I was super prejudiced towards this kind of fast food fusion Asian foods. I thought it was going to be panda-express type of fake Chinese food, but the food was surprisingly good for how much it costs! And people who go here know what to order, so don't order the best looking picture combo, just order what the person in front of you gets! read more

We love this place (foothill location)!! The staff is wonderful, and ALWAYS have such lovely smiles! Even when I was having a rough day, seeing all their smiles helped. I also appreciate the fact that they accept phoned in orders, and take care of them promptly. We've been going there for years, so by now, as soon as they hear my voice, they know my order :) We always eat the Terriyaki Chicken Bowl, and have begun to order extra, for the next day! The prices are also reasonable! I think the only thing I'd like to see, is chicken breast available for the bowls. So far, only dark meat. read more

I can't tell you how much I love this place. I come from Monrovia (granted, it's not that far but still) just to eat here when I want a cheap, delicious fix of chicken teriyaki. Seriously, I've been to quite a few fast food Japanese/Chinese places but this one holds my heart & stomach in it's hands. I've never tried anything but the chicken teriyaki so I can't really recommend anything else but--- trust me---you can't go wrong. Besides, have you been to Yoshinoya? (We all know it sucks but everyone has been there at least once) Then you'll be disappointed to know that you've been missing out on Mako Bowl. read more

5 stars but too much char on my grilled chicken. Total cheap skate here and never treated poorly for not tipping. Very healthy food and cleanly prepared. Try it out, not too bad. read more

Love the udon and teriyaki chicken bowls. Better than most other places I've tried. Small and quiet. We come here later in the evening after the dinner hour, so I don't know what it's like during a rush, but the place has always been nice for our family to have a nice and peaceful meal. read more

The food here is amazing! I always order the Large Teriyaki chicken bowl with extra teriyaki. I will say, though, they need to do a better job at keeping the restaurant clean. Trash bins are always full and sometimes trays are dirty. Customer service is great, however! read more

They don't know how cook the salmon bowl and they didn't turned on A/C inside. that's mean, making us worry about the fish freshness.All fish restaurant must keep low temperature to keep fish freshness.The Salmon bowl I ordered and eat was so awful! There is no taste on that because of they provided only two soy sources on the side and one wasabi in the bowl that's it! I added my own corns to make little tasted otherwise I couldn't eat ! When I take back to them, they don't even replace other item or no money refund because I eat over half portion of it. So I left over there and requested to show to the owner and how the owner eat this none tasted Salmon Bowl. There are many new fish bowl company raising with customer loving it but this restaurant is zero star of they reputation and owner need have food education how to make good taste and fresh. Look, if you order something else, that's fine but no Salmon bowl over there. read more

Mako Bowl - Japanese Near Me - Pasadena, California

Pretty, pretty bad. The teriyaki chicken here is ALWAYS burnt beyond belief. carcinogens? Yes I understand the chicken is made on a grill, but is that grill ever cleaned? Likely no, based on the way their chicken looks. I don't understand how a place can consistently serve up such burnt meat. Been here a couple of time out of hunger (it's close to my house) but no more. read more

Not great, i got the combo 6. Salads below avrage. Macaroni salad bland what is this sauce? Just mayo? And... pastrami? I don't get it. Miso soup watery. Sushi average and i give 3 stars because they are so nice!!! And its cheap read more

They have some of the worse customer service I've ever seen. It's horrendous. Also they will talk about you in Spanish when they think you don't understand but I actually do speak Spanish and knew exactly what they were saying. Seriously, their behavior is so disgusting to me. My parents have been great customers of them for years and they were just saying stuff about my family member in spanish. So fyi if they elect to speak a lanaguage other then what they are speaking to you it's probably not anything nice...Seriously so rude and unprofessional. Also, they just stand around the whole time starting at people when they could and should be cleaning. read more

i remember coming here often when i used to work in pasadena. lunch time was always busy, sometimes with a line out the door. parking can be a bitch during busy times. it's cheap. it's fast. and it's good! mmmm spicy chicken bowl! i miss working in pasadena. read more

Had a terrible experience here. Received 2 burnt teriyaki chicken bowls. When I got home I threw mine out, but my wife kept hers. She wanted me to go to the restaurant to get a refund. Because both were burnt, I figured I would take one back just to show them and decided not to dig in the trash for my other bowl. When I got back to the restaurant, they refused to refund me for both bowls. They said they didn't trust me and I may have just ate the other one. Why would I try to lie over $5.50 and why would I eat a burnt bowl? Terrible customer service. Will never come back. read more

I was debating between this place and a sushi joint in the same complex... after I received a bowl of greasy grub on top of a ton of rice, my stomach yelled at my mind's decision... decent price.. just not my 'cup of tea'.. read more