Everything was delicious! We had way too many Musubi's while on Maui so we weren't going to order it again but my husband got the Mochi Musubi and it was the BEST MUSUBI EVER. Definitely recommend this restaurant. We tried everything from the soba, curry, beef teriyaki, salmon, rolls and everything was super tasty. read more

Love this restaurant, friendly staff, delicious food and sushi! Love their Fried Chicken it's boneless, love their donburi's and sushi! A must try when your on Maui! read more

This is a hidden gem! Very authentic Japanese food, the comfort food kind. I lived in Japan for three years and the kitchen smells like a real noodle house and sounds like mostly Japanese cooks. My husband and I got the special, which was Tonkotsu Ramen, and it was awesome. Nothing fancy, just really really good broth, noodles, and pork belly! So delish! read more

We appreciate this joint and visit more often than the average person because my husband loves it so much! It is a smaller restaurant and parking is limited, but it's clean and has been renovated. The cashiers are always so friendly both over the phone and in person :) As for the food, they offer a variety of options which is awesome for when you don't know what you want to eat, lol! We especially like their sushi rolls. It isn't at all fancy like the other sushi restaurants on the island, so keep that in mind. We also fancy their plate lunches! I hardly stray from my regular order of chicken katsu. It's always cooked perfectly and not oily at all. I want to say it's my top three most favorite places for katsu. My other half tried a lot of different dishes, but often indulges in their fried chicken. It's also a good idea to try their ramen, so good! And you can't forget the island staple - spam musubis, perfect for the keiki! Restaurant Matsu is a great choice for anyone looking for some yumminess! read more

This place is just o.k. Kind of pricey for the portion sizes. When it comes to food, the price should be commensurate to the portions, especially when you figure the markup is 300%. So, if I'm ordering a 9 dollar meal, it costs the business 3 dollars to make. Not here. It seems the markup is closer to 400%, as the portions are so small, you almost have to order 2 plates just to feel satisfied. The taste of the food is good, but there isn't much to taste! I've had the udon, dry noodles and chicken Katsu. Even tried the sushi rolls. Believe it or not, I tried all of this in one visit. That's how small the portions are! I'm not that big of an eater either! You have to save up to eat here, and it's not even fine dining! You walk up to the counter, place your order and wait. They either call you to pick up your order or deliver it to your table. You have to help yourself to the water, and also clear the table yourself. Inside is very small; something like 6 or 7 small tables inside. Good for takeout, but eating in large groups may not be so good. I go here maybe once every 3 or 4 years because it's too costly. Tokyo Tei is a better, cheaper choice and the food is just as good. read more

This hole in the wall place is great. Very affordable prices compared to other sushi/Japanese places. Very small and space is limited. Try to get there before noon. We were on our way to return our rental car and happened to spot this place. Glad we did spot it. Just go there to check it out. read more

Restaurant Matsu - We had the Combo A. California roll and spicy tuna sushi. All were deeelish - Japanese Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

Great place to go for udon & tempura. They also have alot of choices from local food to Japanese ! read more

Restaurant Matsu - Japanese Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

We had lunch here today because my husband wanted pho or ramen. Well, Maui is limited as it is. I ordered the udon & he ordered the tempura ramen. They're "pricey" considering their portion size. He was extremely disappointed in his meal. I explained to him that this is expected here. He is used to larger portions w/better service. He was finished w/his meal in 2 minutes & he is not a large guy. Lol. He was still hungry, so we went to Foodland & he bought a pound of poke. read more

My husband found this place, and it is definitely not a tourist spot. I think we were the only non-locals in there. As others have mentioned, it has no ambiance, and is in an industrial area. It looks a little worn down from the outside, (and honestly, inside as well.) If ever there's a place that is a true hole-in-wall, this is it. The restaurant is pretty bare bones, if you're looking for a cute cafe, this is not the place. If you're looking for authentic Japanese comfort food, (katsus,curry, ramen, black cod, teriyakis) you've found it. You order at the counter, and they bring it to you. It took a little longer than I expected, but it was all made fresh. Other reviewers mentioned long waits for seating, but we had no problem the night we were there. The miso black cod was good, not the best I've ever had, but still very enjoyable, (and VERY reasonably priced.) You can order gyoza individually, and we each had one. Sorry to say, I wasn't impressed with them, and wouldn't order them again. My guy's curry was good, and my friend seemed to like her ramen. They also have a limited sushi menu, but no sushi bar. I had one order of nigiri, and decided this wasn't the place to order it. Although, everything was so cheap, it wasn't a big deal if we didn't eat some of it. I liked this place, and would come back. My major complaint is they have no liquor license! I REALLY wanted some sake with my meal:( read more

Highly recommend. The food is great and staff is friendly. The restaurant is almost always busy. Expect to wait for a seat if you want to dine in. But take out is available. They have daily bento box specials and they are delicious. The bento box presentation is professional looking. Highly recommend. read more

Matsu's is a locals only spot. If you love local food, mac salad, somen, curry, fried chicken.. you will love this. You can get the combo plate, which can include teri chicken, potato croquette, tempura and rice. Or you can stick with saimin, cold somen, curry with rice, or gyoza. Not much of an atmosphere, but hey.. is a local joint. You can't expect a fancy place in a local spot. My boyfriend loooves the fried chicken. It is not your typical fried chicken. Its boneless. And its really greasy. It looked like a bunch of big chicken McNuggets. I didn't feel like trying it, but 2 of the people in our group had it and loved it. I ordered the mochiko chicken. Complete with rice and mac salad, it was not the typical mochiko chicken you're thinking about. It was (again) boneless, and greesy. It tasted like it was soaked in teri sauce or something. Good.. but if you can't handle grease, this is not the one for you. I only ate 3 of the 5 pieces. Cold somen salad, great.. Can't go wrong. Gyoza, great. There is also a small store you can shop around. It was closed, but it looked like it sells japanese cooking ingredients. Be local, try it. I'd go again. read more

Yes, I'm a fan, and will always be a fan! I grew up on Maui and I used to eat here all the time. I remember when it used to be located in Maui Mall, across HIC (the old location). My boyfriend at the time (husband now) used to work at HIC so that was our favorite place to eat! Aaahhh, so many memories of those high school days! Sigh....okay, focus! I LOVE their Oyaku Don! That was my favorite dish. They serve it with, I swear, a freshly made pot of rice, and the chicken was always so tasty. Mmmmm. I also used to order the ramen. I was told that they used to make their own noodles, but not sure if it was true or not, and if they still do. Their Chicken Katsu Curry is also an all-time winner! That's my husband's favorite plate to eat there. He loves their mac salad. Me, personally, don't care too much for lunch plates in general, and the mac salad, in any dish, is unappetizing to me. Sorry, not a very true local. The new location is a hole in the wall place with limited seating and minimal parking, so try to go before or after the rush hour. We live on Oahu now but always eat there when we go back home to visit family. read more

Visited Matsu on the recommendation of a Maui resident. Glad we arrived early, since it stayed busy the whole time. Reasonable prices and really great flavors. A Japanese restaurant with staff from Japan usually means high quality food and Matsu has it all. read more

Restaurant Matsu - Tempura Udon and a Tekka Maki roll. SO GOOD - Japanese Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

This place serves perfectly acceptable food! My wife and I felt like Japanese without paying sky high prices (and this place is pretty near shave ice, too), so we looked up and found Restaurant Matsu. A bit hidden, because it's located in what used to be a house. I ordered ramen and my wife ordered a teriyaki chicken plate. The food was.. fine. Nothing bad, but nothing noteworthy, and I feel it was worth the price we paid. The ambiance is a bit dingy, but at least they had two air conditioners going so it was a relatively comfortable temperature. I wouldn't mind stopping by again if I was in the area, but I wouldn't go out of the way to seek it either. read more

I know it's in an industrial area and has zero ambiance...ignore that. Yes, seating is limited and they can get busy...wait for a table no matter how long the wait. Order the katsu curry...that is all. read more

Fried chicken was raw. Also they are closed randomly their hours are not accurate. Definitely would check the food safety

This was the first restaurant we came after we landed in Maui. It is more of a local restaurant. I noticed that there aren't many good ramen or sushi restaurants in Maui vs Oahu. We definitely missed the good food at Oahu. Anyway we came to this hole in the wall restaurant. Our ramen was tasty. Sushi was good. Nothing special, but I read lots of good yelp reviews about this place so thats why we came here. It is a small place, too. Noticed majority of the customers are locals. read more

Quaint little place, with average Japanese food. Tried the Chicken Curry and had a side of Spicy Tuna roll (I usually LOVE spicy tuna roll, but I did not want to eat the rest of mine which says a lot). My friend had to try more fried spam musubi - the first one we had at Da Kitchen - so he got the Karaage and Mochiko. I have to say that the Karaage fried spam musubi was super tasty and crispy, almost like chicken =P Too bad I was full by the time I tried it. I would go back for the Karaage spam musubi. That is a must-try! read more

Restaurant Matsu - Japanese Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

Established (and quite well known), but new to us on this trip to Maui. Matsu's is your one stop shop for dining when it comes to Japanese comfort food consumption. Katsu? They have it. Curry? They have it and it is not bad at all... Gyoza? Well, let's just say they do their take on this überific Chinese / Japanese morsel. They deep fry the whole thing. Wonder what the folk at Harajuku Gyoza Rou might think about that?! (smile) Kids found what they needed, kappa maki and oshinko maki. We found our curry fix. All around the family, quite pleased indeed. read more

The food is always on point! Chicken Katsu and California rolls are my Favorite!! And get your plate lunch with salted cabbage! So Ono!!

Had the shoyu ramen and two different spam musibi. Ramen was good and the spam musibi were awesome.

Hidden Jewell in Maui old school legit Japanese food. Pour and serve yourself no waiter or waitress. Ramen is decent but noodles are from star noodle co. Chicken katsu curry or tempura ramen is a must! Sushi available! read more

Always been my favorite places to eat. Small, quaint little restaurant. But fast service and delicious Japanese food! read more

Restaurant Matsu - Japanese Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

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Japanese are the second largest ethnic group in Hawaii. At their peak in the 20's, "Local Japanese" made up 43% of the Hawaiian population [Wikipedia]. So with all of that concentration, one is bound to find some great Japanese-inspired cuisine -- even on the lesser inhabited islands. Restaurant Matsu and Oyako Tei were the two authentic "Local Japanese" restaurants we visited on our recent trip to Maui. Not only did these places make my favorite Spam Musubi's on the island [as referenced in a previous post], but they also tied for my favorite food experiences of the trip. Matsu We ate at Matsu thrice during our trip to Maui and I'm not sure if I got my fill. True, I was a bit of a hermit crab with my ordering. Each meal was the same. One Mochiko Spam Masubi, One Katsu Spam Musubi, One Mac Salad. The tastes still resonate in my mouth. I couldn't help it! These comforting dishes where just too good to stray from. I was lucky, however, that my wife explored the menu and I was able to do a little sampling: Matsu is a simple place with no frills in sight. Perhaps this is why so many yelpers have given it a mid-range score. I, for one, feel that it doesn't get much better than this place. Oyako Tei "Friends and Family Gather Here" read from a plaque on the wall. Overflow of kitchen supplies piled in the dining room of four tables. A shrine to the Spam Gods amassed behind the counter, bentos and musubis sat warm and ready for to-go customers and a group of older Japanese women shuffled around creating a chorus of comfort food. The food had a true "grandmother" feel and was practically perfect in every way [sorry Mary Poppins]. We ordered the Miso Butterfish, Spam Musubi, Mac Salad and Kimchi. Everything was worth ordering again, especially enjoyed that comforting butterfish. Which one of these two gems would I go to if only given the choice of one? I can't say. Anyone have a coin to flip? read more

A local dive, cheap and fresh eats... dont be in a hurry cuz you are in for a wait. Cheap plate lunches, friendly counter service, good food... we needed a quick bite before the long drive to lahaina and it was a good find! Only one highchair in the entire place, no changing table in the bathroom, and leave your stroller at home. This place is pretty small. Saba shioyaki was decent, shrimp tenpura was a little overbreaded but the chicken was good. $1 for soda refills, btw. Little parking lot, located across the street from maui ceramic tile. read more

Very hole-in-a-wall, kinda dive-y, the area seemed sketchy if you had asked me...but what do I know about the area...I was a tourist. I had three more hours in Maui, and I was on a mission for decent Japanese food. The other place recommended on Yelp was closed for the week! Then I found Restaurant Matsu in the industrial area not far from the airport. The lady at the counter was nice, although not very helpful. I asked her for recommendations and her reply was, "everything is good here." Okay, I guess I would have to go by my rule of ordering the simplest thing, which was tempura udon in this case. I enjoyed the flavor of the batter (funny what I look for in tempura), but it was a little too breaded. The tempura was not overly greasy (it was done right). The udon was definitely previously frozen and possibly from those packaged ones in supermarkets, but given the type of establishment and the geographic area, I could say I had that coming. Just when I was feeling unsatisfied with the outcome of my mission, I looked around and saw locals eating unagi dons. I decided to give the place a second try and ordered a unagi don to go. Result? It sure beat the food at the airport. The unagi was fresh off the stove when I picked it up. My only regret was that I had eaten it an hour later. In a nutshell, quality over price ratio was slightly less than 1 for me (the unagi don really made up for the tempura udon). I blame it on the fact that there aren't enough Japanese restaurants in Maui. But hey, it was definitely Japanese owned. read more

Delicious sushi, ramen, and fried chicken. Service is also great, very friendly people. My parents loved it too, defiantly coming back when I'm back in town. read more

Restaurant Matsu - Japanese Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

This is our go to lunch spot! Great food, friendly staff...variety of choices but our favorites are the combo plates, tempura, cold ramen, soba, butterfish...pretty much everything on the menu including the sushi! read more

Solid lunch spot. Teri-Ahi plate is the way to go.

I tried to call in a take out order and their damn phone has been ringing off the hook all damn day! idk what the deal is with this restaurant. I always give them business but it seems there's always something going downhill at their place. I think I need to go find another restaurant that has better food and business Anyways.... I ended up placing an order in the restaurant and it took over 40 god damn minutes for two god damn plates! While I was waiting, I noticed the cashier wasn't answering any calls. They took the phone off the hook so no one could call in any orders. They weren't even busy at all! I brought the plates home for my other half and it was sh!tty! The curry was burnt! And it was the worst ever! read more

Wifey and I just got in from SFO at dinner time and we played our little game of "If you could have anything, what would it be?" We agreed that Japanese, not sushi, was the ticket. But where. The GPS supplied the answer. Matsu's was the closest Japanese food to the airport. Bless the GPS. I had the A plate ($ 8) - two shrimp tempura, three gyoza and three chicken yakitori. All good. Plenty of rice. Wifey had the shrimp tempura plate ($ 8). Again very good. A great little hole in the wall, reasonably priced with good food. We'll be back during our three week visit. Bless the GPS. read more

Almost 4 star. Limited dinner hours. Looks like an easy to miss local joint. Chicken was fantastic. Broth was average. Price you can not beat tho. The building was an old trailer with an adjacent Mexican restaurant. Overall clean and fairly quiet. read more

Restaurant Matsu - Lots of options on the menu. - Japanese Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

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we came to this place because of the decent reviews and amazing picture of an outdoor seating area. this review is not based on trying the food, however, looking through the menu i niticed that everything was either smothered in sugar sauce or deep fried.. and the sushi rolls reminded me of gas station sushi. if you like food that is masked by sugar or loaded with grease, this place is for you.. but i was scared away. also, their picture is false advertising to me.. in fact, if it werent for the misleading picture, i wouldve walked away without leaving a review. read more

Restaurant Matsu - Japanese Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

Awesome plate lunch, Great self-service stop for a quick meal. $10 gets you 2 Superb Hamburger Katsu Curry patties with rice and Mac-salad.

If you are looking for a fancy Japanese restaurant like the Kai at Ritz-Carlton, you came to the wrong place. But if you are looking for cheap Japanese comfort food at a reasonable price, this is a perfect place for you. We went there the day after Christmas. Not very many people there so seating wasn't an issue. Like other reviewer said, we were probably the only non-local group there, which says a lot about this restaurant. Another thing I noticed was that there were two group of local Japanese old ladies, that also says a lot about this restaurant. My wife ordered the miso ramen and I ordered the Unagi Don. We also ordered some fried oyster. Paid at the counter and they serve the food to your table. Had to wait a bit because all food is freshly cooked. My wife was satisfied with her miso ramen. It's not the fanciest or best miso ramen she has ever had but it beats a lot of other more expensive Japanese restaurants in our area. Unagi in the unagi don was fresh and tasty, my only complaint was that rice seem to be have been cold previously and wasn't evenly reheated so you have that "chunky" feeling in your rice. Overall I like this place and would definitely visit again when we have the chance and try some of their other menu items. read more

I always love coming back to Maui and eating fried chicken at Restaurant Matsu's. Funny to be eating fried chicken at a Japanese restaurant, but its my favorite fried chicken of all time. read more

Restaurant Matsu - Mmmmm - Japanese Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

I admit their food is good with high quality...but the portions are just a little too small for me read more

Restaurant Matsu - Yakitori katsu...w/ Teri mochiko spam musubi - Japanese Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

I love this place. This is one of my favorite childhood restaurants. I always order myself an Oyako Don w/ salted cabbage & the California Roll. read more

Love there Fried Chicken and a must is the Ten Zaru Soba with side Fried Chicken. Great service and great and consistent food

I was undecided: 3 1/2 stars...4. The food was good, the portions plentiful. And the sushi was even pretty good. We went with a group- got a variety from the menu. They have a picture book explaining the menu (helpful). Quaint, small, casual- a good stop! read more