A smaller market compared to Mitsuwa, but I enjoyed browsing all the aisles of Japanese goodies. You can find fresh produce and meats. Lots of imported goods from Japan. They have cute little claw machines in the front by the registers. read more

One of my favorite Japanese grocery store conveniently located in Cupertino. Not only it has fresh seafood, poultry and fresh produce, I also love their daily freshly prepared bento box. Never tire of shopping this location. read more

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I only ever came here once and will never be back. My friend and I walked over here after having dinner nearby and it was about 8:54 and they closed at 9 (I was not familiar with the store hours). As soon as we approached the open front doors, an employee grabbed both doors and I kid you not SLAMMED them in our face. First of all, your store isn't even closed yet. Second, all you had to say was I'm sorry we're closed and we would've just left with no issue. I'm so bummed out because I was really excited to check this place out, but before I could even see the inside my friend and I had a terrible experience. I would have been super understanding if the woman told us "you only have a couple minutes" or "we're actually closed already" but she didn't even make eye contact just looked at us walking towards the door and slammed it so loudly when we were 2 feet away. If management reads these reviews you really need to encourage your team to be nicer to potential customers, additionally don't close your store before the time posted online. read more

Definitely my go to Japanese market in the area! I do go to the other Japanese markets depending on if I need something specified that is only sold at the other markets. I appreciate that I never have any problem finding parking in this plaza. The plus to this center is that there is a variety of restaurants, bakery, boba shop, Daiso, and etc. It's not a super big market but has everything you need for Japanese cooking. They have a wide variety of selections for everything. I think their meat and fish selections are fresh. They also do reduce the price toward the end of the day for some of their bentos and items that need to be eaten by that day. read more

Go to market for Japanese and Hawaiian grocery. Fresh fish and if you go toward closing they reduce the price for sashimi. But came today and found a bone in my salmon. Sad day. Probably might not want to get sashimi any time soon, but go for my grocery. read more

Tokyo Central - International Grocery Near Me - Cupertino, California

Love coming to this market every time we go to Santa Cruz to grab some light lunch and snacks. read more

Went there last weekend during covid 19, so proud of this supermarket! Taking temperature and signs and reminder for social distancing is all over. Each shoppers got their special deal even no card, so happy to shop here. Good job Marukai! read more

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I love this place! Fresh uni! Hawaiian papaya. I walk almost daily from Hyatt house. Dyson store is next to it for all the greatest snacks. read more

Great Japanese grocery store! Right next door to Daiso. The inside space is not too big; however it looks like they have a wide variety of different things. Their sushi sashimi selection looks pretty expansive, and I'll definitely be coming back to buy some for a sushi dinner at home! I'm so glad I found this gem! Can't wait to come back again soon! read more

Being a long term shopper at this store, I've seen the service level has gone down a lot, or would say no service. I get it, this is not Japan, you don't expect to receive same treatment as you are in Japan, but we see better service from Safeway, Lucky, Mitsuwa and some other Korea shops.. here are couple examples: Cashiers- cold, unwilling to help when need them. Kitchen staff- used to see couple Japanese staffs supervising their employees when preparing Sushi/Sashimi etc, but now not only customers have language barrier to communicate with them, but quality has gone bad too, many sashimi pieces are not even cut through, llaterally you are buying a chunk of fish block. Marukai Cupertino definitely needs to have more and better trainings on their staffs. read more

I can't believe I haven't ran into this store since this past week! What a hidden gem of a specialty Asian grocery store/supermarket in Northern California. This location is only one of ONLY 4 branches in the entire continental United States, and ALL are in the Golden State! They do have other locations under the 'Tokyo Central' name in other parts of the country, and they are an American offshoot chain of retail markets that import & sell Japanese goods, in addition to Hawaiian products are their core focus. What stands out with Marukai - compared with Mitsuwa & Nijiya (the only other 2 Japanese supermarket chains in the Bay Area) - is that their storefront is neither as large as Mitsuwa nor as conveniently located as the Nijiya locations in San Mateo & Japantown, in San Jose). However, they do have more products that you'll find from the Hawaiian Islands! I was impressed - since I have not seen so many Hawaiian products native to the islands until I came here & saw a couple of aisles dedicated to them! Nonetheless, what Marukai does have is a vast selection of fresh fish and also a very convenient selection of ready-made sushi and rice bowls perfect for the busy family or professional. On any given day, harder to find selections like saba shimi and bara chirashi flank curry katsu bowls and chicken karaage. If you're a fan of Japanese foods, it's hard to not find something to your liking. Make sure to get your hands on their freshly-prepared mochi in the refrigerated section! It gets sold out in an instant! Marukai also features a nice selection of pre-sliced meats perfect for shabu shabu (hot pot). While the American Kobe style beef may not be true "Kobe" wagyu beef, the marbling is nice and the flavor is solid. Ditto for the Kurobata pork that is also thinly sliced for quick cooking. This place is perfect for busy families, whether you're stocking up on ingredients for a week of home-cooked meals or just need a quick ready-made dish for a hectic weeknight. Tons of parking available in this shopping center, and the location is just too convenient - off the hustle & bustle of Hwy 280 (you could either take the N. Wolfe Road or Stevens Creek exits) - very prime location! There's lots to do in the area, and there's so many places to grab a bite & get something done, while you're at it. If you're searching for a quality Japanese market and you happen to be in the Cupertino area, Marukai is a great choice. read more

A pretty nice little Japanese market. Almost feels like I'm back in Japan when I'm here, just with marked up prices. They have a little bit of everything here, including free samples! They are doing it Costco style here! Lots of Japanese products, but again expect to pay a little extra since it is imported. Staff are friendly, but some of them seemed a little irritated today. Overall, if you want to feel like you're in Japan, then come here. Tons of great product. read more

I love their sushi roll. I always get it in the morning when it comes out It is always so fresh and good deal. Store has special deals going on all the time, I got 5 eggs for 76cents today and it was like... woah What is wrong with this product? So good! read more

I shopped at the Marukai Market on Stevens Creek in Cupertino for the first time last week (December 2021) thanks to a friend's recommendation. My friend said that Marukai had the best seafood. I was disappointed. I purchased seafood in order to cook Cioppino. The shrimp was quite tasty. But the scallops, clams, and mussels were not good at all; they were sort of chewy. Yuk. So I am unlikely to return to purchase those seafood products. I might return to try their fish. Not sure. It may or may not be fair to judge the Marukai Market based solely on my interest in seafood for Cioppino. On the brighter side, the cashier was cordial and there is sufficient free street level parking in the lot. And Marukai has a lot of sashimi and sushi that I might like to try. Perhaps they carry good quality pre-cooked miso soup? read more

Stumbled upon Marukai over the weekend and I'm kicking myself for not knowing about this place sooner! Located in The Marketplace shopping center in Cupertino, it has some notable neighbors: Daiso, Gyu-Kaku, One Pot, Beard Papa's, and Icicles. Good thing we decided to roam before settling for a lunch place because Marukai has some great food options! I was immediately drawn to the seafood section .. specifically the premade sushi, sashimi, and cooked Japanese food packages! All of the fish looked really fresh and the prices were very fair! We settled on the yakisoba noodles ($6.99) and the salmon, tuna & crab sashimi set ($12.99). I enjoyed our simple lunch :) Fish was indeed fresh with no chewy parts and noodles were good but it's kind of hard to mess up noodles :P I'll definitely be back to try more items but I had a very good first impression! read more

Tokyo Central - Noodles! - International Grocery Near Me - Cupertino, California

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I love the place but constantly had issues with the cashiers here (e.g. things like rudeness, mistakes and list goes on). On 8/20/2023 around 7:30PM, I encountered this cashier (asian, with glasses, 20-30yo, William C, Trs#:192134) and he incorrectly charged me extra $20 for Maui donation. I noticed it right away but decided to let it go. As much as I need every penny to survive in the bayarea, I'm sure the folks in Maui could use the money more than I could. Next time, I suggest chit chatting less with your co-workers and pay a little more attention to work right in front of you. I also questioned the competence of the store manager as I saw 3-4 employees doing almost nothing but there was only one register open with a long line... read more

Helpful store. Good value food with thousands of snacks. Ambiance is what you'd expect of a market but cleaner and more organized.

favorite japanese grocery in the south bay - love the selection of both frozen food as well as the sushi/onigiri deli. i only ever find my favorite frozen karaage, takoyaki, and yoshinoya gyudon beef here read more

We came here on 8/15/20 to buy some ingredients for sushi. We arrived after 10am and there was a line to enter. The lined started to move after a few minutes and we slowly got closer to the entrance. They took everybody's temperature just before we got inside. Inside, there were a bunch of aisles and it was easy to navigate around despite there being a lot of people. We were able to find all the ingredients needed for sushi later that day so we were content. Good place to go shopping for sushi ingredients and I wouldn't mind coming back in the future. read more

Shopping for New Year's celebration with Japanese groceries to make kimpira gobo, shirae, Inari sushi etc...I made Takoyaki with octopus . It was a hit. This market has everything you could need. read more

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Great shop for groceries and premade food! I love their salmon shashimi, and the salmon crab chirashi bowls are soooo good. The prices are normal for downtown LA. I come here a few times a week and the staff still isn't all that inviting, despite rarely being as busy as the other markets in the area. Bottom line, I recommend Marukai more than any of the similar markets in the area. The quality is above their competition, and their vast selection really can't be beat in Little Tokyo. read more

No longer my go-to when I'm in the area. Sparse shelves and the absence of name brand Japanese groceries I would normally buy. The worse was the quality of the sushi. Smaller and thiner slices of sashimi on the nigiri. The fish was not very fresh. Two pieces were just starting to spoil. I tossed my favorite inari sushi, too. The rice was so mushy. The seasoning was off, too. What happened to this place? Not going back. Polite staff bumped the rating up a star. read more

This is one of my go to Japanese Markets in the Cupertino location. It's not a super market but they seem to carry the right products for making many Japanese dishes. The meat prices for Sukiyaki,katsu,hot pots and other dishes which uses beef, chicken and pork are available and reasonably priced. They have weekly sales on their website. read more

While I understand that most places have a no drinks policy, I never been to a place that say "no" to a sealed water bottle. You would think people carrying water bottle during summer is a normal thing. But not this place, they have the audacity to ask you to throw it away. I am sorry, I didn't realize I am going through a TSA, when I was trying to enter. Do not shop here, trying to profit over water is disgusting. read more

This is one of three Japanese markets in the Bay Area. Located in a popular shopping center with other eateries, mostly Asian, and a Brazilian steakhouse. The market is also adjacent to Daiso which is the $1.50 store featuring Japanese goods. Marukai has a small bakery and an area dedicated to pre-made bento boxes. I went there probably around 7ish or so and they were mostly out of the food. What I did pick up with a salmon and ikura bowl...but alas there was no ikura. All it had was rice, salmon sashimi and a dollop of uni. Where was my ikura?? My girls enjoyed looking at all the live seafood there. Very clean and can fill up on Japanese goodies. read more

So I've been to Mitsuwa Marketplace in West San Jose and Nijiya Marketplace in Japantown... I think this Japanese market is my favorite out of the 3 for a variety of reasons. Let's start off with parking - of the 3, this is the easiest to get parking on the weekends. Granted I tend to come here before 11:00 am, so before the restaurants in the plaza are open. But it's such a big parking lot I can't imagine it being terrible. Mitsuwa is such a madhouse on the weekends even if you come early! Secondly, it's not as crowded. Nijiya in Japantown SJ is kinda small so it can get pretty cramped. Mitsuwa... well, it gets pretty crazy since they have a food court and most people seem to be there to eat the ramen at Santouka (which isn't even that good - they don't even make their noodles). Marukai is a relaxing shopping experience where you can try samples and not have to worry about banging carts with other people. The store is not too big so you won't have a hard time finding something... but it's also not too small that you'll find what you're looking for. I also feel like items here are cheaper or it's easier to find a good sale. For example, they carry a takoyaki and okonmiyaki mix for $3, while the brands Mistuwa carries are like $4-5 (granted they have English translations for their instructions). I will admit, their meat and vegetable variety is smaller than that of Mitsuwa, but it meets my needs since they have key Japanese vegetables like daikon, perilla leaves, and mitsuba parsley. They definitely have a solid shabu shabu with plenty of thinly sliced pork and beef varieties. I also LOVE their seafood department - This is also one of the few seafood stores where I'll see fresh uni - it's great quality and perfect for making dishes like uni carbonara and uni rice. You can also buy tubs of different kinds of roe, from salmon roe to cod roe and the yellow/green roe! Perfect if you wanted to do "make at home" poke bowls, as they sell great sashimi grade fish. They even sell an already prepped sashimi set for $20, which is decent for what it comes with (and cheaper compared to a restaurant). Speaking of sushi, I highly recommend their rainbow poke bowls or chirashi bowls that are made fresh daily. They're about $7-8 and DELICIOUS. They lower the prices to like $5-6 when they're close to closing, but don't count on it since they are likely to run out by the end of the day. Haven't tried their sushi rolls yet (which are like $6-$7 a pack), but judging from their poke and chirashi bowls I imagine they are delicious. Need a quick packed lunch for a picnic? Marukai sells a wide variety of bentos made from different restaurants; I haven't tried them yet, but they look quite good and I think some of them come from the Gombei Japanese restaurant (which I have tried, and it's good). They have nicely packed mackerel and teriyaki chicken sets, gyudon, curry katu, and oyako don as well! Good variety of cheap rice balls, from ones filled with tuna, salmon, konbu, etc. While not as big as Mitsuwa Marketplace, Marukai gets the job done and has some really bomb sashimi here. Check it out! read more

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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. read more

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Disappointed in the deli offerings at this location. The variety and quality is worst than any other Marukai, Tokyo Central, or Mitsuwa I've been to up and down the West Coast. Also, the cashiers here are always very petty and mouthy. This last time, they were asking for donations, so I said Sure, a dollar. The lady loudly and sarcastically emphasized, WOW! what a GENEROUS donation! I should've just told her nevermind now. read more

always has what i need....very easily accessible....the staff is very helpful....i can spend hours inside

One of my favorite Japanese grocery stores in the South Bay. Be warned as every time I come here there is always a line! (However the line does go by pretty quickly.) Temperature checks and masks are required before you head into the store, additionally they have hand sanitizer right before you walk in. Pretty standard COVID-19 measures in store, lines have tape for you to stay away from other customers, etc. Grocery wise, this place is decent! I wouldn't say it's as good as Mitsuwa (but tbh the lines at Mitsuwa are insane nowadays. So long that I don't even bother to wait.) Marukai has a good assortment of Japanese groceries and I find that it's relatively cheaper compared to Ranch 99, etc. The snacks are honestly the best! I finally tried out one of their salmon bowls (raw salmon with sushi rice) and honestly it wasn't half bad. The salmon was super fresh, and the pieces were pretty big. The rice was meh, but the fish makes up for it! I definitely recommend if you're looking for something quick and filling to eat! I also grabbed some onigiri, I don't know why but rice balls are just my favorite to get there. Make sure to check out their cooked foods, and you can never go wrong with fish at a Japanese market! read more

Lots of foodie selections. Like really fresh and reasonably priced meats and many choices of ready to marinade meats. Asian style, is that what we called？ But the snacks... Not cheap. You want same ones cheaper, go SF Chinatown. Don't want to drive that far？ Go pay！ read more

Tokyo Central - Happy meal place. 15 min wait in line to get in for now during pandemic. - International Grocery Near Me - Cupertino, California

Whenever I'd grab a yogurt from Yogurtland, I'd wonder when Marukai would open! The anticipation of slowly watching them stock the shelves with yummy food was quite painful!! haha So I finally was able to visit this store last weekend after a trip to Yogurtland. Marukai gets 3 stars because they don't allow food and I couldn't bring my yogurt inside. booo. :( Their sign outside is quite funny of what you can't do or bring inside (an image of an ice cream cone and a drink)! I don't know if it was the time of day I went (evening), but a lot of items were sold out like bananas! I enjoyed browsing through their snack and candy isles! They have quite a bit of Japanese, Hawaiian, and American items!! Their produce and kitchenware sections were really skimpy. They have some special deals going on for their grand opening! Lots of snacks ranging from $1-$3! Instant curry sauce for $.98! Hi-chews for $.78! wow! The line at the cash register was ridiculously long, so have a friend wait in line for you while you shop around! haha This store is in a good plaza with Daiso right next door, Beard Papa's, and Yogurtland!! You can get all your shopping done in one plaza! :D read 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! read more

Tokyo Central - I shall make Takoyaki with this! - International Grocery Near Me - Cupertino, California

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I must say... Marukai had everything I needed for my Temaki sushi dinner. They have a wide variety of freshly packaged sashimi to pick. Premium cuts too! Trust me on this one. My go-to market especially, when making Japanese cuisine at home. Everything in the attach photo below is from Marukai. Thanks you, Marukai for having everything I need to make this day memorable. My Temaki sushi birthday dinner was a success! I was seriously on a goose hunt that morning. From Mitzuwa, Hmart and than Marukai. I finally decided on Marukai. My one stop shop. read more

Tokyo Central - Home-made Birthday dinner by yours truly. - International Grocery Near Me - Cupertino, California

This review is for the ready-to-eat food. I came in around 11AM on a weekday and picked up a large chirashi bowl (for lunch) and several onigiris (for dinner). The chirashi bowl was NOT fresh. The fish in the chirashi bowl was watery and chopped inconsistently. It was obviously not prepared that day; the fish color had bled into the rice significantly. The rice was waaay too sweet and I was not a fan. But I loved the tamago (egg), which had an unexpected nutiness and delicate sweetness. Aside from the rice, it would have been great if it had been fresh. It was an amazing deal, $8.50 for a huge pile of fish, but you get what you pay for! The seaweed onigiri was ok flavor-wise but the rice was very dried out, again not fresh. On the other hand, the salmon onigiri was delicious with a generous amount of fish. In summary, the freshness of the premade food leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe if you get lucky it will be fresh. I normally go to nijiya market for lunch and will continue to do so: their sushi has been consistent and they have hot foods too. read more

It just opened! Partially.... they have drinks, snacks, seasonings, sauces, instant noodles, toiletries & some cute little Japanese collectibles like Hello Kitty and such. Pretty good selection as I can see but may be a bit smaller than Mitsuwa. The little Japanese ladies there are very nice and they gave me a free bag of green tea cookies with my purchase! Also they have a promotional time right now where they're letting you purchase items without signing up for membership unlike the other Marukai locations . read more

Something has changed to customer service/cashier? They were nice and friendly. Not what I see in the most recent two weeks. Customer service tone was rude. Cashier double charged me on the same item. read more

This is a nice local Japanese ethnic Asian food market with a good selection. Japanese retail tends to be a bit higher than their peer Asian counterparts like the Chinese and Korean, but the Japanese focus on presentation, packaging, and to a degree, quality. The stores tend to be cleaner and more organized than their Asian counterpart peer cultures, and more user friendly for non-Asians, especially Anglos/Caucasians. Marukai is always a pretty good place, similar to me as Mitsuwa ('tho in So Cal, I know the prices are about the same, but Maruki requires a membership, which costs money otherwise "walk-in's" are charged I think a 10% premium over the sticker price, 'tho I think Marukai offers both annual membership and day pass membership rates, and once in a long while has a newspaper (direct mail piece sent around the neighborhood) for a free day pass membership to check out). Parking here is easy too. read more

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Now that I've visited all the Japanese markets around the Bay Area, I can finally say that Marukai is the best. Don't waste your time! I've been trying to find some Charshu and finally got a 2lb log here. It's $13.99/lb so my log cost $25... also tried uni here for the first time in my life... wow must be an acquired taste ‍ They had sampling of Kobe beef slices -- so good I bought some on sale for $10.99/lb. A nice old lady also had samples of frozen savory pancakes $3.99 but honestly I can get the same thing from my local Trade Joe's for a dollar less -- still love u though Marukai! read more

Tokyo Central - International Grocery Near Me - Cupertino, California

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We used to go there often because of selection of Sashimi and lots of Japanese goods. However the security guard was very rude during the COVID-19 outbreak. To control number of people in the store, we are supposed to line up -- which makes sense. Several other customers in front of us were treated rudely and had some quarrel. When it's our turn to go in to the store, she stepped out for about 10 minutes, meanwhile 3 customers already left the store. We then decided to go in, and she just showed up to chase us out and shut the door. I've been to Japan and their customer service is top notch. In contrary, this kind of customers service would leave a bad taste in anyone's mouth. This store certainly would not be getting my business from now on. read more