Maruya Japanese Restaurant

"I have been coming for around about a decade now, and the food never disappoints and consistently remains as high quality as ever. There are plenty of different types of dishes that will cater to almost anyone. Service is good and friendly as always. The atmosphere is quite nice, especially with the decor of the restaurant with its many movie and anime posters, and figures. A solid restaurant to visit if in the area."

"Very authentic Japanese cuisine. Food was served fast even though they were busy, staffs were extremely friendly and polite. Food was delicious and good too. Definitely recommend giving it a try!"

"The wagyu beef was really good and the salmon nice and torched but could have more condiment Wish the portion could increase a bit but still love the taste. It’s good if you’re living around Southport area and want to try something hearty and delicate meal. Price about $40 or so for 2 meals."

"Absolutely yummy authentic Japanese eatery. So delicious and authentic. A must visit in Gold Coast (Southport), acorss the road from Australia Fair/ Mall. Can take GC tram, drive or bus. Free parking available in the mall. The restaurant has inddor and out door seating. Always full during busy time of the day, and days of the week. They open quite early so ideal for those who want to miss the crowd. Reasonable prices but the taste is out of this world. They have classic 70s cartoon posters and actual toy modules on the wall. Staff are very friendly and Kitchen service is very fast. Highly recomended if you are after a Japanese eatery owned and cooked by Japanese chef and staff. I am so glad they managed through Covid and seeing that they are still popular with locals. I can't praise this place ebough, you just have to go and try it out. Highly recomended."

"My partner and I had very high hopes for this place. We walked past this place several times over a long period during out visits and it was either fully booked out or we were too late to fit into the last order. Must be good right? This has been our experience. The decor was amazing and really love the posters of movies in Japanese. It really looked like one of those little shops in japan that served great food with funky vibes. OR So we thought. My partner ordered the Deluxe Shirasu as she was craving for raw fish. While we were waiting for a table, a customer next to us ordered it and it looked pretty decent and they said it was good. I ordered Beef Gyudon and Chicken Katsudon. I always order extra rice as normal portions are too little for me. It was an additional $2 for that. Which was sort of ok. The service staff were very friendly and attentive which was great on that end. The food looked great upon arrival. However the first bite really does make an impression and it wasn't a good one. The fish slices in Shirau were so thin (see picture comparing to finger). The salmon and tuna were fresh but no flavour. No taste of what a sashimi grade fish is. Had to use much wasabi to help eat them. The raw squid were 3 small thin slices, was unable to have any sensation or taste of it at all because it just disappeared in the mouth. The scallop was alright. The egg was decent and the prawns were great thought. However the fish roe had no flavour as well. We had to use several lumps of wasabi to get some flavour from this dish. There was a lack of sliced ginger and radish in there. Not worth $31. The beef gyudon was bland. No beefy flavour at all..too mild and I know this dish pretty well. What was super strange was the addition of bamboo shoots which was not stated on the menu (see picture with chop sticks). The onion was not caramalised well enough either (see photo with chop sticks). Adding wasabi made the dish palatable. The chicken katsudon was so so. Chicken was tender and cooked well. However, still lacking in the usual flavours I am familiar with. I tried adding some chilli oil and that was a bad mistake. The chilli oil was just capsaicin extract infused in oil. There was no flavour at all just a stingy heat that lingered for ages. The miso soup seems like its been there for ages because we had a powdery mouth feel and I believe there were bit of overcooked daikon which melted away upon drinking. There was no tofu in the soup either. Did not enjoy the soup. There was a 5% discount if you paid cash on a Saturday and we did just that. We left with disappointments in our hearts. 1 star for service 1 star for ambience 0 star for the food For more food and gardening adventure, follow me on Instagram: punk_gardener"