Maru Sushi

Visiting Boise with family and found this place on Unilocal.Outstanding food, great variety and friendly service. One of the best Sushi places I have eaten and that would include my home in San Diego, San Francisco etc. Don’t let the strip mall location fool you. Its not the fanciest place but if I lived in the area it would be one of my very top picks.

I came in on a Wednesday afternoon for lunch and they weren’t crowded so no problem getting a table/​no wait. The lunch menu had some great specials and I chose 2 California Rolls at $ 8.99 (8 pieces each roll not too bad). I also got a Shrimp & Tempura Appetizer.
Food came out at an average pace, I was pretty much finished with the tempura by the time my rolls got to the table so for an appetizer to meal time it wasn’t bad at all.
Tempura was fresh and hot. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the weak and watery dipping sauce, disappointed because the tempura itself was great!
Sushi was good, rice was soft and fresh. Cucumbers were REALLY fresh and even a little bit sharp as they were cut so square.
Overall I wasn’t wow’d but it was a good meal, I would return to try some of their specialty rolls.

Very clean, delicious, professional staff, great environment and excellent customer service. The best place I have eaten sushi in the valley.

I love this place, they are personable and willing to make custom rolls to meet your needs. It is always a wonderful environment. If you have never been you must go. It is just wonderful :)

Came here tonight just looking for some sushi since I’m out of town and wow! Thank you Boise! The salmon sashimi is extremely fresh and thick cut! Fair prices and large portions! And super friendly wait staff!

Ugh, more like 3.5 but again, not an option. I should probably round up but I can’t because my 5-​star sushi (Tomoe Sushi, NYC) is significantly better and pretty similarly priced. Not fair to compare because it’s ny after all but 20 years+ later it’s still my favorite. And there’s a reason they’ve been around so long in spite of real estate prices killing off most small businesses in nyc and turning then into Gap stores, Starbucks and other asinine corporate shops. That being said, Maru Sushi’s rolls are delicious and the fish fresh. Service is always, without fail, stellar. If I lived a wee bit closer this would be our go-​to spot for sure.

Best sushi spot in Boise. Their salmon sashimi is amazing and the red flower roll is way too good! It’s close to my house, so I’m in there often. The wait is a bit longer than most sushi bars, but it’s worth it. She sushi chef here is a true artist.

Love the Crunch Roll. The service is superb. They take a long time to make the sushi (and it’s very fresh), so I call ahead and get my order going.

Not ideal location, vanilla (very clean) atmosphere are needed to contain the amazing sushi that is created here. If they had an alluring location and atmosphere, It would be horrifically unfair to all the other sushi establishments in the valley! We came here due to outstanding reviews from Unilocalers, this place did not disappoint. The waiter was incredibly friendly, attentive and able to relate to each and every table. There are quite a few rolls on the menu, a definite plus. The rolls are also about 30 – 40 percent cheaper than other locations, this is because they are 30 – 40 percent smaller, so if two deluxe or premium rolls would normally feed two, tack on another roll to equal it out. The rolls are incredibly well done, they do not fall apart while you attempt to pick them up. We ordered the Vegas roll, this roll is the best roll I have had, it is a tempura roll, but it was cooked the perfect amount of time to to crisp the tempura but not heat up the roll. A wonderful place, will absolutely be back!

In Boise, there are several great Sushi bars… and then there is Maru Sushi!
I could go on about their ho-​hum strip-​mall location, or their so-​so décor… but none of that matters! What matters is the White Angel roll. I will repeat this because it’s that important… White Angel roll. Speaking of «repeat», we did just that with the White Angel roll. Yep, «We’ll take another one of those! Please and Thank you!»
Sorry, I got a little carried away there.
I almost forgot about the other fantastically delicious rolls Maru Sushi made for us, including Red Samurai, Jimbo, Mike’s, Miyako and Halibut rolls. All were worthy of their own praise as well.
So, grab a friend (or three) and head over to Maru Sushi for a (subliminal message follows)
########WHITE##########################################################ANGEL################################ROLL#######################

I was visiting a friend of mine in San Francisco when he gave me this option:
There’s two places we can go for dinner. One has dynamite food and so-​so ambiance, the other serves up good food in a gorgeous setting.
Option dynamite. Every. Single. Time.
Maru Sushi is true strip mall magnificence. Is it the sexiest location in town? No. Will you ooohhh and ahhhh over mood lighting and chic stemware? No. (Though, I feel I should add, it is quite clean and overall pleasing inside)
But, my people. The food? Boom. Dynamite.
Our party of four tried a variety of rolls and every single one was amazing. There doesn’t seem to be a bad order to be had at Maru Sushi. The shining star of the evening was the White Angel Roll. It’s off menu, but definitely ask for it. It was the only roll our party couldn’t resist ordering twice. It’s light, lovely, and full of goodness (angelic?).
The service was in a word: sublime. Our server was wonderfully attentive and kind. He gave us superb recommendations (which we absolutely asked for) and was prompt and perfect in every way. Maru Sushi may have sold me with their fresh and fabulous cuisine, but our courteous, charismatic server has ensured that I will look forward to more evenings spent in their dining room. No need to relegate yourself to takeout here. Maru Sushi is the total package.
Get to it!

Looking at this from the parking lot, it’s sometimes hard to determine if it’s open. I went there 3 times in the course of a week and only once did it look open and even then, only sort of. Some brighter signage indicating one way or the other would be good here… kinda eclectic inside, though, with a gigantic swordfish (!!) on the wall and some other odd touches…
But, I don’t need a sushi place to focus on interior or exterior signage and decoration and accoutrements as long as they deliver the goods. Gawd knows that the late, great Ginza Sushi in Salt Lake was short on all that stuff, but still was far and away my favorite sushi joint and it was because the dude behind the wheel knew what he was doing. Truth be told, I think these guys have a good set-​up with their guy doing a pretty decent job back there and the very outgoing waiter making the thing zing.
I had a few rolls, including some nigiri and I’ll start with that. Nigiri in Boise seems nearly pointless and I’ll tell you why. The entire point of the dish, everywhere else, is that the chef is meant to season the entire thing, balls to bone, stem to stern. So, you don’t need to add ginger, soy, wasabi, anything. You just pick up and eat it. I have yet to find a place in Boise that does this. Instead, what I generally wind up seeing is an oblong ball of rice with a piece of fish flopped (*ahem*) on top of it and this place is no exception. No wasabi, no brushing of the fish, none of the things that make good nigiri shine and which someone like Jiro (check Netflix) and his clan does so well. So, I wind up having to do the same dipping thing into the soy sauce I have to do with rolls and sometimes also add ginger. Given how expensive nigiri is comparatively, you’d think they’d do better with this, but furthermore, nigiri is a chef’s showcase, a chance for them to show off their relative skill. Here, it is nigiri in name and appearance only. It’s the furthest thing from it in terms of taste. I won’t get into freshness of fish, but while this is the closest to that, they still obviously don’t have enough rotation to keep it fresh, either.
On to the rolls, a lot of those have a bunch of sauces. Usually, I tend to think this is for masking, but here, it seemed to accent things. Rolls are definitely the way to go here, but be careful for unlisted ingredients on the menu showing up on the roll. Stuff like that is why places don’t get to 5 stars. If it’s not listed in the menu, it shouldn’t be appearing on the plate. Rolls were either above average to good, but not much further than that. I did like the sesame element that appeared in a few of them, though. That was a nice touch. They also have a few with odd stuff, like peanut butter and halibut (hey, why not? Except fried, it wasn’t so good. You can skip that one and thank me later), so I dig their spirit of experimentation. On the bad side, ginger here was absolutely dreadful one time and about average the second time and they need to upgrade that pronto.
The best parts were probably the tempura. Most of the calamari was overcooked, though one steak was done to perfection. Feel free to skip that as well. The breading on everything was light and delicate and quite enjoyable. Shrimp was done pretty well and is well worth getting. Other than that, service was friendly, if a bit slow and the green tea was pretty solid. This is probably your best bet in the city for sushi… when it’s open. I’m also not rating them as good for lunch as this place is borderline excessively slow at best and it’s far too agonizing if you’re trying to hit a quick lunch. The quality is somewhat worth waiting for, but best for dinner.

We went on a Wednesday night. Have a very nice and quite dinner (only one other couple in the restaurant). The service was attentive and pleasant. The sushi rolls we had were good, not fishy at all yet flavorful in all the right areas. I was still a bit hungry after we finished the rolls, so I ordered their stuffed tomatoes on their appetizer life. I would not order those again. I was 4 cherry tomatoes stuffed with what seemed like mayonnaise inside. Not pleasant.
We will be coming here again for those rolls.

Second visit.
Both visits have featured really good sushi. Like, really good.
The service is very, very slow. Waited over an hour for three rolls. Would have ordered seven or eight had I known it would take so long. Left hungry.
The waiter’s attitude will keep me from visiting again.

Best sushi in Boise! We tried the 911, Mikes, red samurai, red flower and jumbo. All were outstanding. We will definitely be back.

For Boise Idaho, I have to saying Amazing sushi! And great staff! My last roll I asked them to surprise me and WOW! White angel roll! Superb! Thank you Victor for your amazing customer service!

Update: So Nice I Went There Twice!
I was in Boise for two days so after finding Maru my first day (Thanks, Unilocal!) and enjoying it so much, where else would I eat the next day? Today I had a chance to chat with the two brothers who own Maru. They are committed to delivering the best sushi available. They order directly from Japan for most ingredients and hand-​select everything else to ensure the finest quality. I had a repeat of the 911 (It’s really good!) and, at their suggestion for something else spicy, I tried the Red Samurai — which was excellent. Enjoy!
(My first review): An easy five stars. Go there with the right expectations: Really great sushi in a strip mall restaurant. It is very clean and friendly and well-​lit inside, but not fancy. They serve both cold and hot sake. I asked for their spicy rolls and they suggested the red flower and the 911. I also had the Mike’s role based on Unilocal reviews and it was delicious.

Giving them three stars because they have been so good in the past. Last night was embarrassing, however, as we waited two hours to have a few drinks and a few appetizers. Customers walked out, tables sat unbussed and peoples’ attitudes, including my large party’s, got stinky. They explained that a server had called out sick, but we still felt that sushi wasn’t being put out fast enough for the number of customers they had. We will give them another shot; however, I doubt my in laws will. Kind of sucks for Maru, as my father in law was trying to drop three hundred or so on a big, family, celebratory dinner to celebrate buying a new house and their moving to Boise. I’m guessing they’ll probably try some other restaurants when they finally move here.
We still think it’s the freshest fish in town, but worry when they can’t service a restaurant that wasn’t even completely full.

It was my husband and I’s first time here. The location makes you think, wow this place looks dead, but it’s a really nice place to enjoy delicious fresh fish.
We ordered the salmon sashimi and the Yellowtail sashimi. Which were absolutely amazing, because the slices were not too thick and not too thin. They were just prefect. And my husband realized that he enjoyed Yellowtail more than salmon. Salmon had always been our favorite, since most places only offer salmon sashimi alone, but this restaurant has Yellowtail as a sashimi plate.
My husband ordered the sushi combo because I wanted miso soup; the sushi combo has miso soup coming with it. I ordered the Mike’s roll, just because it sounded pleasing and has all the ingredients that I like, plus there’s diced mango on top.
Our orders came out and we finished our dishes, but my miso soup did not. We asked the sushi chef about the miso soup and he apologized and offered us desserts, but I only wanted the soup. So he got the server to bring me a bowl of miso soup, which he offered to get both my husband and I one, but my husband declined. The miso soup was my dessert, which I was greatly satisfied with.
Very nice staff, great sushi, and great atmosphere to be in.

Pleasantly surprised by this little gem. Food was phenomenal. Ordered a little bit of everything and left full and happy. Service is a little slow for food but drinks were kept full and the vibe was nice and relaxed so it wasn’t a big deal. New take on some of the rolls but the classics were great too like a regular California. I highly suggest the stuffed oranges appetizer. Small but amazing! Staff was very friendly and welcoming!