Cafe Maru

Was told after we order that we had to give them my credit card and they would hold it at the bar until we were finished. That was a Red Flag security risk. What reputable establishment takes and holds your credit card at the bar?

I had my first strawberry soju tonight, and it was AWESOME! Holly crap, I had no idea that soju can be so delicious.
The bar is conveniently located in Kakaako near the intersection of Kapiolani Blvd between Ward Ave and Kamakee St. It is pretty popular, at 9 pm there were only a few tables left, so I recommend getting there early to get good seating. Since I walked into the bar, I was getting good vibes, I immediately did feel like I belong in the crowd. I really liked the fact that the music was not too loud to get in a way of having a pleasant conversation.
The décor is pretty cool too. Magazines and newspapers were used for a wall paper, which makes the bar very cozy and walls interesting to look at. They have very nice selection of drinks, and a very cute bartender to serve the drinks.
I really liked the fact that the owner is very approachable, he mingles with the patrons to ensure that they have the best service and everything they need.
But the soju cocktails are simply the best. Once I got my strawberry soju cocktail, I simply could not stop sipping! I will definitely be back, looks like I just found out my favorite hang out spot.

Café Maru has awesome Korean food and drinks. Not to mention the great ambiance, friendly staff, and a clean environment to eat, drink, and celebrate. They can accommodate large parties and if you go in by yourself, you’ll have somebody to talk to. Love that place

Best bar in the biz! Great customer service! If you want to have a great time I strongly recommend! Check it out! Great food, great service!

Parking kind of hard to find, but I’m not rating the place based on parking. Anyways ambience is really nice, the bartender was very friendly and she was really sweet and interactive. Didn’t rush us when ordering like most bars do.
Food was really good, recommend the fried chicken gizzard and their melon soju is on point. Good bar to hang with friends without the huge huge rowdy random drunks.

Came in on a Saturday night with a group of friends, about 8 of us, at 10pm. The bar area was pretty empty and we were told that we could sit anywhere — so we chose a set of tables and sat down to order drinks and whatnot. The karaōke rooms were full already, which was OK, we were under the impression that you had to reserve them beforehand, but what really upset us was that we were told that we had to move from the table about 15 minutes into being there because the tables were reserved. They could have told us that the tables were reserved before we ordered our drinks, or before we even sat down, but they chose to tell us after-​the-​fact. We pretty much slammed the rest of our Soju, paid, and left. I wouldn’t recommend any one coming here unless you make a reservation (at a bar, I know).

This place should CLEARLY state that there is a $ 25 minimum for paying for anything with card, especially since they state that they are a restaurant as well as a bar.
Also, our order for a soju drink took very long to get to our table. Service is not the greatest here. I will probably not be back to this place.

Hidden soju place on Kapiolani.
If you’re driving down Kapiolani you might miss it or even think it looks old. It’s next to Doraku.
Parking: The outside has 5 – 6 stalls. If it’s full, you’ll need to find street parking.
Inside: Kind of like how other Korean soju place like duckbutt. If you never been to those, it’s basically a open area that has 10 tables, bar and 4 – 6 karaōke rooms. You walk in and find a table and seat yourself… pretty standard. the karaōke room you’ll have to ask them and on busy nights make reservations.
Soju: THE BEST PART! haha kidding I’m not an alcoholic. They have similar soju like other Korean bars but a little different to keep them unique. My friend and I got the strawberry yogurt and kiwi apple. Strawberry yogurt tasted like yogurt but soooooo good! but sometimes that’s what gets you! :D The kiwi Apple tasted like straight up soju and they had kiwi chunks in it.
We came here on a Thursday night and service wasn’t bad, the main area was pretty busy. The table doesn’t have a bell which kind of junk. When you need the waiter, you have to catch him if he doesn’t stop by to check up on you.
The place has Korean singer/​actor pics posted all over the walls and people drawn over it. It looked kind of dirty to me. But I would come back here to try the food since we didn’t get to try any.

Sadly the service has dropped off at this once highly regarded place. Appears many of the prior staff and several popular food items are gone. If you don’t regularly go here, try somewhere else. We got there early and had a karaōke room reserved but when we went to go in, found out the bar-​tress gave it to her friends. I was so embarrassed since we chose this place since we wanted to karaōke and have soju. She was also on her phone most of the nite so everyone was waiting on drinks. Food was good but slow to make it out of the kitchen. I was with the ceo and their manager of a local best of the best company and we just shook our heads, paid the tab and went somewhere else. To the waiter’s credit, he apologized but was being overruled by the bar-​tress so he paid for one of our rounds in an attempt to make up for her arrogance.

Just thought I do a quick update just cause I love MARU! everything is the same if not BETTER! I’ve never been to a bar where the sever is so attentive and so awesome. As I’ve mention before if you guys read my review about Jordan and Travis being so awesome and what not. I’m pretty sure if you go to Maru quite a lot or if you haven’t gone yet. Calvin is hands down AWESOME! His attentiveness and awesome personality is what keeps customer coming back. It’s always a fun time at Maru not just because I’m with my friends but the staff plays a part in it too. For me, I feel like even if a place had good food, good pricing– but had shitty workers and provided shitty customer service, hah that will ruin everything no matter what. I’ve been to many different places where service/​food was either shitty or OK, but MARU gets a A+++++
Maru was life every weekend haha, but I haven’t been there for while. I’ll definitely be back soon! Maru will always be my first choice to chill at :)

Our first time here happened to consists of many hesitations and surprises. It all started when we got to the restaurant. The restaurant on the outside is black, and the only door that you can see from street view is a door to the kitchen. Already, my girls and I were debating if we should just go next door to Doraku.
As we continued to walk right of the building, we find the entrance. We walked in and was surprised to see that the inside resembled much like a traditional Japanese village or town with its wooden interior and lamp-​like ceiling lights. It was a Friday night but before 8 and fortunately not busy yet. There are booths, tables, and karaōke rooms available.
We began looking over the menu and were at first not too impressed, with the food that is. It appeared what they had available were only pupus and ala carte. We finally decided on the ribeye steak, ddukbokki, and kimchee jun. We were once again surprised when our ribeye came out sizzling with sauteed mushrooms and onions. The steak was tender and juicy, and just like the steak, the mushrooms and onions could be eaten alone because they had so much flavor. The kimchee jun was good, but not among my favorite. The ddukbokki, however, was my favorite! I’ve never heard of this dish before, but my one friend had and ordered it for us with ramen AND cheese. I just loved the spiciness of the dish!
They do have an array of soju flavors, flavors that I’ve never seen at other restaurants. We’ve decided on the yogurt soju, just so we can compare to other places. It was tasty, but not the best out there. The second soju we tried was the strawberry mint, which we liked very much and don’t mind ordering again when we find ourselves back here again.
We noticed that it got really busy after 9, seats start to fill up and a crowd started to form near the bar. We were happy we got here before the rush. Because it does get really busy, expect your waiter to be busy as well. We did have to ask him for more water twice and our check twice. However, we weren’t bother too much by this because we did notice our waiter rushing back and forth between tables.

Great Service and Killer food! The Strawberry Yogurt was also Deelish. Quite different than what I was expecting, but I really dug it. Had a real comfortable local feel that I miss from my days in Osaka. Somewhere you can go in anytime and feel right at home.
I had the Kalbi, Kimchee Jun, and a really spicy dukbokki that was super hot and amazing.
There are also Karaōke rooms if that’s your thing and videos playing in the bar which is fun, especially if it’s k-​pop.
I shall return for sure

A place to hang out and have fun with your besties. I really liked the private karaōke rooms. Although I had to spend $ 1 every song I sang, most especially in Korean. Food is great but so expensive. The Tteokbokki wasn’t that good at all. Kalbi was alright. The chicken gizzards were so delicious and I think you need to order a soju with that. Just the perfect combination to have while eating and drinking at the same time.
What I didn’t like is that we had to pay everything first before we get our orders. It was too pricey and expensive. But hey, its a once in a while thing to do, and its not bad to hang out at.

Went here last weekend for a couple drinks with friends. We tried the strawberry yogurt, Melona, passionfruit, and strawberry mint soju. My favorite by far was the strawberry yogurt soju. Super smooth and tasted so good! We also got the Kim chee fried rice which was ok. Nothing special. We had just missed happy hour so soju was $ 20 per pitcher. They also have karaōke rooms in the back! Great place for drinks

Looking for good food, friendly attentive service, tasty drinks, karaōke and a nice, spacious, air conditioned spot to hang? This is the place.
The servers and bartenders are all very nice and accommodating. Seating at the bar, at tables, in a booth or in a private karaōke room is very spacious, clean, kpop trendy.
They offer happy hour drink and food specials everyday 5−8pm.
Mama in the kitchen whips up mean Kalbi, awesome mandoo and killer poke. The thing I like about this place is its not overly crowded or noisy and you can really relax and enjoy the night. Free parking on Kapiolani after 6:30pm m-​f. And try their diverse selection of soju flavors! My fave is the strawberry.

Went here on a Tuesday night after being disappointed by Doraku’s happy hour. My friend and I decided that our tummies were not satisfied, so after having a discussion about great happy hour spots on the island, he told me I MUST try Maru. He was right! Reminded me of Café Duck Butt, but much cleaner (for a bar it wasn’t bad) and friendlier.
Being a fan of kimchee pancake, I knew I had to try theirs. They also had a great list of different sojus to try. I love Melona, so we gave that a go. Both the kimchee pancake ($ 13) and Melona soju ($ 20) were fabulous! The kimchee pancake had a terrific thickness to it… not one of those thinly made fall apart ones that you might see at other Korean eateries. The Melona soju was just like you were drinking one of those Melona popsicles, but of course it had that added kick of alcohol to it.
It was pretty empty when we came in at about 8:30, but it started to get more packed when we left at about 11:00. A DJ came in at around 10:00, so we had to move booths because the DJ was going to use the corner that our booth was located in. There are also private rooms that you can sing karaōke in.
Happy hour is from 5:00 — 8:00. I think I might want to check that out on another occasion because many of their food items are cheaper. I believe the kimchee pancake would be $ 8 instead of the $ 13 that we paid.
I am definitely a fan of Maru. It’s a place that I never would have found on my own because it’s a hidden little bar on the left of Doraku (if you were facing the restaurant). I will be back!

Kareoke and great korean food! I’ve driven past this place multiple times and finally decided to check it out.
Atmosphere: It was a Wednesday night and the place was completely empty. We were given a kareoke room cause there was absolutely no one. Plenty of seating available.
Service: Excellent service, available with at the press of a button. Very attentive, only issue was waiter had cigarette smoke all over him.
Food: Korean bar food and mixed soju available. We tried the strawberry yogurt soju and the ddukbokki with cheese and ramen. It was all so yummy. Perfect level of spicy.
Intangibles: Great food, drinks, and singing, very few places like this kind of like duck butt. Must check it out, even on a Wednesday night! ;)

So this place has happy hour going on between 5 – 8 PM, which is great. And this happy hour is based on their internal bar clock, which is apparently 15 minutes faster than actual current time on purpose, which seem odd.
Having such policy is fine but it seems very dishonest when you take an order off the happy hour menu then charge the full price after the fact when a patron is unaware of such policy. Apparently I ordered at that magical time where my phone said before 8 but their clock was past 8. Sad thing is I would have ordered the item regardless even if they told happy hour was over. But up charging me when I close the tab just makes me feel that I got ripped off.
Come to think of it the situation was even funnier since the bill was actually whited out and rewritten too. I assume they decided last minute to charge me more? I should have taken a picture of that, would have made a good bar story which I can tell at another bar since I’ll never return to this place. I guess the few more dollars they earned this way is worth more than my repeat business. Makes no sense to me but such is life, full of mysteries.

Lots of greatness except for 1 small thing… the young male waiter repeated pleading for us to buy him drinks after 10pm. Seems the waiters are allowed to drink after 10.
First time to Café Maru to join a friends b-​day party. Arrived 30 minutes early and sat at a great elongated U shaped bar with a great view of the K-​pop music videos’ on the monitor. The lady bartender was spot on attentive and chatting up the customers with a smile. Big selection of drinks and the military guy next to me ordered a 720ml bottle Iichiko Shochu for $ 90. Wow I’m from Tokyo where its $ 10 at the supermarket and @$ 20 at a bar but I guess rents are high here.
Moved over to a table for 8 after everyone arrived. Ordered a few dishes including the Kimchee Pancake, Kimchee Fried Rice and Spicy Chicken Wings. It was good but how can you go wrong with Korean food in general.
For the drinks I’d suggest getting pitchers of beer or the huge bottle of fruit soju if sharing is your thing.
Now for the waiter. Friendly but straight off the bat he mentioned his job title changes at 10pm and he really wants to drink… don’t we all? But I think he forgot that we weren’t here to make him drunk but to celebrate a friends birthday. When 10pm rolled around he was back at our table asking for drinks again… nah, not this night buddy. He just seemed like a pesty fly.
But overall this place is sweet. Definitely be back for the chill atmosphere, friendly bartender, great K-​pop and cozy feeling of this place… so relaxing.

I was brought here by a couple of friends… as we were killing time before dinner. We had just come from a bar and needed a place to grab a quick bite and a drink.
It’s not a huge place, but it is nice inside. There is a decent size bar and plenty of tvs to watch k-​pop music videos. It is sort of hidden from the street, but it is close to Doraku and Chai’s. There is not a ton of parking though. The place was empty when we were here… because they had just opened, but the service was good.
We ordered strawberry yogurt soju and mandoo. We couldn’t decide between the fried or the steamed, so we got half and half. The strawberry soju was yummy… not what I would normally recommend after a half day of drinking whiskey… but tasty. The mandoo was really good. I thought I would like the fried version… well, simply because it’s fried, but the steamed was actually better.
I will definitely come back here… to try more food, and to try different soju
…SO GOOD!