Iyo Udon

Inexpensive udon. Wish they had grated daikon to go with the tempura sauce though. Fair amount of seating and relatively clean, all considered. Like that they make water available in larger-​sized cups.

First time here, tried the «new cream udon»
Very bland, no flavor. Tempura shrimp was cold. I would pick Marukame Udon over this place in a heartbeat.

If you are ballin’ on a budget, want something cheap but fulfilling, and due to the weather being cold, want something to warm you up, well this is the place to be!
Okay– I understand. You like Marukame Udon. But to me, the food pretty much tastes the same! Iyo Udon has more parking & is less crowded! It’s cheap too & they have combo deals (Udon + Beef Bowl + 20oz Soft Drink=$ 9!) I specifically like the fact that you don’t have to stand in a very long line just to get a simple cheap Udon meal!
They also have self served water, tempura soup, tanuki flakes (tempura flakes), & green onions!
I’m upset that I haven’t tried this place any sooner and I’m always in town or at Ala Moana!!!
Good to know this place is around town!

This is the less-​than-​stellar phony imitator of its udon counterpart, Marukame.
That being said, if you can find parking in Waikiki or Downtown and willing to wait in line, go to Marukame instead.
The only reason I come here is for the convenience factor. There is no line compared to Marukame, which totally makes sense. And there’s a lot more accessible parking (but whether or not, you find parking is another issue).
The noodles and broth are okay. But I’m obvious biased because the udon bar has already been set. But they are trying new things and flavors like kim chee and tomato.
My main gripe is the fried chicken. Because the chicken is like ¹⁄₈ chicken and ⁷⁄₈ batter. Super sneaky. I’ve been burned twice already by this. These guys are professional level because even after close inspection, they still manage to masquerade a ball of batter as a legit piece of chicken.

This place used to be a hit for me, mainly because it was closer to home than Marukame. I wish that was still the case. Iyo Udon’s quality has gone down. The tempura isn’t as great, the food is lacking, and they don’t have iced matcha anymore. If you want udon and you’re in Ala Moana, Rokkaku is a good place to try, and it’s right next to Iyo! (they also have other items and the price can range from under ten to over fifty).
Hopefully the staff gets it together. I wouldn’t want this place to close.

The udon here is really good! As you walk in, you immediately see the menu above the register, and just behind it is the open kitchen where you can see your food being prepped. After you get your bowl, you put it on your tray and walk along the counter where you can add shrimp tempura, fried sweet potato, fried asparagus, etc.
It’s also pretty efficient that the station to add the green onions and shoyu are off to the right against another wall, so that people don’t hold up the line.
The food is perfectly seasoned and is tasty, and the texture of the udon is just right. The broth the udon is in, is also the right balance of flavor and depth. Just be prepared to end up smelling like food if you stay longer than 30 minutes! Lol.

There’s an old saying that «you get what you pay for» and, unfortunaly, that’s definitely true for this place.
We decided to come here after seeing it featured on Hawaii News Now Cheap Eats segment. I don’t know if I can ever trust Augie T or Guy Hagi when it comes to restaurants ever again LoL In all fairness, I probably should have read the Unilocal reviews first before coming here.
Our family of four came here on my son’s 14^th birthday for only a quick, simple bite to eat after Sunday mass just so he can get his «noodles of everlasting life.» Anyway, big mistake!
It’s a sit down place, but «Sizzler style,» where you order and pay first (no wait staff). My son & I tried to order the Combo B ($ 8), which comes with an udon bowl and choice of a side of curry or beef bowl with a drink. Not bad we thought. But, we were told that they had no drinks just water (we would have known this had we read the reviews on here). Well, after reading those Unilocal reviews, it seems that the soda machines have been down for at least a month now. So, we went with Combo A ($ 7) instead (same as the Combo B, but minus the drink) while my husband and daughter got the Combo C.
We paid and sat down, but once we started eating, my husband noticed the lyrics to the song blaring in the background like it was some club we were in (literally): «let me F that p*ssy good!» I’m not even kidding. My 10-​year old daughter gasps and says, «why are they playing music with swear words in it?» My son, being the immature teen that he is, laughs while I walk up to an employee and kindly asked him to change the song on the sound system all the while explaining to him how inappropriate the current station was for a restaurant to be playing with children in it during the day. They accomodated rather quickly, but seriously, why would I need to bring it to their attention? Oh, I know why… because the weekend staff is completely made up of young, inexperienced workers with wrinkled shirts (yes, it was that prominent that we noticed how sloppily they looked in uniform) and their faces showed their unhappiness to be there too– not a smile to be found in sight!
On the upside, the food was ok. Nothing special, though… it tasted like any other udon/​curry/​tempura we’ve tried before. I should note that the temperature on the food is served lukewarm and not hot (at least not hot enough for me).
So diappointment all around :(

Hit or miss… sad to say. We have been here a few times, once when it first opened and a few times earlier this year and the food is usually ok. It really can’t compare to Marukame in my opinion, but it beats the Waikiki parking, traffic and waiting in line… sometimes.
There are times where the service was great and the efficiency of the food line allows you to grab a quick seat so you can inhale the fresh udon! The kamaage udon is my fav!!! Dipping the udon in the sauce and slurping it up is yummo! The chicken, sweet potato and shrimp are pretty good too.
Then there are times like today when the folks can’t even get a simple order straight. 5 large kamaage please! (Young girl at the counter gives the blank, deer in the headlights stare) which then lead to only 3 orders coming to the table. Others were a bit frustrated too by the service.
The food is usually pretty good. Service? Hit or miss. It’s worth it for the price.

The restaurant is right out front, on the same level as Longs Drugs and Sephora. Usually there isn’t a very long line.
The pricing of the Udon is really cheap and the noodles are fresh and delicious. The broth is also pretty good. You also have the option to add on to your udon — there is an assortment of tempura items to choose from, musubis, cone sushi, or even little bowls of beef/​curry/​spam and rice. The sodas are only $ 1.25 and FREE refills!
The restaurant also usually has a lot of open seating (albeit today it was a little crowded). AND there is FREE WIFI.
The restaurant can get to be a bit noisy when it’s crowded. It isn’t a very large dining area.
Iyo Udon also has a stamp card. You get a stamp for each udon! Collect 10 stamps and get a free regular udon! Make sure to ask for the card at the register :)

Great prices and selection, but other than that I wasn’t impressed.
The taste was okay. Nothing special, I’d say slightly below average.
Staff was friendly, but the restaurant wasn’t clean. Dishes were all wet, table was wet, floor was slippery. They should at least dry or wipe down their used dishes before serving them back to the public.
Soda machine didn’t work properly. My fruit punch was made of syrup only! It was sooo sweet! I had to add water to it. I’m sure they’ll fix it eventually, but this was a turn off.

If you’re in the mall and you’re looking for an inexpensive and slightly healthy meal, you should consider Iyo Udon. You can get a plain bowl of udon for under $ 4 and you can sit down and enjoy it. Its cafeteria style so when you enter, you tell the staff what kind of udon/​rice bowl you want and the size. You grab a tray, grab your bowl of udon/​rice and slide it along and start choosing tempura. When people shine yellow/​red light on food, it makes the food look really tasty. You almost want to grab one of each tempura. So after you make it pass the tempura, they have musubi’s and then the cashier is at the end of the counter.
The line for food moves quickly and people eat and go. You return your trays at the window that peeks into the kitchen so no wait staff is needed in the dining room area. This isn’t one of those places where you hang out and chitchat.
I’m not a fan of their udon because the noodles are too well done and their tempura is really oily. It seems like they took it straight from the hot oil and just put it out on the tray. There was also a time when I got a regular piece of potato for the sweet potato tempura. I’m not sure why they had the regular white potatoes because I went back to look at the sign and it clearly said «Sweet Potato Tempura.» Regular potatoes as tempura don’t work. It’s really dry. I would still eat here though if all the places around had a line because it’s quick.

Maybe it’s the time I go, before or after the lunch crowd, during the midweek, Tuesdays or Wednesdays but our experience has been nothing but stellar. I’ve been here several times for the past 6 weeks. Convenient after mom’s appts at Queens. This review is for our 2^nd visit.
Mom is rather picky and I had to let her know we are going to try a new place that serves noodles. She hates eating noodles outside of her own cooking. I told her let’s try this to see if it is any good. She surprisingly agreed.
Parking was easy. I headed into the 2^nd level parking from Keaumoku and got into handicap parking, thanks to mom. Parking can be frustrating but don’t usually wait too long to get regular parking when I need to. I do come to this section of Ala Moana quite a bit for several stores in this area.
I was nervous walking in because mom may just come out and say doesn’t like it. Nope, her response was they have good food here as she perused the deep fried, battered foods (tempuras). The shrimp and chicken got her. I liked the squid, sweet potato and crab. M liked the fish cake and mushroom. Mom was impressed that noodles could be sold so cheap. She got the Kake Udon, M chose the Niku Udon, while i settled for the Bukkake Udon.
There is a condiment section where we could add green onions and get our drinks, which we did. Mom did not want any condiments in hers.
I can see how seating might be difficult at times but we’ve been able to get immediate seating every time. Most people don’t stay too long so seating becomes available quickly.
The cashier asked if mom was with us, I said yes, and has given me a Senior 10% discount off the entire purchase every time. She offered their stamp card. I turned it down the 1^st time but accepted this time. She remembered me from the previous visit and stamped me for that too. I’m impressed.
The noodles were nicely cooked, not over cooked either, still having their firmness in a hot broth. Mom had to wait for it to cool down, but M and I dove right in. The broth was delicious all the way around. I would have liked more shrimp in the tempura but that seems to be the case everywhere. The chicken was very tender and tasty. Loved the crunchy snap in the squid legs too.
Our experience has been good. And has been that way with every visit so far.

Somedays you just want a good, quick meal. If that’s the case, you might want to try this place out. (Well, as long as there isn’t a line out the door.)
You just pick which type of udon you want, pick a few side dishes and BAM you pay and eat. Simple, easy, and tasty for the price you pay. Just be careful because it’s easy to carbo-​overload here. If you get udon AND musubi, that’s carb-​carb! LoL. (Don’t worry, I do it sometimes.)
My favorite part is the fact that you can add however much ginger you want. It kicks up the flavor and tastes good!

After walking around a couple of hours, we needed something quick, easy, and cheap. Yes, this isn’t Marukame, however the concept is the same. It’s still a cafeteria style and you take as you go.
Trying not to be bias, I was a little bummed out. They didn’t have their half cooked egg udon like how they used to. T.T. There wasn’t much tempura options left for us to choose from when we were ordering. Maybe they were just waiting to see so they wouldn’t over cook food? We opt for the zaru udon, some tempura items, and a cone sushi. We both got the regular size however it was a big portion for the both of us. We couldn’t even finish it because it was so full. Usually I can finish a Marukame small and still be hungry.
Overall it’s pretty good considering it’s cheap and easy to find seating a compared to Shirokiya. Also if you don’t want to drive to Waikiki or Fort street mall… Yeah you get the idea. I really like how you can put your own tempura flakes, green onions, and ginger into your sauces. Bring the half cooked egg udon though!!! Pretty please!

Service: the service was good, it’s like a cafeteria style where you grab your platter & tell them which udon you want or you can get a combo with udon & a rice dish. So it’s semi self service as well because you can grab your own tempura sides too! Also some sushi/​musing choices.
Price: pricing is very affordable! For a college student this really doesn’t break the wallet & it’s great they offer a free drink with showing your college ID :)
Food: food is very good! I got the kaki udon which is the most ordered from what one of the workers told me & I got the shrimp tempura on the side. It’s very tasty! Some udons I’ve tried in the past tasted pretty watery but here it was flavorful.
Overall I’d recommend it because it’s affordable, portions are just right, & I love udon! Plus it doesn’t get super busy unlike Marukame udon, so it’s a really good go-​to! :)

Fairly good udon spot!
HYPES:
The first guy who I came in contact with was SUPER nice! I was stumbling the menu a bit and I didn’t know it was kind of like an assembly line type dining experience and he asked me if it was my first time. I said yes, embarrassingly lol, and he gave me a 10% off discount card! Who can be mad about a discount?! Not me! Great service!
Prices are fairly cheap, too!
GRIPES:
I tried the udon, shrimp tempura and a salmon musubi. Nothing really stood out as fabulous or different from other udon places places I’ve tried. It was satisfying, for sure… not amazing, but really good!
I took my food to go, so I can’t really comment on the dining experience, but it seemed pretty chill! I’d come back if I was in the mood for soup again, but it’s not something I’d crave.
3.5 stars if I could give it!

Affordable! But at what detriment?
I was first lured in by their $ 1 udon opening weekend special. 45 minutes in line later, I got $ 1 delicious udon noodles in a hot broth and pickings from a variety of tempura (albeit a bit soggy), but NO tempura sauce and NO soup spoons to be found! Although these are integral to my udon experience, I let new restaurant jitters take the fall for this and vowed to come back later after they’ve worked out the kinks.
I came back on 7 PM on a recent Sunday night, which I thought would be prime dinner hour (but maybe not since the mall closes at 7 on Sundays). This time I did find the tempura sauce and soup spoons, however, they were sold out of their «special» spicy kake udon, and hosted a VERY meager supply of tempura. I kid you not, our tempura selection for the night consisted of: 3 pieces of fish cake, ~6 pieces of shrimp, and 2 onion balls. And the restaurant? Aside from a couple of parties, nearly empty. Did they forget that the sign on their door says that they’re open til 9 PM?
Despite inconsistent selection of offerings, I think the main draw here is affordability. Your basic bowl starts at $ 3.75 for a regular size and $ 4.75 for a large. Add on some tempura and musubis, and you end up with a pretty good meal for under $ 10, affordable by most restaurant standards these days. The broth is hot and tasty, but oily, only aided by the free tempura flakes I added to my bowl which was probably a mistake (free green onion toppings too!). Noodles are fresh and delicious. Self-​service, which includes cafeteria-​style assembly-​line of noodles, broth, and choice of tempura, finding your own seats, and busing your dishes to a designated area, also means you save on the cost of tipping.
Affordable and convenient for mall-​goers who crave a dining experience somewhere in between a restaurant and the food court. However, with two poor experiences under my belt, I will probably not be revisiting anytime soon.

Ohhh… myyyy: I can’t believe Iyo Udon has been open less than a year. I had several excellent udon experiences during their first few months. I was telling everyone that I knew all about it. I had strong confidence in my original rating. But, now… OMG! I can’t recommend it.
Recent visit: Very few customers in the store. Upgraded menu items with a few additions such as sushi rolls. Disheveled counter and food prep area. Two staff members with poor grooming and possibly dirty uniforms. Lack luster flavor on the udon, tempura and the rice dish which we ordered. Sad looking sushi rolls. Fried chicken was all batter and little meat. We were both disappointed with our meals.
Cleanliness: This is sometimes subjective in all honesty. Lets say a counter is in disarray. It may look messy and perhaps dirty. But it might actually be clean. But the transparent window on the way out was splattered and not clean. It doesn’t get that way in one shift. Then I noticed the thick layer of dust on the way out the exit door. Very easy to notice on the flat surfaces behind the menu posters. No explaining away this. We would not have gone inside if I had seen this on the way in.
I walked out hoping that I wouldn’t get sick from eating there. I didn’t get sick, thank goodness, but it was the impression that I walked away with. We both left with a conversation about how we could have gone to Genki or Shirokiya or the food court and had a great meal.
I think 2 Stars is fair. I can no longer recommend it.

NO RESTROOMS.
The nearest toilet/​sink is down by center stage. If you have children or bowel issues, then you better plan far in advance. What was in this spot before? Wasn’t Panya in this spot before? I know Panya had a restroom when it was in this spot. Who’s brilliant idea was that to yank the restroom from a restaurant? They should be fired.
NO KOMBU MUSUBI ANYMORE.
I came here when they first opened and it was okay to pretty good, depending on who you asked. I know I had a kombu musubi because I took a picture of it. It looks like they got rid of the kombu, as they only had salmon, tuna, spicy tuna, or spam musubis this time around, and they would not make me a kombu musubi.
CURRY BOWL hardly had any meat.
There is supposed to be thin slices of pork in the curry bowl but all we got was onions and 1 sliver of pork. This was definitely a disappointment, so I went back and ordered a BEEF BOWL with CURRY on top (which was extra $$ but I wanted meat in my curry).
KAMATAMA UDON has no broth.
My friend ordered the kamatama udon which is supposed to have a soft boiled egg and udon in sauce but what she got looked like egg drop/​udon which had been drained. There wasn’t much sauce and the egg wasn’t soft boiled, it was all mixed in with the noodles and she said it was bland and lacking flavor.
This place has definitely settled down quite a bit since it first opened, but I don’t think we’ll be rushing to go back anytime soon.

I can’t believe this is the first review I’m writing for this place. I eat here at least 5 times a month. They’re usually on point so I didn’t give it a second thought. Today was a different story. We went up to order our udon and the girl said that they’re out and it was going to take eight minutes to cook. We said that was fine. However, when we got our noodles, I noticed right away that it wasn’t thoroughly cooked. It just didn’t have that chewy consistency that it usually did. The vegetable tempura was also a bit soggy today. At least, the tempura egg was still runny on the inside like how it’s supposed to be. They also did away with my green tea, NOOOO!!!
When I come here, I like to get the #7, which is the regular Niku Udon. That’s hot udon in broth with shredded beef. The broth for this is fantastic. The sodium must be sky high, though. I like to get a few tempura items with my udon. Usually, it’s vegetable, pumpkin, egg, oyster or shrimp. In addition to these items, they have different types of musubis, such as tuna or salmon. I also noticed, that they had new items today, which were maki rolls. I saw California but can’t remember the second one.