Maketto at Union Market

*This review is for Maketto on H st. Did not post this to the right place.
Unimpressed. I was expecting something like Toki because I’m a huge fan of Toki underground but this did not live up the hype. Flavors were underwhelming and service was lacking. Our waiter, Mike, only really checked on us to give us our food. Fried oysters — meh. Tofu dish– ok but nothing special. Taiwanese chicken and bao platter were probably the best but the latter was definitely overpriced. Will just go back to Toki.

All I had were some baos and they were good, the people working there were very nice.

Got in at 8:45, wasn’t seated till 9:50 (which is fine), but when our food doesn’t come out for another 30−40mins it starts to get a bit frustrating. The deep fried leek bao buns were absolutely divine. However, the Taiwanese fried chicken could have definitely used more of the pickled cabbage (?) and cilantro to even out the extreme sweetness of the chicken. It’s like sweet fried chicken with bread but nothing refreshing so it’s a very heavy dish. I just wanted to fill the plate with cilantro or basil.
The $ 32 waygu beef bao bun platter was extremely overpriced! The beef was overcooked, under seasoned, and just underwhelming in general.
I’d eat 10 plates of the bao buns though so that was a win.
I think the worst part for me was the service. Or server wasn’t very friendly and just wasn’t polite when answering or questions.
All in on it was a decent meal but I would rather wait that long for restaurants like Roses’s Luxury or Little Serrow than Maketto

I love some delicious Cambodian PHO! Yum! They don’t serve it at Union Market anymore?

The buns were great.
Didn’t try anything else because I had already snacked around the market.
Very good though.

First time we saw the pop up, i got some big buns that i cannot lie! The buns are a steal for how much pork they stick in it. The flavor was a little unbalance that time, I think too much basil or five spice. but still good. Last weekend, I actually made it early enough to try one of their soups. It was Cambodian Phở and it was AMAZEBALLS! I am a totally totally totally phở snob. but the Cambodian Phở was on a totally different level than your normal Vietnamese one. The broth was fatty, salty, and ala ramen like… instead of your traditional bone broth for Phở. The dish came with plenty noodles and some very tender pork butt. I mean, that meal really won me over. I mean the buns were good, but the soups. that’s what everyone should rush here to get. High Five!

Since my visit last year, it looks like operations have been streamlined:
+ They are now located in a larger stall in front of Red Apron Butchery
+ Rebranding with Maketto signage, but it’s super small so instead look for a bunch of ladies rolling out fresh bao
+ Instead of doing a soup of the week, they are focused on selling bowls of what they are calling, Cambodian Phở (formerly branded as Kuy Teav but guessing this is the best way to describe the soup to the masses) for $ 10
+ The soup itself is a pretty bare bones version of kuy teav featuring only pork but no hate cus it’s delicious and perfect for a cold day at the market.
+ Baos are illmatic
+ Cash only, no receipts. Hope this changes soon!
All-​in-​all an awesome way to prep your stomach for the full Maketto Market scheduled to open up next year.

Toki does it again. Best ramen in the city. I get the classic with pork belly added on, and it is delicious. They give you a very large portion size too for a good price ($ 12 for the ramen, $ 6 for add-​ons). Luckily, we made reservations (they have reservations up until 6:15) so we didn’t need to wait long. The only thing we didn’t like was the Toki Monster cocktail, it is WAY too sweet. There have been some reviews about the saltiness of the ramen, and my boyfriend also felt that way, but it was perfect for me.

Delicious bowl of Cambodian phở for $ 10 and NO WAIT! I have wanted to try Toki Underground for a couple of years now but have not braved the trek to H Street due to the insane wait times I have heard about.
However, the Union Market popup is just perfect for someone wanting a delicious bowl of Toki without the hour plus long waits. I stopped by on a Friday afternoon with a friend for lunch. There was only one person in line in front of us and the only phở option was the Cambodian bowl. It came with pork (or maybe it was chicken, I forget), plenty of noodles, and lots of greens (mint, jalapeños, green onions, etc). The sauces provided by the table included sriracha and an amazing other sauce which looked like garlic hot sauce.
The bowl of phở itself was very tasty. I particularly enjoyed how Toki used large disposable bowls to make this popup truly a popup with no dishes. The bowl was plenty large and it definitely had some nice heat to eat with various spices. The amount of noodles was just right and there was plenty of meat to fill me up. The brought stayed warm throughout the meal and was perfect for today when it was 20 degrees outside!
Great way to warm up on a winter day in Union Market.
Try to get there early and if you are dining with someone else have them hold a table because they are far and few between.
They also do a great job of boxing things up for take out — they put items in different compartments so you don’t get him with a soggy bowl of all of the different toppings.

We came here after Emporiyum and just got their ramen over there… which was aaaaamaaaaazing. So, I was excited when went to UM afterwards and saw that their pop-​up was opened. They were in the process of making their pork buns and two of the dudes were prepping some fresh local lacinato kale for restaurant use.
We were the first to place an order for some of their bao. My kiddos love themselves some steamed Chinese roast pork buns… so they were excited about this… as was I but I grew up eating the world’s best bao made by my grandma. Since she’ spas send away, I can’t/won’t eat any other bao because it just makes me sad… sad that it isn’t as kick-​a$$ as my grandma’s. We go ahead and put an order in and have to wait for them to finish making and steaming them.
We were lucky enough to place an order for 8 of the 45 baos that were being made. The main dude there was awesome. The woman making the bao was super quiet… never heard a peep out of her. The other prep dude who took our order was nice but maybe his forte is in the kitchen?
Anyway…25 mins later, there’s a good line and the bao are sold out. Thank goodness we ordered ahead. So, we grab our prepaid/​pre-​ordered baos and breeze pass everyone else. I went ahead to Red Apron Butchery to try Nate’s Fries… and while I lost a good 25 mins of my life waiting around for fries… my family got to start trying the freshly made bao. However, while I waiting waiting for the fries, I saw this woman with a bao and a half-​gallon of hoisin sauce squirted on it. Ummmm… whatever floats your boat, Lady. TBH, I had thrown up a little in my mouth after seeing that. That memory of the hoisin-​covered bao only disgusted me more when I tried a bao…
So, I bit into one and holy diabetes Batman! That bad boy was super duper sweet! No thank you. Even my kids weren’t eating them. So sad. The bread was perfect. Fluffy and light but with the perfect texture. The meat filling… ughhhhhhhh…so sweet! What was worse was thinking about that woman who had saturated her bao with the hoisin sauce.
I’ll return for the ramen but pass on the bao.

This is my favorite stall at Union Market. Today they had the Cambodian Phở (Kuy Teav) – it has a light, but flavorful broth and is perfectly balanced with cilantro, scallions, jalapeño and basil. The pork meat was very tender. I only wish they gave more soup in proportion to the amount of noodles. We also got a char sui pork bun and it was delicious and stuffed with shredded pork. A little pricey ($ 10 for a small bowl of phở and $ 3 for a pork bun), but definitely worth it!

My friend and I tasted a lot of items at Union Market today, including the steamed pork buns at Toki. Yum! Very tasty, very filling. Definitely get the hoisin sauce and slather those buns! lol

I’ve had Toki at UM twice now. You have no choice but to get the ramen of the day — no adding, no subtracting — so dont be a picky eater. If you’re up for anything and like limited menus, you get a tasty broth usually with pork, noddles, sometimes an egg, and garished with a few greens. Watch out for the jalepenos floating around in the broth. After eating a few, I ended up being a sweaty mess, wishing I ate outside on the crisp fall day. Get a pork bun on the side drizzled with hoisin and this is a great afternoon meal.
Weekend afternoons at Union Market can be a bit trying. Seating is limited and the yuppers are like vultures, so I def recommend going during the week.
Next up is the FishWife. I can’t wait to try their fish&chips.

First off, this is NOT the store and they don’t serve ramen here. So if you’re coming in from out of town and found this place on Unilocal,make sure you go to the right location. I glad we ran across this location only because Union Market was really cool and I would have hated to miss it.
This little stall DOES serve food, just not ramen. They had steamed buns and pork sandwiches with fixings. Ate lady beside me said they were «wonderfully delicious» and I’m sure they were. But we decided to venture to the actual restaurant. The employees were more than helpful to give us directions to help us get there as well.

This is one of my favorite food stalls at Union Market. First things first. This place is NOT over rated. It’s tasty complex food presented in a straightforward, accessible way. While I’m not 100% sold on the pork steam buns (a little bit heavy for me), I am 110% sold on everything else they have on offer. I agree with the other reviewer; don’t bother asking what James has that day. Just say, «Yes, please.» And perhaps, «I’ll take two.»
Every soup we have had there (ramen, some spicy stuff, some other spicy stuff, etc etc) has been great. Please keep in mind this is coming from an Asian girl who has been slurping for many a year. James is always willing to make the noodle bowls devoid of any vegetation for my ten year old son, which the kid then proceeds to devour tout de suite.
My last venture was with a Cambodian riff on the classic banh mi. Sandwich was fantastic chewy rich tasty goodness, matched by a great broth on the side. Me and a girlfriend are headed back there today. Can’t wait to see smell and most importantly taste what’s on offer.

James ROCKS! How he manages to make every dish taste like he spent five hours personally curating it just for you despite the ever present line waiting to scoop it up still confounds me. The pork buns are a must: slightly seasoned, pliable dough provides the prefect enclosure for the meaty goodness it conceals. Just behind the «kitchen» is another space where you will see two women effortlessly, yet quickly mold the buns and steam them as fast as demand calls. It’s a marvelous process to watch (get the bun first and then watch, people tend to buy many which may leave you waiting, but never for more than five minutes).
Three items to note before I go on: cash only, the sign is obscured by stickers — just know it is across from Takorean, they are closing soon and will sell just the buns in a pop-​upish mini-​asian mart there at Union. Don’t let any of this be a deterrent — if it is then you are missing out on a unique dining experience! Moving on…
The menu is always a soup and a bun, the former changing once a week to yet another inspired dish with ingredients that you won’t find in your local Whole Foods. After having the Lao fish soup and a curried noodle soup I chatted up James who is knowledgable and cordial while being down to earth. He informed me of the short time they have left at that location and about the other restaurant Toki is opening in the fall (where he will be serving up more dishes!).
If it is available, take a seat behind the «stove» as the tables are filled with goodies to put on your pork bun/​soup: ubiquitous sriracha, garlic vinegar, different hot vinegars/​sauces and many more. Enjoy while it lasts people!!!

Overrated.
I had the vegetarian ramen and it was salty. The one piece of tofu awkwardly large and gooey.
Their pickled plate dish (with kimchi) had too much vinegar.
Take your money (and time!) somewhere else.

There are three reasons why we eat at the Toki Underground «pop up» at Union Market every weekend. First, James throws down a great soup, noodle or rice bowl each week. It’s different each week and there is only one per week and it is always fresh tasting, delicious, and sometimes adventurous — in a good way. He does have bao as well. During the week there are sweet rice buns and pork buns. Only pork on the weekend.
Second, James is a great guy who is super talented. We ate at the pop up he did at Hanoi House and were very impressed with the flavors, textures, and variety of the Southeast Asian street food he has obviously mastered. Catching up with him about food and happenings at the market is something we look forward to.
Third, it is a really cool experience eating in the middle of the market, listening to tourists inquire about the stand. We will continue to go until James finally gets Miketo open on H Street. Then we will see him there.

I give it 3 stars.
I stopped in for lunch on a weekday. Based on the online menu I ordered the «Classic Ramen» which i understood was in broth with egg. Toki has gotten rave reviews and friends have also told me to get the «Classic». Well, that’s not what i got.
I got a bowl of noodles w/​pork, tofu, rice vinegar, soy sauce and fresh veggies, but no broth or egg. It was good, but i can’t help but be disappointed.
Since the 1^st location only opens for dinner and i live in NOVA, it’s very difficult to come into the city at that time (not Metro friendly).
I enjoyed the bowl and everything was fresh with bright flavors, but still i’m disappointed.

We struck gold at Union Market today.
There was no clear sign of what this stand is about: just two people sitting and eating noodle soup out of a black plastic to-​go container in an open kitchen with no server/​cook/​cashier in sight. Two ladies were making steamed buns on the other side of that wall — not sure if they’re from the same stand.
Good thing my friends inquired and good thing it was only 11am. By the time we sat down and ordered, a group was beginning to crowd the corner.
The noodle soup: OMG… it was AMAZING. Not the traditional ramen broth for sure. More clear, yet still pretty greasy. The flavor reminds me of a mix of Viet phở and Chinese wonton soup broth… with a hint of dried fish. Is this really Japanese ramen or did I just assume the it is? Anyhoo, the egg noodles were so fresh: soft yet stil chewy. Great plus is the awesome meatball and the melt in your mouth brisket it came with. I had a Meg Ryan at Katz’ moment.
Met the chef and ordered a noodle soup to go, but didn’t order the steamed bun when he asked. He threw one in the bag anyway. I just had it for lunch… and yes, again I say: DELICIOUS. It’s stuffed with a generous portion of bbq type pulled pork– savory, not too sweet and just the perfect hint of heat.
Toki + Rose’s Luxury (and of course + visiting our lovely friends) are worth braving the 4.5 hr Megabus ride from NYC to DC.