Menya Hanabi opening in Arcadia Vons plaza

Drove by today and saw it near Dings… did not get a picture since it’s dark n rainy but will try n get one next time i pass by

fb page:

Link to a shinjuku branch yelp:

Hope the mazemen/mazesoba is good

I messaged them on Facebook and their reply was:

"Hi there!

Thank you very much for reaching out to us. We are estimating we will be opening in June 2019.

Yes, we are related to Hanabi in Japan, the original Nagoya Mazesoba.

Please let us know if you have anymore questions or comments. We look forward to seeing you once we open!

Thank you! "

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They are soft open now (but closed Tuesday 7/23), grand opening Sunday 7/28

I missed their fb update, otherwise i would have already gone. Will go wednesday or thurs after work to test it out

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Was finally able to try this place tonight. I arrived at 630 and waited for about 1hr before being seated (party of 2). The larger parties had longer waits, but when I left at around 830, there was almost no line. I previously spoke to whoever manages their facebook and they said during the soft opening, they will close based on demand… there were still 2-3 parties waiting when i left.

The crowd was about 99% asian / asian american / local families, and i don’t think they knew what they were about to eat. I wonder if eater or some other place picked up on it and sent a bunch of people over?

Anyway there’s the mazesoba, and… the next page had rice bowls which have very similar toppings. But don’t get the rice bowls, because they offer a free soy sauce dish sized rice portion for you to mix with your leftover sauce. There’s another page of appetizers/drinks/desserts, but the noodles were so filling, i didn’t even glance at it.

I thought pricing was fair for the portion, $12 for the original, which will certainly fill most people up especially with the rice to finish anyone off. Got the “spicy”, which was their normal, and thought it was closer to a mild, but compared to an avg ramen place in socal, the flavors were pretty intense. The mix of fatty pork(?) oil and fish powder really reminded me of places in japan. The pork slices and chunks (side order) were generally pretty tender, but not every piece was melt in your mouth tender. I ordered chopped pork on the side and some pieces dried up before i received my noodles. Overall, it was a thick, hearty, porky, fishy bowl of thick noodles.

The wait was bearable, i’d advise going right as they open, or 30-40 min before they close, to avoid lines. The wait for food was about 20 minutes… the workers seem detailed, they’re mostly asian americans and seem to be trying too hard to get the bowls to look perfect. They were supervised by 2 managers but speed is not their strong suit.

This is exactly the type of meal i’ve been hoping for nearby. It satisfies that japanese “lo mien” craving I get once in awhile, and is a welcome changed from the sea of generic tonkotsu places in the surrounding area.

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