Fun little lunch spot! Great food with generous portions, and staff was personable and friendly. Our server added some extra spice to our poke bowl and it was ?! Loved it!
11/1/23 finally manage to get here. this joint is just like the OG ones in Santa Cruz and i lived there for 3 years. when i moved from SC to SJ recently then saw this, i was surprised. anyway its the same vibe like the one in sc downtown and capitola. same food, same result. the only thing i dislike for this joint is the hours. i would just keep the joint in SC than to be here in San Jose.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Pono Wings
Sam Blank
literally such a good poke, I wasn’t even ready for how good it was going to be. Also pretty good brownie.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Reiden Jauregui
The staff was so helpful and nice the food was delicious. I recommend the coconut shrimp and the chicken teriyaki bowl.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Keleiola Richards
Great food great atmosphere
Martha Smith
The San Jose location is absolutely delicious. I could eat there every day. Do NOT go to the Santa Cruz location. One, different menu. Two, food is trash. I went twice to the SC hoping the first time was just a fluke. Nope! The two locations are night and day.
Food: 5
April Ambard
I'm originally from Hawaii, so I'm probably a pretty harsh judge, but this was not good plate lunch. Which is sad because I had high hopes. First of all, my friend (high school pal from Honolulu) and I were ono for laulau, and came for lunch specifically because there were two varieties listed on the menu. When we arrived we were told no laulau available until "next week". We understand supply chain problems, so we ordered other items. My friend ordered spam musubi and katsu chicken. The chicken unfortunately arrived bone dry and burnt around the edges. I ordered the barbecue meat mixed plate. While the teri beef and chicken were both tasty, the kalbi ribs were raw... totally red when you got past the sauce. The kalbi marinade was painted on after cooking as a sauce, rather than being used to marinate the meat, which made the meat very chewy along with being greatly undercooked. The macaroni salad was good, but the rice (at least it was proper short grain rice) was cooked with far too much water so that it was mushy and inedible. The basic problem seemed to be not the ingredients, but the execution. A single person was taking orders, cooking, AND serving. It's hard to keep a restaurant afloat these days, but you need to have a cook who understands how to execute the dishes properly (know how to measure the correct amount of water for sticky rice... it's NOT the same as for long grain. Cook meat through, but don't leave things in the fryer until they burn) and isn't over burdened with service and cashier duty. Over all, disappointing, but with a knowledgeable cook this restaurant could be turned around. Please do better...we need authentic Hawaiian food in San Jose!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
Jamie Engelhardt
Best Hawaiian Food in SJ! Chicken Teriyaki and BBQ Combo were our favorites. The staff is so friendly and the decor inside made me feel like I was on the islands!
Siyang Liu
I ordered a Hawaii poke bowl and my boyfriend ordered a Loco moco.Both taste no good. They really need a better chef or change the menu.The food they got doesn’t worth the money.
Best Hawaiian BBQ in town! Everything is fresh! And tastes amazing.
Wesley Haug
The Loco Moco burrito is incredible. Gravy was amazing. Also don't forget to grab a brownie and mac salad. Timmy is the best owner in the bay. Very friendly staff.
Erwin Abidog
Good Hawaiian food and cheap specials.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Jon Bringhurst
This place is awesome. They have the best poke in the area. I used to drive down to Santa Cruz (and then Capitola after their Santa Cruz location closed) to get their food, so I’m really happy they finally have a location in town.Pick up the paper menu (not the plastic one) at the front and select from one of the poke bowls listed on there — the best things they sell are listed on the paper menu and not the menu behind the cashier.
R J
Awesome Katsu chicken.. I had only been to the one in Santa Cruz before, took a friend from work it was great ! I had to buy a shirt and a bottle of chili pepper water !!
Fun little lunch spot! Great food with generous portions, and staff was personable and friendly. Our server added some extra spice to our poke bowl and it was ?! Loved it!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Mamma Kathy’S Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Plate, Poke Combo Plate, Macaroni Salad
Kalua pork was awesome.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Kalua Pork
11/1/23 finally manage to get here. this joint is just like the OG ones in Santa Cruz and i lived there for 3 years. when i moved from SC to SJ recently then saw this, i was surprised. anyway its the same vibe like the one in sc downtown and capitola. same food, same result. the only thing i dislike for this joint is the hours. i would just keep the joint in SC than to be here in San Jose.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Pono Wings
literally such a good poke, I wasn’t even ready for how good it was going to be. Also pretty good brownie.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The staff was so helpful and nice the food was delicious. I recommend the coconut shrimp and the chicken teriyaki bowl.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great food great atmosphere
The San Jose location is absolutely delicious. I could eat there every day. Do NOT go to the Santa Cruz location. One, different menu. Two, food is trash. I went twice to the SC hoping the first time was just a fluke. Nope! The two locations are night and day.
Food: 5
I'm originally from Hawaii, so I'm probably a pretty harsh judge, but this was not good plate lunch. Which is sad because I had high hopes. First of all, my friend (high school pal from Honolulu) and I were ono for laulau, and came for lunch specifically because there were two varieties listed on the menu. When we arrived we were told no laulau available until "next week". We understand supply chain problems, so we ordered other items. My friend ordered spam musubi and katsu chicken. The chicken unfortunately arrived bone dry and burnt around the edges. I ordered the barbecue meat mixed plate. While the teri beef and chicken were both tasty, the kalbi ribs were raw... totally red when you got past the sauce. The kalbi marinade was painted on after cooking as a sauce, rather than being used to marinate the meat, which made the meat very chewy along with being greatly undercooked. The macaroni salad was good, but the rice (at least it was proper short grain rice) was cooked with far too much water so that it was mushy and inedible. The basic problem seemed to be not the ingredients, but the execution. A single person was taking orders, cooking, AND serving. It's hard to keep a restaurant afloat these days, but you need to have a cook who understands how to execute the dishes properly (know how to measure the correct amount of water for sticky rice... it's NOT the same as for long grain. Cook meat through, but don't leave things in the fryer until they burn) and isn't over burdened with service and cashier duty. Over all, disappointing, but with a knowledgeable cook this restaurant could be turned around. Please do better...we need authentic Hawaiian food in San Jose!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
Best Hawaiian Food in SJ! Chicken Teriyaki and BBQ Combo were our favorites. The staff is so friendly and the decor inside made me feel like I was on the islands!
I ordered a Hawaii poke bowl and my boyfriend ordered a Loco moco.Both taste no good. They really need a better chef or change the menu.The food they got doesn’t worth the money.
Restaurantji Recommends
Best Hawaiian BBQ in town! Everything is fresh! And tastes amazing.
The Loco Moco burrito is incredible. Gravy was amazing. Also don't forget to grab a brownie and mac salad. Timmy is the best owner in the bay. Very friendly staff.
Good Hawaiian food and cheap specials.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
This place is awesome. They have the best poke in the area. I used to drive down to Santa Cruz (and then Capitola after their Santa Cruz location closed) to get their food, so I’m really happy they finally have a location in town.Pick up the paper menu (not the plastic one) at the front and select from one of the poke bowls listed on there — the best things they sell are listed on the paper menu and not the menu behind the cashier.
Awesome Katsu chicken.. I had only been to the one in Santa Cruz before, took a friend from work it was great ! I had to buy a shirt and a bottle of chili pepper water !!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
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