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
Jane E.
We tried the Katsu chicken, short ribs, spam musubi, and fries. Food portions were more than enough, it was good for 2 meals. Tasty and fresh even thru delivery!
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
AJ J.
First time ordering from this place and the food was great! I ordered through doordash and all of what I ordered was included. The food wasn't soggy and everything was prepared very neatly. I can't wait to try this place again real soon!
Curtis B.
Dis buggah is da real deal. Moppps. Mahalo for not jus using "hawaiian" as a brand. Can taste the effort in the food! The little Kim chi thing is killas. Only thing I would consider doing different is over cooking the Mac salad elbows little bit. But the flavor is winnas!!!
Amber J.
Got a order for take out- Big portions, soggy fries on the pork fries app. Added extra pineapple, straight from the can (was expecting fresh pineapple) . I got the platter with coconut shrimp, pork sandwich on roll and Musubi... Service was friendly, overall was okay.. little on the pricey side for the quality of food.
Reiden Jauregui
The staff was so helpful and nice the food was delicious. I recommend the coconut shrimp and the chicken teriyaki bowl.
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
Ivy C.
I got a chicken teriyaki and to be honest, I thought the chicken was too overcooked. It became so tough and dry that it took forever for me to chew throughly. I went in when it was almost closing so service was quick and and it a fast pick up as well. I'd say the only thing I liked about what I got would be the furikake on the rice and also the rice itself. It was cooked as if it it was sushi rice except without the vinegar but it's more so the texture. I did appreciate that there was no skin on the chicken so it wouldn't be as fat as well. The sauce for the teriyaki was alittle light in my opinion and I got a couple of burnt pieces as well, which made me drop some stars (along with the overcooked meat)
Lan T.
This review is for the poke dishes. I really want to like this place because I work so close, but I've tried it twice, and both times, I was not a fan. First, I wish they had pictures of the menu items. It is also not like most Poke places where you can see the ingredients and pick and choose which toppings you want. I have not tried the hot dishes, so maybe those are better. I also think it's a bit overpriced.
Jennifer T.
We ordered catering services from this establishment and they did a great job. Although it was not 100% like what I have had in Hawaii, there were some dishes that came close. The Kalua pork was everyone's favorite because it was not too salty and still maintained it's smokiness. They also made sure not to overload it with cabbage. The tofu stir fry was lacking flavor. The chicken salad was pretty typical. I want to give them props for cutting the musubis in half for us.This made people more likely to want to grab one and helped ensure everyone got a piece. The food arrived 20 minutes early but that was fine for us. Overall, I would recommend this place for a casual catering needs. They also did a stellar job on providing plates and utensils.
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!
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
We tried the Katsu chicken, short ribs, spam musubi, and fries. Food portions were more than enough, it was good for 2 meals. Tasty and fresh even thru delivery!
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
First time ordering from this place and the food was great! I ordered through doordash and all of what I ordered was included. The food wasn't soggy and everything was prepared very neatly. I can't wait to try this place again real soon!
Dis buggah is da real deal. Moppps. Mahalo for not jus using "hawaiian" as a brand. Can taste the effort in the food! The little Kim chi thing is killas. Only thing I would consider doing different is over cooking the Mac salad elbows little bit. But the flavor is winnas!!!
Got a order for take out- Big portions, soggy fries on the pork fries app. Added extra pineapple, straight from the can (was expecting fresh pineapple) . I got the platter with coconut shrimp, pork sandwich on roll and Musubi... Service was friendly, overall was okay.. little on the pricey side for the quality of food.
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
Restaurantji Recommends
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 got a chicken teriyaki and to be honest, I thought the chicken was too overcooked. It became so tough and dry that it took forever for me to chew throughly. I went in when it was almost closing so service was quick and and it a fast pick up as well. I'd say the only thing I liked about what I got would be the furikake on the rice and also the rice itself. It was cooked as if it it was sushi rice except without the vinegar but it's more so the texture. I did appreciate that there was no skin on the chicken so it wouldn't be as fat as well. The sauce for the teriyaki was alittle light in my opinion and I got a couple of burnt pieces as well, which made me drop some stars (along with the overcooked meat)
This review is for the poke dishes. I really want to like this place because I work so close, but I've tried it twice, and both times, I was not a fan. First, I wish they had pictures of the menu items. It is also not like most Poke places where you can see the ingredients and pick and choose which toppings you want. I have not tried the hot dishes, so maybe those are better. I also think it's a bit overpriced.
We ordered catering services from this establishment and they did a great job. Although it was not 100% like what I have had in Hawaii, there were some dishes that came close. The Kalua pork was everyone's favorite because it was not too salty and still maintained it's smokiness. They also made sure not to overload it with cabbage. The tofu stir fry was lacking flavor. The chicken salad was pretty typical. I want to give them props for cutting the musubis in half for us.This made people more likely to want to grab one and helped ensure everyone got a piece. The food arrived 20 minutes early but that was fine for us. Overall, I would recommend this place for a casual catering needs. They also did a stellar job on providing plates and utensils.
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