Alohana Hawaiian Grill

Food was pretty disgusting. Did not feel good after. The «clam chowder» was something straight out of the can and I could barely finish it. And the chicken was super oily and had nothing amazing or unique about it. I usually do a better job of cooking chicken and I’m not a good cooker either! Nothing «Hawaiian» about this place at all. The inside of the place has a very depressing feel to it too.

If you are strolling down Shattuck and thinking of eating here, I have a suggestion for you. Stop. No really, just stop. Turn around, go somewhere else. Anywhere else. It doesn’t matter where. Just go. Don’t think, walk away.
Don’t believe me? Here, let’s try a little experiment. Take off your shoe. Seriously, take it off. Now, bring the shoe up to your face, and go ahead and give it a nice long slow lick. Was that good? No, of course not. In fact, I bet that the thought of licking your shoe was so disgusting you didn’t actually do it, let alone pay ten dollars for the privilege. Trust me, this place is worse than any shoe. Save your money, and your dignity, and don’t eat here.
Still don’t believe me? Keep reading. Here’s the lowdown. I ordered the loco moco, fries, and asked for a cup for water. Simple right? Evidently not. First, the water cup. It wasn’t actually a cup. I’m serious, they don’t give you a cup, not even a Dixie cup. Instead you get an oversized plastic dressing container which you have to refill approximately 78 times to get the equivalent of a cup of water. When I, dumbfounded, asked if they don’t have just normal water cups, the dude just laughed and said this was all they had. Really? Fantastic.
But let’s move on. After all, it’s only water. Maybe the food will be good. But then the fries came out. They were great. By great I mean they were half frozen uncooked strips of matter. I love fries. It’s hard to mess up fries. These were not fries. They were disgusting.
The tragedy continues. The dude comes out and says he has to give me the loco moco with brown rice. I hate brown rice. I ask why I can’t have white rice. Evidently they messed up the white rice and it’s all soggy. Great. So far I have gotten water, fries, and rice, and they have managed to mess up all three. That takes serious skill.
But wait! It’s not over, for here comes the main course, loco moco. How can I describe the meat?
Imagine sometime In the late 1800s some poor diseased cow drops dead, and rots for two days, at which point someone, presumably the ancestor of the proprietor of this place, cuts out two burger shaped pieces and freezes them for 150 years, until today, when they were placed on the stove, cooked for 6 hours into round dry charred pieces of flesh, and served to someone, in this case me, foolish enough to eat here. The meat was foul. I couldn’t eat it.
I tried dipping it in the gravy, but the gravy was this watery, thin, tasteless substance that somehow, by some godforsaken alchemy, combined with the meat to create a new even more nauseating flavor unknown to mankind until this moment. Even the eggs were undercooked. The macaroni salad was stale and tasted metallic.
Hours later my tongue is now numb, having mercifully gone into a state of shock.
In short, I will never return to this restaurant. Warn your friends, warn your neighbors. For the sake of your soul, I advise you to avoid this place.

FIRST AND LAST VISIT!
I ordered a bun-​less burger (I have diabetes and my blood sugar was running high, so I wanted to skip on the carbs): the person taking my order gave me a look that felt quite condescending, as if I had ordered a specialty plate. After a very long wait, I received my order and upon trying it, I can say it was the most disgusting piece of meat I have had as long as I can recall.
I am never coming back to this place. There’s too many great options in downtown Berkeley to get anything to eat here.

tldr: Large quantities of food. Decent flavor.
MACRO RADAR: Low
The grilled chicken wrap I ordered had maybe 2−3oz of chicken thigh (15g protein) plus a bunch of rice and the wrap. The sauce my wrap had was pretty sweet (aka, sugar). Not the best macros However, I glimpsed others’ dishes; they had fewer carbs and substantially more meat.
If I came again, I would grab a rice plate for better macros.

My standards for Hawaiian BBQ are pretty low, but this place was still disappointing.
I ordered the BBQ chicken plate, pretty standard dish for a Hawaiian BBQ place. The wait was unnecessarily long and the food was subpar.
The veggies were bland and the chicken was mediocre, but worst of all they messed up the macaroni salad. I LOVE the macaroni salad at other places, but this place wasn’t like other Hawaiian BBQ places. It was nowhere near the thick creamy macaroni from other places, I probably could’ve gotten better macaroni salad from Safeway.
As a Hawaiian BBQ place you can give me bland vegetables (most places do), you can give me oily flavorless chicken, but you don’t fuck with my macaroni salad.

I must’ve been invisible today because the staff overlooked me and served another customer. And then another! I just walked out after that.
There are too many restaurants in this area, or just in general, to be treated like that.
I must’ve been invisible today because the staff overlooked me and served another customer. And then another! I just walked out after that.
There are too many restaurants in this area, or just in general, to be treated like that.

Wish this place was truly closed. They just changed their name. The food is not good.

This place isn’t closed, I went here yesterday. However, the service is super rude and the food doesn’t make up for that. It’s pretty normal to get rude service from Asians, specifically East Asians, however this place was the tipping point. The food wasn’t too bad, I ordered the BBQ Beef plate. Most of the food was actually good, but the vegetables tasted very raw, like they barely steamed it. They also don’t have any napkins at all. A little on the pricey side for what you get. Maybe this place should remain closed.

This place is awesome! BBQ chicken and yoshinoya bowls are the best! Good quantities too!

After buying a few comics, my friend and I didn’t feel like leaving the area to eat considering the severity of parking in Berkeley. So we walk down half a block and my friend says, «I think there’s a Hawaiian barbecue place somewhere.» I look and we’re standing right in front of it. I can never say no to chicken katsu.
We walk in and it’s pretty much the same as any other Hawaiian barbecue place. The only difference to me was that it was Chinese owned.
Anyway, I order a Chicken Katsu, one Spam Musubi and a soda which came out to $ 8+. Near the register are four chairs for waiting because a lot of people order take out and then there is a good deal of seating in the back.
My friend and I take our seats and just chill looking at our new comics. Then the girl brings out two massive plates and one small one for the Spam Musubi. Goddamn! They gave us a lot of food! It was so awesome. Not only did they give the key sides of rice and macaroni salad, but also steamed cabbage. I don’t know what it is about steamed cabbage but I love it.
For what I paid, I DEFINITELY got my money’s worth. When I think about L&L, they don’t give you as much. They skimp out on your rice and macaroni salad and macaroni salad is pretty much the best part of the meal.
I’m only speaking from a chicken katsu lover’s perspective. They did well. They did big. And they’ll do you…
…a great favor of serving quality food.

I did not expect to like this place, but I sort of did. I mean I am a sucker for kitschy, old-​fashioned and that’s what this place is. My cheeseburger with «BBQ» sauce (which is really sweet soy sauce) was more than respectable. And, the lady behind the counter = so nice. Everything is pretty much fried and unhealthy.

I stumbled into Alohana attempting to find a good and inexpensive bbq place in Downtown Berkeley. What a mistake! I try very hard to avoid fried food so I ordered the chicken curry. When the order arrived, it was chicken katsu curry which is a solid dish in its own right but it’s not what I wanted. So I alerted the cashier:
DL: «Excuse me, I think you’ve made a mistake with my order»
Cashier: «Did you not like the food?»
DL: «No, I ordered the chicken curry, not the chicken katsu curry.»
Cashier looks confused.
DL: «Let me show you on the menu.»
I invited her to the front of the store where the menu is posted.
DL: «See, there’s chicken katsu curry and right below that is chicken curry. They are two different dishes.»
Cashier: «No, they are the same. They both are the same thing.»
DL: «Well, chicken curry is not supposed to be deep fried.»
Cashier: «We don’t have chicken curry.»
DL: «Don’t you see it right on your menu?»
Cashier: «It’s the same as the chicken katsu.»
DL: «Well, then why do you list them as separate items?»
No response from the cashier.
Frustrated, I quickly finished eating and took off. The chicken turned out to be over fried and the curry was not spicy enough and too salty. Had the cashier been more courteous and effective in giving an explanation or even to offer a refund, I would’ve given them the benefit of the doubt. Aside from the poor service, the portions were small compare to other Hawaiian places. This was an indignant eating experience and I will never go back there again.

We tried the mix bbq big dishes, and the taste just right!
so good and inexpensive!

A good place to get huge portions of Hawaiian staples at dirt cheap prices.
I got a kalua pork rice bowl for less than $ 5. Tons of rice, tons of cabbage, decent amount of pork. Quality is good for the price. They stock Hawaiian Tropics drinks in a fridge behind the main register. Mmm… so good.
So you order, get your drink, and the food is brought out to you. While you wait, you can pretend you’re in Hawaii by staring at one of their flat panels with an endless video of the sunset from a beach in Hawaii. Your fantasy will be ruined when you go outside and realize it’s 60deg in the SUMMER and you need to put your fleece back on.
Here’s a crucial tip. Don’t try to finish everything. Always meat first, then veggies, then rice for bragging rights. Save room for Gelato Naia, just down the street. :P

What the hell are you people whining about? 2 ½ stars, that sucks -,-…
I kinda hate it when you walk in there’s that fan, it’s cold and strong as hell.
I love their salad bar, they always have what I want, their hawaiian fried rice is hella good too, omg their musubi is da bomb.

My boyfriend and I shared the Hawaiian BBQ Mix and it was very well portioned (there was a little left to take home) and seasoned. I wasn’t blown away, but I was pleasantly satisfied. I don’t remember how much it was, but I think their prices are, generally, decent.
The dining area is spacious and their bathrooms are clean. Service is typical of the kind where you order at the register and someone brings out your food in a togo box and on a cafeteria tray. But they were generally friendly.

I’ve seen this place around for a while. Today I finally decided to give it a try.
My first thought as I walked in: FUCK! I’ve walked into McDonald’s! I’m not the type to change my mind based on first impressions, so I went ahead and ordered some BBQ pork.
That was one soft bit of pork!
Now all they need is some personality and they’d be set! Get rid of the ugly blue uniform shirts, the prefab interior, and the HUGE soda fountain right at the entrance. Please.

I’ll try to be as positive as possible with this review. The dining area is quite spacious, painted in a bright saffron color, and well lit. Large Hawaiian prints and tiki-​type ornaments adorn the walls. There are two overhead flat screen TVs on either end of the room broadcasting sports programming with sound.
The service is friendly and the wait for your food is not very bad.
The large roomy tables are perfect for studying, but before you put your books or important notes down you should probably check the surface of the table. Chances are the table top is sticky, and that is just where the negativity begins.
The Pineapple Chicken was awful. The deep-​fried chunks of batter-​heavy mostly dark meat chicken were soft and mushy as if they were precooked and reheated. These little nuggets of grossness sat in an overly sweet, overly thickened sauce with lots of tin-​tasty pineapple bits and finished off with a dash of sesame seeds. Even for fast food this was poorly prepared, unimaginative crap.
The scoop of steamed rice was the best part of the dish. Hey, another positive! A very average macaroni salad and a vegetable mix of barely-​cooked cabbage, carrots and broccoli also accompanied the dish.
I love Hawaiian styled foods, but this first time experience literally left a bad taste in my mouth. This was just plain disappointing. The food on the takeout menu looks more appetizing, but study that and you’ll find that the actual prices inside the restaurant are higher than those printed in the brochure.
While I’m at it the trash receptacles were overflowing and that’s pretty inexcusable for a restaurant with so few customers at the time of my visit.

I’ve eaten here a few times. The first time I ordered the Kalua pork. Their portions are hearty for the inexpensive price. I thought the huge pile of steamed cabbage that comes with the Alohana bowls was excessive. Who wants a bowl of steamed cabbage? Yum. A great way to offend your co-​workers when you get back to office. The Kalua pork wasn’t bad, but the liquid smoke flavor got to be too overwhelming after several bites. I’ve also tried the BBQ pork, which I would NOT recommend. It was greasy and fatty. Gross! And out of curiosity, I’ve tried the spam musubi. One word — interesting. This place is fine for a quick lunch. It certainly is affordable.
P. S. WHY ARE THERE THREE DIFFERENT LISTINGS OF THIS PLACE?!

I went to Cal. How did I never notice that everything on Shattuck closes at 11pm on Saturday nights??? This place was the only place that would serve us 10minutes before closing.
Way below mediocre food but the people were nice.
I ordered Loco Moco and Spam Musubi. Nothing exciting but both orders were huge.
When I’m drunk and tired from a Cal football game and need to eat before hoping on Bart, I would come here again. Besides… when you’re drunk it all tastes good.