L & L Drive Inn

I loved coming here! The portions were HUGE, food was good, but the place is awfully dirty! Last week when I ordered 4 Katsu plates I looked in the back towards the kitchen & seen one of the cooks (older man) digging his nose! He didn’t wash his hands after that and went straight back to prepping food! Gross! I loved eating here, but after that… I can’t see myself going there anymore.

BBQ Combo. That’s all I get because I can wake up and eat it if I hide it from other family members. I wont say any names but you know who you are.

I’ve been to many L&Ls and this was the absolute worst! The place seemed dirty. The kalua pig was so full of fat that my wife and daughter had to discard half of their plates. The saimin burger did not even remotely resemble the picture. I am thoroughly disgusted and don’t know if we’ll eat at another L&L again.

Garlic mahi mahi was red snapper
Mac salad was blah just mayo
Burger was good eith crinkle fries
Was not greeted when we came in at all. I almost walked out i wish I did. Food was not good salty and tasteless.

Dad and I are on a Father-​Daughter outing which started at Kapiolani Park, went to Ala Moana Mall and on the bus to take in the sights. Got hungry in Haleiwa town, and really wanted cheap eats and we stumbled upon my exact craving — -L&L! Dad got the mini hamburger steak and I got mini chicken katsu. Cashier gets ***** for good service. Table is clean so *****. Best of all the food gets ***** as Dad and I agree our food was damn good!
PS– We also were very surprised at how large the mini plate servings were — I thought they misheard me and gave Dad and me the regular size plates. He had 2 nice sized burger patties and I had what looked like 2 LARGE katsu fillets all sliced up. We both had one scoop rice and one scoop mac salad each. I got about 3 meals out of my 1 plate! Highly recommend!

Service really does suck. The lady is only nice to u if she knows u, like if you’re a regular. I ate here on a Wednesday night. The food was delicious! But the very next day I felt really sick. I can’t say for sure that it was from the food here. But I wouldn’t be surprised because the whole restaurant looks disgusting. This place needs a good cleaning!

Came here to pick up some Teri chicken and Meat jun trays. I tired to order on the phone but it was hard to understand her. So I just told her I’ll see her in a few minutes. We got there and there was a line but not to long. Order the trays and waited about 20 minutes.
The meat jun and Teri chicken was a hit at the party. It was really soft and juicy chicken. The meat jun was great also. Cooked perfect.

It seems this business does not want customers. I ordered a simple hamburger. The guy at the register was curt and seemed like he despised either his job or me (personally). He also seemed perplexed when I ordered a bottle of water and had to yell back to the back room in a language I didn’t understand to, I presume, to see if they even sold water. Seriously? You don’t know if you have water? The burger was inexpensive and the meat patty was handmade and tiny. It tasted ok. I’d gladly pay an extra few dollars to get a regular size patty., though. I won’t be back and will take my money and niceness to some place that appreciates customers.

This is probably my favorite L&L purely because of their special menu. I don’t really care for the other items on the menu because I can just go to any other L&L closer to me and get it there. Service is pretty much the same throughout all L&L’s so don’t expect much.

Ok. At L&L, you get what you pay for, right? I paid $ 22 for 2 cheeseburgers, 1 mini lemon chicken plate, and 1 regular chicken katsu plate. It’s a lot of food, and I suppose $ 22 isn’t that bad in the grand scheme of things.
After about 20 mins of waiting, I notice that the cashier is telling customers that they’re out of rice. She starts offering those people extra mac salad or French fries. At one point, she was offering hamburger buns. I thought it was hilarious! Until she got to me. She proceeds to offer me toss salad in lieu of rice. What kind of self-​respecting, plate-​lunch-​eating kama’aina would be okay with no rice at L&L?!
I respectfully declined and requested a refund. She explained that she can’t give me a refund because my order is «in the computer.»
Ultimately, I agreed to the toss salad, and she threw in two large beverages and explained that she’s basically giving me $ 6. Umm… soda syrup, water, and the cups can’t cost more than $ 0.50 each, plus I gave you a tip, so really, I’ve paid for those drinks.
Got home, and their idea of toss salad was lettuce used in burgers and a slice of tomato.
At 8 in the evening in Haleiwa, do yourself a favor and splurge somewhere else. The one star is for the «free sodas» and entertainment as I watched a restaurant full of angry patrons eat their riceless plate lunches.

Born and raised in Hawaii, L&L has spread its Hawaiian Barbecue (SM) brand of Hawaiian plate lunches across the United States with over 175 locations in 10 states including California, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Texas, Utah, New York, and Hawaii! Today, L&L holds the title as the «Original Hawaiian Barbecue®» and has been voted #1 in Hawaii for many consecutive years. If you’re ready to make your taste buds do the hula, we welcome you to try our delicious selections at an L&L Hawaiian Barbecue® near you!
I was exploring Haleiwa. It was 7pm and I wanted an Hawaiian plate lunch. Looked like my only option was L&L. Wasn’t impressed by the L&L in La Jolla but it was this or a crowded Mexican food place… I ordered a kalbi rib plate with all fries. The crinkle cut fries were good for fast food fries. A little crunch on the outside and good flavor. Kalbi ribs were made from a cheap cut of beef. Not very tender. The flavor was mostly of marinade. What was missing was a good beef flavor and the smokiness from the grill. Woman at the counter had this overworked look although the place wasn’t busy.
This location has kalbi beef ribs that are a bit better than the La Jolla one but I’d rather bbq my own kalbi over charcoal with a more expensive cut of beef. Sadly L&L doesn’t make my taste buds do the hula. :-(

Food is food and price is good too. A good place to try food from the area. There are a few of these places in the area. I had the moco loco … Different but good …

1 star cuz u need a star to review. Worse l&l in the worl (gotta be). House Flys around, Nats hovering around. BBQ mix plate — NONE of the meat were flavored. It’s just like they cooked the meat right out of the bag, or wherever it came from. Much more than disapointing, it was a disgrace. DO NOT no matter how hungry u are. Drive into town to the next L&L, if L&L is what want.

This is by far the worst L&L I’ve ever been to. When my husband & I stepped inside there were 4 employees sitting at various tables eating, relaxing & loudly chatting. One employee got up to stand at the register, no, we don’t have any questions, thanks for not asking. We ordered, sat in one of the many filthy tables until our food was ready. The employee placed our two styrofoam containers on top of each other & by the time my husband walked 5 feet to the table the containers were melted & the food was falling through the holes. The food tasted a bit like styrofoam because of this. We were not offered any drinks or napkins so we left quite a mess on the table. The place is so outdated. & dirty! Go somewhere, anywhere else, personally I’d rather go hungry.

First of all, I love L & L.
Second of all, I hated my experience here.
Where to begin!
1. The service was the worst I’ve experienced. The lady behind the counter was extremely ride and displayed the worst customer service. As we walked in the door, she was talking on her phone. When we were ready to order, she didn’t bother hanging up or putting the phone down. I couldn’t tell if she was addressing me or her phone.
2. Refills for soft drinks?! Really? Do not get a small soda unless you want 3 gulps of soda.
3. The food was mediocre. I couldn’t get over the service and probably influenced my perspective on the quality of food.
Do not come here. Trust me.

I love L&L … it’s a local favorite.
This is, for some bizarre reason, the WORST L&L I have ever visited.
And it’s my LOCAL L&L.
Well, in the end, it might be a good thing … helps me save money since I refuse to eat at this location.

Do not come here — the woman who behind the counter is very rude and impatient. The foods are bad, and not same as the picture. By the way, the enviroment is also too bad to stay. Do not not not not not not not not come here !!!

Not the best plate lunch on the island by any measure, but better than alot of the overhyped food trucks lining Haliewa.
Portions are island sized so you won’t leave hungry.
Typical plate lunch will run between 8 or 9 bucks, combos for 10.
All the usual suspects — shoyu chicken, teri-​beef, loco moco, (even meat jun!) all with a massive scoop of macaroni salad.
3 stars for food, 1 star for not overcharging like everyone else in H-​town.

Do not come here — they DO NOT want your business. The lady behind the counter was rude, unwelcoming, and, honestly, the most unpleasant person we encountered in Hawaii. We love L&L in California and thought we had to try it while in Hawaii. We couldn’t have been more wrong. While there were a ton of locals and the food was fine, the service was unbelievably rude and left the worst taste in our mouth. We waited a long time to be acknowledged when we arrived and there was no one in line, and then it seemed like we were an inconvenience.
We ordered our food and she placed a drink on the counter — we mistakenly thought it was ours and she yelled at us, saying that it was for another customer. So sorry! How dare we think that the drink she placed on the counter while we were ordering was ours. We were so foolish! Seriously… it’s that kind of service here.
Would not come back here EVER and if I wasn’t already a fan of L&L food, I might never come back to one based on this experience.

Zippy’s used to be THE place for Hawaiian fast food, but this little-​chain-​that-​could started popping up throughout the island before spreading to my home area (Northern Cali). On advice of one of the «Care for the Turtles» volunteers, we stopped here before heading back to see a turtle make her way to land.
We considered Opal’s, but, having a planned lunch there two days later, we agreed to wait. The menu is pretty large and there is no shortage of options in ordering here. I chose the mixed plate (
) comprising of beef stew, hamburger steak, and beef teriyaki with mac salad and rice. The portions are very generous and the price was reasonable (less than $ 10.00). My fruit flavored iced tea which came from a soda fountain had a strange aftertaste. I’m not sure whether the various stores are individually owned or franchised, but you can pretty much expect okay food, large portions, and affordable prices. There was not much customer service to speak of as there were only two people working in the kitchen and counter respectively.
Since this was a stopover for turtle viewing, it did the job. For a more memorable dining experience, I would eat next door.