Lukoki Hawaiian BBQ

It’s almost like a Hawaiian BBQ meets Starbucks, little uncomfortable smashing on your food while someone is typing an essay next to you or a group of people are having bible study… But aside from the atmosphere, the food was delioucous and they were playing some pretty good tunes…

Now this place is kind of hidden, at first it looks like a little coffee shop but on the side it says they have Hawaiian BBQ. There’s plenty of parking at this place, also they are a lot of nearby place to shop around this place like Walmart, Kohl’s, and then Target right across the street so this place is pretty good during your lunch break.
I came in here one day for lunch, walk-​in, pretty big place they also have free-​wifi as the setup for this place looks like a coffee shop. Look on the menu and they have typical food u would find at a Hawaiian BBQ place, meat, macrooni salad, rice, veggies… so i order a bbq short rib-​plate it came with the mac salad and steamed rice… the ribs were pretty big but lacked flavor and were slightly burnt, the mac salad was ok, but the portions were big. I mean compared to L&L this place doesn’t match up, but it is decent and not a horrible place to eat if you are craving hawaiian bbq/​meat!!!

This rating is for the jasmine milk tea. It’s why I drive here specifically. This isn’t a tea house, but strangely their tea is excellent! It actually tastes like tea and they don’t make it too sweet. Usually the pearls are good too.
I have eaten food here, and I find it mixed. I have enjoyed their pork bun and fried chicken and cuttlefish snacks, but have found their saimin a little bland. I guess steamed broccoli and carrots always put me off. Maybe this is authentic for Hawaii, but as a Chinese person I prefer real vegetables in my soup.
But that’s ok; they’re friendly, the place is pleasant and clean, and their tea is fantastic!

As I wrote in the Mountain View Voice:
Read this restaurant review here or in the Mountain View Voice:
Pack your bags for the islands
For authentic Hawaiian barbecue, Lukoki is lacking
It’s a bad sign when you’re the only one eating.
Of course, I noticed this far too late. It’s Saturday night, and I’ve stopped by Lukoki Hawaiian BBQ, which is currently sharing quarters with the co-​owned Pearl Café to wait out the recession. Located in the Kohl’s parking lot near Target and Walmart in the San Antonio Shopping Center, I imagine they get a lot of foot traffic from hungry shoppers, and right now this café seems to be populated entirely by 20-​year olds with laptops drinking tapioca pearl tea, most likely enjoying the free WiFi. The word «dude» peppers the air around me.
I realize I am the only person who has ordered food, and it’s dinner time. Perhaps the fact that many of the questions I asked the friendly counter staff were difficult for them to answer, such as, «What is laulau?» or, «What is kalua pig?» it might have clued me into the fact that the pearl tea and bagels have become more popular than Hawaiian barbecue in this neighborhood spot.
My pearl tea arrives first, and the service is prompt. For $ 3.95 I get a large cup filled with at least two inches of black tapioca pearls. The strawberry-​peach flavor I ordered, however, looks and tastes exactly like a 7 – 11 Slurpee. I enjoy a tapioca pearl with every sip and check out the fashion magazines and manga, and then my combo plate, a laulau and kalua pig special for $ 8.95, arrives.
Laulau is a traditional Hawaiian dish, in which pork (or chicken or fish) is wrapped in luau leaves (usually taro, or ti or banana leaves) and placed in the imu, the luau pit. In the modern kitchen, and on the mainland where luau pits are illegal, laulau is usually made using taro leaves and steamed on the stove with the same ingredients wrapped inside. In both cases, scoops of macaroni salad and rice accompany the dish to make the ubiquitous Hawaiian «plate lunch.»
On my plate, I find a dark green mess of steamed leaves, two scoops of rice, and fresh, creamy macaroni salad. When I unwrap my leaves, I find a piece of pork that somehow appeared to be simultaneously dry yet greasy. Further excavation of my leaves reveals a big chunk of fat. The pork has no flavor, and I cover it again with the leaves.
I have high hopes for the kalua pig. The word kalua literally means «to cook in an underground oven,» and in the imu, pork and pork fat melt together over smoking koa wood, giving you a perfect, smoky barbecue pork experience. In the modern kitchen, the chefs slow-​cook the pork, adding seasonings to get it just right. My Styrofoam cup of pork, laced with what appears to be cabbage, looks promising, and I take a forkful, only to reach for my tea quickly. I taste nothing but salt. I’m wishing I had ordered a gallon of water instead of the pearl tea, and finish off the tasty macaroni salad in record time.
I approach the counter staff, who are friendly and prompt with their service, and I ask them how they meet the challenge of replicating the taste of an imu in the modern kitchen. «What kind of leaves do you use? How do you make your kalua pig?» The counter staff translates for the cook, who shakes his head. «We order the laulau in bulk. The owner has five restaurants, he orders it and I heat it up. And the kalua pig, it’s just made on the stove, and my only seasoning is salt.»
After that, the friendly cashier tells me, «Don’t worry about it.» I am promptly waved out the door, and I head off in search of water.
On subsequent visits my friends and I sampled the fried shrimp for $ 8.25, which were just okay, until we noticed the shrimp were not properly cleaned, and the Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Rice Bowl for $ 6.75, which tasted more like teriyaki, and the vegetables may have been previously frozen.
There are several other Hawaiian barbecue spots in the area, and I look forward to visiting those. Perhaps, if you are craving the real thing, treat yourself to a tropical vacation in the near future and experience the smoky flavor of koa wood and melting pork fat for yourself. It’s worth the plane fare.
Lukoki Hawaiian BBQ (located inside Pearl Café)
506 Showers Drive, Suite A
Mountain View, CA 94 041
(650) 917‑8988
Hours: Monday-​Sunday 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

The old store front is now closed. Lukoki has been moved next door and combined with the pearl milk tea place. Now instead of going up to the counter to order, you have to sit down and wait for the waitress to take your order. It takes longer to get the food now because the kitchen is smaller. I miss the old place. We ordered the bbq chicken rice bowl and spam masubi — both tasted the same.
The combined place feels too small and formal. There is no room for large parties like before. It has a identify crisis — is it a café or a hawaiian bbq?

I realize I give a lot of two stars. It’s because the explanation really… «Meh» and thats exactly how I felt after I ate here for lunch today.
They recently combined the BOBA place next door with the Hawaiian Restaurant to save money. They also own Lucky chinese right next to it. The service felt rushed because it was lunch hour and even though it looked like a order your own food, sit anywhere place, it wasn’t. Tables were for table service only. Odd.
I had the chicken and shrimp combo and I wasn’t having high expectations, but the chicken was notably dry, the shrimp was dry, macaroni felt undercooked, and the rice was dry. I mean it wasn’t terrible or unedible, it was just lacking some moistness to it.
Their milk teas are made with powders and syrups and I expect that for some flavors, but I guess, I’d really like it if they used fruit and such like Fantasia does.
Overall, it wasn’t bad, but it was just Meh… forgettable.

I have eaten here before a few times in the past and I don’t ever remember being dissatisfied. I grabbed some lunch here today since I was in the area running errands and well…
I ordered the BBQ combo plate and got the Seafood combo plate with chicken instead. Mistakes happen and I didn’t bother correcting them. The chicken was good and the deep fried fish was just ok. Here comes the shocker. The plate also included (3) shrimp and I ate the first thinking «not bad» but was feeling a little guilty bc they were deep fried. I went for the second when I noticed a dark line slightly visible through the crispy exterior. My stomach then churned. I cut into the last (2) shrimp like I learned in 6^th grade dissecting small animals. As I suspected, the shrimp were not cleaned. Disgusting. I just ate a shrimp poop sack! This made me question their quality control in preparing the other items (i.e. the mac salad.) Ok, I have to stop as I am getting nauseous thinking about it again.

This is exactly what I was craving, but didn’t know it! I knew I was craving chicken, so I typed ‘chicken’ into Unilocal,and this place was on the list of places, so I thought, «Eh, it’s been a while since I’ve had Hawaiian BBQ. I’ll give it a try.» So glad I did!
I ordered a regular chicken cutlet and a green tea smoothie. The gravy is good, and man this chicken… well I’m so happy it’s not chicken parts, it’s juicy chicken breast meat. I love the macaroni salad mmmmmmm!
I’ll be back to try some other things on the menu :)

If you wonder with a sigh if L&L is as good as it gets in terms of Hawaiian fast food, you should try Lukoki’s. The food here is not gourmet, but it is pretty good and the portions are bigger than the Hawaiian chains you see popping up these days. The ambiance is also nicer and the prices are okay.
BTW, the owner of Lukoki’s also owns the Pearl Tea and the Lucky Chinese fast food.

$ 3 bucks. 1 Spam Musubi with enough rooster sauce for a whole pan of Katsu.
I got Bamboozled.
They get a star for the cool tiki carvings though…

One of many faux-​Hawaiian fast food joints.

Not a bad place for fast Hawaiian style food. I always get the kahlua pork, they serve it steamy hot and it tastes pretty good with the rice. I also always request 3 scoops of rice instead of 2 rice and 1 mac salad, just because I’m not a big fan of mac salad.
Portion is fairly large, it’s at least 1.5 meals for me if not 2. You can also order the drinks from the pearl ice tea next door, so that’s pretty convenient to pay for everything at 1 register. As of today (2÷8÷09) they also allow you to order the crispy fried chicken or crispy fried scuttlefish from the next door. We tried the chicken and it tastes pretty good.
Nothing extraordinary, but if you want fast, somewhat inexpensive Hawaiian style food, this is a good place to go.

If you’re looking for Hawaiian in Mountain View you’ll probably end up here. There were a few of them around before but all the good ones went out of business. This place reminds me of Panda Express but at least they bring the food out to you if you’re sitting down.
I got the combination and the Mango drink. The seafood was tasty but grilled chicken was just edible. Sadly the customer service wasn’t cheerful and looked bored. Even though they brought my food out they didn’t bring out any napkins, you’d think they’d provide that if they were bringing out utensils.
If I’m on the prowl for Hawaiian fast food I’ll probably come back here.

Be forewarned: Not a fan of HI BBQ.
Signs strewn all over Lukoki: Providing authentic HI BBQ & service w/​a smile.
HA!!!
What I actually got:
–Soggy saimin, soggy ANYTHING is NOT okay.
–FROZEN potstickers, seriously I can make better crap from my freezer.
–Skin w/​HAIR on my BBQ chicken. Freakin’ gross. I’ll pay less @ a Chinese place for that.
Oh and here’s an excerpt from the TERRIBLE service:
Cashier: What would you like?
Me: BBQ Chicken rice bowl.
Cashier: Chicken or Beef.
Me: BBQ Chicken rice bowl.
UGH!!! I hate repeating myself to braindead people.
To add to all my frustration:
Cashier: Number 21!
Me: (Clamored up to the counter to grab my TO GO).
Cashier: WAIT!!! (Proceeds to open one of my bags w/​o explaining why)
Turns out they gave me an extra order of something, but lady, tell your customer what’s going on, I paid for my crap, take your filthy hands off my bags.
Props for the LOADS of steamed veggies.

Chicken or Pork — Huge Portions, Creamy Mac & Comfy Seating
Chicken Katsu was huge, hot and fresh, I really like that they make your food only after you order it here so it’s not sitting around. Giant two scoop serving of white rice and a giant scoop of extra creamy mac salad as well so you better come here with your hunger turned on! The Kahlua Pork and BBQ Chicken is also very good here. They have a comfortable nice sized seating area including a bar along the window so solo eaters can feel right at home. If you like, order a Tapioca Milk Tea, as it’s connected to the Pearl Café next door.

After my disappointing lunch, I needed to redeem myself and get a snack before I hit back to the city.
This Hawaiian place is located at the corner end of the San Antonio Shopping Center. I just grabbed a two Spam Musubi at $ 2.00 each. Each of the hot sushi has a sliced of spam with Hawaiian rice and seaweed. I thought the sushi was pretty good compared to my lunch elsewhere.
I was in my car and munching on the sushi on my way back home to San Francisco, and when I got home, I found out my digital camera was «gone». My camera has very important work-​related documents on them and I couldn’t afford to lose that camera.
When I got home, I immediately called the restaurant. And with a sigh of relief, somebody did turn in my camera and the manager is holding on to it in the store’s safe until my return.
I took wife and kids with me to drive back to the city of Los Altos to pick up my camera and we immediately become one of their loyal customers and dined there for dinner.
When we got in line, the manager was on his way out the door. He saw me and happily gave me back my camera. I was very fortunate that the camera was still there. Anywhere else, would be gone for good.
For dinner, since most Hawaiian restaurants serve big portions, we split an order of Chicken Katsu with a spicy Hawaiian-​style Curry sauce. The $ 8.50 meal had 2 scoops of the usual Hawaiian rice and macaroni salad. The thinly battered Chicken was very hot and crispy and complimented well with the Curry sauce. The kids split an order of Mahi Mahi mini dinner. The $ 5.75 kid-​like meal had one scoop of rice and vegetables. The fish was lightly battered and not too heavy for the kids. And yes, we needed to take home the leftovers.
The food was pretty good, but more importantly the restaurant’s employees are honest and friendly people. I guess the city of Los Altos/​Mountain View has set an example to other cities of how people and workers should be.

Every once in a while I get a craving for Hawaiian food. Having visited all the Hawaiian islands and having become good friends in college with people from Hawaii, I guess I grew to like the food too.
It’s not hard to see why. Hawaiian food combines the many genres of Asian food and throws in an island flavor. Think Japanese, Korean, and Chinese all rolled into one.
As for Lukoki, they were among the first Hawaiian restaurants in the Bay Area, opening about half a year before L&L. The food here is solid and the Hawaiian favorites are well respresented, particularly the BBQ combo plate, good kalua pork and the musubi.
My favorite, and I’ve ordered the party platter twice, is definitely the musubi combo. It’s a traditional musubi with spam, but has a fried chicken katsu cutlet as well! I haven’t seen this anywhere else. Mmmmm, so good. I get a lot of weird looks for the spam, but inevitably, this plate is devoured every time.
Anyway, a good lunch spot with solid lunch plates. One note: avoid the saimen. It’s nothing like that on the islands and seems like just a cheaply made combo of packaged ramen thrown together with a few pieces of meat, cheap broth and tons of vegetables.

Awesome deal for meat carnivores. For $ 7.95, you can get this HUGE combo plate of their various Hawaiian BBQ meats — I got the BBQ combo with beef, kalbi, and chicken. The meat was very flavorful and the meats were grilled to order and freshly cooked. You also get two balls of rice and also a mound of decent mac salad. I’m a big eater and even for me, it was too much for one meal so that’s how big the portions are. (See picture.) My only slight gripe was that everything was very oily.
This place is in a sleepy part of the Walmart/​Mervyns shopping mall in Mt View next to Dairy Queen so can be easily missed.
Bottom line: I’m a new fan of this Hawaiian BBQ place, esp since my fave place, Kauai Grill in Mt View, is now closed (RIP Kauai Grill) and L&L doesn’t do it for me.

Lukoki is a fast food restaurant. Sadly, it’s bad food even by fast food standards.
I went there on Thursday at 6pm and the place was completely empty, we were the only customers. The place had no Hawaiians working there. Call me old fashioned, but I expect a Hawaiian restaurant to have at least one Hawaiian working there.
Problem one, this place wasn’t heated. I had on three layers of clothes including a heavy winter coat, and I was still freezing. I should have gotten my food to-​go.
I ordered the Barbeque Beef, and my wife ordered the Barbeque Ribs. Both our meals were huge dissappointments. My food was simply strips of beef seasoned with terriyaki sauce. Is that what BBQ beef means? When I think of BBQ, some kind of interesting sauce comes to mind. Apparantly when I’m cooking for myself at home and I add some terriyaki sauce to a cheap peice of meat, I’m actually making Hawaiian food unknowingly.
I was given approximately ¼ pound of beef, two scoops of rice, and some kind of macaroni mixed with mayoinaise (is that really Hawaiian? Apparantly my highschool cafeteria also serves Hawaiian food!)
The beef was an extremely cheap, poor quality cut of beef. It was overcooked, rubbery, and approximately 50% fat, both marbled fat and big globs of fat. So doing a little math, once I cut off the fat, I was able to eat less than ¹⁄₈ of a pound of meat, or around two ounces.
Just to put that in perspective, the smallest cut of steak (filet mignon) served at a real restaurant is five ounces. By volume, they gave me three times as much rice as they gave me edible meat.
They don’t have real knives there, only dull butter knives. In case you didn’t know, cutting tough rubbery fat with a butter knife isn’t just hard, it’s almost impossible. It took me a lot of time and work just to cut a tiny piece of meat off of the big globs of fat. It took me over a half hour to cut all the fat off.
My wife got approximately ½ pound of ribs, of which 50% was bone, and of what wasn’t bone, 90% was fat. So she got about one ounce of meat and two scoops of rice for dinner. It took her five minutes to eat all the edible meat she was given (approx. one ounce), and she spent the next 25 minutes watching me struggle to cut rubbery steak with a butter knife.
Needless to say this place was a huge disappointment. Bad atmosphere, no other customers (I wonder why?), and most of the food we were given wasn’t edible, unless of course you plan on eating a plate of rubbery meat-​fat.

The best lau lau I’ve ever had, in Hawaii or outside of the island for that matter. The pork lau lau was perfectly oversalted like they would make it on the island, but this one was just surrounded by mounds of ti-​leaves which gave it its ono ono flavor. The kahlua pork was too watery and did not have enough flavor (how ironic as generally it is overly salted as well). The plate lunches come with 2 scoops of rice and a scoop of macaroni salad (okay, my mac salad is WAY better). On top of the plate lunches of short ribs, teriyaki chicken, fried shrimp, there is also saimin and musubi. Prices aren’t outrageously high either.