L&L Hawaiian Barbecue

If I could give 0 stars I would. I couldn’t even give away my food to a homeless man. I love Hawaiian food and had high hopes and man do I feel stupid. I convinced my whole family to grab a quick bite and none of us could finish our meals.
Not only was the food a joke but they are the only restaurant in the world that won’t give you a cup of water. Even African hut food shacks in east Africa will offer you a cup of water.
Eat here if you wish, but know that you’ve been warned.
Atrocious!

How dare you, close.
How
Dare
You

Came by the other day and its gone.

We came as a group to get some lunch. This place is not bad for lunch. I ordered the small chicken katsu plate lunch. Even it is small, the portion size is not small at all. I came with a lot of chicken, 1 scoop of rice, salad and macaroni salad which what I wanted.
We came as group of 6 and got our food relatively fast. This place is clear enough. All our food tasted good and we were happy.
As for price, I paid $ 7+ for small chicken katsu plate lunch so it is not as cheap as halah cart but it is still very good place to try something different

interior. The massive plates are food are sized for two — the BBQ Mix contains beef, chicken, ribs, rice and a scoop of macaroni salad in the $ 10 range. It’s just a shame that people who want to try this food on the other Big Island are forced to come to such a downtrodden (and out of the way location).
The well-​meaning franchisees and employees were friendly on the recent visit, but I really wish the corporate headquarters would spring for a refresh. Remove the yellowing, competing signs of expired promotions and not-​so-​recent changes to the menu. Take up the brown tile and empty freezer case. Repair the fountain soda machine. Bring in some chairs not made during the Carter administration.
It’s one thing for an independent, dime-​a-​dozen Fujianese place a mile to the north to take no pride in its experience. But for escapist, pan-​Asia fare that’s on offer here, I hope for a better atmosphere.
My solution for the future is takeout. This solves two problems — 1. no need to hang out in the restaurant 2. the ability to burn off a portion of the meat-​and-​startch heavy cuisine on the East River bike path.

Easy to miss. Hole in the wall. Crap-​tastic looking on the outside. Be warned.
I’ve eaten at many an L&L in Hawaii — the real ones, all over Oahu. This one does not compare. It was not as good as the islands, but it was nice to have the options that the authentic L&Ls offer.
The chicken katsu was sub-​par at best. The katsu sauce was NOTHING like it is supposed to be — no where in the world can mimic that sauce. So good, when its good. The lau lau was shipped in from HI, so that was actually really good. Authentic. But HUGE portion, way filling.
Try this place if you want to get a feel for what cheap hawaiian take away is like, but don’t judge hawaiian food by this place — its actually really damn good when its done right. Also, if you ever GO to the islands, go to a real L&L — order anything and I promise you WILL NOT BE SORRY!

DONT GO TO THIS CRAP HOLE!
I don’t even think it deserves a star at any rate, but it won’t let me submit my review without at least one. So fine, here’s a star for pity points! The food here is NOTHING compare to hawaiian cuisine, but since it’s the closest thing we have around lower manhattan, i suppose we have to settle.
But more so, the «service» if you can even call it that (what a sad excuse!!) is HORRENDOUS! I have ordered from here many times before, but more recently, the owner or whoever the person who answers the phone is a complete b*tch!
Perhaps they recently changed ownership or is under new «management» but I was never treated so badly until the past two times. I placed an order online and received a phone call from L&L telling me that I need to come downstairs to get my order when it comes. Ok, if my front door was locked, then yes, of course I would have to come and get my food, however, if it’s unlocked, as the delivery man, he should have the responsibility of DELIVERING the food to my door, hence the tip right? Ok, fine, i’ll come get my food. Then two seconds later, she calls me back again and tells me that I need to tip him, even though my order included tip. Now explain to me why I need to tip (and tip extra at that) if i’m not receiving the service I had asked for?
All in all, this place has bad service and mediocre food. It barely rates for a take out joint if you go to their establishment. And at all cost, avoid that counter cashier b*tch or whatever she claims she is. I will never get anything else from here after this horrible experience tonight.

Now that I’m back in FIDI I have the Spam Musubi crave. Hand rolls with spam and rice with a soy based BBQ sauce. Hawaiian chain that’s a bit divey neat the South Street Seaport. I love this place. I’ve had the Katsu which was yummy and the moco loco which is deadly good. How can you not like 2 burgers over rice and gravy with 2 eggs on top? They sell T-​shirts and the store is kitschy in a good way. Why aren’t there more of these?

TWO WORDS– SPAM MUSUBI. I love SPAM, in small portions… but I love SPAM. SPAM + Terriyaki + Rice + Nori = YUMMY.
There is an L&L back home in CA that we always went to and this is a nice reminder of it. A lot of good food for a great price will always make me happy. Some people think it’s strange, but this is your typical Hawaiian lunch plate: two scoops of rice, one scoop of mac salad, and meat– lots of meat. What you need to do is get that perfect bite of rice, mac salad, some cabbage, and meat.
They are cash only, and the place looks a little worn down but they deliver for free with a $ 10.00 minimum. $ 20 will get you enough food to split amongst 3 people if you don’t want a heavy lunch.

Oh Hawaii…
How I missed you…
This is a little piece of home away from home if you’re from Hawaii.
I know, I know.
It is like fast food Hawaiian style.
But I LOVE it !
I had the Kalua Pork w/​Cabbage.
I have to say this Kalua tasted much better/​smokier than the Kalua served to me when I attended a Luau on the island.
Me LIKEY!
I’m high on caffeine, please excuse me.
Not only that, I finally found my Aloha Maid drink.
Eff that purple stuff…
I want that Lilikoi (Passionfruit).
It was a bit hard to find partly because I don’t usually travel down there.
Oh they also have a lunch buffet available if you’re not into Hawaiian.
I’m still working up to the Poi.
I will be back for the Mahi Mahi.
ALOHA!

I ate here a number of times and tried the following:
You Must Order This:
Regular Plate (w/​Chicken Katsu– comes with 2 eggs, 1 BBQ beef and 1 short rib with salad) — This is a carnivore’s delight. The Chicken Katsu was crunchy and the curry sauce was a bit sweet. A little different from the Japanese curry I’m used to. The beef was well marinated and flavorful. Though don’t expect the meat to fall off the bone. The salad was drenched in dressing. I should have asked for the dressing on the side. This is a lot of food and can be turned into 2 meals easily.
Spam Musubi– I love spam. If you do too, get this.
Chicken Katsu Musubi– Imagine a sushi with fried chicken in the middle. Trying to decide to get only this or the Spam Musubi is a Sophie’s Choice. So just order both.
Macaroni salad was yummy
Skip this– The food below is not bad, it’s just not as good as the stuff above:
Hawaiian BBQ chicken with brown rice– it’s decent. Nothing special about it, but I can’t say anything bad about it.
BBQ Chicken Musubi– It’s ok. Get this only if you have a craving for bbq chicken.

It is apparently a chain in Hawaii so for that, you probably should go here at least once. I had the Hawaiian chicken & as one reviewer said, it totally felt like a fast food version. The rice was pretty good (and plentiful) and the salad dressing is yummy, similar to what you’d get in a Japanese restaurant. However, I wasn’t as enamored with the chicken because of tasting fattier pieces than I’d have liked. The sauce itself was good, though.
I’m not sure if I would return since I’m not in the area very often these days. I wasn’t as impressed even though it was affordable for Manhattan.

I personally like this place a lot and it introduced me to Chicken Katsu. I’m sort of surprised by the one and two stars but when stopping in, don’t expect a gourmet meal from a five star restaurant, but it’s great fast food that is fried, greasy and filling.
It’s a lot of food so pick your size wisely. The usual combos come with a pile of rice and a little salad and the size of the chicken katsu is medium to large. It also comes with a sauce which is great to dip into. I also get the Mahi Mahi now which comes on a bed of cabbage with a side of tartar sauce.
I used to live around the corner and stopped in once a week or at least every other week. A great take out spot when you don’t feel like cooking. It’s not cheap, but not much down near Fulton street is. When I’m in the area I still stop in every once in a while as there’s no place else like it in the city. I got to try the pork katsu in Japan and I’ll still say this chicken katsu was pretty darn good.
Overall, I took a risk and stopped in and tried it and I wasn’t disappointed. I liked it and you might even see me there again soon enough.

Edit: I got sick after eating the Katsu. 1 automatically
If this was the first visit, I’d give it a 3
First order: Loco Moco (2 eggs on top of 2 Hamburger Patties with brown sauce)
Way too much food, but the burger was actually pretty good. Kinda pricy but so much food for this price, especially for the area. 3.1
The sides you get with your food are meh. I dislike the Macaroni Salad here (way too much Mayo) and the white rice is ok (but way too big a portion and kinda dry.)
Japanese/​Hawaiian salad is bad with a single non-​fresh tomato, a small piece of cucumber, and some wilted lettuce. The dressing is a watered down version of the usual (with some water left in there to boot.) I frankly wish it was larger as it helps get through the rest of the meal.
If I would give a separate rating for the sides, the rice gets a 2.5, the macaroni salad would get a 1.5 and the salad would get a 1.
The drink was quite good though. The guava juice was good and I can see why people like the brand. I’d give it a 4 for the price and quality.
Though this is the 2^nd one and well I cannot finish my food for once. I first ordered my dish, Chicken Katsu, no macaroni salad, with brown rice. First, they don’t tell you that the brown rice costs an extra 50 cents. (There really are no menu prices on the board)
Some issues: I got macaroni salad with the food regardless.
Rice was ok but a but undercooked
Many pieces of katsu but it well tasted off. And I found out why. I was sick the next morning and well I am not visiting this place again. I guess the chicken was undercooked also.
2.5÷3 star meal the first time. 0 star meal the 2^nd. Not consistent and I won’t risk it again, not to mention the bad service (macaroni and counting). If you must insist, don’t get the Katsu and well get the Loco Moco

I love to have lunch at this place. If it’s not too far from my work, I would go there for lunch every day. Loco Moco is a must have. The gravy and burger meat with the special BBQ sauce was very delicious. I have to have this item almost every time, when I visited. With the macaroni salad, it was just the heaven. Have to try the BBQ combo next time.
For my most recent visit, I had the garlic grilled Mahi Mahi over salad. I wish the fish wasn’t so dry. Also, this place is cash only.
I found out this place is run by Filipinos. :)

Why 4 stars? Honestly — b/​c it’s close, it’s quick, it’s relatively inexpensive considering how much food you get… and it’s exactly like the ones in Hawaii!
I went to hawaii a few times and one of the purest moments of joy was finding out i can get spam and rice and eggs for breakfast. Now that I’ve been here — i was delighted to have the food. And this time i have no problems trying everything on the menu.
Just like in hawaii — they give a nice mound of maccoroni salad. Is that good? Meh it’s take it or leave it — but it’s always there. The restaurant shines in it’s ability to push out food fast, hot, and consistently good. I’m always in and out of this place… just got to remember to check in more.

L&L is a fast food chain originally from Hawaii. Besides this location, I also have been to ones in Hawaii, San Diego, and also another location in NYC in the west 30s that has since closed down. L&L specializes in plate lunches, which is a main entrée with scoops of rice and macaroni salad.
The plates that I like the most from here are the BBQ Chicken, BBQ Beef, and Fried Mahi Mahi. The BBQ meat is very juicy and covered in a delicious bbq sauce. Meanwhile, the mahi mahi, combined with the tartar sauce reminds me of the fish you get when you eat fish n chips.
Two things I would not recommend are the Loco Moco and Lau Lau. The Loco Moco is just hamburger patties with gravy. The patties themselves were very dry when I had them. The Lau Lau is pulled pork wrapped in taro leaves. It sounds interesting but the flavor was bitter and just did not taste so good.
I recommend trying this place just for the experience. Though each L&L is independently owned and food preparation can differ from location to location, this one is about as good as the ones you would find in Hawaii.

Not having a local go to Japanese Katsu spot, decided to try out L&L.
After ordering the regular size (large) the first time, I quickly realized the small was the same thing for less. If you don’t plan this meal around a nap, then go with the small. You can thank me later. It’s more than enough food.
I’ve tried the chicken katsu, which was crispy, but had WAY WAY to much breading. They need to tone that down if they don’t want people falling into the itis, as they consume this overly starch heavy meal. Katsu comes with a brown/​green curry sauce that compares to Japanese curry sauce, or atleast it did the numerous times I first went here.
So last time I stopped by for lunch, the woman behind the counter hands me a small clear sauce container with a sweet bbq style sauce in it. Not bad, but not what I was looking for. I realize this is not the usual curry sauce that comes with the meal, so I ask her for the other sauce… the Japanese style curry sauce that I dream about. She tells me that what I am holding in the only sauce they have for the katsu. Confused by her delivery, I ask if they are just out of the usual curry sauce, which I explain came with my meal other times. No, she explains this is the only sauce that comes with the katsu. I felt extremely odd after this, it’s not a good feeling to knowingly be lied to.
I walked out with my food confused by what just happened. Did I imagine the delicious curry all those other times? Had my 2 weeks off from L&L been during a curry shortage? Did she think I had a bad curry addiction problem?
Now not only did this sauce not taste like the usual curry sauce that comes with the meal, but it was also basically a sweet bbq sauce (comparable to McDonald’s). The curry sauce I was looking for was a warm curry that came in a styrofoam container and was similar to the curry sauce served at places like Go GO Curry. This was an imposter sauce she had handed me.
I have no idea why the woman behind the counter decided to tell me a lie about the sauce I had eaten many times before at this exact establishment. All I know is I missed the sauce.
If there is anything I learned from this its that there is no reason to lie to a customer. If your out of something or no longer make it, then that is fine. Let the costumer know that. But do not play your customers for fools.
I will keep you updated if anything changes, but for now I’m taking a L&L break.
TIP:
Don’t buy you drinks in this place. They charge $ 1.50 for a water and $ 2 for a Snapple. Order your food and while you wait, walk outside to the newspaper stand and pick up what ever drink you like for the regular price (i.e. $ 1 for water, $ 1.50 for Snapple). One of my biggest pet peeves is overcharging for water. Just a ridiculous business strategy that takes advantage of customers. They do this well here by not posting any of the prices for anything, including food.

Being from Hawaii, home of the original L&L chain, I HAD to give this place a try. (Also, its been a while since I had home cooking).
Despite the menu being a little smaller, (missing beef stew :() It measured up to par with what my expectations were. Home is still better but this is decent substitute. Of course it was more expensive, but I mean this is NYC so im not holding that against them. Normal service and standard L&L food. I got the Chicken Katsu, which I was most eager to try, and although the katsu sauce was different, it still tasted similar.
Tip for them: in Hawaii, Spam Musubi is made with Calrose/​Japanese rice, as musubi is a local-​japanese dish. NYC L&L made it with jasmine long grain, which does not stick together as well and the musubi basically fell apart. Oh well. it took me a while to learn how to make them too.

So I ordered lunch from here the other day, and my foam, takeout container of brown rice, garlic shrimp and side salad appeared as one huge and sloppy, hot mess as I opened the package. That said, I still enjoyed the flavors of my meal despite its visually insulting look. Also, I especially appreciated that they have a handful of new, «healthy» menu options, this garlic shrimp lunch platter being one of them. I’m skeptical as to how healthy it actually is because the shrimp pieces (about 7 or 8) were all lightly breaded and fried, and I couldn’t even finish the brown rice as the portion size was too hefty. But hey! It’s being promoted as a healthy dish, so I’ll take them at their word.
Additionally, I ordered one piece of SPAM MUSUBI which for a while, this tasty, Hawaiian staple, had become my shameful obsession ever since I had had it for the first time at Sushi Park, and then successfully proceeded to make it myself. These little packages of pan-​fried spam and sushi rice, enrobed in seaweed, is a very unassumingly delicious thing! I’m happy that L&L Hawaiian BBQ exists in FiDi so that I can continue this illicit love affair with spam musubi.
The décor in here is stereotypical and chain restaurant-​apparent, but in an odd way, that sort of thing can sometimes be delightful (think In-​n-​Out, Sbux, etc). There’s a plastic surfboard hanging on the wall, and some Hawaiian catchphrase descriptions on the board, like «shaka» to learn for cultural edification. I was thoroughly amused. As I was waiting for my lunch, I noticed that they also carry some local Hawaiian drinks such as guava-​nectar soda which sounds pretty fantastic. I’ll have to try it next time.
My meal was a bit on the pricey side. The garlic shrimp dish along with the musubi set me back about $ 12.00, which is definitely on the higher end of what I normally spend. But, for that brief respite from the usual lunchtime meals of soups, salads, and sandwiches, L&L Hawaiian BBQ is a very refreshing, and tasty alternative.
The next time I make my way back to L&L, needless to say that in addition to the spam musubi, I think I’ll have a go at the mixed BBQ combo that other Unilocalers are raving about. Sounds like a lu’au on a plate!