Island Grill Hawaiian Barbecue

The Island Grill is a worthwhile place to get Hawaiian cuisine. It has the typical plate lunches, sides and beverages at a reasonable cost. As usual with the food carts on Alder, the best place to eat it is at O’Bryant Square.
Picking this out from a crowd of food carts, I love Hawaiian food. It did take a bit longer than usual for my order to be ready, at least by food cart standards. I subsequently took my plate lunch to the square to munch on it. The macaroni was good, though a bit hard to stab with my fork. The ton taksu was crispy, and tender, medium in being noticable among the ton katsu of the universe. The sauce was wonderful, but for efficiency, I only used it on the rice. My ton katsu plate lunch was 7.50 at regular size, though it’s six dollars to be a bit smaller.
Say Aloha to Island Grill.

THE BEST SPAM MUSUBI EVER. I noticed someone else disliking the fact their spam musubi had a lot of sauce rather than being glazed… I agree they use a lot of sauce but it is why I love it so much over others. Their other food options are also very tasty. Sadly, I seem to crave Hawaiian food at the worst times because they don’t seem to be opened during the hours the other food carts are open. Due to this, I’ve tried other Hawaiian carts and restaurants and nothing compares. Even though the hours don’t work for me, they still are deserving of 5 stars because of their quality and taste. Plus I’m one person in comparison to everyone else who gets a typical lunch break during normal times.

One of the many food cart dining options at this lot. The problem with having this many choices is making only one. So we decided to order from two different food carts. Island Grill Hawaiian Barbeque is one of those two.
There is no seating available so you buy your food and go somewhere else to eat. I think we ended up eating at O’Bryant Square a block away.
They don’t have cooked food sitting under a heat lamp waiting to be packaged. They cook after you order. As with most things in life, there are pros and cons to that. Pro: Fresh. Con: Longer wait time.
This Hawaiian BBQ certainly hits the spot. Nothing like Hawaiian food as comfort food!
It might be unfair of me to do this but I can’t help but compare it to other Hawaiian BBQ I’ve had. Compared to others, this doesn’t seem to be as good.
Ordered the Chicken BBQ and it comes with white rice and macaroni salad.

Fast service and huge portions! Also one of the cleanest foodcarts I have seen!
I like the Hawaiin food but their Bi Bim Bap is also really good I highly recommend you try it!

I was tired, hungry, and ornery after stopping at the post office at the end of the day, so I saw Island Grill Hawaiian Barbecue and after taking a look at their attractive cart and menu, I knew this was the place for a healthy dinner. I indeed got that in their teriyaki chicken combo. The teriyaki chicken thighs were moist and picked up the taste of the teriyaki sauce nicely. I also received two scoops of perfectly cooked rice. The scoop of macaroni salad was very tasty with a slight tang to the mayo dressing and evidence of dill weed having been added to the salad was well as a perfect amount of pepper. Service was rapid and friendly. Whatever had been bothering me was done by the time I finished dinner. Try it yourself and see if this does not stop you from being tired, hungry, and ornery.

Food was delicious. Worth the wait in line and was plentiful. Recommend the Kailua pork!

For having ordered only a spam musubi, I must say I’m kinda disappointed in my outcome. Although the service was great and very accommodating, the food itself was eh. I waited for my food for longer than it should have taken. The guy apologized and said they had to restock the spam and gave me a drink on the house which was very nice. When I finally got my food, the spam was just slapped on the rice and completely saturated w/​teriyaki sauce instead of a nice glaze which I usually get. Anyway, it was so-​so but there were definitely other trucks more worth the visit in the pod.

Very big portion for the normal meal. I was definitely stuffed afterwards. The kalua pork was really good. The Mac salad was okay. I think they are a little better than 808 grinds overall, but I like 808’s Mac salad better. I would eat here again.

I haven’t really found too many Hawaiian food carts open on weekend or for dinner.
Had the shoyu chicken. Was not bad but probably would not have again. I have tasted better Hawaiian food in Portland and this food cart pod has several other amazing food options.

Was visiting Portland and wanted to do food trucks on our last night. Got there and most were closed. Went with Island Grill. Food came out fast and service was great. Food was pretty good. I got the mini kahlua pork and my daughter got the mini teriyaki chicken. Was plenty of food for me. One scoop of white rice. One of macaroni salad. I’d eat there again.

Continuing my mission to try every single cart in the SW9th& Alder block, I dropped by this place and ordered their daily special of spicy chicken. It came with two scoops of rice and a mac salad side.
The spicy chix sauce was just gochujang (Korean chili paste) +sweet chili sauce. It was edible but lacked any real depth (well, what do you expect from the ingredients?)
Price is pretty good for $ 7.50 but felt there was too much rice in proportion to the chicken. Considering this is the larger size (their reg plate lunches are $ 6) I wish there was more chicken. Ended up throwing one scoop of rice away.
And let’s not kid ourselves. This ain’t Hawaiian food. It’s your typical Korean teriyaki. Ok, but not great.

The time? 2 AM. The night? All Hallows Eve. The flavors: Life-​saving
The mixed plate served as the perfect mop for all the craft beer and well tequila. Some of the tastiest Hawaiian BBQ I have ever had. The mac salad was spot on and the rice was fresh. Will definitely be double dipping soon.

We came around 5:30 and a lot of the food trucks were closed already! Such a bummerrrrr that I didn’t get to feast on all the delicious food on wheels! Luckily Island Grill Hawaiian were one of the trucks that remained open.
We ordered the Yakisoba — a Japanese fried noodle dish and it was so fresh, hot, and delicious. A big plus was that it was also reasonably price. The staff were also really friendly. We wanted to get seconds but we tried some other food trucks to get our experience worth.

We stopped by just after 7pm & if the owners were about to close for the night they didn’t turn us away. They were happy to serve us fresh, hot, & tender Kalua pork.
The Kalua pork was decent & tender but without the teriyaki sauce some of the pork was dry. The mac salad tasted mediocre. The elbow noodles were cooked perfectly & the mayo sauce, with a sprinkle of black pepper mixed in, was light in taste & texture.
The prices are reasonable. We ordered two plate lunches; one mini & one regular. For $ 1.50 more the regular will get you an extra scoop of rice & more meat. The mini (&5) was plenty for me. If you don’t want a plate lunch, or you need more than a plate lunch, there’s yakisoba noodles, potstickers, spam musubi, egg rolls, & kimchi, too.
This is a good food cart for if you’re in the neighborhood & in the mood for Hawaiian but for now it’s not a place I’m going to make an effort to come back to regularly.

This review is just for their spam musubi ($ 2). I was checking out the various food carts and happily saw that Island Grill has spam musubis! I love them so of course I ordered one. It took a little bit of time for them to make it since they had a lot of other orders, but it was well worth the wait. The warm and toasty spam goodness with crispy seaweed wrapped all around it was the perfect snack.

Just got a quick lunch for my daughter, so limited review. We used to live on Kauai, so my kids miss good local food. She had the Kahlua pork with mac salad– small size. We grabbed it on the way to the climbing gym, so she scarfed it.
Decent mac salad. I’m picky, and it was pretty decent for what I’ve found around town. Not too much mayo, not too much goo.
Guy taking our order was friendly enough. Great cart, reasonable prices, and pretty fast! We will stop by again.

Having moved from Oahu about a year and a half ago, I’m always looking for opportunities to find a decent [Hawaiian style] plate lunch in the PDX area. Unfortunately, my search will not end at the Island Grill Hawaiian Barbecue lunch cart.
This review is based solely on the one plate I ordered from the Island Grill cart, so I may have not experienced food from their primary cook since my visit was on a Saturday. Additionally, I have not tried any of their other offerings.
Although I had planned on eating/​trying other types of food, it had been a while since I ate a decadent ‘plate lunch’. This being the case, I opted for the super nasty [and I mean that in a delicious way] Loco Moco. For those who are unfamiliar with loco moco, it is typically two hamburger patties sitting on or next to two scoops of white rice, all covered with brown gravy and two over easy eggs. Yes, a full day’s worth of calories and a week’s worth of fat. But oh so good… Usually.
Although not bad, there was nothing really good about my loco moco. The best things I can say about it are… For a busy Saturday, they cooked my plate in a fair amount of time (not quick, but not overly slow either). The food was hot and the macaroni salad was okay. I suspect the eggs may have been cooked in quantity prior to my order being placed. While waiting for my food to be cooked, I sensed it wasn’t going to be a «true» Hawaiian plate lunch as the cart did not have a bottle of Tabasco sauce mixed in with it’s condiments. When I asked the gentleman manning the window, he apologized that they did not have any.
As I mentioned, the loco moco was not bad, however, I can’t imagine ever ordering from the Island Grill Hawaiian Barbecue lunch cart again. If you opt to give them a try, I hope you like them better than I did.

Points for being one of the few carts in the area open past 4pm. Really nice guy, decent prices and relatively fast service. Got a combo w spicy pork and chicken katsu — really good Korean spicy pork w some heat even before adding siracha, but the katsu was disappointing. He uses white meat, which would normally be a good thing except that with katsu its a negative since it almost always means it will turn out dry. Mac salad was probably one of the worst I’ve had — just slightly overdone macaroni w weirdly sweet mayo. I had a bite and tossed the rest.
He makes good Korean food, but unfortunately I’m not sold on his Hawaiian.
[2 of 30]

Over the last few months, I’ve returned to those spots I had previously given very low marks to, eager to give them all a fresh shot. Island Grill Hawaiian Barbeque was on the agenda on a sunny mid-​September day.
I like that they have several Hawaiian plate lunch options, from the teriyaki chicken to the loco moco. Staying rather simple, I merely got a small kalua pork plate ($ 5), which had one scoop of mac salad, one scoop of white rice, and probably a scoop’s worth of pork.
Yet again, the execution was hit-​or-​miss, but at least it’ll get a higher score than before. First, the mac salad. More of a peppery bite this time, and thankfully, it was cold mac salad (unlike my experience last summer). However, overcooked macaroni marred the experience. In my opinion, the elbow mac should be more al dente.
The pork itself was merely OK, not overly great. Slightly smoky, ever so slightly on the dry side. I thought it could use a bit more salt. No complaints on the white rice.
Nice guy at the counter, and I received my meal fairly quickly. There are several sauces to choose from, including my favorite condiment of all, sriracha.
While I’m glad I went back to give this place another shot, there are other spots that I personally enjoy more. Any concerns I had with this dish are easily fixable. I’d call it barely three stars overall this time.

There has been a significant increase in Hawaiian food carts in Portland in the last couple of years which is something I am pleased about. Hawaiian plate lunches are reasonably priced comfort food meals that fit well in this scene.
The food pod at SW 9^th & Alder has several Hawaiian food carts to choose from. When I was visting on Saturday afternoon, the only one open was Island Grill. I hadn’t read the Unilocal reviews before going, so I had no idea of the middling reviews.
The menu here is representative of all of the main Hawaiian plate lunch offerings. They offer mini plates for $ 5 and most regular plates are $ 6.50. Some items like the short ribs cost a bit more.
After perusing the menu selections, I was pleased to see shoyu chicken ($ 6.50) was on the menu. It is one of my favorites and I haven’t had it in a while so I decided to try it out.
The food came out pretty quickly and I was soon given a plastic container with my shoyu chicken plate. Since there was no seating in the vicinity, I took it back to the hotel to eat. Even after a 15 minute MAX ride, the food was still warm.
The shoyu (soy sauce) chicken came with two scoops of white rice and a side of macaroni salad. The chicken was good and tender. Just like home. They use chicken thighs which is really the best part to use for this dish. The shoyu chicken had a small bed of cabbage which interestingly tasted like it had wasabi mixed in.
Though the shoyu chicken was good, the macaroni salad was terrible. It was lukewarm and unusually sweet tasting. I won’t rule out that it could have been because the contents of the plate shifted while in transit. Still I felt it did not taste as creamy as it should be.
Found the shoyu chicken at Island Grill to be worth a try and a good value meal. If you are looking for Hawaiian grinds in downtown Portland, this food cart may have what you are looking for. Assuming they are open of course.