Homestyle Hawaiian

Not anything to come for. I had the combo kalbi/​katsu and both the meats were good but not very big portion. But the Mac was terrible, warm and had absolutely no seasoning. And it’s a Hawaiian shop they are suppose to know how to cook rice. It was hard and way under cooked. Also what plate much comes with 1 scoop rice
There’s a great authentic Hawaiian place in North Pacific beach so even though this place is closer we won’t be back.

Was in the area so we decided to grab some dinner. The food is good but the service is terrible. Came here with my boyfriend and we were the only ones here. I feel like it took almost 20 minutes to get our meal. Why it took so long for 1 order? I don’t know.
Then a huge group of college-​aged guys came and stormed into the restaurant. I think they just finished playing basketball because they all smelled like sweat and bad BO. Apparently one of the guys was an employee because he just hopped behind the register and started taking his friend’s orders. It was obvious that he gave his friends free drinks and a platter of fruit. They were all extremely obnoxious. Then a nice older lady came and asked how long the wait was because she could see that it was crowded. The 2 employees working said it would be about 30 minutes. So the lady left and the employees just started laughing and making jokes about her. Good to know how they feel about paying customers.
Lastly, when we were leaving the parking lot we were blocked in by the owner Amy’s delivery truck. As we tried to back out she honked at US to move. That was extremely rude because she should have been the one to move since we was blocking a bunch of cars.
I’d say I won’t come here again. Zarlito’s in National City has WAAAY better poke anyway.

Had a break in-​between class/​work and a mean craving for Poke. I had the option of trying something new or something close to where I was at. I decided to do a little bit of both and go to the familiar homestyle Hawaiian at a new location.
The girl at the register was sweet and pleasant. She seemed to enjoy her job which was a nice change from a few of my recent experiences. I ordered a pound of the kim chi poke. She asked if I would like a side of rice but unfortunately they didn’t have the option of brown rice so I passed.
The poke portion is pretty damn large which kind of made up for the fact it was over $ 16 after tax and tip. I enjoyed this version of poke because I like kim chi and I like poke lol.
What’s not to like? The fish pieces were rather large but seemed a little icy (assuming flash frozen like most places). There’s a lot of sauce and it was a little overly salty. Overall the food wasn’t bad but expensive.

Found this place tucked away in Midway, and I can say I am SO SO happy I found it. I didn’t know that they were other locations until I went to write this review, and I will definitely have to stop at my lunch since there is a location near my work as well. Everything I have tried is excellent! They have a egg battered Teriyaki beef that is so good I may never have anything else on the menu again! Ok… the won tons and the poke are out of this world too. My family is from Kauai, so I have a good place to base my opinion on. The last time I was there, the boys had started scrubbing the restaurant floor. I was ordering to go, so as I sat there waiting for my food, I watched those guys clean with all their heart. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen someone care that much about their work. I will be returning often!!!

Found their restaurant to be filthy and unsanitary. I also saw the cook picking at his nose and placed it back in the food to finish preparing it. Would not recommend this place to anyone. Not very Aloha here and most definitely not Homestyle Hawaiian cooking at all!

I went with their combo and got the Korean chicken and kalua pork.
The kalua pork was just mediocre but the Korean chicken was among the best chicken I’ve ever had anywhere. The texture, marinade and sauce on top was incredible.
Would definitely go back here and try some of the other options they have including the poke.

Found this gem while I was craving for spam musubi and this place happened to have them deep fried!!! It was actually the only this my boyfriend and I tried since we wanted to grab something quick before dinner. The place seats about roughly 30 people and was decorated Hawaii themed. The wait was about 20 – 25 minutes for just two of them but it was worth the wait!!! Pretty affordable for how big they were. Definitely coming back to try other things on their menu!

I work in the area and frequently eat here on my lunch breaks. They have good service, GREAT food, and this place is clean. The only downside is that they are closed on Mondays and I always forget. Usually, I’ll have the spam musubi (sometimes fried, sometimes regular) or a korean chicken plate and a cherry lemonade. The korean chicken is better than katsu chicken because the crunchy outer layer just tastes better than panko crumbs and I like the sauce they have sitting at the bottom with cabbage. I hate macaroni salad, such as the one they serve at L&L’s and even at the HH location in Kearny Mesa, but this place has really good mac salad (less mayo and more flavor).

Visit San Diego on Thanksgiving holiday weekend, this the only place open on Friday for lunch! Great price and big portion, have to deceive that for dinner too. well that compare from San Francisco. Will come again next time when I in the southern area.

As far as I can tell, the menu here at this location is the same as the Mesa location. The only difference seems to be a much larger dining area with a dozen or so 4 top tables lined up along the side walls with padded bench seating and tables on the main aisle.
Love the Poke as iterated in my Mesa location review and it’s what keeps me coming back.

Unilocal says you’re open on a Monday but you’re not? Drove kinda far so I’m not happy. I think sign on your door says closed Sunday and Monday. You need to be aware that people rely on Unilocal for hours posted. If you’re going to change them, then ya gotta do it on here too. Still love your food but seriously.

Pros: Chicken katsu and lava chicken was moist and had lots of flavor. One of the best in the mainland, imo. Kalua pig was also flavorful and moist. Mac salad had bits of potatoes and just the right amount of pepper. However I usually load mine up with more pepper so it would have only needed a little bit more.
Cons: For the regular plates, I was surprised to see that it only came with one scoop of rice. That’s definitely not standard. A mini plate usually comes with one scoop, and that’s not what we ordered.
For being a «local Hawaiian restaurant,» neither of the young Filipino boys knew how to pronounce my boyfriend’s name, Alika. One stated that was «an interesting name» and the other called him Ah-​lie-​kah. I would recommend maybe spending a summer in Hawaii to learn the culture a lil?
Overall: Highly impressed with the food and would definitely come back. And yes, I’ve lived in Hawaii and am familiar with the food and the culture.

Teriyaki chicken plate is the test. Nail it and I’m sold. Homestyle Hawaiian has a customer for life. I need to come back and try the poke bowls.
Sorry L&L… If I’m in the area, I’m coming here.
I love the fact the mac salad isn’t drowning in mayonnaise.
Yum.

Just as good as their other locations but this one compared to the Clairemont location has a soda machine and is quite larger not only in seating but parking too. For fast lunch plate style Hawaiian food, Homestyle Hawaiian continues to deliver. Plus it seems that portion wise this place packs it on. We are talking one plate of lava chicken was enough for two meals big.

Very good grindz and fair prices! I tried the Lilikoi Lemonade which was pretty good. Had a good balance of taste between the Lilikoi and Lemonade. Either did not over power each other’s taste and complimented well.
I had the combo plate lunch with Korean Chicken and Kailua Pig. Very generous portion. The Mac Salad was bland. The Korean Chicken was lightly breaded and Kailua Pig were tender with plenty of taste.
The Teri Beef is pretty good too and not drowned in Teri sauce. I’ll pass on the deep friend Spam Musubi because the sauce was too sweet.
Cons:
Slow Service (Long wait to order and receiving the food. I recommend calling in your order and taking it to go).
Limited Parking.
Limited interior and exterior seating.

I got the Lava Chicken plate for lunch and I highly recommend it. Running at about $ 8 I ate this for pretty much 2 meals since the portions were so generous. The sauce on the Lava chicken was delicious and the chicken itself was very meaty and didn’t have much fat on it. =)
The macaroni was great too! I can’t wait to come back and try their other dishes.

This place is just OK. Service was a little slow and there was nothing special about their food.
The food was good, but not a true plate lunch if you’re used to the regular Hawaiian style portions. Normal plate lunches are large servings and the plates/​containers they are served in are filled with food to the max capacity. Here, we only got 1 scoop of rice and received a portion of chicken katsu that was barely enough to share between 2 people. The mac salad didn’t have much taste.
The malasadas that we had were not true Hawaiian/​Portuguese style. Real malasadas are large roundish donuts, fried to a golden brown, and rolled in sugar… with the inside being light and fluffy… so it’s both crunchy and chewy. The ones that we got from HH were neither… they seemed like deep fried pillsbury biscuits rolled in sugar. Totally not what we were hoping for or expecting.
With a name like Homestyle Hawaiian, we had high expectations. Not sure if we’d come back to this location. Especially since L&L is just up the street.

I had never had Hawaiian food, so what better place to try it than from somewhere that emphasizes its hominess? Must be authentic. My friend and I stared at the menu in confusion (and for me at least a little disgust (Spam, really?)) when the cashier kindly made some suggestions. We took his advice. Speaking of the cashier, he was oddly flirtatious:
«Can we have water cups?»
«Of course, wouldn’t want you to get… dehydrated ;)»
I don’t know how he managed to make everything sound flirty, but he succeeded. Anyways, that is irrelevant.
They were definitely not trying to impress anyone with the presentation — the food came in Styrofoam containers. *gasp* so much unnecessary disposed Styrofoam. I ordered the Kalua Pig, which at first glance looked gross and at first bite was saltier than the Pacific Ocean. Upon digging through the meat that «falls right off the bone», I noticed it literally had fallen off the bone and was then served. There was really gross snot like portions… I do not even want to know what it was. I was really very hungry, so I ate the parts I judged edible which was about half of the meat — that is not a large fraction in my opinion. On the other hand, the potato/​macaroni salad was very nice.
We were sitting next to a native Hawaiian who said some of the culture’s food is an «acquired taste». He also said that the restaurant was not as good as the fast food Hawaiian place down the road… My friend and he had the same order — the Korean Chicken — which was described as «fried chicken but better».
Both of us left with half of the food still on the plate. And by «left with» I mean we left… and the plate still had half of the food on it, but was in the trash. Also, I was extremely nauseous so that was pleasant. It is safe to say I did not acquire the taste for Hawaiian food.

Just like the Mesa location. except MUCH bigger and with plenty of parking spots!
If you’re looking to fill your belly up, come in and order a plate. You will not leave hungry (unless you share /​someone steals some of your food).
Our favorite is the Lava Chicken, which is much like chicken katsu, but with their lava sauce. It’s a sweet sauce, but more lightweight (unlike a thicker consistency katsu sauce). Their breading is also good, and the chicken itself is of good quality – not too much fat or grease.
Another good option is the Korean Chicken. The batter is crispier and more of a fried chicken-​like texture. It’s seasoned, and the sauce is also more liquid and tends to lean on the saltier side. The batter also tends to fall off of the chicken more easily on this dish.
The mac salad is nice and refreshing without the heavy mouthfeel of a ton of mayo and the portions of rice and mac salad are more than enough to ration throughout the entire dish.
It is somewhat pricier, however. 2 plates will run you almost $ 18.

I’m so glad this location has opened up. We were driving by one day, and I saw that Jin’s Grill was gone, and in its place was a sign for Homestyle Hawaiian. Then, maybe two weeks later, we were at the HH location off of Mesa College Blvd, and I asked the girl at the counter when the Midway location would open. She told me that it should be sometime in April, which made me very happy.
I saw that their website said that they had a new location, so we decided to give it a try earlier this week. I figured that, if the service and the food were even half of what we get at the Mesa College location, we’d have a winner.
We got lucky that night. I didn’t realize that it was their opening week, and as such, they were doing a «soft» opening. That meant that their hours were shortened, and they turned off the «open» sign and flipped the placard around right after we placed our order. Phew!
I tried to order the Roast Pork with Gravy, but they didn’t have any that night. Boo. So I went with the Korean Chicken, instead. My husband got the combo of Lava Chicken and Kalua Pig. Also, because it was opening week, they were giving away free fountain drinks to everyone who ordered a plate. It was lost on me, since I don’t drink soda, but my husband thought it was the best news ever.
Our food came out quickly, which I appreciate (I’m guessing it’s because they wanted to close up for the night). And when we got it home, it was all so delicious. I’d never had the Lava Chicken before, so I didn’t know what to expect. It was crispy and had a good sauce over it, and it wasn’t drowning in the sauce either, which was nice. My husband loved his plate, and had enough to save for lunch the next day.
The service here was great — friendly and efficient, and willing to answer questions, which I love. This restaurant will absolutely take the place of the L&L down the street from now on. So happy they’re here!