Mahalo Hawaii BBQ & Chinese Food

Came here because Poki Bowl did not have anything kid-​friendly. I was so thrilled that this place is just a few doors down from Poki Bowl. After I got my poke salad bowl, we waltzed over to an empty joint. A rather depressing overall ambiance but what they had on their menu, the aroma, and the prices made it all worth it. Plus, I refuse to resort to McDonald’s. Almost 3 years w/​o fast/​processed food.
I was undecided on what to get for Gavin but I read, «orange chicken» about 3x when I was at the counter (menu, specials, and review) so I went w/​it. A rather huge order for under $ 8 was great in my book because it was his lunch and dinner today.
There are no napkin dispensers on the tables and utensils were hidden behind the counter. It was just him that was enjoying the meal otherwise I would have needed to ask for another plastic fork. They only gave us 1 napkin.
A generous portion of orange chicken. Very saucy. The order came w/​2 scoops of rice that was cooked perfectly. I did steal a few bites of his meal. The orange chicken was crunchy at first and tender after the initial bite. It was delicious.
I’d definitely come back.
I saw a low carb plate offering!

Tried delivery service for the first time. They were very fast — I wished I’d actually timed it, but I’m pretty sure it was much quicker than the 1hr estimate. Food was as fresh as if I’d gone there, waited for them to cook up my order, then took it home before eating. Some places you feel like the food was sitting around before they got around to delivering it. I just wish the shrimp wasn’t as thickly breaded. Other than that — delish!

This place is close to our house so we order to go most of the time. It’s actually much better than you would expect. It’s not fancy and prices are reasonable. I really like their spam masubi. If you want quick Chinese food you should try this place.

LOVE THEIR FOOD! I got my husband hooked on masubis and when I’m too lazy to make my own we order from here. It’s only a mile from us so it’s very convenient to get a quick fix. Great service and her friendly. I’ve taken my kids there and they love the food.
It’s a very small place so we usually order for takeout but we’ve never been disappointed

Great service. If you want delivery they’ll get it to you in under 20 minutes. Food is good and never had any issues.

First off let me say it was really hot inside. Plan accordingly. It’s more of a take out joint though so i wont hold the room temp against them.
Food was decent. The spam masubi was very tasty! I wish it had a bigger slice of spam since I’m paying $ 2 for it but hey, it tasted great and thats what matters in the end, right?
I also got the bbq mix plate which was comparable to most other Hawaiian bbq joints in taste and portion. I would rate mac salad as a cut above other places but otherwise the chicken, kalbi and beef was average.
I would eat here again. Nothing worth going out of your way for but if you’re in the area i would give it a go.

Everything is great! My fave is the sweet & sour soup sooooooo
. The give you your $‘s worth and the meet is amazing

I’ve been coming here ever since I was a wee lad. No, really, I just wanted to use «wee lad», but I actually have!
Hawaiian food is pretty hard to come by, to be honest. Most people only really know L&L; I mean, it’s solid and all, but there’s a lot of other options out there if you look a little harder. Mahalo is definitely up there.
A family-​run business, Mahalo has the same cashier and cook pretty much every time I walk in. She probably knows me by now – it’s seriously been years and years. She’s very nice, and the whole atmosphere of the place is comfortable.
My go-​to plate here is the chicken katsu plate, which is coupled with macaroni salad and rice with slaw underneath. It’s a pretty good value, considering I pretty much never finish it and have to take home leftovers. I also always get the spam musubi, which is among the best musubis I’ve found in San Jose.
Ultimately, Mahalo to me just embodies the spirit of the word’s English translation: hello. I just feel welcome here, and I know I’m going to get quick and quality Hawaiian food. And honestly, I hope it’s still around when maybe I have a wee lad of my own to make it his or hers.

My bbq chicken is hot and delicious, and my macaroni salad is quite tasty. My only concern is that my soda tastes funny, like the machines haven’t been cleaned recently.

I get the Chicken Katsu everytime. The lady that works there is so nice. She let’s me call 20 minutes ahead of time so I don’t have to wait. That in itself is awesome. I love customer serve like they actually care. Makes me want and crave their food even more.
Definitely hit this place up for the Katsu if your in the area. Huge portion!

Not so bad, however, the lady couldn’t find our address on Google Maps after multiple attempts. 0 – 0 Waiting time took about an hour.
Not my favorite Hawaiian place, but I’ll probably be back next time! Not calling for delivery though!

Was craving some Hawaiian BBQ, and the L&L is in a really cramped plaza, so I decided to check out this place since it’s closer and not a franchise. A little different since they serve Chinese food too. I walked in at an off time on a Saturday and the cashier was dozing off at the front. Can’t blame her since it was dead and warm inside.
I went with the mini chicken katsu plate, which was just a little over $ 6 (they accept credit/​debit if it’s $ 6 or more) and it was ready pretty quickly. Very standard plate, but a lot of food! Iiked how their katsu sauce is on the sweeter side and lighter than what I’m used to. Chicken katsu is perfectly fried too. Mac salad was pretty good too. Would come back when I have my cravings.

Nasty nasty so called food the ribs were 90% fat micro waved just plain NASTY.
STEER CLEAR

Great food reminds me of Waikiki. macaroni salad, BBQ beef, chicken katsu are all on point. Good Chinese fast food too!

Hole in the wall dive but great comfort food. It’s clean, not greasy, and it’s not over seasoned and there’s a lot of it. I thought it was a great spot for a quick lunch that had great kalua pork and really good chicken. I really dig the macaroni salad with them meal.

A little weird because they serve both Chinese and Hawaiian food, so from past experience with other locations that do mixed ethnic foods, the food is eh.
But surprisingly, the Hawaiian menu is not too bad!
I prefer their chicken katsu above l&l, it’s more crunchy with thicker pieces of chicken rather than overcooked and dry batter. Their Mac salad is amazing, not too much of that mayonnaise taste so it’s not harsh on your palette.
The portions are generous, at least for the katsu.
I work down the street so this is my goto place for lunch! Keep it up!

This place is small and family owned. I like the idea of a Hawaiian and Chinese food combination for a restaurant. The menu they have up behind the counter only has a few limited items, so I recommend you look at the full foldout paper menu. The food was good. I ordered the chicken katsu and kalua pork combo. I recommend this place if your local from some quick inexpensive Hawaiian food.

I’ve had better, but this is okay for the area. plus I can come here for a cheap lunch sometimes! They have those photo menus on the wall when you walk in, but it’s not very organized. Everything is just kinda all over the place on the wall and I wouldn’t say it’s appetizing. So do yourself a favor a pick up that little to-​go menu, you’ll see a lot of options and cheaper options too.
The first time I got the combo. with chicken katsu and chicken teriyaki. maybe some beef too but I can’t remember. They give you good portions. I chose to dine-​in but it got a little awkward. The kitchen staff, and the lady behind the register came out to eat lunch and we were the only people in the store together, felt like I was intruding on their family lunch so I hurried up and left a little by after. It’s usually pretty empty in there when I come so its usually just me and the cashier. I definitely didn’t finish my food, the katsu was good and crispy, but nothing memorable about anything else I ate.
The second time I came in the restaurant staff was eating lunch again, just my luck! But this time even worse, more awkward and I felt so bad. they were eating but since I came in everyone had to go back to their station to make my order… sorry. There seems to be only 3 people working here. I ordered a mini chicken katsu curry + an egg. Also added a spam masubi. This was definitely over-​doing it, their portions are pretty big for a «mini». There was so much chicken katsu I only finished half, it comes with one scoop of rice instead of two, and one scoop of mac salad. Not a fan of mac salad usually so I didn’t really touch it. The curry came in a separate container rather than smothered on top of the katsu, which was nice so it doesn’t get soggy. However, the curry was not good… it was kind of goopy and super thick. The taste wasn’t great either, I could probably have made something better with the curry packets from mitsuwa. The fried egg was an exra dollar, but I could never resist. Too bad this one didn’t have a runny yolk and the sides weren’t crispy… The spam masubi was good but wayy too much rice for the spam portion, I probably ate ½ of the rice given to me. Overall it wasn’t a bad meal, just a lot of things wasted. Chicken Katsu. get it without the curry. Spam Masubi … idk? ask for less rice? The food quality isn’t horrible, but it’s probably not top notch. The chicken katsu really is delicious and perfectly textured though. I’d probably be back once in awhile for lunch. The prices are fair…

Since I’ve been working over in this area, I of course needed to find some delicious grub spots. This Hawaiian/​Chinese spot definitely tastes way better than the L&L down the street. However for the price I payed I was expecting larger portions. The quality of the food is definitely on level with that of Hawaiian Drive Inn, which is my favorite. If you’re looking for something delicious on the go, I definitely recommend grubbing at this spot.

My Order:
Spam Musubi and the Chicken Combo Platter — BBQ with Chicken Katsu.
Spam Musubi was good, a little too much rice for the proportion of Spam that was wrapped with it.
The Combo Platter came with 2 scoops of rice a scoop of mac salad. I’m always amaze on how much food they serve.
I’m not a big mac salad fan, so i didn’t touch it. But the BBQ Chicken was good and The Katsu was cooked perfectly.
The place was empty, they seem to get a lot of phone orders or party platter orders. The lady took my order and yelled it back to the cook behind the counter, it took about 10 minutes to cook up and box my order up.
All together a pleasant experience, however I thought to myself it would be a much more pleasant to be eating it on a beach on Hawaii instead.