Kau Kau Barbeque

I just had lunch there and I’m still amazed with what I’ve had!!! Come for lunch people!
Okay the story is… I need to work nearby at 4pm, so I thought why not go to Chinatown and get a quick lunch before it. So I walked down the street and I saw the sigh from the restaurant next to Kau Kau got $ 7.00 lunch menu which is not bad. But I got some BBQ pork in mind so I went in to Kai Kau just to see if they have any lunch special. I’m so happy with my decision!
They lunch set that costs $ 6.50. Cheaper than a chipotle burrito wth!!? And this lunch set already included a soup, fried rice, and BBQ Pork! You only need to choose one other thing you want in the meal. In my case, I chose soy sauce chicken. It came out within 2 seconds! Super fast which is what I like.
So how everything tasted… Oh wow I’ve been in Seattle for few years now and this is the closest flavor and quality that tastes like its straight from Hong Kong! No joke! That BBQ Pork is SO similar that one second I thought I’m in Hong Kong right now (lol for real tho)! Fried rice the same! Not too oily but still beautifully separated. flavorful and meaty! With some fat BBQ Pork chunks… I mean I can JUST eat the fried rice for lunch! Soy sauce chicken is a bit dry but still good. Soup is good and not too strong.
I saw 2 silly guys came in ordered dishes which is dishes for dinner… Oh man how I wish you look at the lunch menu! If you are coming here for lunch? Don’t be like that two silly guys y’all.
Overall I’m SO coming here for lunch more (even I’m not craving HK food particularly)! So cheap so fast so easy! And def recommend my friends and all of you!

This review is soley based on a to-​go order. There’s a door separating the to-​go counter from the sit-​down area. The order counter was sticky, but they’re quite transparent with the kitchen. It didn’t look too shabby. They take down the BBQ and hack it right in front of you, which I think is pretty cool to watch.
My boyfriend swears he’s had better and wasn’t too impressed. I, on the other hand, have nothing to compare Kau Kau to, so I thought it was good. We got pork ribs, char siu pork, and crispy pork belly. The pork ribs were a little tough, but the flavor was good. The pork belly was good too, but the skin was really salty. I enjoyed the char siu pork the most. The pieces were sweet and tender.
Again, based on take out, Kau Kau was okay. The flavor was good and the char siu pork was done well. The meal is heavy, so you definitely need rice and some hot tea with this one!

I usually don’t write reviews unless I’ve been to the place a dozen times but I feel that both times I was here, I came with very large groups and have now tried their pork and duck barbecue twice and a bunch of other things.
To start off, the place is very authentic. The portions are gigantic and even the vegetables are very good. We took quite a few boxes home and they tasted great the next day too. it wasn’t just me starving at the restaurant. Their speciality, the pork and duck were tender each time and the service was good.
The only thing I would say is that the food came out way too quickly. I’m not joking, perhaps 2 mins. It would take longer to reheat in a microwave. As I said, we visited in large groups and perhaps had 8 – 10 dishes overall. It just isn’t possible how quickly they were served unless they read our minds before we actually ordered.
But, for the price point, I would overall a lot of things. Specially the fact that I didn’t fall sick the next day, so will continue to visit and love this restaurant.

The roasted pig is good, crispy golden skin with the right amount of fat. The roasted duck looked really good too. It was roasted to perfection but under seasoned otherwise it would’ve been better. I ordered both of them over rice. Adding some greens to the dish would have completed it, especially for $ 12. Good amount of food but expensive for chinese bbq.

This is one of my favorite spots for bbq pork. The fried rice is the best around and the service has never been a problem for me. They are friendly and remember you if and your order if you’re a regular. The lunch special is clutch and you can call it in and have it ready for you by the time you pass through. I barely order fried rice from any other restaurant because Kau Kau has ruined me to the point that I will drive from the south end to come get some. I’m a loyal customer for life.

I have been coming here since I was little, my dad would always get the bbq pork. I been here over 10 times and it is always the same. Not that in a bad way, I like that you can depend on it being the same flavor as the 1^st time you visited. Customer service is nice.

First off, the BBQ pork is good. I can’t to deny that.
The seating area is pretty basic, and they could use some dusting.
Three times now my husband and I have ordered the plain long bean and been charged $ 10.95 when their menu and menu board list it as $ 8.95. When we complain they mention that the menu says prices can change. I suppose that means the prices listed in the menu could all be meaningless! I think that’s a lousy way of running a business. I don’t think I want to continue to give my money to a business that is run like this.

This place was definitely not what I thought it would be at all! My boyfriend and I decided to come in on a Friday night and decided to get the Kau Kau for two. The only thing good out of that selection was the bbq pork and Chinese broccoli beef chow mien.
We decided to swap out the sweet and sour prawns for honey walnut prawns which they charged 4 more which we didn’t mind at all. When we got them it there was around 6 prawns on there that tasted like nothing but straight up mayonnaise. We ignored it because that’s not a huge deal
The egg rolls are definitely not something tasty, if you have the option pick something else
The worst part of the meal had to be the fried rice! Have you ever ate something like tripe or intestine and it gives off that nasty smell that seems like they haven’t washed the tripe of intestine and every time you smell if you just want to gag. Well that was the fried rice! It smelt like straight up dirty intestine. I tried so hard eating it but I couldn’t eve do it. The smell was beyond over whelming.
After I left the restaurant I felt like I was going to throw up my entire meal.
That staff was awesome and attentive but would I come here to dine in again. Most likely never.

My husband and I watched a video on YouTube and the guys in the video mentioned Kau Kau barbecue. I have tried roast duck and roast pork from multiple places but this place tops them all. They do not hold back on the duck and the duck has lots of meat on it. Not only is the portion huge but the flavor of the duck was delicious. Aside from the duck we tried the roast pork. The pork had great flavor but a lot of fat. This is not to be confused with the BBQ pork. I really want to try it someday. I will definitely be back for the duck!

Came for the first time at 8pm dinner time on a Saturday
Me and my mom had to seat ourselves. No one came to give us the menu.
I had to walk to the servers. They were all eating their own dinner and there was no one to serve or take the order.
Some lady comes up and takes the order finally. She brings the wrong dish, different from what was ordered. We ate it anyways. They never served us water and I had to ask for 2 glasses of water at the end of our meal!
What the hell?

A nice Chinese bbq restaurant. We shared the roast duck, roast pork, and Chinese broccoli. The duck was pretty good, although the fat was not as completely rendered as at some other establishments. The seasoning on the duck is reminiscent of what one encounters in the bbq joints of Kowloon. The pork was also a tad burnt in places. The décor is great. Service is friendly and helpful.

This is a no-​frills hole in the wall sort of place. It seems to be pretty authentic Chinese.
I feel a bit meh about giving this place 4-​stars because while the food was pretty good, I felt a little sketched out about the level of cleanliness here. I did find some hair in my cup (although I’m not really all that bothered by hair) and the plates/​cups were a little nasty.
However, the food was some of the best Chinese I’ve had and the pricing and portions were very very good. I was stuffed + had A LOT leftover with the $ 10 veggie combo and the lunch special my BF got was a steal at $ 7.
If you’re just looking for good, cheap food, this is your place. But if you’re a little OCD or grossed out by unclean restaurants I would steer clear because it’s definitely a little icky inside.
BBQ pork: ⁵⁄₅
Fried prawns: ³⁄₅
Chow mein: 4.5÷5
Fried rice: ⁴⁄₅
Egg drop soup: ⁴⁄₅
Garlic tofu: 3.5÷5
Cleanliness: ²⁄₅
Prices: ⁵⁄₅

I’ve been here a few times for lunch.
I haven’t found any BBQ pork better that this place.
It make the difficulty of finding parking worth it.
The roast pork is great too.
The service is friendly and fast.

One of those places the locals know about. The Chinese food here is very good, but one specific menu item stands above the rest. The best BBQ pork I have ever had. Everywhere I travel to, I try the BBQ pork and it never compares to Kau Kau’s. Perfectly flavored, with the right meat to fat ratio in every bite.
The restaurant itself is not much to look at. But, I have grown up with it always looking the same and I don’t mind it a bit. Keep the same look, so as long as you keep my BBQ pork the same. Oh, and don’t forget to get an order of Side pork with rice. You can thank me later…

I was in Seattle for a quick visit, and was lucky enough to stop by Kau Kau for lunch. My friend and I found parking at a metered spot just across the street. We ordered the Chinese broccoli and 2 orders of the BBQ Combo (Pork, Sparerib and Roasted Pork) with 2 bowls of rice. The broccoli was nice and garlic-​y and served as our veggie portion before all of the protein. That roasted port though, was everything. Crispy, fatty, and greasy — similar to the Filipino lechon kawali. The dish also came with 3 different dipping sauces, which complemented the BBQ well. The price tag here is nice too.

Annoyed about their ducks… but this place is awesomely delicious!
Came here for a friend’s bday. Looked run down on the outside and grimy on the inside. As with many reviews, I found this place quite uninviting. Well, as the name suggests with BBQ gotta go with that char siu (BBQ Pork) and that roast duck. We got other things such as a lo mein, a fried rice, and a veggie dish, but I want to spare you on the details because the real hero is the BBQ! The lo mein was salty and the fried rice wasn’t anything special. Veggies were cooked well, but they are just veggies…
The server mentioned that we would have to wait 20 minutes to get the new batch of duck and we mentioned it was fine. She came back 20 minutes later to tell us that they sold out of the duck… at this point I’m like what the duck? We ordered and waited and you sold our duck to someone else?! Total blasphemy! Quite annoyed about this duck sit. but took a bite of their char siu and I forgot all my troubles! It was devilishly delish! So amazing we got another order!
I think the next time I’m going to call to make sure they save a duck for me! Other than the duck sit. I would defo come back to eat all the food!

Someone please explain the hype to me. I saw all the awesome reviews and wanted to try it out.
I called ahead and ordered the duck noodle soup and a pound of the roasted pork. When I got home, I saw that they forgot the duck from the duck noodle soup. Are you for reals? How do you forget the DUCK in the duck noodle soup?! The guy who rang me up even confirmed with me my order. Sooo totally disappointed. I couldn’t really turn back around and get the duck either. There was so much traffic and rain, it wouldn’t have been worth it. Still, supppppeerrr lame, rap silly since I was really looking forward to it. Literally all they gave me was the noodles, the super bland broth, and that’s it. A total waste of money.
The roasted pork was good however it was super duper salty. Like, salt like salty. The texture of the pork though was nice and soft and the skin crisp. It was like eating crispy salt because dannnnng that stuff was so salty and hella oily, even for roasted pork.
I will most def not be coming back. There are better places to try. Go elsewhere.

The bbq pork is very salty
They charge for rice!
This is first time I got charge for stream rice in a Chinese restaurant
I paid $ 6 just for the stream rice!!!

My friend and I walked in and we were immediately seated on a Saturday night. I ordered the BBQ pork (char siu) with rice. Quality BBQ pork and great food and serving size for price of $ 7.
My friend ordered the hot and sour soup and didn’t read the price ($ 8) to realize it was a large bowl and not a cup! So beware, you’ve been warned!
Overall good quality and service.

I never eat Chinese food and now that I’m out touring, I thought why not… I wanted something different so I decided to try the Roasted Duck… my first thought was OoooEmmmGeeee am I really about to eat this… surprisingly, it was really good.
The taste was a bit gamey but it had a great flavour. It also had quite a bit of fat, which was not to bad. The sauce the waitress brought me was a sweet and spur ginger sauce which was absolutely amazing. If I could’ve taken a container of that sauce I surely would’ve.
Overall I’m satisfied with my meal and I don’t have any complaints. I gave 3 stars because of the ambiance, the place is not that good on the eyes, but definitely don’t judge a book by its cover… I guess… lol

Anything made with the BBQ pork here is amazing. The skin is crispy and crunchy without being burnt, the pork itself is fatty and painted with honey glaze, and most of their BBQ pork dishes come with this mustard-​sesame sauce that compliments the sweet fatty slices very well.
The rest of the menu leaves something to be desired. Lesson… just get the pork.

I had a hankering for Peking Duck and dragged my boyfriend here to shovel fatty bits of duck in my craw.
Being from Beijing, I was hoping for the thin pancake tortillas but they serve the Canto style buns instead. No matter. It’s still delicious. My (white) boyfriend patiently waited for me to put a bun together (for myself) so he’d know what to do with the copious amounts of meat and fixings on the table then proceeded to dig in. There is a soup that comes with the Peking Duck order. It is so entrenched in duck fat that you’ll need cholesterol meds immediately after. And oh goodness it was so frigging good… hit the spot since it was so cold out yesterday!
The order can feed about 4 people. Soup can feed maybe 3 and a half. Get some veggies so you’re not just gorging on duck meat. They’ve also got good hot tea here. $ 40 later I was a happy fat Chinese girl. Must bring parents when they visit so they can tell me what a disappointment I am while I ignore them to eat duck. :D

After a HOT summer season of slaving over the coal-​burning, hellacious fire pit that is otherwise known as a Weber BBQ grill (our magical marriage has given birth to three of them — small, medium, large Weber grills… plus a mini propane grill, a *mistake*) — when we were asked to host the annual reunion of hysterical Chinese elders and their dysfunctional offspring that is known as my distended and vaguely-​related family — all 40 of them — at our house, we ran, not walked to Kau Kau for our BBQ’d meat needs.
While I had never dined at Kau Kau before, my culinary genius of an aunt had raved about Kau Kau, and every review on Unilocal goes on and on about their BBQ’d meats — upon entering the shop — take out counter in front, restaurant in back — I knew the place was serious about meat. Roast duck and chicken flogged, then hung out to dry underneath heat lamps, like my ex-​boyfriends should have been. One lady at the cash while another older man was the designated meat chopper.
During this weekday lunch, everything in the store looked freshly made. We had the take out BBQ sampler — BBQ pork, pork sparerib, roast pork — which was still warm 30 minutes later. The rib was just OK but the BBQ pork was soft and flavorful, definitely worthy of the 5-​star reviews.
We were told that, to place an order for artery-​clogging amounts of meat, we must tell them 4 days in advance. So, on that fateful day, I DROVE the 10+ miles to the store in rush hour Seattle traffic, placed the order with the nice lady who assured me I didn’t need to pay a deposit to hold the order, and that I should arrive no sooner on 2pm Sunday to pick up the stuff. This was WEDNESDAY.
Incidentally, the order was for six staggering pounds of BBQ pork, 2 roast chicken and 1 roast duck. Too much food, yes. But that’s the Chinese way.
On SATURDAY, I called to remind them about our Sunday order and was assured that everything was OK, and that I should still not arrive any sooner than 2pm, and I figured this was because they had a schedule of BBQ-​ing and roasting.
Incidentally, our mega-​mania reunion started at 3:30pm.
On the day of, my frantic mother and I arrived right after 2pm and was told the roast chicken was SOLD OUT, and that, because the order was never placed with THE KITCHEN, they now only had soy chicken, turgid BBQ pork that looked like something you’d not want want to step on, and half-​hearted roast duck that appeared it had starved to death then cooked. We were asked to wait another hour for the roast chicken.
Incidentally, our order was over $ 100.00.
The wrath of an elderly Chinese woman scorned out of BBQ meats is a sight that can only be matched by the apathy and lack of concern that a Chinese BBQ meat store owner has for anything related to customer service. But my mother could only gnash her teeth and froth at the mouth so long before realizing we’d be late for the Chinese-​a-​ganza.
As expected, the BBQ pork was dry, having sat around too long — my husband even wondered whether it was the same BBQ pork we had several days before in the sampler. My aunt also asked me repeatedly whether I’d gotten the meat at Kau Kau. There was not enough beer nor stinky Chinese rice wine to douse the naked fact that the meat portion of our BBQ was a big fat Failure. So, besides the fact that I did not become a brain surgeon nor the next piano prodigy, I now also, don’t know how to distinguish between good and bad Chinese food.
Incidentally, we were also not offered any discount.

I am surprised. Coming from Vancouver, BC, I actually thought all American Chinese food is spy this and soy that. Aparrently this place is not bad. I’m Canada we have heard rumours that American Chinese food are not edible. And I now know this is not true.
Why 4 stars? Well I am from Vancouver BC, if Kau Kau was in Vancouver then it’s only worth 3 stars. but it’s in America so I believe it deserves a full 4 star on food itself. BBQ pork was delicious. It had the good BBQ smell to it too. If they cut it to thinner pieces then it would be even better. We also had the dou miu veggie and that was pretty good as well. Cooked and tasted like how people in Vancouver BC restaurant cooked it. However we had half a BBQ chicken and at first that was raw so we sent it back and they cooked for us again but then it was now over cooked.
Service wasn’t bad. Staff were pretty friendly and genuine.
I do recommend coming here to try if you feel like trying Chinese food in America. Or even for local coming here.

Kau Kau has been our Char Siu source for years. They make the best, and the quality is consistent. We usually buy a bunch uncut, and freeze them in single use portions. Defrosted, the quality is still very good.
We rarely eat in the restaurant, but since I was left on my own this morning, I decided to have breakfast there. I had the BBQ Combo w/​Rice and a side of fried egg. It included Char Siu, Spare Ribs, and Roast Pork Belly. It was a very satisfying meal. I’m going to do this more often.