Tom’s Aloha Grill

it’s ok i got the beef stew! we found out it was owned by the same owners of aloha specialties at the cal in vegas so we were so excited! oh man… vegas is still better… we only went when it first opened! maybe we’ll try it again sometime!

Went here today since I enjoy eating Hawaiian BBQ. I was hoping it would be better than L&L and The Loft but boy was I wrong. The place itself looks decent enough to eat inside although their menu was very lacking. A small whiteboard behind the register with a few items listed. I had to look at the to-​go menu to get a look at what they got.
So I got one of the 3 meat combos or something with beef, chicken and some mahi-​mahi. Took about 10 mins or so to get my order. I took it home and it was a decent sized portion of sliced beef with teriyaki sauce, breaded chicken, and 2 small pieces of mahi with some sauce on it. Also came with a small side of macaroni salad.
So I dig in and the beef was bland. The chicken was too. Yes BLAND. No seasonings whatsoever. Even with the teriyaki sauce I couldn’t bear to eat anymore of it so I had to throw some salt+pepper to make them taste better. The fish surprisingly tasted just fine + the sauce. The macaroni salad was bland as well.
I am really disappointed by this place because of it being opened recently, I decided to give it a try. For the amount I paid, I would’ve rather gone to The Loft although they aren’t much better either but still more manageable.

Tom’s Aloha Grill gets 3 stars, and thats being OVERLY Generous. This place is definitely gravy training off its successful sister store at the CAL in LV. Food is essentially the same. Portions gettin might ‘KOWICHI’ if you ask me. Otherwise, taste is fine.
On the other hand, they need to bring their wait staff from vegas to here. Absolutely attrocious. We’ve gone 3 times and all their times there were issues:
1. 20 min wait for an order of saimin. COM’ON homie… yeah you with the 2 chicklets of teeth missin back there… you looked at your order sheet 10 times (i counted) and still forgot my friggin saimin noodles…
2. My friend orders me a bbq pork cha shu omelette to go. What i got was a giant egg omelette with nothing in or on it.
3. The s.o. orders a combo with teri beef rib eye and korean chicken. They go and separate the two and make it a la carte… Not to mention, the korean chicken was raw, while they burnt the outside skin and coating…
Come on now… shake that ‘okole’ and lets get this service thing fixed ASAP! ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHA!!!

I went here after learning it was owned by the guy who owns Aloha Specialties at the Cal in LV. We ordered the local plate and a combo plate of teri beef and the korean chicken. The spam musubi was good-​better than L&L. The Teri chicken was crispy and the teri beef was tender. We waited about 15 minutes for our food which I thought was rather long considering the place was empty. Mac salad was good. The Korean Chicken was not as good as Aloha specialties but still tasty. I’d go back if I was in the area but I won’t make a special trip here. The Loft down the street is just as good if not better.

4 stars for the teri chicken and beef — Loved it, the beef was really nice and tender and not fatty. Chicken was nice and crispy and tender and moist on the inside. I think they pan fried the chicken with a light breading and it was a really nice touch.
3.5 stars for laulau, tasted good, but it was a tad bit small.
2 stars for service. Totally understaffed and definitely not ready to open. They should’ve waited a week or two to open and been better prepared. Also they only had one or two menus and that’s it.
So I definitely would come back maybe in a month or two and I bet it will be better.

Benefit of the doubt. That’s what I’m giving Tom’s Aloha Grill for now.
It’s difficult for me to write a review of a place that’s just getting started, like Tom’s. If you read Val A.‘s review of the place, you’ll see that they’re going through some «opening night» problems. So, I’m giving Tom the benefit of the doubt and assume (for now) that the food here will improve.
Anyways, like Val A. mentioned, this place is associated, to a degree, with Aloha Specialties in the Cal. With a good pedigree such as this, I honestly expected better Hawaiian food than the Loft or L&L. However, I also had a few issues with their grindz.
Spam musubi — I don’t know about any of you, but I like my spam musubi as follows: layer of rice, slice of spam, second layer of rice, wrapped with nori. Period. No teriyaki sauce. Maybe (on occasion) a sprinkle of furikake. Do we really need to add more sodium to one of the saltiest processed meats in the universe?! Again, that’s just me… The musubi here is a brick of rice, slathering of teriyaki sauce, slice of spam, wrapped with nori. Though easier to make, the large chunk of rice made my musubi squish out through the ends… not a pretty sight.
Mac salad — I like my mac salad to be somewhere around 75 percent mac and about 15 percent mayo. However, having not lived in Hawai’i for many years now, I’m not as used to the high mayo concentrations in typical mac salads (like this one and L&L’s recipe, too). I’m not used to this 50 – 50 mac-​to-​mayo ratio… why not just call it mayo salad? Too bad my mother-​in-​law doesn’t have a restaurant because her potato mac salad would’ve gone great with the food here.
I do have to say that at least the meat dishes I tried were satisfactory. The ahi poke was well seasoned, but cut into rather large chunks. My teri chicken and beef were tasty and cooked well, too. However, I think we need to lay off the teri sauce a bit. Maybe it’s just the health-​conscious Californian in me that’s saying this, but maybe the sauce on the side would be a better way to go…
Overall, I was a little disappointed with the food (as was my self-​proclaimed Hawaiian food critic father-​in-​law). But again, I think another visit is in order. I’d definitely like to see how Tom improves his menu… once he’s got it up on the wall and printed on actual menus. Maybe in a week or two?