Korean Fresh Grill

Wow. What a let-​down. My boyfriend called me from the Makiki Farmer’s Market and asked if I wanted something from this place, I said «Is that the place with the cilantro lime rice?» Indeed it supposedly is. He got a burrito, and he got me a «cilantro lime rice» plate with fish.
What I found under the foil was fish with a (good!) creamy kimchi sauce, won bok, and white rice. WHAT?! FALSE ADVERTISING. That was a huge negatron on the presence of lime or cilantro. The one star in this review is dedicated to the creamy sauce on the fish, the only redeeming quality of this meal.

We have gotten food from them twice while at Makeke Kapolei, and while it seems like sometimes they aren’t present, when they are and we are, we’re sure to grab some food. We’ve had the tacos (steak), the burrito (chicken), and the rice plate (steak) and while most of the ingredients aren’t crazy special, their sauces are PHENOMENAL. I swear to god I could drink them, they are amazing. The creamy kimchi sauce, whatever the other sauces are, they make this food mind-​blowing. I love it.
The guy is super nice too.

I first saw Korean Fresh Grill at the Kapolei High School Farmer’s Market, but didn’t get anything and figured I would just get something the next time. Stupid me, because the next time I went to the Farmer’s Market, they weren’t there :(Luckily, however, they were at Eat The Street at Kapolei High School today! I wasn’t about to miss the opportunity to get food from here again. I was immediately greeted by a friendly worker who let me sample the chicken with coleslaw and kim chee aioli. It was delicious, so I ordered a steak taco and a chicken taco. It was $ 3.75 per taco, but they also have a special where you can get three tacos for $ 10. I didn’t want to get too full and didn’t have much cash on me, so I only got two. Both tacos were very good! I will totally order something again the next time I see Korean Fresh Grill around.

Meat, Meat, and MORE Meat!
My brother actually brought me to this one a couple of weeks ago in Foster Village. We went on an adventure trying to find where they would be because the area seemed like such an unusual place to get Korean taco eats. On Fridays there is a farmers market of sorts in a small park off Molina St with around 10 – 15 vendors.
I got from Korean Fresh Grill a steak burrito and my brother had a fish burrito. The burritos are GI-​NORM-​OUS!!! The size of a healthy new born baby!!! And I found out that I can only eat half a baby. Maybe I should find a new way of measurement??? lol. The taste was good, but they ran out of mexican rice to put into the burritos! I guess I got my moneys worth with all that meat. Also Two meals for $ 6?! Good enough for me! I hope the next time they have mexican rice!

¹⁸⁷⁄₃₆₅
Overall, 3.5 until i try more items. I finally got to try one of their tacos at the farmers market and it was pretty good, although a bit expensive for $ 3.75. I got their grilled fish taco and it came piled on a flour tortilla with slaw, some kind of sauce and their hot sauce. It was good, the fish was moist and had good enough flavor. I definitely want to try their burritos and sliders as they both look good. When I saw the beef in one of the heat trays it looked kind of dry but it did smell good.

Had a big craving for tacos at the Eat the Street birthday luau this past month and found Korean Fresh Grill. I had fish and steak tacos and would’ve had chicken as well but they had run out of it by the time I ordered (there was a really long line!). The fish was great and the steak could have been softer, but it was still oh so delicious! The wait was almost half an hour, but well worth it. It’s not as spicy as you would think with the kim chee in it. I mentioned some bad but they were all countered with good parts to my Korean Fresh Grill experience. Next time I am going to try the burrito :9 Yum…

Good idea, horrible execution. At the last eat the street we tried their cilantro lime rice and fresh fish combo for $ 9, asking for spicy sauce ots. We were told itd be 10 wait. When we returned 10 mins later, again told itd be another 10 min. Finally 30 minutes after ordering we were finally given a plate of white rice, a mountain of cabbage some small pieces of fish and covered in the spicy sauce If it was priced 5 dollars id still be annoyed.

This place is fantastic! Went to the makiki farmers market and had their beef tacos. The flavors were amazing. I loved the kimchee sour cream and the korean slaw. Will be going back next thrusday!

What an AMAZING FIND!!! i went to the Chinatown Festival the past 2 nights and wasn’t in the mood for the typical Chinese food that was being sold everywhere… and then i saw a sign that said KOREAN FRESH GRILL. i ventured over there and was immediately intrigued by the yummy photos of all they had to offer! The staff was so pleasant and took the time to answer all my questions and made recommendations. I ordered the steak slider and OMG… Their sauces are
. I would buy them by the bucketful! their gochujang hot sauce adds the right amount of «sweet,» the super duper hot sauce gives it a kick, and the kimchee cream sauce (which is my fave) adds the creamy coolness to bring all the flavors together. Needless to say, I was back for more the next day :) This time, i ordered a steak burrito. talk about HUGE. It had a lot more meat than i wanted (not that some of you would complain) but it was the size of a chipotle burrito XL. however, it didn’t give me that heavy/​sleepy feeling after devouring it.
Would i say i found my new have spot? UHHHH… HELL YES! they don’t have a set location yet but they participate in local farmers market such as Makiki, Royal Hawaiian, Hawaii Kai, Kapolei HS, etc.
i can’t wait to try the rest of their menu!

In late November, I found Korean Fresh Grill at a craft fair at Ka’elepulu Elementary School (Kailua, HI). I got the Cilantro-​Lime Rice ($ 9): choice of meat (I picked BBQ chicken) served on a bed of cilantro-​lime rice, with Korean slaw, hot sauce, kimchi cream sauce, onions, and cilantro.
The juicy, tender BBQ chicken had rich flavor, satisfying the carnivore in me. I would have liked a little more meat in my portion, especially since it was a bed of rice as advertised. Regardless, the cilantro-​lime rice is the featured item here, and the bite of the cilantro came through front and center. The lime had a more subtle representation here, but still somewhat noticeable. The rice is not sticky, which I feel keeps the flavors from completely uniting. The cabbage/​bok choy was cooked well, basically stir-​fry style. The hot sauce added that lovely hint of spice on the back end of each bite. Interestingly, the kimchi cream sauce had that tangy bite (perhaps involving ranch dressing) to act as a cooling agent against the hot sauce.
Korean Fresh Grill also offers a «super duper hot sauce» for people that like it spicier (yes, that includes me). The sauce has a smoky pureed salsa flavor, with a little added heat at the end. I’m personally unsure if anything Korean is in there (gochujang, maybe?).
Overall, this dish was a hit!

I never liked food that tries to fuse two styles of cuisines. It always feels like the business is trying «too hard» to be different… Until the combo actually works! And with Korean Fresh Grill, it honestly does!
I tried them at Eat the Street at Kakaako this past weekend and I wish I found them at a farmer’s market or some other place rather than a food truck event just because after trying the fish taco, I wanted to order the three taco plate as well as the burrito. That’s how much of an impact that one fish taco made on me. The ingredients were definitely fresh. The grilled fish was moist and flaky. Sauced enough that it is not dry and tasty enough to taste the fish and veggies. The sauce had the right amount of spice to it, but you can always make it even more so by requesting their «super duper hot sauce»
I really wish I could describe the other items on the menu, but I couldn’t because I never tried it. Giving them a 5 star for one item on the menu that I tried might be a little presumptuous, that’s just how good I found their fish taco to be. A good sized taco which is as fresh as it gets for a very reasonable price. I will be back to try the BBQ steak and the BBQ chicken tacos!

Found them at the Aiea High School craft fair! Their «Korean & Mexican Fusion» banner caught my eye. I love Korean food and I love Mexican food! I tried their samples and I just HAD to have more.
I ordered a Steak Burrito. I found a seat and began to eat. It tasted different from the sample I had. Come to find out it was missing the sauce. Without it it tasted dry and bland. I went back to the booth and let them know that there wasn’t any sauce. I got the sauce on the side and added it on. Now it tasted MUCH better!!! Better than the sample I had! There’s two sauces. One is a something like a spicy burrito sauce and the other is something like a spicy creamy mayo? Idk but it is really good. I paid $ 8 for my burrito and it was very well worth it! I look forward to eating their food again! (:

ME: Thomas O, Unilocal intern, it is your mission to find us food!
THOMAS: Errrrr okay. What do you want?
ME: Something good. Don’t blow it.
So off went the valiant Thomas O, in search of food at the NonStop Kakaako street fair. He journeyed one block and returned with a Korean Fresh Grill taco.
THOMAS: I hope you like it.
ME: Hope?! Hope?! We do not hope Thomas! (I bellowed)
THOMAS: (Rolls his eyes)
ME: (Laughing) I’m joking.
But I was actually quite serious in my commentary because eating food that sucks is just not my thing. We only have so many meals in this short lifetime and it’s important to make every single one count. Four stars for Korean Fresh Grill’s kalbi taco but I’m being extremely generous because:
1) I don’t want to hurt Thomas O’s feelings. He’s an awesome intern and I’d hate to lose him. Don’t tell him that though because it’s important for him to think that he needs this internship more than life itself. When the truth is that I need him to help me at promo booths more than life itself. I’ve got three kids. They are not yet old enough to run the booth. Who’ll send out important tweets? Who’ll commiserate with me over party whoas?
2) Because I think this truck has potential. But for God’s sake, serve those tacos hot! Why was my taco cold?! Do you understand how lame that was?
There’s a gap in the marketplace left wide open with the loss of Gogi Truck. Unilocalers miss that little damn rocking’ truck which serve small, hot, tasty asian flavored tacos. Korean Fresh Grill, you could make my heart happy once again but you’ve got some tweaking to do. Until we meet again…
Unilocal 365 Challenge: #65/​365 (The Intern)

This will take some work on your part, since they are only open for business at the local farmers market on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but is well worth the effort. This is not your everyday street food. Tacos, Burritos found this gem on a recent trip and I am already planing for my next trip back just for this. All I had was the tacos (BBQ Steak and Fish). Its all I needed. Find em and enjoy!
Friday @ Momilani Community Center, 715 Hoomoana St., Pearlcity
Saturday @ Benjamin Parker Elementary, 45 – 259 Waikalua Rd., Kaneohe
Sunday @ HCC parking lot, 874 Dillingham Blvd., Honoluluo