L & M Drive Inn

Lousy & Messy Drive Inn. The owner is someone that does not care about other people’s property. While parked right in front of the drive in, the owner with his son parked next to us. When the son opened his car door, it hit my car hard enough to leave a dent. The father knew, but totally denied it. The son was smart enough to apologize, but the father showed no concern what so ever.
Coincidently, we used to patronize that place when it was Mahalo BBQ and owned by someone else but in all honesty, when this current owner took over and name changed to L&M, BBQ Chinese Cuisine, the food has really gone downhill as in… the food «SUCKS». Lot of people has mentioned to us how awful the food is there. It must be due to the owner’s bad attitude towards his customers. Restaurant /​Storeowners should NEVER display such grumpy demeanor; that is called poor public relations.

If you’re looking for a good hefty size plate lunch, and you want to get you Chicken Katsu or Loco Moco fix, then L&M is where it’s at!
Keep in mind, it is hole-​in-​the-​wall restaurant, but it’s a good place to stop by if you’re in the area. Plus too, it’s also locally owned!
Support local businesses

I used to like it here as it was my go to place for dinner when I didn’t feel like cooking. The Katsu was very good (as a self proclaimed «Katsu Konnoisseur»). That said, I did say it in past tense as the last 2 times I went there, they were very rude and the very last time, I found a couple hairs in my rice-​on the top of the scoop in plain view. No more.

A hole in the wall on young street. The food is more like 2.5. Took out at L&M, and to me, it’s almost the same as L&L, but L&L is better. Maybe we just ordered the wrong food here:
Beef Broccoli plate — 2 stars — For $ 7.50, you get half a plate of beef broccoli with rice and mac. The brocolli is fresh and there’s a lot of beef in it too, but the sauce for the beef brocolli was salty and didn’t blend well at all. You can get way better beef brocolli at any chinese restaurant or take out store. Not worth ordering again.
Garlic Ahi — 3 stars — $ 5 for a mini plate with two pieces of ahi, a scoop of rice and mac salad. The ahi tasted almost the same as L&L, but less garlicky and more salty. Although L&L’s one tastes better, L&M’s plates are a dollar less than L&L. I’d still order this again. However, although the mac salad had some taste, there is too much mayonaisse in it, which I don’t care for.

Short and Sweet.
Do NOT order anything else but the Garlic butter chicken or the BBQ chicken plates.
If you stick with those two, you’ll be alright.

Good variety, and decently priced.

It appears that the owners may have changed again. Not to worry the menu, prices, and quality are still the same form previous ownerships.
Had the Kahlua Pig and Cabbage. I’m not an expert on Hawaiian food but, the Kahlua smell and taste (smoky?) was there with a healthy bunch of cabbage that wasn’t wilted. Tasted fresh.
All in all a convenient place for a quick plate lunch and reasonable.
The kid at the counter had a sunny personality and pleasant smile to make you feel welcome. Points on that alone. I would guess it is a family operation with dad and mom in the kitchen.

$ 4.50 for a mini plate? Ok!
This is a good place to grab a plate for the lowest price this part of town.

I liked one plate here, and it was the garlic chicken. They have a pretty big menu. They have a bunch of specials like the atkins plate and ny steak plate. I never really sampled though ’cause I was hooked on the chicken.

Okay food for the price! Gotta agree with Aimz on the ramen. Looks so good, but it has no dang flavor… tasteless! The gyoza is pretty good, like won ton stuffing inside. Their mac salad sometimes is good, sometimes not. When it’s good, it differs from the normal L&L mayo and macaroni salad. Teri beef is pretty good too.

Dammit, didn’t get the First Review in! LoL.
Anyway, think of Mahalo Hawaiian BBQ as the standalone bastard child of an L&L, a Panda Express, and an Ezogiku. Don’t ask me about the biomechanics behind that because I have no idea haha. But what I mean by that is that they offer local kine plate lunches a la L&L, Chinese plate lunches like Panda Express, and ghetto janky ramen like Ezogiku (or maybe a fXXXed up version of Sumo Ramen, though I’m loathe to compare the 2), although there is no professional association with any of these chains whatsoever.
At any rate, BBQ Mix was par for the course: good, not great flavors and cuts of meat; rice was done well: not overcooked or oversaturated; and mac salad was competent. Super cheap at like $ 6.50 or so. If you order garlic chicken, be aware that it’s not the usual deep-​fried kind, but rather chicken pan fried in garlic butter, which is actually pretty damn tasty despite being different than what your average «garlic chicken» usually is. Bonus: if you order the garlic chicken, the sauce runs into the mac salad and you get… GARLIC BUTTER MAC SALAD!!! The inner fat boy rejoices! It was about $ 5.90 for a regular sized garlic chicken.
Interior is a very basic L&L or Grace’s kinda setup with booths and unadorned anything. Parking is easy since they have their own lot. Even if it’s full, there’s plenty of metered parking on Young St. too.
Lots of tow truck drivers and blue collar folks eat here besides HPD, and if anyone knows good valued eats, it’s these lovely folks.
Long story short, Mahalo is cheap, no-​frills, reasonable food. Nothing special, but nothing sucky.

Best Mochiko Chicken here!!! Seriously, it’s some good sh*t…however, that’s pretty much all I like to eat @ Mahalo. For whatever crazy reason I tried their ramen… TERRIBLE! Do not order the ramen of any sort. You can make better Sapporo Ichiban ramen or Cup o’ Noodles at home.
Parking is great… lotta times I find Mahalo BBQ as the «spot» for all HPD officers «cruising» — I mean taking their lunch break. Haven’t gone to the restroom… yet (see my Bathroom Diaries list).