Mahalo Hawaiian BBQ

I haven’t written a Unilocal review lately, but after last night’s experience I couldn’t just sit idly by.
THIS PLACE SUCKS
****Order at your own risk.
***Eat the BBQ beef at your own risk.
*Pay cash at your own risk.
*I will never order from this place again and urge anyone considering ordering from them to think about it long and hard.
THE CHINESE food here is average at best. I ordered the orange beef combo – mind you this cost only 1 dollar more than just the dish itself. For that extra dollar I got 1 very small cold egg roll, a cup of hot n sour soup that wasn’t worth a try based on the smell and a scoop of white rice that left me with maybe ¹⁄₃ the amount of orange beef you would normally get when ordering orange beef from just about any other Chinese restaurant (like 88). The beef itself was OK (tasty, but fatty and over-​breaded), but 11.95 for all that? Ridiculous. Also, their own web site says this combination comes with fried rice so I don’t know why but it came with white rice.
As for the HAWAIIAN BBQ combo – YUCK! I ordered this once before a while ago and thought it was OK but this time. .. some of the beef smelled so bad I couldn’t bring myself to eat it. The chicken was edible, once I could discern it from the beef. The beef was HORRIBLE. I couldn’t eat a large part of it (and shouldn’t have had any of it). In fact, the beef I did eat made me SICK TO MY STOMACH – so sick I was up all night and could not function the next day… you get the idea.
THIS IS WHERE THINGS GET REALLY STRANGE
After being in a world of hurt due to what I can’t imagine being from anything other than their BBQ beef, rather than just deciding to never call this place again (my one friend I’d ordered it with previously had already sworn them off for her own reasons) I did call them the next day to tell them about my experience and how foul the meat was.
When I told the manager I still had the rest of the order and she could see how gross it was for herself she agreed to send someone out to take my order back and refund my money. .. OR SO I THOUGHT.
Instead, after 2+ hours a nice fellow from
called me to say Mahalo had called
about my call, I said that was really strange because I was sitting here waiting for a delivery guy to come to me.
Eat24hours’ agent (who was very professional) said to call the manager back because she wanted to talk to me before agreeing to a final resolution or something like that. When I called the manager was now shockingly rude (denied she’d told me someone was coming to me); told me the food wasn’t her fault and that I could take it up with the food manufacturer if there was a problem with the food but she wasn’t going to do anything because I hadn’t called the night before (mind you the web site said they close at 930, but somehow it was my fault not knowing they stay open till 10).
I asked her «what difference would it have made if I’d called the night before» she had no response. Instead she told me unless I had written proof from a doctor the beef made me sick there was nothing she would do for me. Who are these people?
I asked her if she cared if I ever ordered from Mahalo again or if I shared this experience with the general public; she said go ahead she did not want my business and I was no longer a welcome customer. Since I did not appreciate what she said I took the remains of my order to the restaurant and demanded they do something about it. This same manager told me I was a liar and that I should get lost – she then showed me the sign that says «we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.» I told her she didn’t have the right to rip off customers or give bad food. She told me the cook told her the food was fresh when it left the restaurant so it wasn’t her fault. I asked her to contact the owner and she told me she was the owner (eat24hours would later tell me in fact, she is not the owner).
Finally another employee (probably the other manager, the one she told me was no longer there) understood how ridiculous this woman was acting so he opened the register and offered me half my money back… the female manager jumped in and tried to forcibly stop him from handing me the money, then started yelling at him that it was coming out of his pocket not the register. I asked her again if she thought I would ever come back again after this experience. She said she didn’t care because I was not welcome. She then encouraged me to tell everyone about this experience so, if you’ve read this, YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
All this food, with a conservative tip: 30 bucks.
**On a side note, in contrast to Mahalo,
is an EXCELLENT web site for ordering delivery. They went to bat for me with Mahalo (even though I had no intention of bringing them into this mess and they only got involved because of Mahalo) and called me twice to see how they could help. Even eat24hours fully understood my frustration and encouraged me to make this post

their saimin was not at all like real saimin from hawaii. it was gross, and i wish they’d figure out how to make it the way they do in hawaii.

I’ve never tried their Chinese food, but their Hawaiian food is nasty. I cannot describe how terrible their food was.
My friend and I ordered their Mahalo BBQ Chicken and BBQ Short ribs and after one bite we could not finish the rest. First, the chicken and the short ribs were very dry and salty. The sauce they put on top of the chicken and ribs was so gross. My dog did not even want a piece of it. I’m sorry to say but maybe they should just stick with Chinese food because I did hear good things about their Chinese food.

This is a new Hawaiian BBQ that recently opened near our office across the 10 freeway. The BBQ ribs and beef were very good. Good flavor, not over cooked and pretty lean. This is one of my pet peeves — some places it seems there is more fat than meat — anyone say Yoshinoya Beef Bowl?!!
It’s a typical small family run operation that is mostly take out but they have about 20 seats for dining in. Parking wasn’t a problem when we showed up for lunch. The decorations are simple and music plays overhead so you can have a private conversation without everyone hearing you if you eat there. The menu is not as long as the chain Hawaiian BBQ places, but they have the basics — ribs, beef, chicken, fish, shrimp, and my favorite when I’m really hungry, Loco Moco, saimin, appetizers and salads, but no pork. They also have Boba tea.
I had the BBQ mix, ribs, beef, and chicken and the usual mac and rice on a bed of cabbage — they will cook the cabbage if you ask or sub more rice for mac. Best deal on the menu at $ 6.99.
I’d call ahead to order if you go and are short on time, because the wait is about 5 – 10 minutes depending on how many customers are inside. I’ll definitely be back to try the loco moco or maybe a hot bowl of saimin on a rainy day.
One last thing, it’s just a couple of small blocks east of Baldwin Ave on the north side of Valley Blvd, but it’s hard to see from Valley because it’s tucked inside a small strip mall and the sign is difficult to see from the street. I drove way past it the first time.