L&L Hawaiian Barbecue

The roommate was picking up some food next door and asked me if I also wanted some Spam Musubi. Of course, I said yes please! He picked up some food for takeout last Monday, April 9^th.
*Kalua Pork w/​Cabbage: Smoke-​flavored, shredded pork slowly roasted and mixed with cabbage
*Chicken Katsu: pieces of boneless chicken coated with special seasoning and deep-​fried, served with special L & L Hawaiian Barbecue Chicken Katsu sauce
*Musubi: A block of rice with Spam, wrapped in flavored, dry seaweed
I really like the spam musubi from L&L. It’s a good ratio of rice to spam and it’s always so flavorful. I actually wanted a piece of chicken katsu musubi too, but the roomie got me an actual order of chicken katsu instead. This turned out to be better cuz it fed us for two meals. It also came with a generous amount of katsu. I don’t like L&L’s sauce as it’s too sweet, so we just used our own Japanese tonkatsu sauce we have at home. The roomie got himself a kalua pork plate. I didn’t eat much of it, but I did steal some of his macaroni salad. I love a good macaroni salad mixed with sriracha.
Solid and consistent Hawaiian food. I love their Spam musubi!

I know this is a chain with not the greatest reputation; but, with my expectations set accordingly, I thought I’d give them a try.
I got lucky and arrived a few minutes before a huge crowd. Depending on what you order, their prices can be much cheaper than most places on Kearny.
Today, I had the Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Healthy Plate to go for $ 8.25. It came with a decent amount of boneless chicken, a nice salad with dressing on the side, and a scoop of brown rice. The flavor of the chicken was pretty good; though the teriyaki sauce on it was a bit too salty for my taste. The whole plate was less than 400 calories.
The cashier was nice and friendly.
I’d go back for that dish.

Feel like I was ripped off here. Ordered the Large Loco Moco and chose brown rice. Sign on the wall shows brown rice is a $ 0.25 upgrade. Looked at my receipt and saw 3 charges of the $ 0.25 on there. Apparently, they charge this upgrade per scoop of rice…
My sunny-​side-​up egg also came out overcooked. See picture.

This is a small hole in the wall Hawaiian restaurant. Coming from the Midwest, I don’t have very many opportunities to order Hawaiian food, and this was the closest location to Chinatown SF. I got the loco moco ramen burger for myself, and the seafood + BBQ chicken combo for my family. While it may not be the best Hawaiian restaurant on the west coast, the food was still really fresh and tasty. This was actually the first ramen burger I ever had, and it was quite tasty. I got some spam musubi to go, to take back to my friend in Ohio, and he and I both enjoyed the spam musubi. Overall the food is fresh and delicious and I would recommend this place to others.

This is the ONLY location I know of that sells a «mini» sized order. I wasn’t prepared for that. Also, wait time was long, felt dirty inside, portions were small, and Kalua (sp) pork was unflavorful. Sorry bruh, I call em how I see em. Nice employees though.

Seems like most of the bad reviews on here are from people that have never had hawaiian fast food before. I’ve never gotten anything here that was bad, everything is either ⁴⁄₅ or ⁵⁄₅.
My only complaint is that the establishment itself could use a little sprucing up as it is a little run-​down.

Come here if you’re really hungry. The quality is not the best but the quantity! Man these guys give you big portions. The food is good, can sometimes be very salty and sometimes it doesn’t taste that fresh. That said, this is only sometimes. More times than I’d like but not enough to keep me from never coming back.

Ordered the ramen burger, not overcooked and the ramen was the perfect consistency. Wasn’t amazed by the food, as it was a bit greasy, but definitely a good choice when you are looking for something a bit different. #spam

Could this place be any more depressing? The menu itself is actually very interesting which made me give this place a shot despite mediocre ratings on Unilocal.First, the cashier appeared to be so miserable and had like zero energy it made me feel so sad just to be there. I ordered the lau lau and Kalua pork. It was my first time to have lau lau so I don’t know if lau lau typically tastes like that but in my experience, it was unbearably horrendous. It took me about 3 bites to say um yeah no. The entire meal was not satisfying at all. Just a tip to management: if you guys are gonna serve mediocre food, you should at least step up your game on the service because poor food + poor service will definitely not equal a good future for your restaurant.

Its a typical hawaiian food spot-​nothing different.
Really small inside but great size menu. Food tastes fine, i usually get the Chicken Katsu meal. Usually am not interested in trying the other stuff. They also have mini meals for cheaper which is great if youre not as hungry. Solid little spot, will return.

I’ve always passed by this place because it seemed pretty different from what I’m use to but it’s AWESOME.
Their menu is very unique and not like anything you find elsewhere. It seems to have Asian style food but with a bit of a twist. They offer all day breakfast and include spam in many of their menu items. Aside from the great menu and food, this place is very inexpensive. I got full off their 5 dollar chicken Katsu saimin which was really great. I will be coming back for sure!

I like this L&L location. I am aware that this is a chain restaurant and not 100% authentic, but I had a good experience here.
First let’s address the fact that the cashier says «aloha» and «mahalo» to each customer who orders. Keeping up with the theme, I dig it. I love the flowery Hawaiian shirts as well. It’s the little things.
Not only do they play the right part, the food comes out fast as well. Most L&L’s will have slow turn around but this location was built for the fast paced city at lunch time. Got my food in under 10 mins. Good for when you don’t have time to waste at lunch.
I always get a combination plate because I can never choose just one meat entrée. I got the BBQ mix plate so I could get a little chicken, short rib and beef. Not much seating inside, a few stools but nothing more. Get the teriyaki sauce at smother everything in it. It’s the right mix of sweet and tangy. You also get a choice of white or brown rice as well as macaroni salad on the side. A very well balanced meal that left me really full and satisfied for the rest of the day.

Came here for the ramen burger. Always wanted to try one and couldn’t find many places that still have them since that craze has sort of passed. It wasn’t busy so service was quick. It was good but didn’t really stay together well at all. Pretty much had to eat it with a fork but the flavor was there. A bit greasy for me. I don’t know if I’d come back for one again but I did get to try it!

We were excited to eat Hawaiian cuisine but were really disappointed w this place. We had the spam musubi, kalua pork/​lau lau combo. Everything was Bland, dry and underwhelming. My husband makes Hawaiian food well so perhaps my standards are high? Whatever the reason, we’re Not returning here!

I was walking by when I saw that they have ramen burger, and of course sold! The restaurant is Hawaiian themed and menu items are well reflected in tropical theme. It is more of a Togo or eat and go type of restaurant. I did not get a chance to try other food but did try Ramen burger
It was good but not that memorable. I don’t know what or how they should taste but I expect the ramen to be a little crunchy on the outside. The burger meat tasted good, it has a terriyaki flavor to it. Overall this would be a good lunch dish at the office. And yes they give you fork and knife; other wise it would be a mess to eat it like a traditional burger.

It was really good but not great. I have some really fresh tasting Hawaiian food in Dublin, Ca on my way home and I expected this freshness. A little greasy. Their spam musubis had too much sea weed wrap on it and over powered the taste. Place could use a clean up and maybe some fresh paint. I keep remembering it looked a bit outdated and dark.
Staff was really friendly and fast. I love that they also had snacks! I got some chocolates and they were so good!

I would say this place is just okay. If you’re craving for Hawaiian food then you can go to L&L Hawaiin Barbecue. They have a variety of Hawaiian dishes and I had come to eat here sometimes because it is close to where I work.
Small location, long lines sometimes so that equals to long wait for food. People that work there are nice and when it is slow they actually ask you if the food is good or not.
Definitely recommend this place to everyone.

Time: 7:17pm/63°F clouds
Purpose: After checking out Bastille Day across the street. I was still somewhat hungry. Doors can be seen still prop from where I was at. Walk over ask open or close? Was told closing at 8pm. Great!
Ambiance: L & L sits on a prime street with plenty of foot traffic and vehicle traffic itself. It’s centrally located with three major areas Fi-​Di, Chinatown and Union Square. Once inside place you’ll quick to discover lots of Hawaiian themes. Place holds eight seats mostly light weight foldable chairs. Wall counter seating no real tables, four on each side. New item posters along with advertising pictures plaster wall not an area left out. Light up menu board takes up most of the space. Stand alone single door beverage fridge, non working display case use for utensil station purposes. Water dispenser is self help with plastic cups running out quite often. Front counter area boast several combo deals with the basic eatery set up. Small trash bin often gets clogged up with torn bag protruding to the sides.
Staff: Older asian lady about early 50s. Mildly well manner say that standard meet and greet method. Pretty handy with register seems like a season pro. She gets around efficiently puts in my order and proceed back to what she was doing earlier. In a higher tone voice she calls out my order handed over sending me on my way.
Cleanliness: Grade B-​, water dispenser had a film of oil floating on top of water. Tasted really funky nearly gag. Told the lady and she shrug it off. She did however call someone from back to look at it. Trash bin has odor emitting from hours of waste sitting there.
Eats/​Drinks: BBQ beef bowl $ 5.99 comes with plastic bowl/​lid. Not the best hawaiian bbq that I had. It was like those asian frozen bowls you would find at your local grocer. The kind were you cut slit on film and pop in microwave. From the beginning, it just looks difficult to eat. Veggies were frozen just thawed and blanch with hot water. Rice were done right, with fluffy grains non sticking. Can’t mess that up with Chinese chefs back of house. Beef were hard and chewy plenty of stringy gristles. Needed 3 toothpicks to undo stuck meat. I never struggle like that trying to chew beef till jaw got tired. Just simple cheap eats for those with no dinner plans.
Main Features: Loco moco, pupu platters and lau lau/​kalua pig
Products/​Services: Musubi, burgers/​fries, bbq-​chicken, beef, katsu, shrimp, fish, seafood mix, bbq mix, bowls, ramen burger, healthy plate, saimin, sides, haupia, malasada, assorted can/​bottled drinks. Breakfast (all day), catering available.
Punch Lines: Seats are minimal, inexpensive, harried staff, budget-​watchers, kitschy décor, light bites, zippy service, can’t go wrong, nothing out of the ordinary, a twist on traditional favorites, pretentious.
Tradeoffs: Food is like buffet type categorized place in menu given a Hawaiian name and price low to sell more quantities over qualities.
Final Thoughts: To get real Hawaiian BBQ now a days, you’ll need to hit up roadside trucks in Hawaii itself. Anyone can claim this and that, but all in all, its just a standard kitchen with all equipments like nearby restaurant. Can’t possibly call it Hawaiian with no outdoor grill? It doesn’t differentiate itself as much here even with poster of mainland. By comparison to nearby Chinatown places theres not much difference. So-​so value, but can improve.

I usually get the chicken katsu when I come here. It is probably not the healthiest but it is tasty and quick. There are so many great options in the city but sometimes you just need something familiar and quick.

First of all I do not like most Hawaiian food.
None of it. No poi, no spam, adobo, loco mocho. I’m sorry but it’s all carb and crazy that fat loaded. So much just looking at it makes me feel like I need to take a Lipitor. When I see a whole roasted pig or any part of a roasted pig, my stomach churns and I feel the need to take a shower and crawl up in a ball like a victim on Law & Order SVU. As you can tell I don’t do pork very well.
Now I when to comes to most sea creatures on the other hand I will tear it up. However that’s another story and I’ll some reviews for the Big Island.
Now, I’m not a Biased Bitter Bit*h Betty. Just because restaurant isn’t 100% for me does not mean it’s not for you! It’s cute it’s Kitch and the servers are pretty friendly. Not to mention it’s also one of the cheaper places in San Francisco. Yes it’s trendy, but you have to understand most trendy places don’t mind charging a lot. This place is super reasonable.
Honestly I had a lot of fun just getting a drink, kicking back and laughing at my friends while taking pics. What was sweet was; the server even saw I was apprehensive and a little skittish so he asked me what I liked and gave me a healthy plate with the samples of different seafood. That was really sweet gesture, you won’t get at most places.
Come here just for the fun and «Epic Loz». Have fun time with friends and order everything on the menu try it and share it. Laugh take pictures and enjoy. Yes the Ramen burger is hilarious. I’m afraid to try it but just because I’m a scaredy-​cat about it is more the reason you should be a daredevil.
All and all my advise is: come here and eat your face off.