Marination Ma Kai

This place is good if you’re looking for Hawaiian/​Korean/​taco type food. There is a bar inside, small seating and several tables outside (since it is by Alki Beach). Great place to get something small or big but very filling. Quesadilla’s are cheesy! Tacos and sliders are filled with flavor and good if you’re looking for something small. Kimchi fried rice… I love! I always order kimchi fried rice. It’s a lot for me when dining in (but I like bringing it home to eat later or to work for lunch).

Tasty food, but if you’re looking for actual hawaiian food this place kind of misses the mark. I got the pork sliders and mac salad, which I enjoyed eating. However, it ended up being kind of bland for me because I kept imagining them to taste like actual kalua pork and mac salad.
This place is nice because of it’s location, but I’ll most likely not come back if I’m craving some hawaiian food.

Great food, great drinks, great view.

Maybe its because i was hungry or it was a sunny day in Seattle, but this was amazing. The location in west seattle overlooking the city is romantical and probably even more so at night. The food is straight forward, average to small portions, but very tasty. The beef taco I had was the best thing i ate! I had a pork slider too which was pretty good, and had some moca bowl which was better than i expected and more food than a taco or slider. Not going to be the cheapest for the quantity, but it is definitely worth going to if you find yourself on the west side!

Amazing views and surprisingly good fusion fare here. The West Seattle water taxi from Pier 50 in downtown docks right next to the restaurant. Standouts are the kimchi fried rice with spicy pork (tastes almost like home!!) fish tacos, spam musubi and shave ice. Less thrilling is the limited beer selection here and some sides which didn’t impress (i.e. macaroni salad). Over I’m giving it a sold 4.5 stars and definitely worth a look for part of the highly underrated West Seattle experience.

I came here once for breakfast. It was yummy with an unbeatable view across the water to Downtown Seattle. The sunrise burrito was superb and definitely gave me energy for the day. Tasty savory goodness wrapped inside a warm tortilla. The breakfast sliders were good. I tried it with both the Portuguese sausage and also sliders with spam. Spam was a little too salty for me, but the sausage was on point. Coffee was good. Great vibe.

Delicious. Kimchi fried rice was a little spicy (shouldn’t be a surprise, it’s kimchi after all), but the kimchi quesadilla was terrific. Pork sliders and katsu sandwiches — delicious. Fish taco — really? — one of the most boring I’ve ever had, and a little fishy tasting that day (almost caused a drop to 4 stars.) French fries were good, too.
Located right on the water — was a nice treat near the harbor.
Lunch line was LONG, but they moved quickly. Worth the visit.

Oh my. What a pleasant surprise! Drove over to West Seattle and didn’t quite know what to expect as we crossed the West Seattle Bridge to the shipyard. But this no nonsense Hawaiian charm of place with possibly the best wide angle view of the city skyline was fantastic. We shared 2 pork khalua sliders (flow cooked pork with a slaw /​tangy kimchi (not spicy like Korean Kimchi) and this killer aioli (but much better sauce– so good my daughter had to get another side of it); and one … SPAM– the island’s bacon! And 2 4″ khalbi beef and ginger miso chicken tacos again with the same slaw. And a green salad with coarsely ground roasted peanuts and a killer Asian/​ginger ponzu salad dressing. Everything was devoured quickly and chased down without ginger beer. $ 24!

The view. The food. The patio. The cocktails. What’s not to love.
The best way to enjoy Marination Ma Kai is to take the water taxi from pier 50 near Pioneer Square in Seattle. The view of the Seattle skyline is amazing and a short 15 minutes later you will arrive in West Seattle and on the doorstep of Marination Ma Kai. You will wait in the queue to order longer than it will have taken you to water taxi there and it will be worth every single minute.
Have dined here once and at the Capitol Hill location once. My bites as rated in order of favorite to least favorite
–Kalbi beef tacos
–Kimchi quesadilla with kalua pork (though note that it can take up to 20 minutes to make)
–Kalua pork sliders
–Miso ginger tacos
If possible, sit on the patio, order yourself a cocktail and enjoy the views of Seattle. On a warm, sunny day, it really doesn’t get any better than Marination Ma Kai.

The sexy tofu tacos and green salad with hazelnuts and a miso dressing just made my day. The jalapeño fizz cocktail didn’t hurt either!

KATSU BURGER! I doubted my cousin and I regret it now. Deeply. I should have listened to her. If you don’t think it’ll fill you, grab a slider, or musubi, but definitely get the Katsu burger.
When the weather is great, take a seat outside, enjoy the water and the views.

Visiting from California, I came in hopes of getting a taste of the Aloha fries which looked very good from pictures. Unfortunately, they did not have it anymore. The service and friendliness of the cashier was okay.
I tried the fish taco and the kimchi fried rice. The fish taco was really good but really small. I’m not sure if I’m willing to pay that much for such a small taco. The fried rice was good yet at the same time I wish it had more meat in it. For me, I wish the portion sizes were bigger.
It has a great view of downtown Seattle as well as outside seating to enjoy the weather and view.

I really like the concept of this place! Great location with the view of the city and on a sunny day, nothing beats that cityscape and the sound. My food came out super fast which I appreciate but kinda cold. Portions are also small but they were all good snack sizes and you can try more things that way! I tried the slider, fish taco, and spicy pork taco and they were very yummy.

Location is spot on, great view of downtown with the water. Drinks were also on point. I got a Mai Kai which was like a tropical Mai tai and was very tasty.
So why the 3*? The food was very so so. My girlfriend got the breakfast burrito which could even have been a 2*. Potatoes were barely warm and really not good. The rest was okay at best.
My sister and I got the fish and chips. The fries were great and so were the sauces. The breaking on the fish was great but the fish was not all that great, especially for somewhere where you would expect the fish to be excellent.
I’ll definitely be back but not for the food.

Not much to say other than, express tacos and beautiful view of Seattle skyline in the back where the bar is located! The bar is so cheap as far as alcoholic and non-​alcoholic beverage. It’s all affordable here and their tacos are delicious! I ordered the Kalbi beef tacos and the spicy pork tacos. Don’t forget to ask for lime on your tacos at no extra charge and put those delicious jalapeños on it! Oh and I believe it’s cash only so you might want to come prepared to whip out those papers for these goodies. Can’t wait to go back on another sunny day at alki for a quick bite.

Solid Asian/​Hawaiian fusion food and a great view of the Seattle skyline. Ordered the kimchi fried rice w/​beef, side of fries, and fish tacos. Everything was super flavorful and not too greasy! Really reminds me of food you’d get on a food truck back in LA.
If the weather’s nice, I highly recommend sitting l outside for an awesome waterfront view! Parking might be difficult at peak hours but I was able to grab a spot in the lot up front!

One of our last night here in Seattle so we decided to head over to Alki beach to see the Seattle skyline. Marination was still open so we decided to grab a snack. Sucks we came to almost closing so they didn’t have some of the things I wanted to try BUT the things we did get to try was AMAZING.
Everything was seasoned perfectly and taste so fresh. Made me wanted more…
Definitely will return hopefully sometime soon

Bomb.
On a sunny day this place is perfect. It is close to the water and parks and biking trails but besides being in a nice location the food was soooo good.
The original slider was a perfect balance of sweet bread, fresh Cole slaw and khalua pork. I also had the fish taco, breakfast slider and the Mac salad. Everything here was good. The place itself was small but it was not really a sit down restaurant, more like a grab and go.
I can’t wait to bring my friends and family here!

Awesome Food! Awesome Views! Marination Ma Kai is Unilocaltastic!
Kimchi Fried Rice!
Kalbi Tacos!
Mac Salad!
Aloha Fries!
Spam Musubi!
Loco Moco!
I love to bring visiting friends and family here!
Check out this place!!! :D

WAH I REALLY wanted to like this place but I would never come back here! As one of my last meals, I asked my parents to take me here. Sadly, was not worth the hype and I can say that cause I ordered $ 85 worth of food. I used to love their location on the Hill but now I’m questioning myself after this experience.
We ordered 9 tacos, three of each of the meat kind, a loco moko, fish and chips, aloha fries, 4 spam sliders, kimchi fried rice with Kalbi.
Tacos: I’ve had their tacos in the past on Capitol Hill and loved the experience. The chicken was good but the pork one was eating a pool of oil. Awful.
Loco moko: good but small.
Fish and chips: God awful. Batter didn’t stick. Two bites and we tossed it out.
Aloha fries: for $ 9, not that tasty. It comes with a fried egg, nori, pulled pork, and sauce. Overall way too salty.
Spam sliders: good but over priced. Bread buns were super cold making the whole experience weird. Why were the buns so cold?!? These should cost as MOST $ 2.
Kimchi fried rice: awful. $ 7 and then $ 2 for Kalbi. It was so salty. Unappetizing.
They forgot to give us our fried rice so I had to go and ask for it. My poor parents were underwhelmed. The view was great though. It’s so busy so getting a table for 5 was difficult.
None of us will go back. Two stars because the spam sliders could have been amazing.