Lava Pit Fire Grill

The shrimp katsu was creamy, and delicious, and crispy, not oily and gross. It’s just like super good and the flavors it really tastes good. –my 6 yr old.
Overall good (except for salad), crispy, chewy, and delicious, great short ribs very meaty and smoky. –my 10 yr old.

My husband and I LOVE Lava pit unfortunately we made a trip to this location and it was CLOSED and a new restaurant is coming in it’s place.
Be sure to check out the Orinda Location; the Kalua Pork is moist and worth the extra trip.

Got a groupon for this restaurant and finally tried it for the first time today. I was a little taken a back when I tried to order spam musubi… and was told we don’t have that… REALLY??? So I tried the Kalua pig and BBQ mix plate with steak. The Kalua pig was good, flavorful and not too greasy. However… yes there is a however… as I watched the food being brought to our table, my mouth started to water… as I just couldn’t wait for mac salad… but what’s this a green salad??? What no mac salad? So this is why this tasty little place gets only 3 stars… no spam musubi and no mac salad. Which are both staples to eat with kalua pig.
The food was good, the service was good, but as I sit here writing this review… can’t help but thinking… REALLY? No mac salad or spam musubi? Both of which aren’t even on the menu as side orders.

Unimpressive, and not cheap. Their Kahlua pork and barbecue chicken were both unremarkable, even lackluster.
I’ll admit that my «check in» was made to reap a one dollar beer. They got me in the door and failed to impress.

My fav Hawaiian BBQ hands down! The quality of their food is much better than other HBBQ spots. They don’t pan fry everything, which seems to be a staple for HBBQ. They grill most of their food, they have a delicious salad they offer included with their combos, and my fav, they have brown rice! Consider the BBQ mix, my fav combo!

BF and I came in some time ago with a «groupon type» deal. I am going to keep this simple. Here is the breakdown:
3 stars — The food was tasty a step above the usual Hawaiian style pubs in the area.
1 star — I ordered the the short rib entrée. I got one small rib it which was made to look like two by cutting it in half. This place is expensive in comparison to the amount of food served. It isn’t like this is a fine dining experience…
2 stars — The service was nothing memorable, I guess it was okay.
I certainly would not come back herel. Well, MAYBE with a deal. I see that Unilocal has one right now. Wait — no I still would not come back… not even with a deal.

Two of us did mini rice bowl lunch specials; one beef and one chicken. We were the only people eating there. Bowls were mini indeed, but with two cold deep fried egg rolls and two sodas for $ 16, that’s not mini!
Rice seemed to be a reheated clump of white. Meats were lukewarm, but, overly grilled/​reheated and saturated in overly salty brown goo. One slice of carrot and one piece of broccoli piece; both ice cold. Seems like the assembly line of pre-​made food is their style. Egg roll was congealed oil in wrapper with cabbage.
This place puts the «pit» in Lava Pit. (This was our second and last visit.)

I placed a catering order with the Lava Pit for a celebration of about 80 people. The catering manager made some very helpful recommendations over the phone about quantity and suggested other items to add to the order. We placed our order and set a pickup time.
We arrived to pick up the food on time on Sunday and everything was hot and ready to go. The staff was very helpful and packed the large containers up very nicely in cardboard boxes so they would not spill on the car ride home.
We easily unpacked and setup the disposable warming trays we purchased along with the food.
Everything was delicious! My favorites were the Chicken Goyza (recommend by the catering manager Sam), the pineapple salad and the BBQ chicken.
I did not love the Katsu prawns as much as I thought. I was disappointed that they were flat. I also found them a little dry which may had been due to the reheating.
Overall, very happy with ordering catering from the Lava Pit. I would recommend it.

FINALLY, an inexpensive place for Teriyaki in Lafayette.
The service is always fast, and usually friendly. The food quality is excellent, from fresh rice, to delicious chicken and perfectly cooked vegetables.
YUM.

Not bad at all. The food feels healthier than your typical Hawaiian plate lunch, and the meals are reasonably priced. The Kahlua pork seemed a little strange to me (crunchy?!), but I generally liked the flavor. I really liked the curry and would come back for that alone.

Awesome Katsu Curry!
Think yellow curry sweetened with onions and veggies. Brown rice option always a plus. Pineapple side salad that comes with entrees is fresh in flavor and gives you that extra veggie serving that we all need.

As far as Hawaiian BBQ goes, I dint know how you could get much better. The Kahlua pork is always so flavorful and tasty. The Katsu chicken is also a very good dish.
Most days I get the mini bowl and that is enough for lunch. But today I went with the entrée size Kahlua pork and was amazed how much food you get your money.
Service is always fast and friendly. I like that they come around to check in on you and clear your plate even though this is not a sit down place.

I may not be familiar enough with Hawaiian food to make a review or critique.
Heads up though, they do not use chicken breast. All their chicken is thigh.
Otherwise good sauce and flavor.

Very good hawaiin style bbq. The flavor is right on, and the meat was moist. I had the bbq mix and it was all very good. The portion was very big, with enough left over to bring some home for a late night snack. Inside is very clean looking décor, with easy to menus and lots of choices.
3.5 stars

I lean towards Asian food as my broad (yes, I know billions of people and at least hundreds if not thousands of separate cuisines) food type of choice, so this place hits the right buttons. I had the katsu chicken which came with rice and salad (I think?, it’s been a few weeks). First off, the chicken is hot and crispy, tasty, and somehow super tender. I expected to struggle with the plastic utensils but not only did my knife nearly fall through the meat, my fork was similarly easy to use. The katsu sauce was tasty, though I could have used slightly more, I expect they would have given me more if I had asked.
The surprise here was that as I thought I was finishing my chicken, oh wait, a whole other piece underneath the same size (both alike in dignity…) I was pleased.
It’s not expensive, it’s tasty, it’s fresh, it’s somewhere I’d stop for lunch or a quick bite on the way home.
Being an out-​of-​towner, I don’t know if this place is a chain or what. it sort of looks like it but that is beside the point. And, yes, I know about this thing called google.

I really like his place! I came here today and the person at the register had very professional customer service. I would write her name on here but didn’t catch it.
The food: Pretty good! The salad dressing was pretty good and I had the mixed BBQ plate. The beef wasn’t THAT moist but it was very tasty! The chicken was also very good.
We also ordered the lettuce wraps which were only OK cause it was kinda like pulled pork cooked with cabbage, so I wouldn’t get that again but my BBQ plate was yummy!
I would come back, but under the circumstances that I live in Pleasanton, I probably won’t.

3.75 stars for Lava Pit.
As excited as I was when I walked by this place on my weekly Trader Joe’s excursion… I was DEVASTATED to find out that they do not have macaroni salad on their menu!!! :.(
Bu-​bu-​but that’s a Hawaiian food staple! My usual two scoops and eventually eating my fiancé’s scoop… Are you telling me *sniff sniff* that’s not going to be possible here??! Nooooooooooooooooo!!!
I did enjoy the rest of the food that I’ve tried the few times I’ve gone. The kalua pork is delish, and their «mini bowls» are definitely not that mini! Always nice to have the white rice or brown rice option too.
Lava Pit I would soooo up you to 4+ stars if you could just do me that one favor! Pleeeaase? :)

I went for the first time today and brought a group with me.
Unfortunately, I had an old menu with noodle dishes — and they’re no longer available. I ended up ordering the chicken combo with egg rolls.
The egg rolls were just OK — nice and crispy on the outside, but not much inside. The egg roll sauce was horrible. Kind of a cross between sweet-​and-​sour and bad Italian dressing.
The chicken was quite good — and the salad was good, too (even the dressing).
I was going to give it two stars, but it deserves 2.5 and my dining companions were happy and they’re still new — so I’m bumping it up to 3.
However I really wish they had good noodles…

Food was fine but staying to the sweeter style Hawaiian flavorings. Had hoped it was going to be a true sit-​down family style, BBQ place vs. short order quick style. So don’t think it’s going to be date appropriate.
Pretty straight forward grill and finger food from various Asian through South Pacific cultures. Expect everything from Korean short ribs to Katsu meat or seafood. Party platters available as well. Liquor license on its way.
Extra star for really fun, exceptionally thoughtful staff. Was expecting a bit more of a café setting. For the café pricing and type of food, the plasticware was a real turn-​off.

I used to enjoy the food at the Orinda location. I anxiously waited for the Lafayette restaurant to open since I shop at Trader Joe’s next door.
The Lava Pit Mix seemed like a great way to sample the food. I watched as they pulled items out of a plastic bag and mixed it in a bowl. It looked like prefabbed frozen meat. Uh-​oh…
The grilled chicken was sliced very thin and way over-​cooked to a dry, jerky consistency. The shrimp was butterflied and flattened almost too uniformly as a machine might do it. The mahi-​mahi was also sliced very thin and dry to taste. The brown rice was packed into a container, but it was so starchy that the rice came out clumpy.
A side order of pot stickers was under cooked and did not have a nice brown crust on one side. The sauce was supplied in a plastic pouch… could it be part of the factory-​frozen pot-​sticker product?
Hey, if Lava Pit is going to serve reheated, prefabbed food, I might as well go next door to TJ’s, buy their frozen, prefabbed stuff and reheat it at home.
I hope the owners read this and improve the food. I will check out the other items and report back.