Hawaiian BBQ Festival

In response: Erin V
I understand you were very excited to see HBF open up 5 years ago. However, yes it’s a change in ownership. Congrats the Grand Opening for the NEW OWNERS!!!
I apologize for you leaving so disappointed. Even the price for the $ 5 plate event special was not worth it. The only change I’ve seen is two walls painted w/​paint for chalk. The menu is in chalk vs the old lit board. When I asked the clerk what consisted of their «veggie burger» — no patty, avocado is their patty and some veggies to go along with it. But they also have an avocado burger– what gives? FYI– not really veggie friendly.
The chicken katsu– crappy! The thing was overcooked and it didn’t even taste like chicken. Hey even a Mc Nugget tastes better just get katsu sauce (I didn’t really like their katsu sauce) and call it Chicken Katsu. I had to beg for some carrots on my salad because the guy serving them was being chincy on their portions. The Kahlua Pork– it’s like flossing my teeth with jerky. It didn’t even taste that great. Their BBQ chicken was alright. The short ribs– were fatty and I couldn’t even tell I had a serving of them because they were unrecognizable. Their rice wasn’t ready so I opted for their macaroni salad. WTF was that! It was such a weird flavor that left a really nasty aftertaste. It seemed as if they added sugar to it. The food was actually cold.
Made to order this wasn’t. Their lack of organization carried over into the food. I didn’t understand why they even had some of their meats sitting in a tray warmers (no warmers at all). I’m sure the Dept of Health would’ve highly approved of that.
Unfortunately Dr. Pepper couldn’t have saved them. To top off my horrible experience, as I was filling up on my DP, that sucker ran out.
I love Hawaiian food, but this is nothing short of the Hawaiian food I’ve had. It’s more Korean influence than Hawaiian. HBF makes Ohana Hawaiian BBQ look better and that’s saying a lot.
NEXT!
In Response to this !!! … everyone has a 2^nd Opinion about a place and usually it’s preference seating, food, type, portions, definition of expectations more or less so i’ll conclude my responds because i’ve never eat’n here before so i’ll make my grounds on this… We can’t always satisfy every single customer to the par … you’ll always have a rotten apple out of 100 there will always be that 1 specific rotten apple …
I decided to meet a friend @ Hawaiian BBQ Festifval… Upon arriving i was greeting with great customer service by the Owner as well as the Cashier… Pretty Friendly Place I like it !!! WoW … 40 inch TV’s … omg Wireless … Perfect HOTSPOT … i brought my laptop just in case.
Well i tried the Spicy Pork … and the BBQ Ribs …
hmmmm i noticed the ribs have been marinated because of the slight sweetness which is good, I like it !! Mikey Likes It !!! :)
The Spicy Pork gotta try it !!! I love it … if your into spicy foods, try the Spicy Pork.
The have lots of different items to choose unlike a L&L, i was amazed because of not only i was choosing a certain type of Hawaiian Food they have BEDNTO BOX wow !!! I love Japanese Food. Go figure !!!
We all sat down with Cindy L, Chris, and tried the different meats…
**** Don’t forget to sign in *** they have a message board. I took a picture and i’ll be posting it on the my photo page !!!
Environment: Cozy. relaxing, quiet during non rush hour after 1pm
Seating: Capacity is about 40
Outside Seating: Yes «Chilly Today «yet Hott
Cleanliness: Clean !!! Tables Clean
Line-​Up /​Side Dishes are freshly cooked … not sitting under the lamp for several hours «FRESH !!!
Great Company !!! Thanks Cindy L. for coming out today.
Met with the Owner. Greeted Us … WOW it appears to be new Management. Never had great service being greeted !
I think that’s it for now. Until my next Review of this cool place. I’m going to try the other dishes.
Mahalo Everyone !!!
Keenu

Was a fan up until they closed and put another Thai place that’s not very far from another restaurant, BBq festival had the best macaroni salad and the food was better than L&L or it felt more authentic! but the owner decided to raise the prices and open a thai place so I stopped going and so did my friends I remember catering hawaiin bbq festival for my daughters baptism and the guest where not dissapointed to this day I get asked it its still open sadly its not… bring back the original bbq festival or open another location north LB peeps miss it!

This used to be the spot for lunch… but sadly… Hawaiian BBQ Festival is no longer.

Let’s put it like this, it’s good for a hawaiian food fix but it’s not the greatest. If you come here, I recommend the Kalua Pork. That’s the best item they have.
Other than that, maybe the Island Chicken but it’s just deep fried teriyaki chicken pieces.
It gets 3 stars because it’s a good place for catering because your getting bulk Kalua Pork, Island Chicken and Mac Salad lol (well those are the things I only get here I’m not a fan of the rest lol)

They were friendly and the food was alright. The place had flies flying around on the side orders. I had the katsu chicken (small portion) and I don’t know but the meat seem kind of dark like the oil needed changing. I also had the bbq beef which was good I actually wanted the short ribs but it said add $ 1.00 for that when the two meat combo was already $ 8.99 the mac salad tasted like fish (even though I asked for potatoe salad) inside seem kind of dark but there’s seating outside the place. And all that sloppy writing on the menu just gives me a headache.

Four stars for now, since I only tried one thing on the menu.
I came in and the girl behind the counter with blonde in her hair was super nice. She saw me lost at the menu not even sure what to order and helped me with options. I went with the dumpings. Super yum! Just the right amount of crunch.
She was very friendly and welcoming, I’ll definitely be back to try more.

Epic Fail
Walked up to the doors today, to find the doors locked, lights out. The friendly, apologetic staff member said the cook didn’t show up so they can’t open.
I’ll have to try them again sometime when their cook shows up to work on time to see if they’ll get a better rating.

I used to love this place not even six months ago. At that point the owner was there every night making sure things were good. And they were, the food was amazing and I found myself coming there multiple times a week. When I couldn’t make it over I was able to order delivery, and I even used their catering once.
Im not sure what happened tough. I’m sitting here with a 2 item of orange chicken and kalua pork and it’s terrible. ALL of the pork is completely burnt and the orange chicken is soggy and not up to their previous standard.

man. there are pretty bitter reviews down below. Sounds like the rival restaurants are cyber terrorizing this restaurant «Derka derka, Mohammed Jihad. Haka sherpa-​sherpa. Abaka-​la.» — Team America, of course. Some of the reviews sound down right racist. It’s a Hawaiian restaurant, man! chilll out. Be UNITED in United States, please.
The food is great here! I mean comparing to those Asian take out places. you can actually get some MEAT here. They have more things than your usual L&L and they seem to be trying to give you more things to try every month. Heard they changed the owner so it was a rough transition before i would think. Give it a chance! Their sides are pretty legit too. i mean if you like shredded lettuce as your side then i think it’s time to change the newspaper in your rabbit cage. Get some human coleslaw, it’s my fav.
If you want good Hawaiian/​Asian meat rice plate things then try it. see it for yourself.

The food here is not bad, much fresher than large «Hawaiian BBQ» chains, and the prices are great! The dishes also appear to be much healthier than what you would find in a typical restaurant — sides are mainly full of fresh veggies.
Out of 3 meats, 2 sides and a drink, the sides definitely outshined everything else. The almond-​coleslaw was fresh and flavorful. The meats also had a nice flavor BUT were much, much too salty to be eaten as standalone. I would recommend that the steamed rice come complimentary with each meal rather than count as a side.
Employees were very friendly and super polite. I hope they do well.
I just want to say it one more time — the sides were awesome. Sides will be all I need the next time I go.

Hawaiian BBQ Festival is a great local find here in Long Beach.
Great clean place, no funky BBQ smell here.
I tried their 3 meat special plate (Spicy Pork, Short Ribs, and BBQ Chicken)
Spicy Pork– I like that they are sliced Deli Style, nice and thin lots of flavor.
Shorts Ribs– Delicious
BBQ Chicken– Best of the 3 meats. I love this.
Side Orders
Macaroni Salad– Just like my Hawaiian Mom (Connie) used to make. Brought back the memories
Glass Long Noodles– I have never seen this anywhere else. What a great selection. Great option instead of eating rice.
Special: I loved their Kahlua Pig! Great flavor.
This is not only a great Hawaiian place but it offers some great milk tea and real Authentic Thai Ice Tea! (Trust me) you will love it and all for very reasonable price. This place is awesome. I will definitely be back.
side order

I noticed some Unilocalers had a bad experience here because of a UYE and I would have to disagree because this is my favorite Hawaiian Fast Food place that I go to since I live only 5 minutes away from it. They have sides that other places like Ono Hawaiian and L&L BBQ don’t, such as:
Long Rice Noodles
Kimchi
Somen Noodles
Mixed Vegetables
Potato and Egg Salad
Yogurt Cucumbers
Etc…
My Fiancé and I think they have the best mac salad ever! Don’t call us fat, but we’d drive all the way to Hawaiian BBQ Festival to get sides of the mac salad to have with whatever meal we’re cooking at home, lol. Oh and another fat fact, they have fried spam masubis, sounds heart attackish but it’s so good (and it doesn’t «look» oily).

«Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!»
I was excited to see HBF open up 5 years ago. Woo hoo, Hawaiian food close by. Been here a few times and I know what I like– HBF is not it. Ono grinds this wasn’t. Years later Unilocal comes around and a «Grand Opening» event posted made me want to try them again. Grand Opening? HA HA what a joke, why post it as a grand opening when it clearly was just a change in ownership.
I came here for their grand opening event and was left disappointed. Even the price for the $ 5 plate event special was not worth it. The only change I’ve seen is two walls painted w/​paint for chalk. The menu is in chalk vs the old lit board. When I asked the clerk what consisted of their «veggie burger» — no patty, avocado is their patty and some veggies to go along with it. But they also have an avocado burger– what gives? FYI– not really veggie friendly.
The chicken katsu– crappy! The thing was overcooked and it didn’t even taste like chicken. Hey even a Mc Nugget tastes better just get katsu sauce (I didn’t really like their katsu sauce) and call it Chicken Katsu. I had to beg for some carrots on my salad because the guy serving them was being chincy on their portions. The Kahlua Pork– it’s like flossing my teeth with jerky. It didn’t even taste that great. Their BBQ chicken was alright. The short ribs– were fatty and I couldn’t even tell I had a serving of them because they were unrecognizable. Their rice wasn’t ready so I opted for their macaroni salad. WTF was that! It was such a weird flavor that left a really nasty aftertaste. It seemed as if they added sugar to it. The food was actually cold.
Made to order this wasn’t. Their lack of organization carried over into the food. I didn’t understand why they even had some of their meats sitting in a tray warmers (no warmers at all). I’m sure the Dept of Health would’ve highly approved of that.
Unfortunately Dr. Pepper couldn’t have saved them. To top off my horrible experience, as I was filling up on my DP, that sucker ran out.
I love Hawaiian food, but this is nothing short of the Hawaiian food I’ve had. It’s more Korean influence than Hawaiian. HBF makes Ohana Hawaiian BBQ look better and that’s saying a lot.
NEXT!

I have eaten here several times along with my family. I’ll start off by saying that my family knows Hawaiian food. Really, really well. There are a lot of ethnic influences in Hawaiian food, including Korean, but there is still a difference between Hawaiian food and Korean food.
I noticed their recent ‘Grand Opening’ which was a bit confusing, since they’ve been around for many years. But I guess there is a new owner. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like enough has changed along with that ownership change.
The food here is mediocre at it’s best, and bad at it’s norm. I know some restaurants have an off night, but when every experience is that bad, well, you get the idea. Needless to say, my family doesn’t plan on going back here. And it takes quite a bit for them to dislike a restaurant that much!
The good thing about this restaurant: it’s next to Jamba Juice, so after an unsatisfying meal, you can go next door and get something decent.

THE RESTAURANT-​HAWAIIN BBQ FESTIVAL
I was very excited about attending the grand opening of this eatery. Not only for some great eats, people and entertainment but also for the raffle for Parents Against Cancer (for kids).
I arrived around 11:30 AM, saw a lot of balloons, chairs and the like so I was expecting things had gotten rolling. Also, I was hungry too and schlepped on inside.
I saw my Unilocal friend Erin V. (sans Andrea) talking to another patron and finishing up her food; food and an experience that she was already giving me the T & P (the dish on this is so shocking you will pee your pants) on her experience before I ordered.
My order the $ 5 Sampler Plate (includes 3 meat choices and 2 sides):
Kalua Pork — Dry, stringy, bland, tepid and not even close to warm. Had to use 3 strings of dental floss to get this crap out of my teeth in the back.
Island Chicken-​Breaded, out of the freezer box flavor and had to douse it with condiments to eat it. I never had it served this way in Hawaii.
Hawaiian Short Ribs-​Three of them and OMG one actually didn’t have a bone in it. Bought in bulk, flavorless, they looked like smashed leaches and; something you would serve at a company picnic for employees you cannot stand.
Sides-​Sour Creamed Cucumbers-​These really were the best food on my plate and, since I love cucumbers fixed this way they were the winner for me.
Steamed White Rice-​How can you eff that up? Well, it’s possible, over cooked and soy sauce was the only saving grace.
Drink-​$ 1 Milk Tea which all it really was ½ & ½ poured into iced tea. I should have brought my flask with Tito’s Vodka & and made a White Russian out of it that’s how yucky it was.
There were no welcomes from anyone to our grand opening, after I ordered people were being served before me from side bar trays off to the right but my tea came right up as I waited for another 15 minutes for my food to come. Perhaps it is because I told the guy at the register that Jesus will be coming sooner than my food!
This isn’t Hawaiian food, it’s Korean masking as Hawaiian which is as bad as eating expensive caviar on a Ralph’s Brand saltine cracker!
The dancers were outside entertaining and the raffle prizes were already being given away at noon. WTF?! This was supposed to go until 4 PM well, no surprise there considering all of the other disorganization. Maybe this guy and his team could have shown you how to do it right.
I

I showed up a bit after 1pm.
I asked the same thing… to meet the host. Well, no host had shown up. I was actually bummed. I mean, to go out and set up a thing like this… well, it’s a bit of work and getting to see it happen is part of the fun, right?
I did get a $ 5 meal, after about an 8 minute wait. The person behind the register… was busy… writing on old receipts. And then the person that actually served my plate, didn’t really tell me what the plate consisted of, so I picked from what he said… and I would have made a different choice had I known more, but I put that complaint off, I figured I just got the wrong person to help me. I really could tell when another person took over (after I had been served) and her care in making sure the next people knew how many of each type of item they could have.
I liked the BBQ chicken, I did not like the macaroni salad, and the rice was steaming hot. The person that served me did make the rounds of the room to ask customers about the food, and brought me a sample of the chicken katsu (which is what I would have gotten.) But the idea of coming out to a Unilocal community even, even a U event, is an invitation that I take as a good place to eat. I wouldn’t think that a person would take the time and effort to post an event to a place that wasn’t capable of dealing with a Unilocal crowd. And, the «owner» did say that he wasn’t ready in the early morning and I could hear in his voice that it may have not gone well.
What made me smile today was a very nice person who said she did the press release to the papers and she mentioned some other «grand opening» publicity she did… and when I mentioned
, she had no idea what I was talking about. I went so far as to ask her if she was a «computer person» and she said she was… but had never heard of Unilocal.I wrote it on a post-​it for her, hope she found us.
I don’t recall seeing any posters about the money being donated, and each time the announcer asked people to buy raffle tickets, I also didn’t hear the donation mentioned.
For this event, I’m glad I showed up so late, but it was not worth setting time aside in my day to go.
So with Iz (Israel Kamakawiwo‘olé’s: Facing Future) on my car stereo and a hibiscus flower in my hair, I left, disappointed.

The only reason I like this place is because they actually grill the food. And that’s more than I can say about other so called bbq joints in the area. Now the sides are iffy cuz they’re just sitting there all day under the glass. But one side is worth gettin by it self. The kim chee. It’s frsh and spicey. I finished the kim chee before the rest of my food. Actually I coudn’t finish my food. The portions are big. Which is good cuz the prices sre a little high. The service was very attentive. They had some good recomendations. And the cook came out and to see if all was good, which was pretty cool. With so many Hawaiian joints popping up everywhere this is a pretty good one if your in the area.

Not bad for local Hawaiian food… Although it’s more of a Hawaiian fusion restaurant. Their family meals are moderately priced, cheaper than buying individual meals that’s for sure! And they deliver!
I’ve ordered from here twice and both times they were out of spam musubi… How is that possible!!!
I don’t know of any other Hawaiian restaurants in this immediate area, but I will keep looking…

Bad bad bad. suuuuperbad! If I could give negative points. I would.
I’ve eaten here once before and thought the food was so-​so at best (certainly not worth the price) but today I decided to give it another shot with some co workers since hearing of the new ownership. I regretted it almost immediately upon entry.
What a joke! I knew we should have just gone across the way to Red Brick Pizza after we’d been standing in line for 15 minutes and it hadn’t moved. 2 ladies behind the counter and there were only 4 people ahead of me, all my co workers, all ordering teriaki bowls. Did I mention that it was DEAD when we walked in? Everyone was at Red Brick. hello irony. So anyway, they took our orders as slowly as humanly possible and then it took another 35 minutes for all 5 of us to get our food. To make matters worse, our orders were incorrect. By this time I was ready to leave.
As we were all about to leave. unhappy and unsatisfied, we noticed they hadn’t given us our drinks. We all ordered drinks, but none of us got our cups while we waited. or immediately after we’d received our food. We had to ask the woman behind the counter (who spoke close to NO english) so then she had to go get someone else (who also spoke little to no english) to make sure she charged us all for the drinks before she’d even give us the cups. This took another 10 minutes. HELLO lady, we’ve been sitting here for 45 minutes, we’re starving and about to be late back to work and you’re SERIOUSLY quibbling about some cups and a few cents worth of diet coke??? F U Lady, F U!
Normally I’d have a word with the manager if customer service was lacking this severely, but really what’s the point? These dumbasses were more concerned about making that $ 1.25 per soda than keeping 5 good customers happy. (Not to be an ass but can you guess what ethnicity they were? Hmmm? I bet you can!) Just stupid inconsiderate laziness. that’s what it was. Who the hell takes their time like that at noon. the lunch rush!!!
And finally, the food was bad. again. Dry chicken, soggy salad, and of course the diet coke dispenser was out of syrup, but we didn’t find out until we got back to work. In our mad rush to leave after we’d proven we paid for the drinks, no one noticed the soda wasn’t quite as soda-​ish as it should have been.
We’re done.

You know what? Not the food or the service, that’s what!
Was running to the bank and with the new-​ish complex on the southwest corner of Atlantic and Carson, figured I’d check this place out. Other the L&L, L&M or whatever that place is called, I never had «Hawaiian BBQ» before. I’d figure I’d try something safe, like the teriaki chicken.
Safe my ass.
First was the service. I never been here before, so I walk up to the counter, glance at the menu and one of gals says, «You want combo?»
«One moment, please… it’s my first time here.» The menu wasn’t really descriptive so I take a peek at all the stuff in the warming bins. I couldn’t recognize half the stuff, other than some glass-​noodle with celery and onion dish.
If you like chicken-​teriaki jerky that’s tough, dry as fuck and fairly tasteless, then I guess this place is for you. The glass-​noodle dish was celery, onions and soy sauce; I think the noodles were made out of Jell-​o.
Place wasn’t that clean and a bit on the warm side; I don’t like sweat and eat at the same time.
I think this place should lose «Hawaiian» and «BBQ» from their business name. It’s an insult to native Hawaiians everywhere and any real BBQ, where ever it originates. «Cramping small intestine» should replace «Hawaiian BBQ».
Guess what? You made the Sh*t List on two counts: shitty food and shitty service! Gratz!