Aloha Hawaiian BBQ

Closed –
It is now a Chinese Food Place, called Tasty.
It is official, Newark is the Bermuda Triangle of restaurants.

I discovered this place about a couple weeks ago when I was walking on my way to work. Today I decided to give it a try before I was heading to work in 30 minutes free time.
Food: Ordered the fried saimin spam noodles. Omg this taste so fresh and bombtastically flavorful! The noodles are freshly made and the spam are thoroughly cooked though they add too much spam which tends to be too salty for me but I eat them anyway. Love the portion size. I suggest this one for starters here!!!
This place is clean and courteous. This Aloha Hawaiian BBQ are owned by Korean owners as I met them today — they were really friendly and humble; great service here! I love how they even OFFER me a cup of water without having me to ask.
Will definitely come back here since it’s 2 stores down to my work.

Clean place, food is always cooked fresh to order. BBQ chicken is my son’s favorite and we ask for two scoops of Mac over rice. Musubi was a nice portion. Overall I think it’s a bit more than L&L.

For me this is the original Hawaiian restaurant. I’ve been coming here for awhile now and I love it every time. Their portions I think are bigger than other Hawaiian restaurants out there.
And what I like the most is that it’s an actual family that runs this place. So you’ll get the same great customer service every time.

Good fast food if you don’t feel like cooking at home.
I really like the BBQ beef, kahlua pork, and the shrimp (grilled or fried). Add some macaroni salad and I’m good to go.
The place looks like any other hawaiian restaurant around this area, so nothin’ special.
Service is friendly and I hear they do catering for private parties. I might have to look them up next time I have a birthday party or something.

This is a great alternative to the chain down the street. The place feels family run and I stop by for my fill of hawaiian BBQ: the chicken and beef fare all fare well here. Willis was here after the gym in the same plaza.

I have to preface with saying that I was born & raised in Hawaii. I moved to the mainland in ’98 and go home maybe once every 4 years.
I discovered this place on my way to Target, nestled between the Toy’R’us and a christian bookstore.
You see the «normal» hawaiian food found at other hawaiian bbq places on the mainland: chicken katsu, spam musubi, loco moco mac salad etc. What I was surprised to see was foods like poi, lomi salmon, and malasadas!
I ordered a mini chicken katsu ($ 4.50). The portion was a pretty good size; I couldn’t finish the mini meal if that tells you anything.
for a $ 2.75 you get a 5.5oz container of poi. Not exactly enough for a whole meal but maybe if you get 2 + some kalua pork it would be a great meal. I was too full to eat them, but I couldn’t leave without buying some malasadas.
I tried to find out a little more about the owner but the guy who was helping me didn’t help much. I think the owner was in the back somewhere. No big deal.
Overall, a pretty good place for a quick hawaiian fix that won’t break the bank.

We just found our favorite dish at this place. It is the Fried Saimin with grilled spam. It was delicious. We can’t wait to go back for more.
Other BBQ items are good also. I prefer the beef bbq here over L&L and Ohana because the meat are leaner with no fat.
The staff are friendly and service is good. They keep the place super clean. They are defintely not cheap with their paper napkin. This is a good thing when you are feeding your messy toddler and preschooler.

sadly, i find myself here about once a week. the portions are huge though for the amount that you pay. the food itself is really good although i am disappointed they no longer offer roast duck. if you need a good place for lunch without breaking your wallet, this place is way better than ono hawaiian bbq or L&L… the owners are also very friendly and won’t forget your face after seeing it a couple times.

I discovered this place a couple of years ago. I like it a lot. I don’t go here often, but I should seeing how this place is right down the street from my work. Anyhoo, they have VERY reasonable prices and the food is pretty good ;-) well to me anyways. the staff is coo and the wait isnt long at all. I usually order a Mahi Mahi burger 2.95 (with lettuce tomatoe, lighly grilled onions and tartar sauce) with a [generous] scoop of rice .85 and mac salad .85. pretty cheap right? you get a great bargain for ur money and the. anyways, def recommend this place over mcdonalds… only reason why i gave 4 stars is b/​c it was kinda stuffy when i went in there today — good thing i ordered to go.

This place has been under new management since March 2008. The owners and staff are extremely friendly and nice!!! If you are in the mood for a quick fix of fast food Hawaiian, you should go here. Prices are reasonable, and definitely beats McDonalds food. They also got rid of what others complained about with the minimum order amount with credit card. I’d definitely go back. Anthony the chef is great! The food is made better now than before. He’ll make sure you are full :) The new owners are much better and not cheap about charging an extra dollar for sharing or refills.

Great Hawaiian BBQ! They have the best Kulua Pork & Cabbage in California… it’s juicy and tender, not dry like other chain Hawaiian drive-​inns. Their short-​ribs are tangy and sweet… I ate everything around the bone. It went well with the purple Poi. They have a huge selection of hawaiian food, including lau-​laus, which I plan to try next time.
The restaurant is under new management. The new staff was really warm and friendly. The best time to go is Monday to Wednesday, it’s nice and quiet… a good place to read the paper and enjoy some great bbq.

Having just read a couple of the reviews, I just had to comment about this place. I do not agree with all of the reviews. Though I have not their food in about a year, I do remember that the food and service was very good. The chicken katsu was very good. This place also had quick service and the lady at the counter was so nice.

Even with the less common offerings of malasadas and even poi (as far as mainland establishments are concerned), Aloha’s food leaves much to be desired. I had a seafood platter to go, consisting of fried mahi mahi and shrimp. The shrimp were incredibly overbreaded and overcooked – much too dry. One of the mahi filets was somehow tough. Pretty average macaroni salad as well. The surcharge on credit cards for bills under $ 10 was annoying as well. While I’m tempted to try the malasadas, I’m not so sure I’ll be back.

I’ve been here twice now b/​c my co workers son goes to NMHS and was selling these coupons that i felt obligated to buy… so anyway, this coupon packet thing had and offer of «buy 1 get 1 free» from Aloha…
I like Hawaii, and i like Hawaiian food, so it [coupon packet] seemed like a good deal…
We headed over to Aloha after the gym (ironic, i know) but i guess if you don’t eat the rice and mac. salad AND get a grilled item it *can* be somewhat healthy… :)
Both times i felt that the service wasn’t very friendly. The lady behind the counter seemed irritated that i asked for a cup for my Hawaiian Sun tea (hey, i want ice, what can i say??), plus, they have this sign that says «$ 1.00 for refill if you share a soda» — DUDE, WTF, can you spell C-​H-​E-​A-​P… i guess since they are next to a high school and all, but c’mon, deal with it.
The food both times, was incredible salty; the chicken they use is average and the flavor is average. My friend got the pork and cabbage and they must have dumped a cup of salt into his dish alone! ick.
I’m not surprised that other Unilocalers said the lady is friendly, she was, to every other non Asian customer. Not sure if she is the owner or just works there, but they are chinese and i would hit Ohana or L&L anyday over this place. NO WONDER they need the buy one get one free coupon b/​c no one would go for the food!

We come here after our excursion to Toys R Us, which is next door. Service is pretty good here. The owner, who runs the cash register is very friendly and makes you feel welcomed. The food is not bad… my husband and kids are bigger fans than I am.
I love Loco Moco… and this place is mediocre. The patties are too hard, but the gravy is tasty. I prefer the Loco Moco from L&L. My husband would beg to differ. Their BBQ chicken is pretty good. Today, we discovered the fried saimin. It was delicious. I liked it so much, I contemplated on a to-​go order so I could have it for dinner.

A really wonderful, warm, friendly lady runs this place, so it pains me a little to post a negative review. But here goes:
Maybe if you’re just really, really into «Hawaiian barbecue,» give Aloha a shot, but it’s a mediocre version of a dubious cuisine. The chicken is too heavy and greasy, the macaroni salad is really bland, the malasadas only so-​so.
The only good thing about the place (aside from the woman at the register and ample parking) is that the stuff comes in big quantities — especially if you order any of the party-​sized packages. But it’s kind of sad to see all that leftover food that nobody really wants to eat just go to waste. Seriously — we ordered appropriately for our staff, and after everybody ate what they wanted we had barely gotten through half of what we were given. When everyone was offered leftovers, not a single person took any home (or even picked at it through the afternoon), and we wound up dumping the rest, untouched, the next day; that’s the only time leftovers have survived this office to my knowledge.
«Hawaiian barbecue» isn’t the healthiest choice in the world, but with at least marginal finesse, it can be a guilty pleasure. Unfortunately, Aloha Hawaiian BBQ is perilously close to a school lunch version of the species. I’m sorry to say it, but avoid this place.

i was very surprised to see haupia on their menu. it wasn’t that bad either. not great (not as good as the kind you can get at yama’s fish market back home) but better than the kind you get at some cheap buffets. the bbq chicken — i would say it was just average. nothing spectacular.

The food here is okay… loco moco is pretty good, but you’re probably better off going to Ohana at Pacific Crossings or any of the L&L’s around here if you’re looking for plate lunch.
The main reason you might want to come here is for the malasadas. I think they’re available only on the weekend. Not as good as Leonard’s Bakery in Honolulu (they’re a little dense) but it’s nice to have some form of them available here on the mainland.