Hawaiian Sandwiches Shop

So there wasn’t anything that made it all that Hawaiian except the Kalua pork. All of the meats were pulled out and microwaved. Pricing was good but still wasn’t impressed.

Decent size Banh Mi (WTF makes this «Hawaiian» anyway?!?). However, the bread to meat ratio isn’t right and you basically walk away with a memory of bread, bread, bread and nothing much else.
Would be nice if he’d increase the meat (or drop the bun sizes) to appropriate levels, improve the spice and add cilantro, and just admit it’s basically just a mostly Vietnamese sandwich menu. I thought the space was alright and service was ok.

This place seems to be more of a Vietnamese restaurant than what it’s name implies. In more than one reason this place isn’t the best, either with food, ambiance and overall restaurant criteria.
The good thing about the place is that, it’s really cheap and the food choices are limited but tasted good.

I am vegan and love the cold noodles. If it’s cold they heat it up just right.
The sandwich cold tofu is yummy. I ask for hot like spicy and it comes spicy just right.
The bread is toasted, like all the other sandwiches like I have had in similar places.

parking can be tricky in this area.
Let me start with GARLIC NOODLES! How many places make garlic noodles? The ones that Do Make Garlic Noodles charge 7.95 and no meat… you add meat and usually its another 2.50 to 9.95 for a stick of meat or a platter of meat to go with the garlic noodles.
This place 5.95 for some chicken or pork over Garlic Noodles. They give you a Good Amount of Garlic noodles also. Enough to share with someone else.
I also got a 5 spice chicken sandwich. It was really flavorful and was fresh. Considering it looked like a really slow day today.
One thing I really like 100 out of 100 on the Health Score. You just don’t see 100 out of 100 often.
This is close by and its definitely going to get me coming back for the Garlic Noodles.

How are these even Hawaiian sandwiches? I’m not trying to be a jerk but I don’t get it. They are pretty much Bahn Mi’s which is not a bad thing, I just don’t get why they would call it Hawaiian sandwiches. They don’t even have spam…

I’ve come here on separate occasions, and each time was a great experience.
I’ve ordered the combination, roast pork, five spice chicken sandwiches. All were pretty good, not amazing, but also not as bad as many of the Unilocalers here claim.
The mini rice box with five spice chicken comes with two huge pieces of chicken, mixed veggies and rice. Very filling. Very good.
But the best item (IMO) has to be their spring rolls. They are huge in comparison with most other places, and delicious.
Price is also a major factor. Cheap prices 1+

It’s not really Hawaiian, but the price and quality of food is unmatched in the area. I used to work right by the shop and I miss it dearly.

This was my worst idea.
Ordered two Kulau Pork sandwiches to go and ended up with a lot of somewhat stale (but toasted) loafs of bread with very little oversalted meat, a lot of mayonnaise, and some debatable pieces of slaw.
I don’t care how cheap a sandwich can be, this is not worth the money. The people at the register also don’t speak English, which is a bit of a downer considering that the credit card process requires some communication.

I’m glad I stopped in for a banh mi for lunch. I’m not sure I would try the other dishes here, as it seems that sandwiches are their thing and their are quite a few places to get noodles, bun salads, etc. all along Ocean Ave.
After looking over the options — which can be somewhat confusing, possibly because the menu has been evolving? — I selected the Kulau Pork to share with a friend.
The sandwich turned out to be a pulled pork twist on a banh mi. We both agreed that it was dynamite. Although not a traditional Viet concotion, this combonation is a great idea — the soft, slow cooked and (very) salty pulled pork flavors really blend perfectly with the mayo, cucumber, quick pickled carrots and cilantro.
I will probably try other sandwiches that they have to offer — the chicken and pork «hawaiian» combination seemed an interesting, albeit potentially confusing, fusion — and I might be disappointed, but they get high praises from me for this little invention.

Why I like getting lunch here:
1. Close to CCSF
2. They pack on the meat in my Viet sandwich
3. Cheap
4. The old man who makes the food is always happy and smiling! He brightens up my day!

This place is pretty good to get a sandwich if you are on the run and don’t want to spend too much. The people are actually pretty nice, but they aren’t native English speakers so that may explain why some other reviewers didn’t think they were that friendly. The meat and veggies are all pretty good.
It is run by Chinese people, so it isn’t totally authentic banh mi, and the Guangdong influence may explain why the sandwiches have a slightly sweet bend to them versus the standard Vietnamese sandwiches.
Of course, they never said banh mi anywhere, so they are totally free to alter things to their own tastes. They also have different sauces than you’d usually get and some different formats. They are pretty good.
The bread is awesome compared to normal bread, but it is meh compared to the normal french bread inspired banh mi that you find throughout SE Asia.
Still a recommended place and not such a bad spot to sit down and eat real quick either.

This place is actually not bad. The interior could use some work, but it’s a small shop, so naturally interior shouldn’t matter right?
It’s just along Ocean, so naturally a lot of people would come in, but that’s not the case with this place. Their sandwiches are okay, and the price for these sandwiches are cheaper than most places, but it doesn’t really seem like the cleanest place in the world.
Definitely an a-​ok place to go to if you wanna satisfy your bahn mi cravings. Although, I’m not sure why it’s called «hawaiian sandwiches» when the majority of what they serve is basically bahn mi.

Just to comment on everyone’s reviews:
The name «Hawaiian» ONLY because the shop is actually waiting on equipments to be installed to cook hot food. Their original plan for the shop is for hawaiian food but in the meantime, they decided to serve sandwiches. So why change name twice, right?
Anyways, service does need to be improved… but for the price, you can’t go wrong.

Going have to echo the other reviewers on this and ask the question, «Why are you called ‘Hawaiian?’ again?» as there does not seem to be much Hawaiian about any of aspect of this sandwich shop.
If I had to place it in a genre I would say divey, Asian’ish finger foods with an emphasis on «divey» and I am not sure in a good way.
While they may still be setting up, the current feel has very little character and is not all that welcoming. It really looks like someone had a great idea and some kitchen stuff, so they started a restaurant.
When I went I tried the Shrimp Spring Rolls (Again, not Hawaiian) and they were fine.
I would be willing to re-​review later once they get more settled as the food was not bad, but at this point, for not it will not be a destination eating joint for me.

new sandwich shop on ocean ave? i had to try!
I saw the banner «hawaiian» sandwiches shop … which i still dont understand why hawaiian? there is really nothing hawaiian about this spot, LOL
anyways, they should just change the name to VIETNAMESE sandwiches shop. I guess that would be more original and people wouldnt judge this place expecting some kind of hawaiian fusion going on.
Ordered: 5 spice chicken sandwich, out of the norm and not the usual vietnamese sandwich places carry
Personally, I liked my sandwich. The only thing that threw me off is that they have some kind of special mayo on the sandwich other than the normal yellowish mayo you see on most viet sandwiches. It was like a spiced mayo but it went well with the chicken. with anything else, i’m not too sure about that one.
I dont think they get much service here, but with some improvements, they can be a lot better. especially since CCSF is RIGHT there.

I really don’t expect much for a $ 3 sandwich.
New shop waiting for their kitchen cooking permit.

Hawaiian Sandwiches Shop wins the most misnamed shop I have ever seen. This is actually a shop that sells Vietnamese sandwiches and spring rolls. However, their Vietnamese sandwiches are quite a bit off from Vietnamese sandwiches. The owners seem to be Chinese so there’s some kind of Asian fusion going on here and it’s not the good kind. Hawaiian? Vietnamese? Chinese? It’s quite hard for me to justify this place as a Viet Sandwich store.
== Food ==
Combination sandwich was utterly gross. Their fancy pork is the worst fancy pork I have ever tasted. Then there’s ham inside the sandwich… why ham? The ham taste throws off what I expect inside the sandwich. Where’s the pâté? It needs more pâté. I couldn’t taste it.
Roast pork sandwich… this is a questionable sandwich that isn’t really Vietnamese. The roasted pork is straight up roasted pork without any flavor to it. Think of the roast pork you get at with rice plates at Chinese stores. Don’t get this mixed up with grilled pork like I did. This sandwich was overall pretty alright.
== Overall ==
Overall, the sandwiches are really cheap (around $ 3 – 4) and the portions are good. They will fill you up and keep your stomach happy. Making your taste buds happy is entirely another question. The bread was soft and fresh when I got it. It’s an okay sandwich for this area of town, but it’s hard to justify this place as a Viet sandwich place. If you’re looking for a good Viet sandwich around the same price, head down to the TL or even over the Sunset.

Disaster sandwich I’ve ever had.
This sucksass.
There is nothing Hawaiian about it.
100% Chinese.
The sandwich roll was like rock-​hard, and when I bite really hard, it breaks like sand, and spread all over me!
It means that THE SANDWICH ROLL WAS A DAY OLD!
You don’t use a day old French roll for sandwich if you like to make business out of it.
That is the bottom line role for a sandwich shop.
You have to have fresh baked sandwich roll everyday!
These guys don’t know making good sandwich needs NEW French Baguette everyday.
You don’t save OLD French Baguette, for Godsake!
It’s not the same as saving a day old rice to make fried rice, idiot.
I could not eat THE ROCK HARD DAY OLD FRENCH ROLL SANDWICH.
I threw into a garbage can on the same street with my furious anger.
Never Go Back, period.
I can tell the place won’t stay long.
I’ll be so surprise the store be able to stay open for a year.

To the point. Ordered 3 sandwiches for lunch to try it out. Combination, roast pork and their signature sandwich Hawaiian chicken. Each one lack in flavors. The size of the sandwich is about less than 5 inches. Too much bread and little stuffing. I guess you can not expect to much from a $ 3 sandwiches.
What bugs me the most is their so call «Hawaiian Chicken Sandwiches». What the hell is so Hawaiian about it? Chicken, cucumber, tomato, lettuce and cilantro, really thats it?!
For cry out loud, how can you call yourself Hawaiian Sandwich shop when nothing looks anything like Hawaiian. Please change your shop name to something else. You are embrassing the Hawaiian people.