Hukilau

Wonderful Hawaiian music. Friendly workers. Fresh poke. Wide selection from burgers, breakfast served all day, and spam musubis on point. Feels like I’m back in Hawaii.
Service can be slow on busy days but the food is worth it.
Poke combination: (⁴⁄₅) The spicy ahi tuna was delicious and pretty decent portion. The rice scoop was small and rather disappointing in comparison to the amount of fish they gave us. The macaroni salad was average. It also came with slices of pineapple.
The fried rice is decent. It did come with a good amount of meat but the fried rice itself was too salty for my taste.
The spam musubi was good. Perfect meat to rice ratio. My only complaint here is the prices are a bit steep for the portion size. Other than that, the ambiance here is great. It seems like a good, chill place to watch the game with some friends.

I ordered the Da Hukilau Poke Dinner, with the spicy poke, brown rice, mac salad and Spam musubi! I loved everything! And garlic chicken wings appetizer was also delicious! They also made me this mango ice tea that was perfectly lightly sweet. Oh and our waitress was so sweet and helpful! I can’t wait to go back!

My experience at Hukilau decent. I would give them three stars but because of their extremely friendly service, it is worth the fourth star. I ordered the Chicken Teriyaka plate. It was too saucy in my opinion. Under the chicken was noodles. I think it would have been better with chopped lettuce or cabbage but it was alright.
My friend got the fried fresh mahi mahi plate. This plate was a lot better than the chicken teriyaki. The badder was not too thick and not overly fried. It was a very pleasant choice that I would most likely order next time.
The service was exceptional. It make you feel like you were treated like a regular even if it was your first time there. It was a little busy too, so being able to make everyone feel welcomed like that made the experience that much more enjoyable.

I mean. What can I say about this place, other than the fact that it’s magical. The atmosphere is a true Hawaiian experience, literally like you’re on vacation. They have entertainment on the weekends and kick ass short ribs every night. Sometimes substituted for their katsu chicken, the sauce is sooooo good! Try it is you want to try a little local spot, Japantown is a fun area. So check out some of the other favorites too.

Best Chicken Katsu in San Jose! This is a the only entrée I get, and have all been so delicious! It’s my go to without looking at the menu. Quick and friendly service by all the waitresses.

I like the atmosphere of their front room, the staff is always friendly, and I have always been seated right away. They have a great selection of non-​alcoholic drinks as well as cocktails. They also have specials every day for drinks. I usually get the chicken teriyaki, and the portions are big, with lots of flavor. My mom typically orders the poki and loves it. The service can be slow, it sometimes takes a bit for the food to get to us, but overall a nice Hawaiian spot!

Sadly and unfortunately went to this joint again. My purpose was to see the Hawaiian band Ho’omana perform, not necessarily to eat. So I walk in asking where the band is performing in the joint, the moronic manager looks bewildered as if he doesn’t know what I’m talking about. I could only presume he was the mgr because he wore this cheesy aloha shirt. I show him the FB add posted by the band saying they will be performing there, the moron looks at me bewildered again. He actually got perturbed by my inquisition and wanted no part of my conversation. Got Aloha? Hell no! Thinking… how on earth could this guy not know about the band and where and what is happening in the restaurant. Comes to find out there was a private party in the back taking up most of the back room where Ho’omana was performing. So it shows that management effed up booking a party in the room where the band was supposed to perform to the general customers. The band didn’t even know this.
This restaurant is lame… please please stop pretending to be a Hawaiian restaurant when apparently you guys don’t have a clue. Again, this place is an embarrassment to Hawaiians. If you want just serve Asian type food, but take off all the Hawaiian references cause this joint has nothing to do with Hawaii. All these bogus tiki BS, Hawaii doesn’t even have a T in their alphabet. It’s a farce of a place. These guys think they could just create a «Hawaiian» atmosphere and think they are representing Hawaii. Auwe, only make A.
Saving grace was the private party, who pleasantly was a «local kine» group that let us sit in their party area and enjoy the band. It was a true family atmosphere. They brought us pupus and invited us to partake of their food buffet. Even brought us guava cake too. Talked story, enjoyed the music and pupus and cake. Great evening. The two servers assigned to the party were great and super courteous.
Sad that Hukilaus only provided the shell for this family style fun I had that night. When leaving I realized what the problem is with this place. Management! In the front you had a business, while in the back the real aloha was happening. Why… because the back was full of people with the aloha spirit and attitude, and great Hawaiian music. Even the servers got infected. The front had the moronic manager and his ill suited staff. If you want to be a Hawaiian restaurant remember the Aloha. Management needs to understand what this is… sadly they don’t and it translates to the atmosphere.

Yaknow, this was actually really good! servings were huge, wish I had known that before ordering, but it was so ono. I got the pupu sampler, got the Hukilau chicken, the garlic chicken, and spam musubi. it was all really good! we also got the fried saimin which tasted just like home. Next time I’m in SJ I’ll definitely be back.

Hukilau’s menu is full of all sorts of temptations! Do I want a rummy cocktail or Japanese beer on draft? A whole bowl of poke or a plate of BBQ? I found it hard to narrow down my picks when we went for a large party birthday dinner recently, but the advantage of my situation was… large party = lots of sampling off people’s plates! :) I ordered the ahi poke salad and it came with a generous helping of fish and greens — solid choice as other Unilocalers have mentioned. I also split the katsu loco moco, which was hearty and filling.
Hukilau is a great choice to get your Hawaiian fix. The quality, vibe, and service are steps above your fast food L&L and J&J Hawaiian BBQ joints, but still not quite up to the experience of being in Hawaii. I guess you can’t change this frigid Bay Area weather, right, Hukilau?

Before my most recent visit, I would have given this place 3 stars. Decent Hawaiian food… but, nothing hella crazy. We’re not in Hawaii.
The kalua pork chili cheese fries gets Hukilau an extra star. (You can also get nachos instead of fries). We ordered the fries extra crispy and it came out perfect! They were very generous with the meat, more meat than fries I would say. What a steal for under $ 10!
I will be back for more fries and and lychee martinis :)

The poke here is very bland and does not taste fresh. Service was very slow and I thought my friends’ foods were mediocre. I don’t think I’ll be coming back here again.

Service: ¹¹⁄₁₀
The waiter is constantly refilling water, making sure everything runs smoothly and gives a vibe that makes u feel like u r a special customer in here. Hell, he even keeps the ketchup cold on every table!
It’s the little things that counts.
I got the mixed salmon and spicy poke. ⁹⁄₁₀ it’s poke.
This place deserves a ⁵⁄₅ because of this awesome waiter and the food is above avg.

I’m disappointed how this place went so downhill in the past 5 years. Prices went up, customer service sucks, and portions got a lot smaller. We came at 6p and the place was empty.
I ordered the hukilau poke entrée with salmon poke. One little scoop of rice and one little scoop of Mac salad with very strong taste of soy sauce in the poke. Couldn’t even taste the fish.
I understand that it’s very hard to imitate food straight from the islands but still there could be serious improvements at this place.

Musubi always on point, perfect rice to spam ratio
Moco Loco with brown rice (that gravy never disappoints!) and the yolk was nice and runny, not over cooked.
Still my favorite place to get poke on the mainland!

There’s a bar and small seating area in the front with expanded seating in the back of the building. The restaurant is located smack in the middle of Japantown and among an assortment of sushi restaurants. The food is unique, way better than L&L, and the atmosphere is casual. The Hukilau Sesame Chicken was fried goodness.

My team is loco for loco moco. It’s the only place we can unanimously agree to eat lunch at. I go for the poke appetizer, which is delicious and fresh and well flavored. Once I ordered a side of pineapple, and that pineapple was sweet and juicy. Since then, the pineapple has been sour and bland. But pineapple is a fruit so it’s hard to control quality.
Loco moco portion size is quite generous! I can eat half. It features wonderful meat patties and egg over rice. Food has always been served quickly and service has been consistently great. It’s a great place for lunch with cheap street parking, space to eat inside, and fast food turnaround.

I came here specifically because I wanted to eat poke. It just tasted like raw tuna in soy sauce and sesame oil. It wasn’t bad, but not what I was expecting and I didn’t love it. It’s not like the poke in LA! No sweetness and no tang.
I got the mixed entrée with the white fish and the short ribs. The fish was OK but the short ribs were very good! My favorite of everything was the chicken wing appetizer though, which was crispy and flavorful and a little sweet !! The entrée also came with some random butter noodles and some mac salad also, neither of which I really liked.
If I came back, I would just order chicken wings. ??
The price was too expensive IMO for the food.

I give this place a solid 3.5. I came here for a Saturday reservation and it isn’t as poppin as I thought. Three people shared two entrees-​teriyaki chicken and beef short rib– and an appetizer, the combo poke. We did tuna and salmon and it was soooo good. I would have preferred salmon and avocado but combo is only with two. Get this. The entrees were good and pretty much basic items you can get elsewhere. I liked the macaroni thing and the meats were flavorful. Solid Hawaiian place in my book.

This isn’t your LL Hawaiian BBQ, it’s not as greasy, but you still get huge portions of food. The place is nice. A nice bar setting in front with TVs and a back area for mini concerts. We made reservations for ten of us on a Thursday and ordered food and drinks. I ordered the loco moco with Mahi Mahi. What I got was a gigantic plate starting with a bed of rice, topped with three pieces of almost a foot of fish, topped with two eggs, and covered in gravy served with a side of macaroni salad. This was a challenge for me, but I killed it! The plate was good, but it’s a bit bland for my taste, possible because of the gravy. I did add ketchup to sweeten the dish, so that was better.
The chili fries were good as well. I need to come back and try the spicy tacos. I saw how big they looked good. I do not drink, but my friends say that some of the drinks tasted a bit strange or interesting. They say the guava drink was really good. Service was great, no complaint here.
Overall: Great food, great service, great price

We love Hukilau! This place is so yummy!
The food: great! Very Hawaiian. Our fave? LOCO MOCO. It’s so good. And such a large portion! Sometimes I split it and it’s still enough!
The drinks: Tiki tiki. So good! Not the strongest, but definitely tastey!
The staff: So sweet, welcoming, and helpful!
The restaurant: Always crackin. Sometimes there is a long wait, but they try to get you in as fast as they can. It’s pretty clean. Don’t be fooled by the small room in the front, there’s more space in the back of the restaurant!
One of our faces spots. Will keep going. Just don’t go all the time because it’s not the healthiest and not the cheapest, but not super expensive!