Tommy O’s Pacific Rim Grill

Nice ambience. Staff is hit or miss with promptness. Food is high priced and portions are lacking. Sushi is pretty good here. Parking can be a mission.

Macadamia nut crusted halibut with lobster risotto is great. You cannot leave without the Haupia. In fact, get another to go.

I was here on bizness, so we decided something a little different, i.e. something with Island flavor. I tried the Mixed Plate off the lunch menu. It’s a great way to try a sampling of Tommy O’s Island Favorites. Teriyaki Chicken and the Kalua Pork was for me. My DP tried the Loco Moco, a decadent traditional dish composed of two scoops of rice, a teriyaki burger, two eggs, grilled onion and brown gravy.
The food was good, the service quick, and they even offered discounted vino during lunch. Yum.
All I could say is Mahalo nui loa na ho’olaule’a me la kaua. The Aina awakea at this Hale ‘aina, was maika‘i.

The food is really good! I think I would come back for the food. Especially since I live so close. I had the ahi with lobster wasabi risotto. The risotto was wonderfully flavored and the wasabi taste wasn’t overpowering but just right. My mom had the scallops which are pan seared and served with wok beans, forbidden rice, and some kind of coconut curry sauce. The scallops were good too. The curry sauce wasn’t overpowering either but added just the right amount of flavor to the dish. My brother had the fish and chips which were also good (served with fries, slaw, tartar sauce, ketchup). Even though the fish is deep fried, it has a very clean taste. However, don’t get the 4 piece (get the 3 piece instead) unless you’re very hungry! With 4 pieces and the fries, it’s a lot of food. Fried food.
The food was great. But the service was just ok. We were checked on a couple times but it was just the bare minimum. Our server was very nice and friendly to other tables but only seemed to ask us how we were doing just to ask.
Another minor thing was that the cup that came with a family member’s beer was dirty. Not just smudgy but actually dirty.
Overall, really great food and mediocre everything else.

We have been here about 15 times, sorry I haven’t written a review. We have had some of the best food and incredible service. We are regulars here. Annie loves just about every dish she has had here. I love the grilled shrimp with lobster rissuto, this is a great dish. What makes this place so special is our server Zen, we always sit in her section because she really knows how to give 5 star service and making your dining experience awesome. This is our favorite restaurant in the Portland Vancouver area.

Fun place with a unique atmosphere. Good food and nice bar. Happy hour is noisy and positive. The only gripe is the narrow and small parking lot. Don’t bother with it, ans park in the adjacent QFC lot. A few extra steps will work off some of the massive calories you swill ingest.

Nice ambiance, busy and for Clark County it has potential. But, that’s about where it ends. We came in about 745 on a Friday and the lot was full. Their lot sucks because if it is full, you have to back out as there really is no place to turn around. However, that’s neither here nor there, on to the food.
We started with a Washington roll, a chardonnay and a micro-​brew and everything was fine. They have beer from the Kona Brewery which is a great. The wine selections are pretty run of the mill. They feature the usual amount of Oregon stuff and the better Washington wines and a few from California.
The sushi roll was quite good. We both ordered the stir fry with chicken. One of us ordered it with brown rice, the other with Yaki Soba. Initially it came out wrong which they quickly fixed. However, in retrospect, for $ 14 dollars, the food was neither ample in quantity nor prepared as represented. It was not even close to having been «stir fried.» Essentially all that had been done was some vegetables (mostly carrots) were steamed, served with some very bland grilled chicken with some of the most bland teriyaki sauce I have ever tasted atop of a very small amount of lightly warmed soba noodles or rice. I found that everything was cooked correctly, there was just no taste and the quantity/​quality for the price was seriously lacking. The bill for 2 people with one glass of wine, 1 sushi roll and 2 «stir fry» entrees was 53.00. That seemed pretty unreasonable to me. If you are hungry for some Asian cuisine, there are any number of places that offer far better food for a much more reasonable price. In fact, any one of the Ichi Teriyaki places prepares a much higher quality Yaki Soba/​Teriyaki plate for about half as much money and the portions are more ample and the food is of equal or better quality. I would avoid this place as it seemed to be crammed full of California transplants who have no issue with over priced food.

We went here for my mother’s birthday and were very excited to go. Got there and we were seated rather quickly. Then our orders were taken after a bit and then we sat. and sat.and sat. one of our drinks spill and no one came rushing over except for the «water boy» and he pretty much ran to get towels. My Father had to get up to to get towels because no one else would help us.
After we waited for almost 35 minutes to get our food that we were mostly satisfied with. The only bad part of thw food was my father ordered the black bean tacos and was expecting rice and beans to be side dishes. He only got the tacos. I myself ordered the fish tacos and got rice and black beans as a side dish and our meals were the same price.
Then after we said we were finished the waitress brought out a coconut custard that was delicious, but my mom being the birthday girl couldnt eat it (both my parents had told the waitress when we sat down that they are vegan). The waitress seemed she was there to do the bare minimum just so she wouldn’t get in trouble.
The only reason this place gets two stars is that the food was good and the water boy was awesome, but the rest of the experience was awful.

New Year’s Eve. 8:00 PM. Live music. Place is packed. Joint was jumpin’. Yummy starters including ahi three ways. I had the rib eye steak (medium rare) with lobster risotto and asparagus. May sound mundane, but the execution and presentation made it a beautiful entrée. Donna had the whole lobster, and it was succulent and flawless. Crème brûlée finished off the meal. Great friends were an added plus. Many thanks Tom and Muriel. A Happier New Year could not have been better!

Tommy… your place is off the hook. The drinks were awesome… the Lavendar Lei kicks butt. All the food on the happy hour… we just seem to order a few of everything…
They sometimes do live music, the ambience is amazing in there… it makes me feel like I’m in Hawaii… kicking back eating some great food, hanging out with friends and relaxing… Although I live in Seattle, whenever I make it down south… you can find me at least trying to make the happy hour or grab a dinner with someone just to go there… many a good time at this place.

It was our first time to this Tommy O’s location, and I will definitely be back! We went for a Valentine’s Day dinner, and although it was very busy, we only had to wait a couple of minutes. For an appetizer, we had the spring rolls which were very good but pretty salty. I LOVE salt though, so I wasn’t one to complain about that.
For my main course, I got the short ribs which were delicious in flavor but very hard to cut. I had to ask for a steak knife in order to be able to eat them properly. My date got the ‘create your own stir fry’ with Kalua pork. It was delicious and next time we go there, I will be getting that!
No dessert for us, as the food was filling and we had each had a couple cocktails. =] I would definitely recommend the ‘Back 9′ for a cocktail, it was very good.

I moved up to Seattle and I must say… every time I am around the Portland area I make it out to TommyO’s Pacific Rim Grill. There is no other restaurant that compares to this one.
If you’ve never visited TommyO’s Grill, which is different than the equally amazing TommyO’s Bistro in Downtown Vancouver, then you have NO CHOICE… you MUST make an evening out of it!
The atmosphere is perfect for a romantic evening, and I have shared many wonderful memories with friends and family here. The ambiance brings out the romance of the Hawaiian islands, yet not so much so that a casual dinner and drinks becomes awkward.
The staff is amazing, and they all greet me with Aloha and warmth. It had been a year since I was able to get back here but nevertheless, I wasn’t forgotten! It’s a special place that has so much love and spirit, and if there’s one word to summarize TommyO’s…it’s just that… Special.
**Note: I’d like to address a couple sparing comments that were written below. Some people suck. Nothing is ever appreciated, and details are so quickly overlooked that I’m sure they are remembered in restaurants and businesses too… though no one wishes to ever be put on the «FML it’s that A**hole again» list.
It makes me angry, as a customer, to read such volatile commentary about one of the most unique treasures of the Pacific NW. Make your own opinion about this place, because I promise you… these few negative reviews must be from cranky, cheap, and friendless people.
Mahalo Tommy O’s ~ Live Aloha
=)

The Kal-​bi Beef Ribs and Mai Tai’s are AMAZING. HAND DOWN.
Best Food Around.

It is not often that The Wife and I get to go out on a date sans the Tax Deduction. When we do it is so hard to pick a place to go…
Spouse 1 — «Where would you like to go?»
Spouse 2 — «I don’t know, what do you feel like?»
Spouse 1 — «I could go for about anything.»
Spouse 2 — «Well then where would you not like to go?»
Spouse 1 — «Someplace you wouldn’t want to go.»
Spouse 2 — «I want a divorce.»
and so it goes…
This time I was coming home late from volunteering and it was The Wife that wanted to go out and she even had a plan! I was floored and proud of her all at the same time! The basis for this decision was for me and something I have been looking for in Vancouver for a while. So away I drove from the house being directed by my lawfully wedded GPS. As we wound our way through southeast Vancouver I was surprised to see us pulling up to Tommy O’s. Pleasantly surprise as my wonder Wife told me they serve Paradise Brand Iced Tea here. I was out of the car like a bullet out of a gun barrel.
So now you think that I have given this place five stars for serving my favorite tea. Ha! You’re only half right! Read on, McDuff…
You don’t often think about the arrangement of bamboo when you consider the enormity of your dining experience. Tommy O’s forces you to recognize bamboo in it’s many shapes and forms. This, actually, is a good thing. Looking around you see that the place was laid out with great thought about the experience of dining here as well as being aesthetically pleasing. The colors are all darker earth tones with bamboo highlights. The seating is very comfortable and the tables are intimate without being too small. The bar is tucked away but accessible, next to a grill area where you can see the cooks at work if that’s your thing. One thing about Tommy O’s that I liked is that all the doors, from the front door to the private dining area to the bathrooms are all floor to ceiling length. That lends are different look to things that was, at least to me, interesting.
We ordered off the Happy Hour bar menu and decided to share a cheeseburger with fries, a Caesar salad and the pulled pork nachos. This is where the fifth star comes in. The burger had a wonderful taste to it, the bun was perfect and it all came together so well. The Caesar salad was amazing, I mean it could almost give the Caesar at Wilf’s a run for it’s money. But oh dear lord those nachos! Layer upon layer of amazing tastes from the fresh chips to the pulled pork to the pineapple salsa and the cheese. Such a delight! All topped off with that awesome Paradise Tropical Iced Tea.
It all so relaxing, sitting there with the one I love, great food, great drinks (the Wife had a crafted beer of some sort) in wonderful surroundings. And yet we could easily see bringing the Tax Deduction next time if we so choose. Things we missed being there late was that the sushi chef had already called it a night and I didn’t notice the coconut shrimp dish earlier. More the reason to return.

The lobster pot stickers are delicious! The sushi is, at worst, pretty good.
The calamari steak is a little dry unless you use the wonderful sauce that comes with it. The Happy Hour prices were pretty good and were accepted throughout the restaurant.
Tips: Be sure to actually LIKE Island /​Japanese food before chosing this place. :-)

Ate here with family and friends last week. «Meh» describes it well, at least as far as the food is concerned.
The not-​so-​good. We ordered three appetizers: lobster potstickers, salad rolls, and edamame humus. The potstickers were nothing great. The filling was ground up so fine it was like a paste wrapped in dough. I would have like it to be a little courser chopped so one can distinguish bits of the lobster from other ingredients. As it was, you could not really identify anything, although a friend said they tasted fisher to her. I didn’t notice it, but she doesn’t really like shellfish, so that could explain it. The potstickers were comparable to what you could buy from Costco. Meh. The salad roll was really no better. It was made with tofu, which is fine as I really like tofu, but they were so bland and boring. The edamame humus, however, was excellent! They get a star for that.
For dinner I had their Asian Chicken Salad. It would have been really good if it had not be DROWNING in dressing. Why, oh why, did I forget to ask for the dressing on the side? The dressing was good, but there was about 4x too much of it. The vinegar so overpowered my taste buds that it took until the next morning to get the puckery feeling out of my mouth. Bleh! Too bad, as the salad would have been good and would have added another star, but, alas, such is life. Hubby had their burger, which he said was about the same as Brothers, only bigger and more expensive (we really like Brothers burgers). The fries that came with were delish, so one more star. Most of the dinner options were in the $ 20 – 30 range, but there were a few salads, a stir fry, and the burger that were under $ 15.
I had a couple mai tais, too. IMHO, they were overly sweet. Cloying is the word I would use to describe it. I recently had a mai tai at Trader Vic’s in Portland and it was the ideal of what a mai tai should be. I ordered a second drink and requested it be made less sweet, but it was just as oversweet.
On to the good. The décor is very delightful. Maybe one would describe it as a post-​modern tiki motif, minus the tiki. Hard to describe, but very nice. The service was also good and very attentative, That said, the waitress calling everyone «hun» was a little too much.
Would I go back? Maybe for HH, and a big MAYBE for a drink. Although, Gustav’s is probably closer for me and their HH is decent and their drinks are great. So, maybe I won’t be back after all.

Great food here — kalua pork was nice and tender, hamburger (with sauce) was pretty good too. It was the décor that caught my eye, however. Very contemporary and peaceful with lots of bamboos.
KPI (Key Performance Indicators) ratings (1 – 5, 5 — best):
Quality: 3
Delivery/​Service: 3
Cost: 3

Lots of feedback already on this one, so I’ll be brief
Pluses:
Snazzy diggs
attentive staff (we were there 5PM — 6:30PM on a Monday night)
tasty Hawaiian pork
Minuses:
low value quotient (paid $ 24 for the ‘Aloha sampler’, got to pick three items. We chose lobster wontons as one of them. We received four tiny cold ones).
Parking — brutal
Snob factor: Off the charts — especially for Vancouver
If you abandon any desire to get full from dinner and want a chic place to dine, this is your ticket. It’ll cost you, but from the looks of the customers, that didn’t seem to be a worry.

my husband and i love this place! it’s not your traditional hawaiian food joint, it’s actually NICE inside — go figure ;)
the food has a slight twist/​fusion feel to it, but keeps the traditional ingredients in tact. i have never been disappointed here. time after time, the service is top notch and the owner is very friendly.
happy hour is definitely the time to go if you don’t want to get some great deals on delicious food.

Stars earned:
One of the trendiest spots in Vancouver Area.
The salmon was perfect, sauce delicous and rice just right.
I chose Pink Lei as my cocktail and it was excellent.
Stars lost:
Truffle fries were not «truffle-​y» enough.
Salad rolls appetizer was dry and the veggies had brown edges, I guess they make it ahead and it did not get ordered enough so it got old… The dipping sauces saved it:)