Alohana Hawaiian Grill — Restaurant in Ankeny

After we ordered, the people I came with and I sat down, and waited for our food. Once it was prepared, we got our food, got drinks, and went back to the table. The two people we had seen then rushed to the back, and we hadn't seen either of them for a while after that. I ordered fried shrimp, which had turned out to be so breaded, that biting into it was like biting into a crouton, fried and breaded twice, with a small chunk of shrimp. The sauce for it didn't exactly make it any better. We had also ordered crab rangoon and spring roles. Spring roles, here, only seemed to have one ingredient, aside from the wrap, there was not much variety within it. This crab rangoon was okay, but it could have been better, it tasted more like potato salad than crab, and so did the macaroni side dish that came with the croutons. I wad not expecting cheese, however the macaroni still seemed to taste of potato salad, not what I was expecting, however this didn't seem like much of a problem, as much as the service, and the croutons. Much of the food on the menu did not seem to be genuinely Hawaiian, what I saw was mostly frying or barbecueing different kinds of meat. It is a Hawaiian Grill, but I wanted to see a little more Hawaiian within the menu. It also seemed a little less like a sit down restaurant, and more like a...

I've been to Alohana more than a few times now and I love it. There aren't a lot of Hawaiian restaurants in the midwest, never mind Iowa so this is such a treat.

The food is exactly what you'd expect if you've had Hawaiian food before, and if you haven't just know it's delicious. The portion sizes are pretty huge too for the price and the menu has such a wide variety to chose from, though many dishes feature similar elements (such as the Katsu Chicken and Volcano Chicken).

Your food is cooked to order and it can on occasion get quite busy so do expect to wait a few minutes for your order. If you sit down they usually give you a pager so you know when it's ready. But if it's not terribly busy they may just call you out.

The only real let down for me is the restaurant itself is a little dull, they play Hawaiian music but otherwise it's just a bit drab. It doesn't matter much but it would be nice to see them lean more into the Hawaiian theme more given it's unique visual style. I'd also like to see the inclusion of Coke/Pepsi Zero Sugar options that go beyond just diet and the inclusion of nutritional/calorific information on their...

My wife and I have moved a handful of times over the years, and for each place we live, we stumble upon one--maybe two--restaurants that we file into a, "Would gladly eat anytime, will be sad to say goodbye when we move" category. Alohana is and will always be that restaurant for us here in the Des Moines area. After trying a handful of items, my go-to is the chicken katsu with curry, and if I'm still feeling hungry, a SPAM musubi. The price is very agreeable given the portion sizes, and they do NOT hold back on flavor or quality. Never had an issue with ordering, food is always consistent and top-tier, and after years of eating here, I'm still not tired of the same dish. There's a girl that's worked there for as long as we've been going, and whenever she gives her signature smile and double hand wave, my wife and I know it's gonna be an even better meal.

Seriously can't put our appreciation to words. Thank you Alohana! Hope for nothing but success...