Halo Hawaiian BBQ & Poke Bar — Restaurant in Arbutus

I ordered a poké with one exta protein, two scoops of mac salad, and two Hawaiian Sun drinks. Today was the first time that really felt like I overpaid for the food I got, and it wasn't because of the cost of the food. It really boils down to the way the food was made and the amount that was put into the dish. I bought a poké bowl. I know and understand and accept that certain ingredients cost more than others. I have worked in fresh food service. But when the amount of each topping is the smallest, it could be without out being a single piece or two. That’s when I call it quits for a long time at the restaurant. After the worker made my bowl, she then went over to where her phone was next to the register and started messaging or playing on it. Meanwhile, the Mac salad I ordered was on the counter behind her. I stood there for at least three or four minutes before she even looked up to notice me still standing there. When she looked at me , there was what felt like an unspoken attitude of " what do you want." I told her I also ordered Mac salad, and she finally then went over to the slip from order to double-check it. This whole time, I was never given a receipt, so if she challenged my Mac salad, it was only gonna be on my word if she did not look at the order slip. My total came to 27.32 before tip. The amount that I got, I was not okay with, but I was hungry and needed the food. It will be a good while...

Omg, anyone who knows me knows that this hawaiian girl has been searching for restaurant like this since we moved to the east coast 15 years ago! I have been searching for a real hawaiian mix plate and my prayers have finally been answered! It is practically impossible to find good, traditional hawaiian food on the east coast but this place definitely reminds me of an LnL and even better it's only 6 miles away from me. I loved how they have spam, bbq chicken and chicken Katsu musubi...the bbq chicken musubi brought me back to when I was a kid stopping at 7-11 before school for my musubi. For plates we got a bbq mix plate... My boyfriend loved it! And the chicken katsu and kalua pig mini plates. The portions were huge! We have leftovers still and I've been eating it for lunch. While the kalua pig was missing the cabbage, it was so delicious and flavorful! I would get it again in a heartbeat... And it's not even my favorite hawaiian dish. I wish we got more sauce with the Katsu but it was delicious nonetheless. The bbq mixed plate was awesome except the kalbi was tough and kinda chewy. That literally was my only complaint of the whole meal. Overall, everyone I had bought food for this weekend absolutely loved it and I can't wait to start becoming a regular! Thanks for opening this wonderful hawaiian restaurant on the east coast... This might be my favorite I have come across...

TLDR: Fast casual restaurant with Hawaiian BBQ in enormous portion sizes. BBQ meats are decent but the chicken katsu is the star of the show.

Vibe: 4/5. This is a counter order fast casual style restaurant that caters mostly to take out orders. However, there are a few 2 tops scattered throughout the establishment giving you the option to dine in if you can't wait to feast.

Service: 5/5. The wait staff at the counter were very friendly and helpful throughout the ordering process. Food preparation time was approximately 15 minutes when we dined in on a Friday at 6:45pm.

Food: 4/5. With this being our first time dining, we felt obligated to order a sampling of the entire menu. We ended up getting platters of chicken katsu, chicken BBQ, beef short ribs, kahula pork, loco moco and a spam musubi. Each platter came with a scoop of white rice as well as a scoop of macaroni salad. All the BBQ meats were marinated in a sweet Hawaiian marinade which proved to be tasty in all applications. However, the chicken katsu w/ curry sauce was the real winner. The chicken had a thick and crunchy panko breading that was perfectly fried. They use boneless thigh meat for the katsu which produces a juicy yet substantial filet. As I mentioned before the rest of the meats were good, just didn't stand out from the herd. Spam musubi and the macaroni salads were also tasty and...