Tropical Hawaiian BBQ — Restaurant in Arroyo Grande

UPDATE: We're still trying to frequent Tropical Hawaiian BBQ as often as we can. Our favorites are definitely the short ribs and chicken katsu plates. Get some extra macaroni salad; it's addicting! Also pleased that they have seemingly listened to the complaints about the styrofoam containers and have replaced them with sustainable, reusable ones. The only major complaint we've had is with the crispy shrimp. It's much more breading than shrimp.

Very excited about this new restaurant offering something different that this area so desperately needed. Great prices for enormous portions; you would probably be able to easily share their two and three meat combos between two people. The daily specials are more than enough for one meal with plenty for leftovers. We tried the chicken katsu and Hawaiian BBQ beef and both were so tasty! The macaroni salad is also incredibly delicious. And, of course, spam musubi!! Definitely want to come back to try out the other options. Would also love to see more Hawaiian specialties added to the menu in the future, especially in terms of dessert, as well as possibly serving alcohol. Also, would like them to consider using reusable plastic takeout containers instead of styrofoam. The staff here are so friendly and accommodating, and with how great the food is, I really hope Tropical Hawaiian BBQ can...

Stopped in for an early dinner. I have always enjoyed Hawaiian BBQ and wanted to try this place out. It's in a small shopping center a block from Oak Park Blvd off of Grand Ave. Easy to get to and plenty of parking.

The people working behind the counter were nice. My boyfriend and I shared a two meat combo plate, BBQ chicken and the chicken katsu, with an order of crab rangoons. It's rare to see crab associated with rangoons these days, so needless to say I had to try them.

The crab rangoons were wrapped up in crispy wontons and there was actually some form of crab. Albeit, probably imitation crab but that is better than nothing. It had the slightly sweet taste with the cream cheese and everything else. Delicious!

The combo plate comes with white rice, a few veggies, and macaroni salad. The BBQ chicken was tender, more on the teriyaki side. Flavors were good. The chicken katsu was moist and tender with a nice crispiness that you expect from katsu. Veggies were tender. White rice had good flavor. The macaroni salad lacked flavor though. We both thought it was bland. They also give you two sauces to go with your meal.

I would come back here again when feeling in the mood for...

Hubby and I stopped here to try this joint. This place serves plate lunches so don't expect pork lau lau or lomi lomi salmon or poi or anything like that. Just plate lunches. We were hungry but agreed that this place was just ok. We tried the loco moco and the katsu chicken. The loco moco gravy didn't have any onions in it and it tasted like beef gravy you can buy in those small packets in the store at Thanksgiving. The katsu chicken was crispy but the dipping sauce lacked some flavor. Mac salad was ok but a little bland. You may think we're being finicky, but my husband and I travel quite a bit to Hawai'i (all six Islands you can travel to) and we go to where the locals go so we know our way around Hawaiian food. This place reminds us of L&L: big portions, decent prices, just ok food. We did notice a lot of people came and picked up their orders while we waited for our food and then ate it outside but I think they go here for the portions, not necessarily the quality of food. Nowhere close to Rainbow Drive In, Da Kitchen, 808 Grindz, or Mark's Place but we give them 3 stars for effort. A hui hou,...