Shoyu Sugar — Restaurant in Austin

I haven't had a non-L&L chicken katsu plate lunch since 2019, and I haven't had a GOOD one since maybe 2018 (shout-out to mililani town center). What I am about to tell you is the absolute truth. I came here for my 18th birthday after Mom sent me an Instagram post showing the katsu. I love katsu dearly. My sister said that most hawaiian food places here were run by haole people which made me skeptical on the ride there. But the music, and the 808 hat on the girl ringing us up were enough to convince me before the food even buzzed. Sure enough, hefty portions and amazing mac salad. Rice was the perfect consistency to be picked up by chopsticks, which is very important. Even the Waikiki whole foods folded to mainland pressure and would use crumbly long grain rice. Not here. Not on this gorgeous day.

My dad always orders a teri plate his first time at any plate lunch restaurant so he can compare them properly. He finished the whole thing. He is not a big man. He is Filipino. he finished that whole plate of what should have been three servings. Mom's Korean chicken actually looked like a renaissance painting. There was perfect distribution of green onions on top. My god.

And then I got home and air fried the leftovers. My dog who sleeps in my parents room started scratching at the door and demanding to be let out because she could smell the katsu. I thought she wanted to pee. No. She just danced in the middle of the kitchen hoping I would give her some. I did not. Sorry, Suki. Too good.

As I'm writing this review i took a bite of a particularly crispy piece and had to put my hands up in the air like Mom would do in church. Praise God. I'm sorry I ever doubted your truck for a moment. Please consider adding meat jun to the menu. I will come back from Waco in a heartbeat.

TL;DR: ono

Edit: hours have passed. The portions were so generous that the leftovers I air fried while starving hungry still ended up being too much for me so I've been making very slow progress on the last few pieces. a little pink paw poked in from underneath my bedroom door, and when I opened it my CAT (not my dog) walked in and immediately started trying to shove her head in the bowl of katsu. I cannot make this up. Every animal in this house including me is absolutely fiending...

Rating: 2.5/5 [dine in]

We saw on their Instagram that they’re selling the food truck and moving back to Hawaii, with their last day of service on July 18th, so we had to give it a try. The truck is located in a spacious food truck park with plenty of tables set up on green turf and a decent-sized dirt parking lot.

We came on the last Saturday around 1:30 PM. There was a 45-minute wait, and they had already run out of the weekly special (garlic shrimp). To our surprise, their timing estimate was spot-on.

The portions were big and everything looked delicious, but the meat themselves were all lacking flavor so you’ll 100% need the sauces.

Austin Food Adventure Special ($16.50): Kalbi, chicken katsu, a slice of spam, two scoops of rice, and one scoop of macaroni salad. The chicken katsu was nicely breaded and fried but was tasteless, so we ended up dunking it in the katsu sauce. The kalbi didn’t seem marinated and was equally flavorless. Surprisingly, the spam was the best protein on the plate but the standout item, though, was the macaroni salad.

Red Rocks Special ($16): Korean fried chicken, teriyaki chicken, kalbi, two scoops of rice, and one scoop of macaroni salad. The Korean fried chicken wasn’t crispy and had a bland batter. The teriyaki chicken had a nice char and was the best of the proteins. The kalbi and macaroni salad were the same as the other plate.

We left feeling disappointed and weren’t sure how this place received such high ratings. We ate everything fresh so we can't imagine how the good would taste like after...

Chicken Katsu: 10/10 Chicken katsu was lightly breaded and properly fried. Fried chicken katsu tends to fail in two areas: too much batter or chicken is overcooked. This chicken katsu was perfect: correct balance of batter and chicken, great crispiness, and juicy on each bite. The tonkatsu sauce is a bit thinner than I am normally used to, but this is just my personal preference.

Unfortunately, I don't have the same glowing reviews for the other two dishes.

Red Rock Special: 4/10 This dish comes with an assortment of different proteins (korean-style kalbi, chicken karaage, grilled chicken). The flavor on the kalbi and karaage is pretty good; however, the kalbi was overcooked and burnt. Kalbi is supposed to have a nice char on the outside, but juicy on the inside. The grilled chicken was also pretty dry as well. The assorted condiments (spicy sauce, spicy shoyu) were pleasant, but not enough to erase the burnt factor from my mind. I was pleased with the thought and intention that went into the preparation and marination of this dish. I was disappointed by the actual execution of said dish.

Loco Moco: 2/10 The gravy and cooked eggs were pleasing to eat, and the hamburger patty was ambitiously thick and hefty. Unfortunately, the patty was overcooked (very dry) and burnt to the texture of a hockey puck.

All dishes came with two whopping balls of rice and...