Roots Cafe — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

We ate here a few weeks ago and enjoyed the food. For anyone who has been in the Springs for a while, you likely know of Taco Del Rey, which is the building that this little Hawaiian place is now in (Taco Del Rey was in this tiny little building for something like 45 years).

Parking is the usual, miserable, metered downtown parking - I avoid going downtown whenever possible because I can't stand it...but that's no fault of the restaurant.

The building is absolutely tiny, so seating is extremely limited and simple (most of their business is carry-out, I'm sure), but what was there was clean and tidy.

The food was good and cooked to order by the owner. My wife saw a certain kind of rice on a review and asked what that was and we found out that that was a "hidden menu" item that they have!! (A little bit of In And Out Burger style going on, there!) I don't know if it's always available and probably not supposed to get out into public, but the owner was willing to make that rice for my wife and she loved it - a huge step over basic white steamed rice. I had the Kalua Pig, which is what I almost always order at Hawaiian places, and it was very good. My wife had Kalbi and it was also delicious. The Spam Musubi was ok, but not my kind of thing (I thought the seaweed wrap was fishy-tasting), and we were a little let down by the dessert - we got their last piece of Choc-mac Banana Bread and we felt it was a oittle dry and lacking in flavor.

Anyway, I love little family-run places and this one is doing a great job with theirs. I wish them all the success and we'll certainly...

My wife and I were visiting from out of town and decided to have lunch at Roots Cafe.

Roots Cafe is a small restaurant - I did not count but if memory serves, I believe there are about 6 tables or so. The atmosphere is well-lit and comfortable but not in any way intimate.

Ordering is done at the front counter. There are a variety of menu offerings.

My wife and each I opted for the Mixed Plate with two meats or shrimp. My wife chose the Kalbi Ribs and Kalua Pig, and I chose the Chicken Katsu and Garlic Shrimp. The dishes come with rice and macaroni salad.

Unfortunately, my wife's dishes were on the bland side, not well-seasoned. My chicken tasted almost exactly the same as what one is typically served at a mall's food court. The shrimp was well-seasoned and worth ordering.

I like macaroni salad but, sadly, the macaroni salad lacked seasoning as well.

I cannot say that other items on the Roots Cafe menu are not worth trying. However, based on my experience, I cannot justify either a return visit or a recommendation that others dine...

7/2022 ~ Thanks for working with me on my catering order! I like your chicken katsu and the fried saimin was fun! We'll order more next time! My friends tried new food and liked it!

Heading back to Hawaii to visit family soon, so I got a teri chicken and katsu combo. It came with a Spam musubi that had some teri sauce on it, which was yummy. (Or I could have had butter mochi instead, but I just made a batch of my mom's recipe.) Whoops! My K for katsu was swapped with kalbi, but they got me a little to go box with a katsu. YAY! I think the teri chicken was the best, the katsu was great, and ... well, I don't really like bones (humbug), so the kalbi comes in last, but it was tasty. The mac salad had a good taste but ... no potatoes, which I put in my mac salad. No worries (my hubby said that makes it potato salad). The rice was rice, which is good that it wasn't...