Island Fusion — Restaurant in Ellensburg

What a great new addition to the area!  Located right across from the CWU campus, I was welcomed by the friendly staff.  The dining room has a variety of 2 person and 4 person tables which can be combined to fit a group of about any size.

They just opened the day before I was here and there are some kinks getting worked out, but service was good considering I decided to order all of the main entrees just to give them a try!  Unfortunately the jerk chicken wasn't available, but I was able to try the Ox Tail, Hawaiian short ribs, Huli Huli Chicken, Katsu Chicken, and Domoda (beef).

Ox Tail - arguably the best dish I ate.  The meat was tender, seasoned perfectly, and the carrots with it were delightful.  I highly recommend!

Hawaiian Short Ribs - cut flanken style (thin, across the rib)...these were fantastic!  Being a meat snob, I'm always a little skeptical at this price point, but the hawaiian marinade was fantastic.  Short ribs have a fairly chewy texture, but it's worth the effort......these are delicious!  Highly recommend.

Huli huli chicken - imagine a hawaiian flavors meet teriyaki chicken.  Definitely worth trying!

Katsu Chicken - the katsu chicken is deliciously breaded chicken, but I wasn't a huge fan of the sauce.  Normally Katsu Chicken has a bbq-esqe sauce, but this was more towards teriyaki.  Still a solid dish!

Beef Domoda - it's a African peanut butter stew that came with rice.  It was really good!  There was a cooked habanero pepper in mine that was incredibly spicy (and I like spicy foods) which wasn't anticipated.  The stew was really tasty, but inquire about the spice level!

I was a underwhelmed with the Mac salad.  They had a strong onion flavor....which I happen to enjoy, but the onion overwhelmed all the other flavors.  I'd love to see a more island themed mac salad, but either way - this didn't spoil a great meal!

100% worth checking out and...

As someone who dearly loved the restaurant that used to be in this killer location, I knew I had to check out the restaurant that replaced it. Needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed my experience! Island Fusion's food is a fresh, delicious, and original addition to the Ellensburg restaurant scene.

I ordered the ceviche and the fried plantains and was super impressed with both! I've had ceviche from other restaurants and hadn't been a fan. But here, every ingredient was so fresh and, well, refreshing! The tomatoes and cucumbers were the perfect texture, the avocado was perfect, and the shrimp was deliciously juicy. The crisp tortilla wasn't soggy in the slightest, despite the generous helping of delicious lemon juice, cilantro, and spices. All the flavors blended together super well. This place single-handed changed my mind on this dish.

The fried plantains were delicious as well! I've never had plantains before, so this was my first experience and I was blown away. Instead of being fried with a thick breadiness and a lot of sugar, these bad boys are gently caramelized for a much more complex (and tantalizing) sweetness. The flavor then ends on the stronger savory banana-ish-ness of the plantain itself, making it so the sweetness didn't linger on your palate too long.

I'll definitely be getting the plantains again when I come back to try one of this restaurant's main dishes!

UPDATE: updating this review because I have to recommend this restaurant's amazing drinks. Their strawberry horchata is delicious! And I'm normally not a hibiscus tea fan at all, but Island Fusion blends the bright hibiscus with a sweet mint and just a touch of ginger that makes it absolutely refreshing beyond compare. The prices are pretty reasonable, so there's no reason for you not to give one of their fantastic homemade...

Stopped in for a bite and explained it was my first time there and didn’t know what to try. Waitress/ counter girl was less than helpful, I tried to look at the menu to get an idea of what to order and she acted like I was wasting her time. Food was not what it was labeled to be per the menu. I ordered the Huli huli chicken and got teriyaki chicken. There was zero amount of pineapple on it for it to be considered a Huli huli chicken. It included a mac salad and one would assume that a Mac salad at a place called island fusion it would taste buttery and creamy with mayonnaise and butter being the base layer of flavor but no, it was mixed with miracle whip 🤮. Also the rice which was a very small portion came molded from the little dish they pressed it into came already seasoned with black pepper, that threw me off to see already seasoned white rice.

Aside from the meal I spoke with the owner and explained to him the issues with the food because he pulled up right in front of the door to deliver supplies to his restaurant as I was leaving. He agreed with everything I said and even mentioned his wife had said the same thing about the use of pineapples in the Huli huli chicken.

I came back two weeks later for a to go order and the food was exactly the same, but also the way my order just sat in a bag not nicely tied up like I experience at all other Asian cuisine establishments lets me know that the children this guy has working for him no nothing about customer service.

Honestly the owner seemed kinda hands off in my opinion. You can tell who likes to just have the label of being an owner and who truly has the drive to want to be and do better to be the best around. This guy will lose his business and continue to push out “mid” food meanwhile if he continues...