CK Hawaiian BBQ — Restaurant in Idaho

I hate leaving negative reviews, even more so for local restaurants especially at this time. But my experience at CK was so unfortunate...I gotta share. For your sake.

Located in the quiet shops off Entertainment, CK Hawaiian BBQ touts they have the best Hawaiian food in Boise. I think there is potential but they need an entire makeover, from the space to the recipes. For one, the restaurant was not clean. The tables were grimy and the floor was oddly sticky. It felt like the place hadn't been properly cleaned in a long time.

I ordered the Kalua Park Plate (savory pork with (or without) cabbage) with a side of macaroni and gravy ($8.45 for small), my husband the Chicken Katso also with a side of macaroni and gravy (panko breaded chicken breast, $9.55). We decided to take our food home. The second I opened the boxes, I was unimpressed. I'll spare you my very descriptive and unappetizing statement (something about the remarkable resemblance to wet cat food), but to be blunt, I was appalled. It was soggy mess of a few pieces of pork with way to much cabbage. I took one small bite and couldn't stomach anymore. Even my husband exclaimed "what the actual f*."

The rest of the food wasn't the worst. The chicken katsu was breaded good but I was like where tf is the katsu sauce?! It wasn't anything special at all. At least it was edible. The macaroni salad was okay. It didn't taste very fresh, probably an old batch.

I'm no Hawaiian food expert and based off their menu I got the impression that they're not aimed at providing traditional Hawaiian fare, but more so "inspired" fare. However, regardless of the origin of the food the fact remained that what I received tonight was terrible. Two stars, because the employees were very nice. And were very accommodating when we changed from dine-in...

First: the food was good! We ordered the kalua pork, samin noodles, and several sides. We enjoyed our meal and it was fun to try new things like the haupia.

However, the three star review is because the delivery experience was super frustrating. I specifically decided to order from CK because their website makes it seem like they offer in-house delivery, which is the whole reason I ordered from them. I hate throwing money at doordash/ubereats and was excited to find another local place with a delivery option. Nowhere on their website do they indicate that they actually contract out to doordash. While that's a minor inconvenience and wouldn't have been a huge deal, what frustrated me the most is that when I got the doordash notification, it let me know that they had given only $2 of the $10 tip I left to the doordash driver. On top of me feeling awful for the doordash driver for such a lousy tip, I watched the order get picked up and then dropped multiple times, likely because it was such a bad tip! I finally managed to text one of the doordash drivers and tell them I would give them an additional cash tip to make it worth their while and my food was finally picked up.

Because of the way they manage their delivery, it takes forever. When I ordered, the confirmation I received said 20 minutes, but that's how long it took them to send it to doordash-- we received our food over an hour after ordering and because it sat so long waiting for a driver it was pretty cold upon arrival.

Long story short, I would recommend the food, but order delivery at...

This. Is. The. Worst. I visited Boise today and was excited to see a Hawaiian BBQ place nearby and saw pictures online and thought it would be great. I had a hard time finding it, drove around the food court near the movie theater multiple times until I finally called to find out how to get there. First impression when I walked in was it was a dirty hole in the wall. Sometimes those have the best food so I was optimistic. Ordered Kalua and Katsu with Haupia Malasadas. The Kalua had more cabbage than meat and had the funkiest taste. That did not taste like Kalua! I had to try and pick out all the cabbage before it was edible. The Katsu was dry and crunchy. The dipping sauce was cold and obviously straight out of a bottle. The rice was soggy and tasted like water instead of actual rice. The Mac salad tasted old and a funky flavor. I was shocked a Hawaiian BBQ place didn’t even have Shoyu! Whaaa?! I choked down the soggy bites of rice with a little kikoman soy sauce and had to wave the white flag. My 6 year old is obsessed with rice and wouldn’t eat it after two bites. I couldn't take it anymore. I had high hopes for the malasadas. Once I opened the box, I saw burnt, small , round malasadas with a flaking exterior. It looked as though they were freezer burnt and then went straight in the fryer. One bit and it crumbled in my mouth. Malasadas do NOT crumble. The whole thing was dry and the haupia inside was soaked into the dough. My 6 year said, “ Mom! This is NOT a malasada!” This was a bummer experience for sure. $26 dollars for a...