Da Luau Hawaiian Grill — Restaurant in Irvine

Aloha-eee ALOHA-eee. Damn I wish I could be in Hawaii right now. I must admit I watch Hawaii 5.0 and dream about living in Hawaii. If you have every been there you would know that true Hawaii food is the bomb DOT COM! Did I just use that. Yes I did. I admit that person I learn that from is half my age... Anyways, the only slight problem with California is we have our own versions of food: CA style sushi (rolls with stupid sauces making it look more like a burrito then sushi. Let's leave the California roll as something we all do at a Stop Sign), Stupid Fusion places and food trucks, CA style Chinese food, Teriyaki bowls CA style, CA BBQ, CA invented pretty much every Fast food burger joint, and last but not least Hawaiian style BBQ.

I admit I still have wet dreams about Yelp OC's Big Fat Hawaiian Wedding Elite at Don the Beachcomber. Minus the salty shredded pork, that place has the best Hawaiian food outside of the Islands. If I had my way, I would eat Poke from the super market and eat shredded pork and chocolate covered nuts until I die with a smile on my face. California isn't that bad we have beaches too... just not as clean with blue skies and water. We do have California Girls :) best descriptions you will find are in songs by this title by Katy Perry or The Beach Boys.

I admit Da Luau was not my first choice. I had to get something for a birthday from Baskin Robins and there were limited options: A pho place that go pretty much 1 Stars minus all the reviews without pictures, random Chinese place and a few fast food choices. Da Luau actually had a reasonable amount of people in the restaurant some of the patrons were actually Hawaiian. That's a good sign, but how was it?

Pros: The menu has a bunch of items that you would find in a restaurant in Hawaii, plus other popular CA style Hawaiian BBQ. Hawaiian music. After a long day of work it set the mode. Order In. So you can eat on a plate with silverware instead of in a poisonous styrofoam container. Classy. Friendly and helpful service -Shaved Ice, but didn't get to try it. -Chicken Katsu was decent. Lightly battered and cut in strips. It look more like chicken fingers or fish sticks than Katsu, but at least it wasn't too greasy -Combo it up, you are not limited to just mac and rice. Choose from a lot of different sides. -Variety, you don't have to just choose from 3 meats and rice. -The food is okay, but given the options. You do feel more of an "at home" feeling like going to a Lu'Au in Hawaii and less like fast food garbage can. -The food is prepared well and not overcooked.

Cons: not as good as L&L -The Katsu sauce tasted like American BBQ sauce only milder. -Expensive given the size. Most Hawaiian places give you enough food for lunch and dinner. -Hard to think of cons. You will either like it, if it's your style. Or complain and hate it.

Unfortunately authentic Hawaiian food will not win over most Americans, they rather have the grease and fat instead of fish, health, and happiness. Da Luau is not the best, but it's does give you a slight taste of Hawaii. If you like L&L, you may not want to try this place. If you are down to try a variety of different items, give Da Luau a try. I'm interested in trying some of the other items, but this will still be a 2nd...

We’ve all done the obligatory Hawaiian Luau through our over priced 4 star hotel when we visit and some of us travel amongst the locals. Hawaiian food out here is less about authentic, but more about BBQ because that’s what the Western palate likes.

My Hawaiian family does eat a good amount of meat, but they also infuse a good amount of non fried seafood. Poke, tuna, sardines and that’s what I liken L&L’s and Aloha’s compared to this. YES, they do the typical plates here and they do fried fish, but they certainly do it better than L&L and Aloha.

Their Kalbi short ribs are good a little too much brown sugar in the marinade and a little lean on the cut. The shortribs here are overly trimmed and in the case of this cut and this dish isn’t a better way to eat. The BBQ hot pork that’s supposed to be hot, in no way provides heat. It’s flavorful, but pretty mild. Katsu is good, but could use more flavor prior to panko crusting, sauce is on point, could use some ginger. Best if eaten in house. Macaroni salad is meh, again vanilla and sometimes not cold, obviously not sitting out warm, but I kind of want that cold bite. Rice is never dry and a huge plus. Dry rice is the worst, literally. Musubi is on point, love the sesame, portions and it’s a tight wrap. 2 orders of that and an entrée special is almost enough for 2 normal people, or a solid meal for me.

I wish someone did garlic shrimp, grilled their mahi mahi and slow cooked their oxtail soup up thick. Those are my 3 biggest complains about mainland Hawaiian food.

I found their poke and poke salad to be at odds. The salad had ginger soy dressing but the regular poke had no ginger shavings and the carrots, whoa, those do not belong. Love the jicama, but I have no idea where they were taking this dish, unpolished. Hamburgers were good overall, but their loco moco was not so legit. First off it’s only hamburger patti, not your choice of meat. The brown sauce is gravy, but it doesn’t have the right consistency. Kalua pork is good, but could be more tender. Mochiko chicken was good, not a fan of the deep fry though.

Service is hit or miss depending on the time and your server/cook combo. I’ve regularly come and had my order packed as I walked in, regularly had amazing service, but I’ve also seen the place get packed and seen people after me wait 30 minutes for a combo plate, hohhhhhhh brah, not cool.

Since I don’t live around here, I doubt I’ll ever make it here for breakfast and since I’m only in OC for work, I can’t speak on it.

It’s closer to Hawaiian grinds than others, but it aint no Back Home in Lahaina in...

This review is for the service that I received on 06/07/19.

My wife and I came here for a late dinner at 8pm. We ordered our food - Lava Combo, Loco Moco Fries, Spam Musubi, and 2 drinks.

After a normal wait, the worker brought us our Loco Moco fries but not our combo or musubi. We didn't find it too unusual because he left our plastic number card on our table. We assumed that since he didn't take our number away, he'd just bring the second part of our order when it was ready.

My wife and I ate the Loco Moco pretty slowly, as we were mostly chatting and watching the Golden State - Toronto game. We finished the plate, bussed it, and thought we'd wait five more minutes.

Five minutes went by and I checked the receipt and it turns out it had been 45 minutes to the dot. I asked the worker and went to the prep station, looked at the orders on the line, and then muttered something to himself. Then he confronted the cooks who insisted that they'd made the order. He turned to me and said that they hadn't made it yet. He gave me the option of having them make the order and taking it to-go (they were going to close at 9) or getting a refund. At this point, we were kind of just dazed that this was happening and figured the refund would be more prudent.

He rattled off a "sorry" but immediately proceeded to rant about how he'd been dealing with incompetence from his staff all week. He was clearly agitated and told me that he was training a new front of house staff member who'd gotten everything mixed up.

The food here is great, and the variety on the menu is phenomenal. I have to leave a single star because this staff member was rude and clearly disgruntled. He threw his whole staff under the bus instead of accepting responsibility and offering a sincere apology. Ultimately- he was the one who brought half the order, and then totally...