Mochiko Hawaiian — Restaurant in Newton

We finally got a chance to try this place! The energy is delightful! The service was friendly and the atmosphere upbeat. The indoor dining area is very small - just 5 seats at a window counter. There were a few tables with umbrellas on the sidewalk out front, but it was too cold to sit out there. If we hadn't been able to get seats, we would have done take out and eaten in our car.

As first timers, we wanted a variety of items, so we ordered a Tiger Tea drink, a Magic Mango drink , a 2-pack "reg-chix" chicken, a mochiko chix plate, a Kahlua pig plate, 2 Spam musubi, and a side of cabbage slaw. I'm a weenie about spicy, so we kept the temp down. Thus, I cannot speak to how good the spicier dishes are.

The Tiger Tea was WOW. Never thought tea and coffee mixed together would be so good! The bitterness of the coffee takes the sweetness of the brown sugar milk tea down to perfect and the brown sugar boba and jelly added more texture and flavor. At $8, it's pretty steep, but definitely recommend.

The serving sizes of all the food were reasonable for their respective prices. I really appreciate the lightness (as opposed to "intense") of Mochiko's flavors. You can taste the various components of each item, like the rice, the chicken, or the potatoes in the macaroni salad, along with the gochujang and miso sauces, rather than just the flavor of whatever sauce is topping the main item.

The mochiko chicken was crisp and fresh. The mix of sauces and toppings on the fried chicken pieces was just right - not too salty and ever so slightly spicy (like I said, I'm a complete weenie about spiciness and I loved this). Plated with rice, a simple salad and macaroni salad, it was a satisfying meal.

The Kaluha pork was tender and flavorful, but, again, not intense enough to drown out the sides. We would have swapped cabbage slaw for the braised carrots and cabbage as they were too soft and oddly flavored for us. Thankfully, we ordered a side of cabbage slaw, which was creamy and only slightly vinegary. Delicious!

If we had paid attention, we would have ordered our 2 pack chicken in "soy-garlic" instead of "reg-chix" as we already had that on the Mochiko chix plate, so it would be something different. Oh, well. Next time... Because there will DEFINITELY be a next time for us!

I highly recommend Mochiko! Just be prepared to change to take out if you're planning on dining in so you won't be disappointed when you...

Mochiko is a fun and unique spot that dishes out Hawaiian food, amidst an otherwise pretty stale dining scene. It's a breath of fresh air full of fun attitude and a little razzing, all in good fun.

You'll first notice some loud music outside and will come inside a cool space - a large room - which features an open kitchen and some bar-style seating facing the window, as well as a few chairs. They don't themselves seriously but are some of the friendliest peeps around. And that fun translates into their menu.

They have everything from smoothies and bubble tea to chicken sandwiches, açai bowls, and all kinds of other porky and chickeny entres. They expanded the menu recently too so there's a little of everything for anyone.

We proceeded to order chicken Bytes ($5) as well as Tetris Tots ($4). Both video game themed and both were fun and perfect for our 6 year old who went to town. Surprisingly big portions too for the price.

I went with a Hawaiian classic the Moco Loco plate ($14) which featured a burger patty, some rice, a fried egg, some gravy and a side salad of sorts. The gravy was decent and the dish ate well. I did not love the Mac salad ($3.50) I got though which I found bland and under seasoned.

My wife's BBQ chicken sandwich ($10) was massive and she loved it. They fry their chicken in Mochiko (rice) flour which makes their Bytes and chicken sandwiches absolutely delish, and craggly and crunchy. It's awesome.

Overall I'd consider this a great gem of an establishment. Again, I want to give the staff a shout-out, they're fun and awesome and the fact that they have been able to bring Hawaiian fare out to the East Coast is no easy feat but they killed it. The artwork is also neat. A fun place to dine alone, with friends and especially with kids.

I very much look forward...

I ordered a four piece soy garlic fried chicken from uber eats.

The packaging of the food isn't great -- the clear plastic containers they used do not have ventilation holes, so when my food arrived the chicken was completely soggy (15 mins away from the restaurant). To be fair, this is only an issue of you order takeout, and dining in would most likely be a better experience.

The chicken itself was burnt. I had several bites of chicken from multiple pieces that were burnt. On top of that, the breading of the chicken was bland and really floury, leaving a weird flour coating in my mouth.

The sogginess from the poor packaging, the burnt chicken and the weird flour coating left behind in my mouth really ruined the experience.

On the bright side, the chicken was really juicy and the chicken thighs were de-boned. The de-boned chicken was a pleasant surprise, giving more fried surface area of the chicken.

I ordered on uber eats, and Ive only tried the chicken. Giving this place the benefit of the doubt, I'm sure the chicken is not usually burnt, and if I were to dine in, the chicken would have actually been crispy. Please change your packaging, fried food and those clear plastic containers you use do not go together at all. Without the proper ventilation, the chicken gets really soggy. Look at the packaging from Popeyes, and KFC, or even the packaging from bonchon or bbq chicken. The chicken from these places stays crispy when taking out because they all use environmentally friendly paper packaging with ventilation holes. Conceptually, the chicken is great, but the execution...