Moa Kai Hawaiian Diner — Restaurant in Orlando

Just went to try the new Moa Kai restaurant in Orlando. I got to say, they did a good job on vibes. They had kolohe kai's new album and all kinds of reggae jams. It's a diner so it's a very chill, it's not trying to be a stuffy fancy restaurant. Staff is super friendly. The place was packed for lunch! I ordered a bunch of different things so I could try it all in one run and have leftovers for dinner. Lilikoi Martini was delicious! Not too sweet. Perfectly balanced. When I ordered pork hash I definitely thought I was getting the Big Island 7-Eleven kind quarter size and thought $8 was pretty expensive for 2 pieces but I figured I'd try them anyway since I haven't had it in a decade. Brah! These things are huge lmfao. Full meal in itself. Tastes small kine different from back home but still good. Korean fried chicken was super crispy and the sauce was delicious. Shoyu ahi poke was way too sweet. Would not recommend that. Maybe the spicy version is better? But it tastes almost like they're putting sugar in it instead of sesame oil. Not a fan. Did not taste anything like shoyu ahi from home. Rice was cooked well, mac salad was good but needed more mayonnaise and it would have been nice to have salt and pepper shakers on the table to add little bit, but no big deal. Kalbi rib was good portion size. Thick cut, soft meat. And good flavor! Ube haupia pie ❤️❤️❤️ buttery, creamy, melt in your mouth delicious. I could eat five pieces of this. Literally my favorite thing of the whole meal and I would come back just for this pie. Ultimately it's a good chill spot if you're in the area & want some grinds. It's not my favorite Hawaiian plate lunch spot in Orlando. But I'll still come out and support them even if it's just for...

I’ve never written a poor restaurant review before, but I would like my experience to be shared for other people considering this new food spot. We were looking forward to this restaurant, but we’re quickly disappointed. We walked into a packed restaurant and were immediately met with a hostile hostess/waitress. Her immediate words were “our kitchen is closing in 15 minutes. Where do you want to sit”. I asked if we could sit in an available booth, to which she hesitated and then said “fine” and turned her back on us. We hesitantly walked to the booth alone. When sitting in the booth, we were handed the menu. The waitress hostilely mentioned the kitchen was out of a lot of items (proceeded to point to 75% of the menu). We decided the best thing to do that point was leave, as we were very clearly not wanted there. A few points. 1) If your kitchen was closing soon after we arrived and the restaurant preferred not to have more customers for the night, we would have absolutely respected that! Instead we were treated terribly from the moment we walked in. 2) If your restaurant prefers not to have 2 people sitting in a booth, please respectfully communicate that instead of giving sly comments. We would have absolutely sat at a table, but the waitress asked US where we wanted to sit. This made the situation incredibly uncomfortable. 3) It was disappointing to hear 75% of the menu was out of stock. I understand running out of some food items by the end of the day, but not basically the whole menu.

The delivery of what was said during our experience was very disappointing and triggering. We entered in a great mood and left in a sour one. Consider hiring kinder staff...

I’ve been waiting for this place to open for many months, but have been disappointed in all facets now that they are open. First, their online/phone communication has been pretty poor. They’ve made virtually no social posts explaining when they’re going to be open or closed, and when I privately messaged them on IG asking if they were going to be open on a specific day, they didn’t get back to me until days later after it was too late. I also tried calling both of their phone numbers (one from their Google profile and one from their Facebook) and literally neither of them worked. Not sure if this is still the case, but it was true as of a week or so ago. Pretty annoying.

Was able to make it to the restaurant today and my experience was average at best. Was able to get a table immediately, and my fried spam musubi took about 10 minutes (it was also the highlight of the meal, I enjoyed it), but my mix plate took about an hour and it was disappointing. Especially the spicy ahi, which was a very small portion, was mostly onions, and the fish didn’t look or taste fresh. The garlic fried noodles (which cost extra as a premium side) were incredibly plain and boring. The Korean fried chicken was decent, but there are several places with better Korean fried chicken literally within walking distance (for example, BB.Q Chicken is significantly better, and it is 0.6mi down the road).

Bottom line, if you want good Filipino/Hawaiian style food, go to Overrice or Sweet & Salty Island Grindz, and if you want good Hawaiian style poke, go to Rion’s Ocean Room. Moa Kai doesn’t do anything better than the places I...