Hana Hawaiian BBQ — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Stopped in because there were two free-standing tall flags in the parking lot outside this location (Bell's Corner) advertising 50% off food orders. There was another sign with green print on the building advertising the same thing. I gave it a try. First of all, the 50% off applied to only ONE item on the entire menu. Can you say false advertising? The guy who took my order was pleasant enough but couldn't answer any questions I asked him about the food. I wound up playing it safe and ordered edamame (just ok; nothing great), spring rolls (extremely small - 3" long and bland for the price) and a Thai boba tea (fairly priced; tasted good). Everything cost $16, which I consider pricy for the amount of food I received. I couldn't figure out what was Hawaiian about this place for the life of me. I found the restaurant name to be as misleading as the 50% off flags. Not sure who was in charge or managing the place because every employee looked young. Whoever owns this place needs to train or retrain their employees regarding their knowledge of the menu items. The food was mediocre and overpriced. Go there if you absolutely have to have a boba drink. But, then again, there's plenty of other spots in Northeast Philly that have a much better boba tea selection. I won't be back and I wouldn't recommend this spot to anyone. *Edit: Someone did respond to my review. (See below). But, they're just not getting it. The 50% off banners out front of the business imply that MANY items are discounted. However, only ONE single item is discounted at 50% off. This type of advertising is MISLEADING and there are more honest ways to get people into your business. Honest ways include but aren't limited to: increasing the size of your portions to match the pricing, properly training your staff to learn and be able to explain the menu, no false advertising. Again, what is Hawaiian anything about the menu besides the name?? I still would not recommend this...

Reposting my review from my main Google account

I'm a chef, and I love seeing new restaraunts pop up in the Northeast. Beautiful interior, great, friendly staff. I enjoyed my experiences and interaction there

The food was mid. I got a BBQ grilled chicken platter, and the chicken was juicy and sweet, nicely marinated but lacking some of the hard char I expect from grilled chicken

The cabbage was a nice plate filler and would have been wonderful but it lacked any type of seasoning at all. Some salt and pepper would have gone a long way

The broccoli was a very small portion, two small sprigs and served as more of a garnish- but that too was completely unseasoned

The macaroni salad was perfectly cooked, but seemed to be just tossed in mayo. Nothing exceptional here and quite boring

The white rice portion was decent and perfectly cooked

Love to see this spot make it, but I predict that they will not as there was no "wow" factor with my experience. Food industry is hard to make it and I can tell the ownership has put a lot of time and money in making the interior beautiful and the exterior interesting. I loved the hardwood benches and tables, and it was very clean inside

If some changes are made I'd be happy to revisit and try again, and adjust my review

Also the 20% off promotion made the food quite affordable so it's definitely worth a visit, i just fear they are missing out in hundreds of great first impressions with just meh impressions

I know you can do better!...

Honestly for opening day, this was such a letdown. I ordered the Philly Bomb with Japanese Soda (Lychee) and Cremble to go. The Cremble came with the actual dish (?), the soda was in original flavor instead of lychee, and the platter was cold. The soda tasted fine, but it is not what I asked for. The Cremble tasted okay at least. But the fries? Why are they barely room temperature? The macaroni salad was not special, just typical. The Philly Bomb tempura roll itself was okay, but was big like a gimbab roll. Wasn't too crazy about the temperature for that either, but at least better than the fries. Spicy mayo was good, but I also didn't receive or get asked to receive chopsticks. They just gave plastic utensils.

As for the service... The initial cashier was friendly enough, but after I ordered, it was awkward to figure out where to wait. They had dine-in tables albeit a small space. They didn't have a waiting area really aside from sitting at free benches or around the counter. The staff were pretty quiet as well. Felt a bit robotic...

I waited around 10-15 minutes to receive the food, and got home in 10 minutes. So the food should have been warm still in the container... sighs I don't personally eat halal, but I have friends who do. So I was hoping it would be a nice spot to go with friends. Maybe one day I can try the bubble tea or actually receive a lychee Japanese Soda. But for now, this is a huge...