Ate-Oh-Ate Grill — Restaurant in Portland

I gotta say, with all the hype this place has received I left after my first visit feeling nothing but disappointed.

I recently moved into the Woodstock neighborhood and was excited to see a (relatively) new ate-oh-ate location just down the block. This seemed like a place I would love, serving comfort Hawaiian food and run by the guys behind Simpatica and Laurelhurst Market. I finally decided to stop in this evening and got to the restaurant around 7:30pm. Despite not closing until 9 the cooks were already starting to clean down their stations and seemed visibly annoyed by the incoming order. Now, I've worked in food service before and get the frustrations of orders coming in just before close, after you've wiped down, but we're talking a full hour and half before close... Not exactly last minute. Whatever, I got my order to go so FOH could start cleaning the dining room, and sat at the bar while they cooked it up.

I ordered a chicken Katsu (for $13.45!!) thinking it would at least be a big enough portion that I'd likely have leftovers. As the cook pulled the chicken out of the fryer there was some clear hesitation as he poked it to determine temp. He seemed satisfied and went to cut it up, but apparently decided the middle sections were a little too pink to serve. Props for maintaining rigorous quality control. Instead of dropping another piece, however, or even recooking the undercooked pieces, he makes direct eye contact with me and throws the handful of chicken away. The cook then proceeds to pass the 2/3 portion to the server who finishes bagging it up and handed it off to me.

When I finally dug into the meal it just seemed so average. Nothing special about this katsu, just bland fried chicken and white rice. At least the teriyaki sauce was delicious, but not something I could go out of my way for. There seem to be several Hawaiian spots popping up across the city recently, and although food quality here might be superior, the flavors certainly fell short.

I could very well have been tainted by high expectation in this scenario, having known about ate-oh-ate for several years and only trying it now, but overall this experience definitely left me a bit sour. I likely won't be returning to this...

Great food -poor service and worse delivery. Sad that they have become a victim of their own success or they are simply under staffed. My brother in law lives in Hawaii and we really enjoy authentic Hawaiian food on the mainland. We initially tried 808 grill via Ubereats last fall. We have order online via app five times and only recieved two correctly filled orders.

We recently visited in person as it was family members choice for birthday. Restaurant was about 1/2 full but it seemed that some of those were gig delivery drivers. We arrived around six - would have been nice to know that it would take around 45 minutes instead of we will bring your food out shortly.

This week we figured we would give them another shot with delivery mid-afternoon App said 20-30 est. Restaurant is about 1.5 miles away. 70 minutes later was in the process of canceling in the app - when the delivery driver popped up on the screen.

Honestly not much cooking in an Ahi Tuna Poke bowl (other than maybe rice) even the Veggie Curry isn't made from scratch. Previously we had this same order delivered in a little over 25 min. But 80 minutes which was 2X the estimate.

We enjoy the food - but I think if we decide to try one more time - we may call in and order and...

Came here during the quarantine, so this review may not be reflective of how the business operates during normal times. I must say that, given the circumstances, these guys handled everything very well. Of course, "social distancing" and whatnot had to be enforced, so I'll leave that part out. Anyway, onto the actual review.

I've been waiting to try this place for a year since moving to the area. Yesterday, the timing was right. I ordered take-out, and within placing my order it was out within 10 minutes. I ordered the kaula pig plate, and my buddy got teriyaki chicken.

I was so excited to dig in. Everything looked absolutely delicious. It tasted even better. My buddy and I split everything 50/50 so I got to try out both the pork and the chicken. The pork was a bit salty for my liking, but not bad overall. The chicken was kind of rubbery too. But everything tasted pretty good.

Pricing was reasonable considering the portion sizes and the area. $25 for both of our meals.

Only reason for the 3 stars is because it wasn't absolutely jaw-dropping, but it gets the job done.

If you're craving Hawaiian food in southeast Portland, give...