Ma'ono West Seattle — Restaurant in Seattle

Disappointed But Will Try Again

I had high hopes for Ma'ono. I cook a tremendous amount of SE Asian food at home and West Seattle is in dire need of some Asian comfort food joints and diversity. On paper - ignoring the premium prices - Ma'ono sounded great. It's a little Hawaiian, a little Japanese, a little Korean, a little Filipino...

And that doesn't have to be a bad thing: not having a laser focus. But a lot of the time, it is.

When we got there, our waitress informed us that she had just sold the last fried chicken. That was primarily the reason for us visiting in the first place. So, a big disclaimer: everyone I've ever talked to has said that this is what you go here for; so, maybe it is actually worth the $40 to eat fried chicken here with your friend or family member. It certainly looks extremely delicious and everyone there eating it seemed pleased, so -- there's that.

But this isn't a review on food I didn't eat.

What I can tell you is this: the Ma’ono Hawaiian Barbecue platter was a huge, colossally mediocre letdown (especially considering the portions). This was basically a tiny tasting platter for some of the meats that are supposedly all painstakingly crafted in-house. Kalua pork is no simple feat. I'll pay top dollar for the real thing (good luck finding that outside of Hawaii, by the way); and I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that this stuff is cooked in a large-scale slow-cooker, or an industrial oven, and then shredded and flavored with liquid smoke; not at all dissimilar to how Marination Station prepares theirs (which I'm also not a fan of -- but many people are).

That's not Kalua pork, that's smokeless pulled pork with flavoring agents. And that's what this tasted like to me. I've smoked more pork in my life than any human could ever hope to consume -- if you cheap out and go with liquid smoke, or don't give the meat the time it deserves with a cold smoke, your product will suffer for it. And it certainly won't have those perfect smoke rings.

I felt the same way about the beef. Neither of those stood out to me as something that I'd have to come back for. And that's really a shame, because it seems like they must be capable of producing some really delicious food to have such a draw.

The Portuguese sausage was extremely dry and underseasoned and the char siu was only just okay, but ended up being our favorite of the meats we sampled. Nothing more to say about that. Maybe it was an off day for them.

I will say this: the Portuguese rolls, however, were quite tasty and had a nice texture to them (similar to pandesal or King's Hawaiian Rolls). The whipped drippings weren't as flavorful as I would've preferred, but overall, the bread was tasty, soft, and warm, and we could've eaten a second order of that, easily.

The standout dish for the night - against all reasonable expectations - were the Sesame Roasted Carrots. The carrots themselves were expertly cooked and had the perfect amount of char on them. The chutney and the yogurt sauce was incredibly tasty, creamy, and made for a perfect pairing with the carrots. I wish the portion had been slightly bigger, but it was expertly cooked and served. They made a big deal about the puffed rice, but I'm not the sort of person to be impressed by science experiments

So, there you have it: definitely a mixed bag (like the concept itself), but the place was clean, servers were professional, and the dishes we saw going past us looked 100% better than what we were served.

My suggestions for improvements to the chef would be to - obviously - go all-in with the Kalua pork concept and knock out a stellar smoked product. That, or just give it up and make a killer Pork Adobo and embrace the Filipino side of the islands. Also, please consider adding SPAM sliders (something -anything - more affordable) with a house mayo for $2.50 or so. $6 for Musubi is absurd.

Give them a shot for this hyped chicken, I suppose. Do not get the...

Finally checked this place out tonight. On the weekends we see lines out the door waiting for brunch, lunch and dinner! We were lucky tonight because there was no line and plenty of open tables. I liked that they asked if we were celebrating anything special, wonder if they do anything for birthdays?

I ordered the spicy chicken sandwich (mild) and potato mac salad. I got mild because the "burn warning" on the menu scared me off, but I like spicy food! I thought this sandwich was pretty good. The Kings Hawaiian role was good, but not sure it holds up for a sandwich, the bottom was almost non existent. Not soggy just very smooshed and small. The chicken was perfectly cooked and crispy. The sauce almost tasted a little barbecue-y. The mild definitely was not spicy. Had a VERY tiny hint of heat, though it did linger. I would get this sandwich again but get Medium. The pickled daikon was awesome! The potato mac salad was OK. It just tasted like mayonnaise to me. It needed some acid, crunch, some mustard and surprisingly some salt and pepper.

My boyfriend got the quarter fried chicken (white meat) with chili sauce and a side of fries. Those fries!! Delicious. So good. The chicken was super tender, juicy and perfectly fried. A little salty for my taste but my boyfriend loves his salt and was super happy with his meal.

I got a glass of wine which you could tell the bottle had been open for a while.

If I could I would give 3.5 stars. Definitely not a 3 star place but not quite a 4 star either.

We will be going back for sure! I want to try brunch there and also try their poke...

1st time experience and I won't be back. I was in the area running errands and wanted to sit down and make time to eat. I found they were just around the corner and claimed to offer a fun and friendly environment. On arriving the entrance and store front is confusing at best and when you go in it is poorly lit. I walked around looking for an employee to ask where I could order or if I even could. After not finding anyone I sat at a table across from the bar. A few min later, someone walked behind the bar and seemed preoccupied, after deciding this employee was just not going to come over to the table, I approached the bar where without greeting I was told that if I wanted to be in there, (after I had sat at a table for over 5 min) that it was 21 to be in the bar. I handed over my well over 21 Identification and while it was examined I was scolded on how this place didn't have table staff and that I must order at the bar. I informed said employee that I walked all around their establishment and was cut off to be told that she had been in the restroom. The entire experience was boo boo for sure. Never been don't go. Not worth you money. The food lacked a dine out worthy experience. Now I could've let it pass that the food was not great but the overall lack of employees, accessibility, and negative experience from the only half present employee is plenty for me to want to warn myself from dining...