Dakine Grindz — Restaurant in Sunset

Do I know Filipino Food? Glad you asked. I claim a complex taste pallet and this review is non-biased coming from a Filipino-American. What is a Filipino cuisine? It is a complex mixture of cultural experience ranging from Mediterranean cooking all the way down to Oriental influences. The food should be spicey with spice but not hot to the taste.

In this review, I ordered pork adobo, chicken shoyu, lechon kawali, pork kabobs, and Halo Halo. I will give my opinion based on the authenticity of the cuisine experience and it's affordability. The review focused mostly on texture and taste and the cuisine authenticity in general even when each cook adds their own flare, their still remain an expected taste.

Starting with pork adobo. The cuisine authenticity is 5/5. The spices were right on target. The meat were soft and tender. Just like how I would cook it.

Next is the Chicken Shoyu. I lived in Hawaii for two years and have eaten my fair share of chicken shoyu and gained the right amount of weight eating them. I will give this entry 3/5. It is too sweet for the chicken shoyu entry and lacks the earthiness flavor that a Hawaiian cuisine entails. The chicken skin is tough. How can you make a chicken skin tough in chicken shoyu? I'm not sure how but this restaurant made it happen. It lacked the aloha spirit so to speak.

Next is the lechon kawali. 1/5 on both experience and authenticity. The meat looked overcooked and the skin is not crispy but way tough. I was expecting fluffy pork meat but this one left a meh experience in my pallet. Instead of crunch I found myself wrestling with the pork belly skin. Edible but not enjoyable.

Next up is pork kabobs. Taste authenticity is 5/5. Meat texture is 1/5. It was like biting a jerky. They should just call it pork jerky and not kabobs.

Last but not the least, Halo Halo. Authenticity is 1/5. Instead of using Ube halaya, they went and chose to use Ube ice cream. This is the biggest missed opportunity to highlight an authentic Filipino dessert. Sweet beans are also absent and the occasional evaporated milk or leche flan were also omitted from the ingredients. Texturally speaking, this was just a shaved ice with ice cream.

So in closing, should I recommend this fine eatery? I have no answer to that because some people do like them. I'm not saying avoid them, I just have no conclusion to that. It's only Monday and I have not tried their other entry. They have different specialty every day.

This review cost me $60. Not as affordable as I like it to be considering the amount of food that I got. In Hawaii and Philippines, you can get heaping serving with the cost I paid.

Disclosure. I had to drink water with a pinch of citric acid between dish so that I can clear my taste pallet and enjoy the experience in between entries. I did enjoy the experience and hope to try the other entries.

Mahalo nui loa...

Will the first visit be the last visit? We went into the restaurant (nice/clean) Saturday evening around 7. There was a large family (6 to 8) that had already been served and a party of four in line in front of us. (There were three call in orders that got picked up before we received our food - two small orders and one medium order). Knowing Dakine Grindz is a plate styled restaurant we stopped here on our way home from ocean mart- where we happened to pick up some taro ice cream- we smelled Lolo’s Hawaiian BBQ but didn’t want to go to Lolo’s (rip-offs). Plate styled restaurant is usually pretty fast service -don’t tell our ice cream we didn’t get our food until after 8. The guy that took our order was friendly enough... he gave a warm Aloha greeting and took time to enter order accurately into his computer. We asked for steamed buns- he said they’re out and that they’re made fresh each week (that’s okay we’re there an hour before closing on the last day of the week so we understand they’re out, no biggie). We’d like a taro boba... “we’re out of taro and pineapple” ... that’s okay, we obviously like the same thing other people wanted, again, no biggie. We ordered 3 meat 2 side family meal $45 (bbq chicken, steak, ribs, noodles, mac) banana lumpia and peach mango empanada total with tax $56. It’s COVID-19 pandemic, so we asked if we could wait in our car??? He said yes, and asked where are you parked, what color is your car? We answered we’re in the curbside pick up spot he said okay. ...Dunno why he would ask our car color or parking spot, he never came out with our food. When we went in to check on our order it had been sitting on the counter. The flavor of mac, egg rolls and meats were on point, noodles were okay, ribs were not tender, some of the banana lumpia were burnt, the “peach mango” empanada surprisingly ended up being a “mince meat pie filled cinnamon sugar flakey crusted and greasy empanada” (apparently hold the peach and hold the mango) really wouldn’t have minded the food let downs... but the curbside service is what pushed us to one star review. Severely disappointed to spend over $50 to have our food sit on the counter. As an after thought 3 individual plate meals would have been a better “deal” than Dakine Grindz family meal ($17 ribs, $12 steak combo, $12 bbq chicken combo equals $41 vs $45 we paid). The main reason we tried to share as many details as possible is because we can relate similar experience to both the positive reviews and the negative reviews. So, will the first visit be the last?!? 3/3/23... I was going through my reviews and bumped my original review up from one star to 3 stars. I'm reluctant to be so critical today. I have been back once or twice. This place isn't for me. It's worth a try for anyone. I wish this business...

Oookay, so this place is absolutely excellent. I’ve been looking for a place in Utah to get my Fillipino food fix and dakine grindz delivers. I went on Saturday and was able to get dinucuan, one of my most favorite dishes, and they’re execution was spot on. Rich, savory, just a bit spicy, and a good amount of acid (especially with their house made spiced vinegar). I also got a 2 meat plate with lechon kawali, pork adobo, Mac salad, and pansit. The lechon isn’t fried quite as crispy as other places I’ve been, but I loved how that made the skin a bit more sticky and chewy. The pansit was homey and comforting. The Mac salad was awesome. Not too gloopy, not too soft, not too sweet… right on the money. And the pork adobo is probably my favorite rendition I’ve ever had. I also got lumpia and halo halo. Lumpia was light, extra crispy, and a nice savory filling. THE HALO HALO WAS PERFECTION. Their egg custard in particular was divine. I could eat a whole bowl of just that. Love the insane mix of textures and flavors that halo halo offers. Such a fun thing to eat. I’ll be sure to take pictures next time.. I was too excited to do so this trip… sorry. Also, the family running this restaurant are just wonderful. So warm, welcoming, and made me feel right at home. I’ll definitely be back even if it is a 30 minute drive there and another 30 minute drive...