'āina

Good and solid flavors yet average service and $$ - I understand the meat is locally sourced and the spam made fresh but a 3x1.5in of pork belly with some rice and eggs on the side for 20$ is a bit much. I appreciate the quality but find it out of my budget to go again. Be ready to spend ~40$/person to feel filled. And coffee is 5$ in a small cup with no offered refill. The spam was Delicious.

'āina had been on my list for some time, so when I saw a last minute reservation available for the chef's counter tasting menu, we jumped on it. Overall, we had a blast and the food was great (almost everything), and this is definitely one of the best values in the city for a paired tasting menu. Make sure you get the drink pairing, it's a healthy portion and there are some creative matches. Chef has a great time explaining dishes, there's a lot of interactions and laughing, and there's a great buzz of energy in the restaurant. Our only complaint was that my girlfriend's main pork dish was undercooked and a strange cut of the pig. However, mine was perfect, and had she said something, I'm sure 'āina would have been happy to replace the dish. I would make sure to try it, and brunch looks good too!

Love this restaurant! I went there last Sunday and did not wait long. (But the line was very long when I left) I had the pork belly, which is really good. It seems a bit fat and scary but the crispy outer layer was soooo good. I actually finished the whole plate eventually because it tasted so good.

I loved everything that I ordered, the place get full very fast after opening. Very friendly service, they explained about each dish you order. The desert was the best! I can't recommend enough about this place!

So......the prices are a bit high, but I say that because I'm from Hawaii so it's hard to digest the Bay Area prices for food. With that being said, this place is definitely worth checking out. The Pork Belly was superb and the homemade spam was pretty legit. The malasadas w/guava were amazing too.

I loved this place so much! From it's cute environment to the friendly staff and amazing food... I cannot say anything bad about it! They wrote me a handwritten birthday letter and gave me a candle with my malasadas 💕 We got the spam musubi. It was small but SOGOOD!! Not typical at all, as it was like a Ssam (wrap) thing. We also got the guava malasadas! So good as well! A little messy but delicious nonetheless. I liked how it wasn't super sweet at all and wasn't as tangy as most guava things. The kalbi short ribs dish and the sausage hash were both amazing, filling, flavorful, etc. I would definitely come back! Again and again :)

Just discovered this place and we loved it! The food is absolutely amazing, the best thing that you can do here is sharing plates and try a few different things. My recommendation is the octopus luau, the poke, saimin and mochi dessert. Fast service, cozy place too.

TBH, there’s not too much to do around this area and if Aina wasn’t conveniently located near the Caltrain, I probably wouldn’t have stopped by, but even if you don’t have easy access to the Caltrian, you should come check out this place. Expect a wait during weekend brunch. We got there around 10am on a Saturday and the wait was about an hour. We were excited to finally get seated. Aina has a cool, contemporary (okay, hipster) vibe, but the place is really open, simple and clean which I like. We were excited about our order (which is why we decided to come in the first place) and didn’t hesitate to let our server know that we were ready to order once we sat down. We got the spam musubi which is probably my favorite. The spam was so good and tasted like it was house made (which it is). There was a proportionate amount of rice and nori flakes and I liked how it was wrapped in lettuce. We also got the kalbi loco moco which was delicious as well. The rice was good, the eggs were cooked perfectly to my liking and the kalbi was super tender and had a great marinade. We finished our meal with a taro French toast and I’m not normally a taro fan, but this made me change my mind. The toast was super soft and lightly sweetened. I loved the toppings of bacon, macadamia nuts and strawberries and especially the whipped cream as I’m a huge fan of really good vanilla. Overall, it was a delicious and beautifully presented meal. Do yourself a favor and come try this place one day.