Ed U.
Yelp
Hey brudda, it ain't no joy ride to get here. Man, I'd climb a volcano for cheap Hawaiian eats, but we're really talking about the Outer Mission. That's one long ride on the increasingly aromatic MUNI 14 line or a long march from the Balboa Park BART station. Or you could drive but what's the fun in that? You can recognize the place from the bright orange awning. Aloha, brudda. Enter and there's no doubt you're in a fast food joint, and it takes a while to absorb the highly detailed menu on the wall. I saw the usual suspects like kahlua pork, spam musubi and loco moco but also a section of "healthier" plates and even Aloha Atkins BBQ plates for those eating low carb. That would not be me on that particular evening.
Given all the choices, I went with the most predictable one for someone who hasn't had authentic Hawaiian food in a while, the $8.75 "BBQ Mix Plate Plate" (their verbiage). For that bargain price, it was a hefty amount of food they put into my takeout carton, slabs of marinated barbecue beef, short ribs and chicken with two scoops of rice and one scoop of macaroni salad (photo: http://bit.ly/1fFXwCM). I'm not sure why they put it in a takeout carton since I told them I was eating there, or maybe they were cutting the middleman since they resumed I couldn't finish it in one sitting. Think again, brudda. As I was gnawing on the surprisingly tender meat, I noticed they make saimin here. Saimin? Damn, I love saimin.
Even I have my limits, sorta, but I can't pass up saimin, can I? So once i was done with my BBQ plate, I ordered the $5.15 Aloha Saimin to go, another bargain and even the Spam Saimin was only $3.99. I took it home and ate it the following day reheated at work. It turned out the Aloha version contained pieces of barbecue beef and chicken atop soft wheat egg noodles swimming in a salty dashi broth (photo: http://bit.ly/1ez9QE1). Even reheated, it was pretty delicious. Just so you know, I would kick the best ramen out of bed for a bowl of saimin. That's how much I like saimin. Anyway, the owners don't look like Hawaiians, just a pleasant Asian family who didn't speak much English. I'm sure I'll take that bus ride again just for the saimin.
FOOD - 3 stars...barbecue plate was middling even if the excess amount was impressive, the saimin was better but that may just be me
AMBIANCE - 2.5 stars...fast food central, baby
SERVICE - 3 stars...very nice and very quiet
TOTAL - 3 stars...is a trek to the Outer Mission worth it for some cheap Hawaiian food?...let me try that saimin again