I will be reviewing the restaurant Aloha Kitchen. Aloha kitchen makes Hawaiian-inspired cuisine. I really appreciated the welcoming vibe that the whole restaurant encompassed. I also felt assured that I was eating the finest quality of food as I read a sign that stated, “We sell fresh food, not fast food. Please be patient.”
I ordered the Kalbi Combo which includes kalbi ribs, katsu chicken, chicken teriyaki, rice, and mac salad. It was plated very beautifully. The rice was in pretty little domes, and the meat was layered very neatly. Everything was placed on top of crunchy, fresh grated cabbage.
I started off with the mac salad. I noticed that it had some carrots and I believe cabbage. It was very refreshing, however, it needed a little more salt as I do tend to lean on the saltier side when it comes to flavoring food. I also would have liked it to be colder, but it’s difficult to do when placing a cold salad next to piping hot food.
Next up I decided to have a bite of the rice before continuing on to the main course. The rice was so fluffy, light, perfectly cooked, and overall amazing. I know it was only rice, but it shows that Aloha Kitchen excels in even the smallest details.
The first meat that I tried was the katsu chicken. It was very, very crispy. So much so that I’m positive you could hear the crunch. While it was very crunchy and yummy, it didn’t have a strong flavor and needed a little more, so I tried it with the sauce made for the katsu chicken. The sauce was like a higher end barbeque sauce, it was very savory. Although, I am not a big fan of barbecue sauce so it wasn’t for me. I also tried the katsu with a teriyaki sauce I asked for, and I enjoyed that much more. The crunch of the chicken with the flavor of the sauce paired very nicely.
Next, I tried the chicken teriyaki. The chicken was grilled and glazed amazingly. I really liked the flavor, as well as its slight crunch. The sweet sauce paired with the savory of the chicken was amazing. I would definitely recommend it to anyone. My one quibble with it was that I got a piece with a bit of cartilage, and I didn’t enjoy dealing with that.
Lastly I tried the kalbi ribs, which were sprinkled delicately with spring onions. These were definitely my favorite of the three meats. It was grilled perfectly and I’m not quite sure if the meat was marinated or glazed, but the flavor was sensational. I’m not even sure if I could describe the flavor since I haven’t tried anything like it. The ribs practically fell off the bone and melted in my mouth.
I would strongly recommend visiting Aloha Kitchen. It was a delicious, fresh meal, and had great portions. In fact I didn’t even finish my plate, I shared it.
