Brief summary: - Good portions - fills up more than its…read moreappearance - Liked the equal balance of the broth and noodles with protein - Close to Trader Joe's - Indoor seating Ramen is a dish that has started sprouting in Berkeley, and this is one of them .I decided to go there for dinner with the family before heading to the Trader Joe's across the street to stock up on groceries. We entered a few minutes before peak dinner times, so there were seats to choose and sit from. By the time we left, mostly all the seats were filled up, so I would suggest coming in early. I liked the naming for each of the ramen dishes, some I recognized the names from Hawai'i. For this round, we ordered 3 different types of ramen: the Kuni, Broke da Mouth, and the Miso Hungry. These orders also came around the same time. A notable elements I liked about the ramen was that the noodles were chewy and springy, and the broth was smooth and easy to drink. I also didn't have the urge to drink lots of water either, so the seasoning was perfect. The other element was that I got to enjoy the ramen's broth and noodles as the stars of the dish, and the proteins, like the pork were supporting roles. For me, what I enjoy ramen are the broth and noodles, so I'm happy that these are prominent in the dish, rather than me having other chow down a thick slab of pork. This restaurant hit the right marks for what a delicious ramen is for me, so I'll come back, and maybe try their other broths.

I thought I had reviewed this place already, but Yelp doesn't seem to think so?…read more I had ramen with a black garlic broth. It was perfectly cooked, service was great, would definitely go back. Ambiance was Christmas music (meh).

I'm not that hard a sell on Hawaiian plate lunches, but I can tell the difference between…read moreexceptional ones from the ones that just cut the mustard. Actually mustard might be a helpful condiment to offer to address the blandness of the food here. I'm not saying it's bad here because it clearly satisfies the student populace who obviously need sustenance to make it through their midterms and finals. For me as someone many years from my undergrad days, however, my point of reference relates to the plate lunches I could find on Oahu. Using that point of comparison, I suggested to Jamie W that we give it a try during one of our weekend Berkeley walks. Jamie ordered the $14.99 BBQ Chicken & Beef Combo Meal. It was a hefty portion suitable for a growing post-adolescent. The meal came with the requisite two scoops of rice, one scoop of macaroni salad, and steamed cabbage underneath the meat (Photo 5). He pronounced it middling when it came to flavor satisfaction. I went for the $13.99 Hawaiian BBQ Beef Bowl. It came with the same sides, and the satisfaction level was comparable (Photo 6). Listen, if I was young and running late to my study group, I'd be so in. FOOD - 3 stars...exceptional portion-wise but middling when it comes to satisfaction AMBIANCE - 3 stars...not much character SERVICE - 3 stars...automatic TOTAL - 3 stars...give me a real plate lunch RELATED - Exploring Berkeley? Here's my collection of places l've patronized and reviewed: https://yelp.to/3SznGCCx-X

A reliably tasty Hawaiian bbq spot, this location has quickly become one of my favorite dinner…read morespots in downtown Berkeley. I would definitely recommend the chicken combo- it comes with two types: deliciously crunchy panko-crusted chicken (meat tastes fresher than L&L Hawaiian) and teriyaki chicken. Meat portions are generous, and can easily be enough for two whole meals. Food also comes really quickly (~10 min) and the staff have always been nice when I've visited. All in all, a great spot for yummy protein at a reasonable price.

This spot is a local favorite of mine. I often reminisce about Ono Hawaiian BBQ's teriyaki sauce…read moreand Moku's teriyaki sauce tastes very similar to it. They won me over very quickly. My go-to is the teriyaki chicken and they stack quite a bit of meat on the plate, so I usually end up getting 2 meals out of it. Very affordable, the flavors are always consistent, and the meats are always tender.

I check out this restaurant since I was at the San Pablo Supermarket and I did not regret ordering…read morefood. I had the Island White Fish. What is crazy was that the fish was huge. The fish was more proportion compared to the rice and macaroni salad. My food was delicious. For a mini plate it was a lot better than L&L, Kyoto, and Ono. I now got a place to eat at when I am at San Pablo Supermarket.

Ive been here before and the food is wonderful very very tasty…read more their service is amazing and the ambiance is very friendly and the dining area is cool

Good food and definitely fairly generous servings. Service was friendly and efficient. Comfortable…read moresetting and clean. Lots of choices but I am not a real follower of sweet and starchy. Prices were fair and I left full!

Absolutely love this place, big portions and great prices! The loco moco is fantastic and my…read morefavorite meal at this establishment. Really hope I influence someone to trying this place

I get the white fish catered for all my parties. Our family's favorite Hawaii spot. Loco moco is…read morealways solid, but my fish is my main stuff

Came here for dinner with my sister and brother-in-law at their recommendation, and I can…read moredefinitely see why they keep coming back. The restaurant was packed and seating is pretty limited, so I'd highly recommend making a reservation ahead of time. The atmosphere is lively and energetic with casual Japanese eatery vibes, and service was friendly throughout the meal. Everything felt creative, rich in flavor, and very texture-focused. Here are the highlights: * Ankimo Mousse (monkfish liver) with sweet potato chips - Made with truffle paste, capers, and chives. Absolutely delicious. The mousse was rich and savory but surprisingly fluffy in texture -- honestly a savory girl's dream. The sweet potato chips added just enough sweetness and a snap to balance the richness of the liver. 9/10 * Bluefin Tuna & Tsubugai Sashimi Nuta - Bluefin tuna, sea snail, broccolini, and fresh wakame tossed in a sweet Kyoto yuzu miso vinaigrette. Kind of like a sashimi-seaweed salad. I really liked the vinaigrette and especially the texture of the sea snail. I'm not sure all the ingredients fully came together cohesively, but it was still enjoyable overall. 7.5/10 * Yuba (house-made tofu skin with ikura and uni) - Served as single bites on spoons. SO good. You can really taste the difference between house-made tofu skin and store-bought. It's much more delicate, creamy, and tender, with a mild soybean flavor that balanced the richness of the uni and salmon roe beautifully. The textures in this bite were incredible. 9.5/10 * Iberico Pork Jowl Skewer with miso marinade - I honestly prefer pork jowl over pork belly. The fat and meat are more integrated instead of layered, so every bite is tender, juicy, and flavorful with just the right amount of chew. So good. 9/10 * Clam & Cilantro Ramen - I've never had a ramen broth quite like this. It was slightly creamy and deeply flavored from the clams, and the cilantro added a lot of depth and freshness. The noodles had a great texture too -- chewy and bouncy. Everything worked together perfectly. 9/10 * Uni Carbonara Pasta - Pasta with parmesan, uni, and ikura. They do not skimp on the uni or roe here. Super creamy and rich with bursts of saltiness from the ikura. The texture was great, but I honestly wished it had just a tiny bit more salt to really make all the flavors pop. It was almost there for me. 7.5/10 * Desserts - We tried two desserts, including the sweet potato brûlée. Both were delicious. One had a silky panna cotta-like texture, while the sweet potato brûlée was creamy, lightly sweet, and had the perfect crackly sugar top. 9/10 Overall, such a fun meal with a lot of unique dishes and flavor combinations. There are still so many things on the menu I want to try next time. I'll definitely be back.

I've been to Kiraku twice before this visit, and I felt like the food quality was stronger prior…read more The food comes in a timely manner, staff is mindful to not fill your table as it's a small space. The standouts were the corn tempura, the sushi and the beef okonomiyaki. The skewers were good but not great; I felt the pork belly was a tad salty, and some of the pieces of the beef were slightly overcooked + chewy. The black cod was flaky but I wish it was marinated a bit more with the miso for stronger flavor. I wish I did not order the spring roll or the foil wrapped salmon. The spring roll was soggy bc the filling inside was so damp and lacked seasoning & flavor. The salmon was very dry, but the mushrooms were flavorful and juicy. Definitely recommend reservations or be ready to wait at least 45 minutes. The inside is quite small, tables as well, so be ready to sit pretty close to your neighboring patrons. Very lively atmosphere that can get loud, but could also be fun!

I ordered the Lemon Chicken Regular Plate and it tasted fine. However, when I ate my last piece of…read morechicken, my teeth bit into a piece of metal which seemed to be part of a stainless steel scrubber. I have no idea how this piece of metal got into my food but it was disgusting! This was alarming and an unacceptable case of food handing and hygiene. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone!!!

I visited this store.Food is good.Service is nothing because I order for togo.Ambiance is old,I…read morelike!

First things first, the drinks here are absolutely outstanding. It was great to go to one of the…read morefirst tiki bars in the US and to try so many different cocktails. They're about $16 a cocktail which isn't terrible, but if you are drinking and dining you'll run up a pretty tab. It's also not in a part of the city that you'll be able to take public transit to, so make sure you have a DD or an uber ready. The food was good, but not exquisite. I liked the Maui Wowie shrimp a lot, and would probably try something more novel instead of chicken next time. The artisanal love is definitely poured into the drinks. Overall, this was a fairly expensive date night. The bartenders were lovely, and although the place was full when we got there around 6:30 the crowd thinned out as the night progressed. It's the kind of place you either have to get reservations for or be comfortable waiting.

This place is known for it's mai tai's, but they have lots of other fruity and colorful cocktails…read morehere. I think the main attraction of this place is the location. It sits on the beautiful Emeryville Marina. It's an amazing piece of real estate, right on the water. The service here is decent, but nothing special. Everyone seems to have worked there for quite some time. There wasn't a lot of enthusiasm in the service, but they tolerated my questions. Parking is easy. There's a parking lot right out front.

I don't think I've ever gone to a restaurant before where I thought each dish was so special,…read moreunique, flavorful, and so delicious in its own way. Liholiho is one of a kind with the kitchen central to the space, awesome servers (a few people served us our dishes), and the inside was set up so well. The front area is a bit more casual with bar tops and spaces for a fun date night, and towards the back are more areas for a bit larger groups. I came with a group of four others and we ended up trying so many of the dishes, probably would have been cheaper to do a tasting menu, but here we were doing the dishes family adults. EACH WORTH IT! Photos don't do Justice, but each dish tastes as delicious as it looks!

I've been here for many celebrations and it never misses! The service is always excellent and the…read morepacing of the food is really on point. Whoever is in charge of the music playlist should get a raise because I was not expecting to hear J. Valentine's "I'm Sprung (Bay Area Remix)" in a fine dining establishment but here we were! Duck liver mousse ($8/ea) Savory and sweet, the banana bread as a vehicle for the pate took me by surprise but it surprisingly works! My second favorite dish of the night. Give me 5 more! Poppyseed steam bun ($12/ea) Love the portion and tang of the house made kimchi. I'm just not a huge fan of the glaze on the beef tongue. Fried rice ($19) As an asian who eats rice with every entree, this is a MUST if you're eating any of the meaty entrees! The housemade spam was a nice touch but tbh I prefer the msg of good ol' SPAM. Zuckerman asparagus ($23) Who knew my favorite dish of the night would be a vegetable dish?! The creamy sauce with the crunch of the macadamia and asparagus... I didn't want it to end! This left me wanting to recreate this dish back home! Pork shoulder chop ($46) Porkchop cooked to perfection! Juicy, savory, and not dry. Loved the tang of the mustard braised cabbage. Was definitely satisfied with the portion. Baked hawaii ($15) *not pictured You can't go to LYC without getting a baked hawaii for dessert! If anything is POG flavored, I'm getting it! The fluffy meringue with light chiffon cake balances out the tangy sorbet really well.

Clean and bright interior/exterior, thoughtful products for sale inside while you wait for your…read moreorder, and friendly staff. Ordered- ENTREES: -Loco Moco -Pineapple Sausage -Hawaiian Chicken SIDES: -Hurricane tots -Spam mashubi Outstanding dish was Pineapple sausage. Pro-tip: -All our entrees and sides were flash fried and then finished with either dry rub or sauced.

Tried this spot because of the good reviews. But if you have been to Hawaii, I can't recommend this…read morespot because the flavors did not remind me of Hawaii at all. Also, nothing is served with mac salad... The prices are pretty decent for SF. Maybe that's why this place is popular. They are takeout only and have one bench outside for you to eat at if it's free. Tried the garlic shrimp, the moco loco (idk why they swap the words), and the furikake chicken. Also had a spam musubi (when I ordered online for pick up, I couldn't add egg which is usually an option according to the Toast website). The garlic shrimp was missing a flavor that Hawaii has in their garlic shrimp. The color was very red but it was not spicy. They do have an option to make it spicy though. It was bland to me compared to what I'm used to when I visit Hawaii. The moco loco gravy was good, but the beef patty tasted dry and overcooked. They did have a runny egg too but it was oddly underneath the patties, so we broke the eggs while trying to split the beef amongst 3 people. The furikake chicken is probably better if you eat it right away since it's lightly breaded. We took it home so by the time we ate it, it was soggy. The sauce it is cooked in is a little sweet and wasn't too bad. The soggy chicken ruined the texture for me though. Each dish was served with a little bit of cabbage which I liked to get a little greens in the meals. The spam musubi didn't taste like it had any sauce, and they used so much furikake underneath the spam, that it made it taste fishy. Would not recommend. I can't comment on the service much since I ordered online for pickup. The guy who handed me my food after asking my name was nice and polite though. The only reason I'd come back is to try to the shave ice. The group in front of me got 3 for their kids, and it looked tasty. I would not come back for the food, but at least the prices aren't bad for SF standards.