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Aloha Plates
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street, Validated
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Lunch
- Alcohol:
- None
17 reviews for Aloha Plates
Aloha Plates is a restaurant inside Uwajimaya's food court. Have visited on numerous occasions, most recently yesterday before the UH-Wazzu game at Qwest. They have a decent menu of Hawaiian fare. Though I really my rating can only be based on the one item that I usually order which is the kalua pork with cabbage ($7.25).
The kalua pork which is essentially shredded pork seems to always to be tasty, though a bit salty here. The cabbage thankfully helps to even out the saltiness. The plate is really a bit of a carb overload as it comes with a choice of brown or white rice and I tend to go for the macaroni salad, which is also good. The mac salad tastes similar to what I get back in Hawaii.
The one thing that I don't like is the seating. There is just not enough seating when the food court becomes crowded. This is what happened yesterday as I decided to dine outside across the street in the courtyard leading towards Qwest. Based on other reviews posted, I would say stick with the kalua pork and you will be happy.
As a corporate slave, I work across the street and come here at least once a week. It really is a great little joint with a cute cashier and friendly service. But like any smart, hungry corporate slave who's eating at a local fast food joint, you must know what to order.
Forget the loco moco: you'll be disappointed by the portion size and the small beef patty. Instead, embrace yourself (and your stomatch) for spam, eggs and rice or the Portuguese sausage, eggs and rice.
The Kalua pork is also great, be forewarned: it'll put you into a coma 20 minutes later.
This place is really not very good. It's located in the Uwajimaya food court, and does a great job of fulfilling the food court role. Food is lukewarm, bland, and doesn't seem very fresh. The loco moco is tougher and dryer than it should be. Even the mac salad sucks.
We tried Aloha Plates because the boss was ordering lunch, and Meals 2 Go will pick up from here, and displaced kama`aina are pretty much always interested in trying another plate lunch place. I can find pretty much all the plate lunch goodies I want from other places near and dear to my heart, so I went for the only thing that no place in Seattle manages to get right: the kalua pig. It's the best I've had thusfar away from home, and that includes anything I can get from the poser L&L in Lynnwood.
I visited in person the next time we were at Uwajimaya and suddenly understood why this place gets so many negative reviews. The rest of the food looks incredibly unappetizing, sitting under heat lamps in cafeteria-style bins, and the staff is beyond incompetent: the woman who took my order understood not a single word I said to her.
I'll keep ordering the kalua pig, and closing my eyes while I do it.
So after trying every other place in the Uwajimaya food court (and being sorely disappointed) exasperated I finally gave Aloha Plates a try. And after doing so I really wish I hadn't.
First off, it was like $7 or $8 bucks for a plate lunch that I'd get for $6 in Hawaii. Then after ordering the chicken katsu and having it served with sweet and sour sauce - yes i said sweet and sour sauce - I pretty much decided I'd never eat there again. I mean, how can you claim to be a Hawaii style restaurant and not have tonkatsu sauce???? Which oddly enough has Japanese roots - which considering that this place is in UWAJIMAYA would mean that this would be done well.
Regardless, I continue to be disappointed with EVERYTHING in the Uwajimaya food court (note samurai ramen is not in the food court and remains the exception). So do yourself a favor and avoid this sham of a restaurant that pretends to serve hawaii style food and generally just avoid all the restaurants in the Uwajimaya food court. They all pretty much suck (though some suck more than others), the food aint cheap, and I'm sure you can do with out all the random yelling in some random form of broken english that seems to be part of the ambiance of this zoo.
This place doesn't even deserve a star...it really is GOD awful.
I was with my current bf ( I like to trade them in every few weeks- I like the smell of a "new" boy) and we decided out of all the crap in the Uwajimaya food court, Aloha plates it is.
This place sucked like none other, and yes the lady at the front corner is really annoying-and where is that accent from? I'm asian, I can usually tell what country you are from based on your accent (if you have one). Only good thing they got goin for them is the music.
What their selling there is an image, images of you in Hawaii eating cheap plate lunches on the back of the truck by the beach- sadly right when you open up that Styrofoam box, you will be brought back to reality.
I figured LocoMoco is one of those dishes no one can mess up- it's so simple! 2 scoops of white rice, beef patty, a fried egg and some gravy.
Who can mess that up?
Well this joint can- my meat patty was very small, the mac salad was pretty good, but the worse part is that there was NO gravy- seriously?! Where the eff is the gravy?!
I know there are different versions- my brother makes loco moco with spam- but the gravy is always there- it's like getting biscuits and gravy and them not giving you the gravy.
I don't recommend this place to anyone. Hawaiian food is pretty simple, you just have to know how to cook it right- the fact that they eff up locomoco is very sad.It's not kahlua pork guys-it's locomoco, and you should be ashamed of yourselves for selling something so below par.
Yah....to do hawaiian food, it's gotta taste somewhat hearty and tasty full of grease. otherwise, it won't be hawaiian food to me!
Plus, the constant screaming in a shreaking voice for people to try samples "alohaaaa, try teriyaki" just isn't cuttin it. and its not the accent i'm talking bout but the high pitch ear blasting shreak of a voice the lady at the front gives off.
I ordered the Katsu Saimin here for lunch after realizing I could very well go down the menu of Specialty's when I get back to the SF Bay Area (stupid me) and I thought this would be something light and somewhat cheap (not really $6.50). I was majorly dissapointed. At first the noodles were ok, but the soup or broth was a little too salty and didn't taste...well....good. The katsu was very dry and not crunchy at all on the outside even though I was going to add broth to it. But just like tempura at a Japanese restaurant, if you're having it with udon soup, you don't make it soggy. Nonetheless, I think the noodles were wayyy over greased and the soup didn't do it for me, neither did the katsu.
and i don't think the fake crab pink oval things are that worth it either
What was I doing at Aloha Plates. Well let's just say my co-workers Olke and Andrew wanted to get some Bah Be Q.
So it turns out it was a really great lunch, because we ended up talking politics with this dude at another table.
The food was a train wreck, but I expected that going in. I ordered all sides since there really isn't any veg dishes.
I'm surprised by all the bad reviews.
Maybe I have an unrefined palate, but I occasionally eat here when I'm at Uwaji's. It's not phenomenal, but it's not *that* bad. Or is it? Maybe I need to go back and see if I just wasn't paying attention. I guess sometimes I just scarf food down without thinking. I'm mentally lazy.
..Eh...
That's how the food is. They don't even use real Kastu sauce (it's the watered down sweet version of it, none of that real thick Kastu sauce like you find at real plate lunch restaurants in Hawaii).
They get 1 star for trying.
I love Hawaiian food. I'm from California, but I go in search of L&Ls wherever I live, and and I make spam musubis at home.
That said, Aloha Plates is pretty good. The chicken teriyaki and kalua pig are delectable. I was pleased about the kalua pig because you don't often find that as an menu entree choice even at most H BBQ places. I had the best of both worlds - the platter with the kalua pig and the chicken katsu, when I am often forced to choose between the two. Katsu was good but a little drier than I'm used to.
Know that this place is in the food court of Uwajimaya so it's not exactly a fancy sit-down place. Then again, I would probably be wary to go to an upscale H BBQ place (Roy's doesn't count) anyways. Good stuff.
Nothing can ever compare to being in Kauai, eating plate lunch in your flip flops as you brush your sea salt textured hair from your forehead . . .the smell of cocoa butter in the warm air . . . but this local plate lunch option is not bad. It was certainly not bad for picking up three orders and feeding four hungry people last night. Okay, the beef short ribs were this side of shoe leather, but the chicken katsu, chicken teriyaki, brown rice and mac salad were pretty tasty.
The portions are more than generous, the katsu was fried perfectly, the teriyaki was moist, and being given the option between brown and white rice is a nice touch. You can also opt for a green salad instead of the mac salad. But really, what is plate lunch without mac salad?
Dinner for four (with leftovers) was around $22. They validate parking too so there's no additional cost for stopping in for some quick take-out.
Large quantity? Yes. Authentic Hawaiian food? Absolutely not. This is a place you can go for a quick lunch since it is convenient and they serve things up fast. Their fried banana is pretty good though (only $1 each).
When you're trying to recover from an hour of shopping the shelves at Uwajimaya, there's only one thing left to do. Head over to the food court. Aloha Plates always has Keahiwai blaring out of it's radio, so I get suckered into buying my meal from there each time. I usually go for something easy--some portuguese sausage, eggs, rice. And I always make sure to grab a deep-fried banana. They are so scrumptious--they have some sort of black sesame seed/coconut surrounding that is just perfect with the banana. (however, it is good to note that they come in parcels of three, so be hungry or ready to share). It is what it is..fast food, with some catchy tunes to chew by.
It's the only place I've found that serves spam and eggs, so that's good. Besides that...I'd rather go to shilla's BBQ for some tasty Korean food.
Decent Hawaiian food. I got their K&K plate, a mix of kalua pig and chicken katsu. The kalua pig was decent, nice flavor and as usual, very plentiful. The chicken katsu on the other hand, as previously mentioned, was dry, thinly sliced, and there wasn't much of it. The included dipping sauce was a sweet and sour type sauce, so not the usual katsu sauce either. Overall, I left disappointed.
Day two of Jury Duty, again not an hour and a half lunch like originally promised but at least it was an hour. I hoped on the bus and headed to the ID thinking I'll check out food court at Uwajimaya. Not sure what I want I see a long line at Aloha Plate and think oh Hawaiian macaroni salad sounded good so I got in line here. The girls in front of me were raving about the Kalua Pork so when it was my turn to order I said Kalua Pork with macaroni salad and a Diet Coke please. Sorry we only have Pepsi products, OK Diet Pepsi please. It was over $10 I couldn't believe it, I thought to myself this better be some bomb ass Kalua Pork or else. I grab my drink from the cooler and wait for my food. It's ready I take it to a seat, open my take out container and my diet Pepsi and notice it's rattling, my diet Pepsi is frozen in the middle! It distracted me from the Kalua Pork for a second by my mind went back to my lunch and I dug in. Hmm, I take another bite...what the hell were the girls in line raving about? The stuff was dry and blah. I dig into the macaroni salad and something crunches in my mouth, I discreetly spit into my napkin and see it's something green. I decided it was either celery or cucumber what ever it was it was gross and I didn't eat any more of it. Thankfully they provided like two pounds of rice so I ate that for lunch and sipped my frozen Diet Pepsi. I can honestly say I'll never be back to Aloha Plate.
