| Hailing from Hawaii... to the shores of Shoreline. |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1012
Reviewed: 3/10/2004
Rating: 8
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Hawaiian restaurants are hard to come by in the bay area. Im pretty lucky Da Kitchen opened down the street from my work. Too bad for Terry..I didnt see any veggie plates.
It was a cool 70 something degrees so we decided to eat outside. I ordered the Teriyaki Beef while my other co-workers ordered the chicken. The order costs about $8 and comes with 2 scoops of rice, macoroni, and your choice of meat. Our waitress was friendly and promptly brought us our food. The beef was good but I think the real winner here is the Teriyaki Chicken. It tastes like they marinated it overnight...it was very tender with tons of flavor. Im not too keen on macoroni salad so I didnt try it.
Help da hawaiian brothas out and give the Teriyaki Chicken plate a try...its good.
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RETURN VISIT for Jason! 9/9/2005 - 8.5 Rating: I was in Mountain View meeting up with some old friends and decided to make a return visit to Da Kitchen. Its been while since Ive been and from what I remember, I liked it. Looks like they have added Kaluha Pork to the menu and it was the special today $7.75. Its my lucky day...
As with Hawaiian restaurants all portion sizes are huge and Da Kitchen didnt disappoint. Underneath the pork lay cabbage garnish with some green onions cut on top. Presentation of the pork looks like a mount of shredded meat but it tastes better thank it looks. Pork was moist and nearly melted in my mouth. Im happy.
Food was good today but service was even better. The waiters at Da Kitchen are laid back and cool. The waiter who was helping us, sat down at our table and hung out, asking how we were doing, this weather, blah blah blah. She was nice like she had met us before. With great food and friendly service Da Kitchen has landed another loyal customer. |
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Reviewer: Eddie
Total Reviews: 47
Reviewed: 9/10/2004
Rating: 7.5
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I am not Hawaiian food expert, but I found it odd that they serve teriyaki chickenbeef here. I do understand there are tons of Japanese people there, but com'n, if I go to a Hawaiian restaurant, I want to see some native Hawaiian food. Reading from the menu alone, I would have swore this is from a Japanese restaurant. That being said, I order the chicken teriyaki lunch. We took the outside table to enjoy the sunshine that day, the food arrived promptly and the dish taste good. Chicken is flavorful but not quite the teriyaki style I am used to, the macaroni was also pretty good. For about $10, you get a good meal with a drink and some sun. That's not bad.
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Reviewer: tanya
Total Reviews: 14
Reviewed: 1/31/2005
Rating: 8
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I had never had Hawaiian food before until I went to Hawaii once last March where I got hooked from a hole in the wall recommended by a flight attendant. So when I came back to the states, I get craving for the same stuff I ate over there but it's so hard to find Hawaiian food (and I don't mean the teriyaki stuff!) so when I happened upon jatbar and the mention of Da' Kitchen that happened to be down the street from my work I was ecstatic! I was able to convince my coworkers to go there for lunch the next day (yipee). Luck be it that it was a Tuesday and they were having their Hawaiian Special they only have on Tuesdays and Saturday. The special had everything I was craving, Kalua pork, salmon lomi, pork lau lau, chicken long rice and the mac salad and rice. It was expensive for lunch 12.50 but HUGE and I was craving it :).
The kalua pork was plentiful, moist, a bit salty - perfect with rice. The pork lau lau which is a piece of pork, piece of salted butterfish, and a small chunk of fat all wrapped in layers and layers of taro leaves then again wrapped in ti leaves then cooked for a few hours was GOOD, nice moist and savory. The salmon lomi was decent, it was smoked salmon they mix in a sort of cerviche kinda fashion. Chicken long rice was soothing, the soup was mild with a hint of ginger. Per Terry's review of the mac salad I asked for two scoops of that and only one of rice, yum.
I almost missed the restaurant when I was driving because it was so silent, the location was around the corner from some other restaurants I've gone to. It was kind of cool when we went so we sat inside, I thought the decor was ok, a bit on the tacky side but it didn't deter from my food :D.
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Reviewer: Miriam
Total Reviews: 5
Reviewed: 9/22/2005
Rating: 7.5
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Hawaiian food is hard to come by outside the islands, so when I see a restaurant, I get excited. My mother and two siblings resettled on Oahu about 7 years ago; I visit often and have had the chance to get fat off the good stuff.
The uniqueness of Hawaiian food is the mix of cultures. It began as a Polynesian paradise, but over the past century has collected many East Asian settlers - Japanese and Filipino, namely. These cultures, through inter-marriage and just living together, have heavily influenced the 'national' Hawaiian cooking and lifestyles. You can enter any Hawaiian supermarket and find hotap cakes next to mochi and Hawaiian sweet rolls.
Onward! Da'Kitchen is a so-so example and would best be represented as 'my aunt, who cooks pretty good, but doesn't make my mouth water.' So you don't think of Da'Kitchen when you really need some Hawaiian food and the real deal is closer (ahem, Hukilau). But if it's close, and you don't want to hit the wallet too hard, here you go. I generally pick dinner up to go on the way home from work if I have a craving, or a group will go for lunch every once in a while (as in, months go by). It's generally crowded around lunch time due to its location by dotcom businesses.
Nice staff; it's clean, a bit rudimentary (they handed me sauce packets for my katsu sauce request), hopeful murals on the walls, a stereotypical Hawaiian CD on the stereo. Of course, in Hawaii you'd hear the latest crooners along with your meal, but they're trying.
Portions are TWICE the size of your head; it's not unreasonable to order something and split it with someone. They're generous with the rice. Macaroni salad is 'meh.' Spam musubi is 'meh.' Sometimes they'll make the musubi fresh because they're running low, in which case you're happy. Sometimes it's been pre-wrapped, refrigerated, and reheated, and the rice and spam have dried out a bit. No dish is really amazing here, but none of them are below par.
Worth going to if you're not picky about your Hawaiian food and you want to get filled to popping in one meal. |
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Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 173
Reviewed: 9/14/2005
Rating: 8
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I have been hearing some good things about Da Kitchen from co workers at work and it seems that Jason likes this place as well. Stopped by tonight to see what the big deal was. Da Kitchen is so close to my work, literally a few blocks away. I didnt even know there were other restaurants besides the Sports Page in this area. There are four or five restaurants cramped in the back right next to Century 16 behind Sports Page. If you are coming from El Camino, take a left Plymouth Street, which is where Sports Page is and not even one block down on your left is Da Kitchen. It is the last building within a small complex unit filled with other eateries.
My friends and I walk in and the place is empty. The place is very clean and nicely decorated with placemats and utensils set on every table. I am not sure if anyone comes here for dinner since no one showed up when we ordered and waited for our food. We wanted to take it to go and I saw the special Kaluha Pork, short ribs, Teriyaki chicken, rice and macaroni salad all for $11.65. I decided to go with this big papa as I wanted to try everything here and have a duke out with J and Js. My friend wanted Spam and Eggs but that was not on the menu and they couldnt make it for him but they said they could put eggs in any of the items they have listed in the menu.
While we waited for our food one of my co workers brought along his dogs to work so we were playing with his dogs and the waitress came out to talk to us and talk about her dogs and she even played with the dogs. It was pretty cool that she talked to us and was really down to earth and genuine, sharing a few laughs. The food was made fresh to order as we waited a good 10 to 15 minutes before our food was ready to go. Compared to J and Js this was more of a sit in style of restaurants rather than fast food to go.
Our food came out in a large Hefty Styrofoam container with napkins and a fork all ready to go. By the time I got home some of the juices had spilled into the bag but I discovered there were still plenty of juices from the pig within the container. The contents contained two large short ribs, two pieces of Teriyaki chicken, two heaping scoops of Kaluha pig with a small bed of shredded cabbages underneath the pig, a small scoop of macaroni salad and two scoops of rice. This meal was enough to feed two people and I am about to eat it alone.
I have never been to Hawaii and the only Hawaiian food I have had has been from J and Js Hawaiian Restaurant and a Touch of Aloha.
Rice: The rice at Da Kitchen was soft, sticky, and fluffy. It was still warmer than warm when I got back home so I could only imagine how much better it would taste hot out of the rice cooker if I ate there. (9/10)
Macaroni Salad: The mac salad here is too creamy compared to J and Js. It contained too much mayonnaise for my liking. J and Js mac salad is much more consistent as its evenly distributed. An extra scoop of mac salad cost $1.00 more here where as an extra scoop at J and Js only costs $0.88. The scoop is also smaller here, but that was fine by me as I didnt enjoy the mac salad. (7/10)
Teriyaki Chicken: The chicken tasted more like marinated grilled chicken rather than Teriyaki chicken or even Hawaiian chicken. I am used to the semi sweet flavor of Teriyaki sauce glazed over Teriyaki chicken and these two pieces didnt have that glaze. The chicken was good as it was tender in some areas but rough around outer grilled areas. I also tasted a bit of wine flavor as they probably marinate it in some wine. I would rate J and Js Hawaiian chicken the better choice over this. (7.5/10)
Short ribs: The bones within the short ribs were big but there was also a lot of meat around the bones. The short ribs here are huge and the flavor was huge as well. The short ribs looked dark as if they were burnt but actually they marinate it in a honey molasses type of glaze as it tastes sweet and was tenderer than some other short ribs Ive tried. (8/10)
Kaluha Pig: Im saving the best for last as the pig here was very good. There were plenty of flavors. The pig was moist and went very well with the sticky rice. It was some what soupy as there were juices mixed in with the cabbage. I was a bit disappointed that there were so little cabbages given as the pork mixed with cabbage and the juice was addictive. (9/10)
There was so much food that I had trouble finishing it but some how I managed. *wink*
***Update 9/15/2005***
Wanted to try their loco moco Ive heard so much about for dinner tonight, before writing this review but was disappointed they were closing when I got there. They close at 7pm. What restaurant closes at 7pm? So I hit up J and Js for some Kalua and Lau Lau, which was a bit disappointing. Wanted to try their loco moco but the picture on the wall did not look too appetizing.
***Update 9/18/2005***
They are closed on Sundays!! AAARRRRHHGGG!!
***Update 9/19/2005***
Didnt really have an appetite tonight but went for dinner anyways. I was finally able to order the talked about Loco Moco. As mentioned previously they cook everything fresh as this is more of dine in restaurant rather than a take out restaurant. This time there was actually two tables occupied by patrons dining in and one take out order before me. I waited about 30 minutes for my meal while watching Monday night football on their TV. What I ordered impressed me as its a huge giant round patty, with two sunny side up eggs linked together on top of the hamburger patty and gravy underneath it all.
Rice: Hot, sticky, and fluffy like usually but this time some gravy spilled into the rice making it that much better. (9/10)
Macaroni Salad: I think they make this fresh as well since this batch was too salty. The mac salad did not taste like it was made from mayonnaise, rather from home made ranch dressing. It was salty this time around and with the gravy mixed in it was very salty. (5/10)
Hamburger Patty: This thing was huge and round and thick, a bit like Kirks steak burgers before th | | |
