Has anybody else tried the new Shaka Hawaiian place yet? I went by a couple of times but it was so packed I didn't try to stop. But the other day I passed by and it was nearly empty, it was 1:30 and I didn't have lunch yet, so it was a chance to check it out. It was a nice day and being right on the ocean and completely open and having a Hawaiian decor and playing Hawaiian music the ambience was wonderful. I was so hopeful for good food, but totally disappointed. We tried the baked scallop appetizer and my wife tried first and then said "do not eat this". I had to try for myself, and quickly spit it out into a napkin. We sent it back. Of the other four dishes we ordered, we sent two of them back. The fish and chips had a thick hard coating that was like cement, I could literally almost not bite through it. I put it on my plate and smacked it with my knife to break it open. Inside the fish was cold and slimy and raw. I waived to our waiter and showed it to him, he said, "our fish is very juicy sir" ... I said that is not juicy it is raw and gross. We had already paid our bill and were in the process of leaving when our server came running over to our table and brought the coconut shrimp appetizer we had ordered. I forgot all about it in the kerfuffle with the other bad food. I asked was that already on the bill I just paid, they said yes, I said refund my money for that and take that back to the kitchen, which they did. Terrible service, even worse food, really too bad.
Is Hawaii really known for their cuisine? I was there over a decade ago and don't remember anything standing out other than some pineapple and a mango. Every Hawaiin dish I saw on a quick Google search is just an existing Filipino dish with a different name.
My wife and I dined there last week. It was about 3PM in the afternoon. Not crowded. We enjoyed the fish & chips. But, we will not eat at the place next door to Shaka. We found green worms in our salad.
I don't know if Hawaii is "known" for their cuisine but there is indeed a real category of food that is Hawaiian. Includes laulau, poi, lomi salmon, kalua pig, poke, squid luau, ake etc. In addition, with the waves of immigrants, their food has become blended into the local culture including dishes like teriyaki, roast pork, kim chee, bacalao, musubi, shaved ice, etc. And don't forget Spam! Hawaiian food is a real genre, but in this case, the only Hawaiian thing about the restaurant is the name.
I think Pacific island is a genre of food. Maybe a few ingredients differ from island to island but they are all very similar and all those dishes have a very similar Filipino equivalent.
Spam is big in Hawaii, you want to make any dish "Hawaiian" just add spam to it. I don't get it. But traditional Hawaiian food uses a lot of coconut and banana and taro flavors. But mostly what I liked about the restaurants when I was in Hawaii was the selection of seafood that was available, ono, sea bass, snapper, mahimahi, marlin, swordfish ... all fresh and really good. Here we are on an island and I don't know why it is so hard to find good seafood here? Also, I will take luau pig over lechon any day.
Dont know if still the same, but Florida used to ship large quantities of seafood to Hawaii every day. I heard they could not produce their own. Went out of Miami airport
FYI, the following establishments are owned by the same corporation (Pages Holdings), including Lantaw, Cafe Racer, Moon and Shaka. It almost seems they are managed independently with no cross training in any aspect. If there were any 1st world health inspections, they would all be displaying their 5 Stars, instead of their BIR sign. After reading the thread, I am no longer interested to try Shaka this year.
