Best Posts in Thread: Shaka Hawaiian Restaurant

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.

 

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.

 

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.