Da Kitchen

The moca with chicken and teriyaki is the bomb! It feeds two:) A great place to reward yourself after the hike.

It was my first time here, and I was impressed. The service was great and the waitress welcomed us so enthusiastically. They even refilled our water being so busy. From the outside, I didn’t think the interior would look as nice as it did. It was such a cute little place!
My friends and I ordered the deep fried spam musubis and the notorious BIG loco moco. The notorious BIG loco moco is like a loco moco on steroids. It’s a loco moco with everything in it: chili, bacon, spam, onions, mushrooms, portugese sausage, and probably more. When we mixed everything together it reminded me of fried rice. It was so yummy. Portions are huge, so you can definitely share, which is what my two friends and I did. Best decision ever, and we still had a hard time finishing our food.

Teriyaki burgers and chicken katsu loco moco (on fried rice and grilled onions) !!! yum yum!
I did not like the fried spam musubi, too oily.

Quaint little restaurant, staff is friendly and the food was money.
Katsu chicken cutlet topped over loco moco. Do it. Trust me, you won’t regret it. And it’s huge, perfect for sharing (which I hate, but glad I did because I would’ve had to hang my head in shame knowing I couldn’t finish it by myself). We also did an order of fried spam musubi, you won’t miss it — there’s a large photo in their menu.
Great food and definitely a spot I’ll come back to whenever I visit HI. Yup, that good.

I love this place. First visit, I had the loco-​moco (tip: for nearly anything you order, «moco» it and get fried rice and an egg).
Favorite dishes to share: items from the backside of the menu, which serve two (or three) perfectly.
Katsu cutlet: a must-​try, esp. if you’re in the mood for «hearty» and filling hawaiian food (moco it!).
Items from specials board – which had amazing offerings each visit): amazing.
I never tried the spam dish here, but I wasn’t impressed by any of the appetizers I tried here (which were all fried and small and lame, in contrast to the amazing entrees — I’d recommend a salad instead).
This is a great spot for filling and greasy awesomeness but (unlike L&L) takes the unhealthiness just far enough without nearly killing diners, lol.
Remember, the backside of the menu and the specials are safe bets!

I don’t give out 5 star ratings very often, but this place deserves it!
I came in to lunch with a friend today and together we ordered a samin, two fried spam musubis, and an order of jalapeño poppers. Although the price at first seems a bit steep, the taste makes it all worth it. The spam musubi (which were coated in panko batter and deep fried) were very tasty, and did not give an oily film in my mouth which I was expecting. All the food we ordered came out within 10 minutes of ordering it and was still steaming as it arrived at our table.
I would definitely recommend to all my friends to go here! Although we did not try the desserts listed on their whiteboard, I will check them out next time I’m here!

This place is a local foodie’s dream. They have ginormous portions, lots of local choices and the famous deep fried spam musubi. I had never tried the food here and did not realize that it was a restaurant with wait service. They also have cool specials that change daily which all sounded pretty yummy.
I got the pastrami sandwich, though the loco moco’s all sounded good and so did the fried musubi, but however I wasn’t super hungry when I came. The pastrami was yummy, with lots of grilled onions and cheese gooping over it. The fries also were good too.
Overall, this places seems pretty good for local style food. I really need to come back and try the fried spam musubi!

To me, one of the most deliciously indulgent things I can imagine is a filling, salty, ricey spam musubi. Now make it mutant sized and DEEP FRY the sucker, and I’m a pig in heaven.
To be honest, none of the other dishes I tried in my takeout order here a couple months back sticks out nearly as much as this delightful treat. Even after picking it up and transporting it for more than half an hour until it was finally time to eat it, these tasty little guys stayed crispy and deliciously flavorful. I have no idea how they do it!
As for the rest of the casual Hawaiian menu, expect the classics like katsu and teriyaki chicken, as well as some twists on old favorites — especially in the changing daily specials that are advertised on the boards behind the counter.
Take note: the portions are enormous. A party of two would be stuffed after sharing one entrée and one order of spam musubi! And don’t be afraid to ask the staff for their recommendations — they’re all so friendly and sweet and are happy to tell you their faves.
But the moral of this story is: GET THE MUSUBI! You will not regret it!

Food? = DELICIOUS
Portions (aka value)? = HUGEEE
Above, my two most important criteria for food! Criteria, over-​and-​beyond, MET!
I grew up on Maui where Da Kitchen originated, and heard that the Oahu location wasn’t as good as Maui’s…well I’m here to say, WRONG! It’s just as painstakingly delicious! (my poor arteries)
Everything I’ve tried has been delicious, but my FAVORITE is the original loco moco! Thick juicy hamburger patties (I don’t even like hamburgers that much so to even say I love the hamburger here is saying something) over a bed of rice, topped with your choice of egg, sautéed mushrooms and sweet onions, and tons of delicious gravy! Oh, and side of mac/​green salad. A food-​gasm and a heart-​attack in every bite! YUM!!!
A must-​try (and their novelty dish) is the deep-​fried spam musubi. I don’t eat/​like spam, so I can’t speak from experience, but everyone I’ve talked to raves about it!
Yes, the plate lunches here will run you in the $ 10-​$ 20 range, but it feeds two! Or one for two meals! Or one extremely hungry foodie with a larger-​than-​normal appetite and stomach (nah, I never finished completely a plate in one sitting. But I’ve been so ridiculously close a few times). Dine-​in, or take-​out! I personally like to enjoy my food-​gasm, heart-​attack loco moco in the comfort of my own home, so I can kanak attack immediately after!
I came here most recently for a dinner meeting where food was provided by Da Kitchen and was shockingly surprised at the overall mediocrity of the catered food. Stick to the restaurant food!
Tip: There’s a small bar on the back-​side of Da Kitchen with good deals on beer, especially during Happy Hour… though I’d probably save my appetite for more loco moco stuffing face!

This place is AWESOME!!! Clean and quiet environment. Nice service.
Food we ordered:
Fried spam musubis– delicious guilty pleasure. It’s a big portion; 1 order is enough for 2 people.
Kalua pork wontons — a crispy treat with very tender and flavorful pork
Kalbi Ribs — marinated in yummy homemade teriyaki sauce, could stop eating it until it was all gone.

I couldn’t resist giving this place a try after reading the reviews from fellow Unilocalers and looking at the pictures on Unilocal.This local mom and pop place wasn’t very busy when we arrived. Well it was after all 3:30 pm. We ordered their wonderful looking deep fried spam musubi and their new item on the menu — fried pork chop. But to our disappointment, the spam musubi looked a lot better than it tasted. The spam was very thin and too much rice around it. The pork chop came with the usual two scoops of rice and was even a bigger disappointment. The plate looked good, the pork chop was covered with gravy but unfortunately the pork chop was not cooked, the meat looked pink. I requested that they re-​cooked the pork chop, but it came back a second time even more pink and actually with blood oozing out from the bone… YUCK! It was a very thick piece of pork chop, so it really needed to be thoroughly cooked. We told the waitress again and someone else came out and asked if we ate any of it. At first we didn’t understand what she meant. But in fact she wanted to know how much we ate to see if she should charge us for the plate or not. In the end she just took the plate away and didn’t charge us. It’s a shame that they didn’t just make us another piece of pork chop. They obviously didn’t care about good customer service. Although this place was a big let down that day, I still plan on coming back to try one of their loco moco plates.
Two stars for now!

If I were to rate this based on what I’ve ordered, this place would not do well. I was told that the portions here were big, but I must have ordered the two smallest items on their menu. But mind you, I was only here with my friends to eat something to tide me over to dinner. I ordered their much touted fried spam musubi and their shrimp shumai.
Do yourself a favor and skip the shumai. You’ll inhale that in seconds. They are way too dainty. They give you six, but unfortunately each piece was about the size of a penny.
The fried spam musubi was good, but there was way too much rice for the thin slice of spam that they used. If they would use more spam and less rice, it would be even better.
The waitresses were really friendly and attentive. The service here was great.
I’m pretty sure I’ll change my rating for this place when I come back for a real meal instead of just appetizers.

FINALLY made my way here. It was between an acai bowl, curry house, da spot, or da kitchen and since Milly C and I have never been here before, it was the perfect time to try. Although we were starving, we decided to wait the 30 min (everyone was here celebrating their graduation)
We finally got seated and had already known what we wanted, but after realizing we were going to order the same thing, we decided to do family style and i’m so glad we did.
All the reviews had warned us of their massive size, but this time, not only were our eyes hungry, but we were really really hungry. We had a party of 4, so we ordered 4 plates and we happily finished off everything (except for the salad)!
–Garlic shrimp fried rice: As much as my friends enjoyed this dish, I don’t think I got past the crispy rice part. The flavors were good, but the rice just threw the dish off, however it came with nice pieces of shrimp and BACON
–Loco moco: WOW BEST loco moco i have EVER had. I like loco moco’s but i haven’t found a place that makes it so good. This is by far my favorite, hands down. The beef was perfect in every possible way. It’s seasoning was spot on, and the softness of the patty was just perfection. The only thing I wish was that they would have loaded it on with the gravy (maybe we should have asked for more)
–rocky beef (i think thats what it’s called): this was my least favorite dish. the meat came out perfectly cooked but i wasn’t a fan of the marinade. it was way too sweet and liquid for my liking.
–Kalua pig plate: My second favorite dish there. If you eat the pork by itself, it was a bit salty, but together with the rice, it was just PERFECT
I want to come back here to try their korean chicken, garlic katsu, and one of their famous loco moco bowls! I’ll def be back.
I also know they are not only famous for their massive portions (plates are a bit pricier than most, but the quality is def worth it) but more for their deep fried spam musubi, however, i couldn’t get myself to spend 5.50 on 1 musubi (after looking at pictures the portion of rice and spam didn’t make sense to me) but this is just me

Four words:
Deep Fried Spam Musubi
I had to come to Da Kitchen to try their Deep Fried Spam Musubis. Breaded, deep fried spam musubi with rice and sauce — this thing is not for the health conscious or faint of heart. It’s a definite must try if you’re a fan of spam musubi.
I also recommend their loco moco. Oh my goodness the thing is humongous! It included Portuguese sausage, spam, bacon, egg, chili and fried rice. It was like chilli meat heaven!
Three girls shared the above food and we still had enough for left overs. And no we are not dainty eaters. So if you’re heading to Oahu and don’t care about having a beach bod, definitely head to the Da Kitchen to get your grub on.

I love musubi. I know, it’s wrong. I mean, it’s SPAM. Processed meat. It goes against pretty much everything I stand for. But damn, it’s SO fucking good. And when I’m in the islands, I seek out as much of it as I can get.
A trip to Da Kitchen turned my knowledge of musubi upside down with their deep-​fried SPAM musubi. One glance at this option on the menu had me salivating. On a mission to pick up dinner for a group, I made the fool mistake of ordering a way-​too-​huge Korean chicken plate lunch with mac instead of just ordering one or two fried musubi. As far as I can tell, everything else here takes second seat to the fried musubi… it’s just filler, and way to large of a portion of it. Not to say that it’s bad. It’s actually pretty damn kine grindz, but I can’t help but be distraced by it compared to the main event.
Everything I expected of this civilization-​threatening monstrosity was wrong. I expected a soggy mess of heavily battered, soggy, greasy musubi. But it wasn’t. Oh no. Even after traveling 20 minutes then sitting another 10, this musubi was perfectly crispy on the outside. It held together better than any musubi I’ve had. And the flavor? Insane. Great nori, solid teriyaki, and a moist, warm center. Seriously the best musubi Ive ever had. And I’ve had a lot of musubi.
Now, I couldn’t eat this every day. It’s rich, and fried, and truth be told, a little greasy. But they got it so, so very right. Moan-​inducing, ahhh-​inspiring deliciousness. One bite in and I was asking myself why I had over a pound of food sitting in a plate lunch box next to me when all I wanted to eat was more musubi. It’s not like the fried chicken, mac salad and rice was any more balanced or healthful. And since it’s so rich, one of these bad boys would fill me up.
Damn, I wish I had this ono food closer to me. I’d eat it at least once/​month.
Oh, and if you do prefer the plate lunch to the musubi, be prepared to be completely overwhelmed with food. Portion sizes here have diabetes watch groups cringing.

Uh… my heart just stopped beating because I just ate a deep fried spam musubi from Da Kitchen. I see heaven, I see Frank Sinatra, I glide through a meadow of beautiful white unicorns who feed me chocolate covered gummy bears. Oh wait, that was just a near death experience and I am being resuscitated back to life by my hot boyfriend. My arteries are slowing opening up again… but damn that was so worth it!
In all seriousness, the portions of food here are REDONK and you should really split plates to preserve your godlike physique. Knowing full well that Da Kitchen has a reputation for bomboocha sized plates, I ordered the chinese chicken salad, while my BF got their Hawaiian plate. The salad has big chunks of chicken and deep fried won ton strips. I’m pretty sure they’re freshly deep fried as it is Da Kitchen and I’d expect nothing less. My BF’s plate at the hefty price of $ 17.99 (+$ 4.50 for poi) was HUGE. If you’re going to eat Hawaiian fare, this is quality stuff and you may as well go for the gusto!
If you’re health conscious or watching your weight, this probably isn’t your best bet and you should steer clear from temptation’s door. But if you are a «hey I only live once and I need to consume deep fried food by the truckloads,» well your lucky day has arrived because Da Kitchen was built just for you!
Photo: Deep fried spam musubi (
)

Da Kitchen is a little on the pricier side, but the food is good and the portions are huge! We ordered the deep fried spam musubi as an appetizer. It was an interesting twist and worth the try. As for my entrée, I got the kalbi ribs and it was delicious. My bf got one of their specials that day and he enjoyed his food as well. The plates were big enough to feed 2 – 3 people. Needless to say, we brought our leftovers home and ate it for lunch the next day.

Stopped by here for one last lunch before heading home to the mainland. I ordered the Kalbi Short Ribs with rice and Mac salad. That came with way more than I could eat in one sitting! Well marinated, super tasty. My husband ordered the massive Notorious BIG Loco Moco. That was ridiculously big! I think it took him four sittings to finish. It included Portuguese sausage, spam, bacon, egg, chili and fried rice. I probably left out something. He liked it. I personally wasn’t a fan. I think the chili was over the top! Maybe your traditional gravy would have worked.
Nice clean spot with good service. Even though service was good the staff needs to work on knowledge of their menu. One of our waitresses wasn’t aware of some of the items on the menu.
Would return here again!

When I came to Hawaii in July 2012, I was looking for a place to conquer my hunger while providing great quality time. My friends from Hawai’i brought me and my other friends here. Talk about eye opener in quantity, no joke does their portions blow your mind away.
I went with a loco moco bowl, which is definitely a hawaiian dish favorite of mine. So I knew I would haven’t gone wrong with that. At first I thought the price of the bowl was rather expensive, but right when the waitress brought the entrée’s out and placed that bowl in front of my I thought to myself, «you got to be kidding.» (you can see the photo I added with my review that I was not kidding.
While only being able to only consume about 25% of the bowl alone that night, the quality was definitely there as well, and I was not disappointed in any bites I took out of that meal. With the quantity and quality you receive from their entrée’s their prices are very reasonable, and for future references my friends and I know now to order one entrée for the entire table. HA!

I made it down to Da Kitchen the other day on a whim. I was craving fried, unhealthy food and spotted Da Kitchen while driving home. It was fate I tell you…
The bf and I had been meaning to try this place for a while, but never got around to it. This was my chance; this was our chance. I was headed home anyway, so take out it was.
I ordered the Fried Spam Musubi and one of their specials, the Garlic Katsu.
The total was $ 17-​something, so a little on the pricey side for just one plate and a musubi. BUT when you’re hungry, price is not the main concern. And I was surprised, and relieved, to have only waited about 5 – 7 minutes for my food.
Got home and surprised my sleepy bf with some lunch:
Fried Spam Musubi —
— Just a glance at this bad boy and my higher-​than-​expected total made sense. This thing is HUGE.
As far as taste goes, it was better than I expected. I love the integration of different textures, and to me, the crunchiness of the outside really made this musubi pop. There’s quite a bit of sauce, but the thick layers of rice helped to balance it out. :)
It’s worth a try.
Garlic Katsu —
— It just sounds delicious. But really, I’m a die-​hard Katsu fan, so it naturally caught my eye while looking over the specials. But the real scale tipper was Jonathan P’s Unilocal review and some of the other Unilocal reviews that mentioned it, so thanks guys :)
I really liked the Garlic Katsu. It was unlike any katsu I’ve ever had. I think of it as a garlic-​chicken-​katsu hybrid! :) I would definitely order it again.
I anticipate another visit real soon, but dine in. I look forward to trying their Hawaiian food next time :)
Unilocal 365 — #194/​365