Uahi Island Grill Food Truck

Fast, easy, delicious! I’ve been to Uahu Island Grill Food Truck three times now and it never disappoints.
Location: Outside Kennedy Theatre. It’s convenient for me, but if I had class across campus, it probably wouldn’t be my first choice. If you have time, I would encourage you to eat at the nearby, tree-​covered picnic benches. It’s relaxing!
Food: My go-​to plate lunch is Sriracha Glazed Fish ($ 12, with brown rice and kimchee). I can’t handle super spicy food, but the fish is flavored just enough where you get a little kick and it doesn’t overwhelm you. It’s also soft and not overdone, which I appreciate. The kimchee is pretty standard. One of the reasons I like this truck is because they offer brown rice at no additional charge. The amount of food is worth the price, especially compared to a lot of other places on campus. I can’t say I’ve tried anything else because the fish is my comfort zone, but I’d like to try the Sriracha Chicken plate in the future. If you’re up for a drink, the Lilikoi Tea ($ 3) is a nice balance to the spicy food.
Service: Another reviewer said the Asian lady is rude, but I don’t think so. She’s efficient and knows how to keep the line moving. The food is always out in a reasonable amount of time. Don’t forget to grab utensils and napkins from the table.
At the end of the day, Uahu Island Grill Food Truck is unique because it offers fresh and healthy combinations of flavors. Extra points for the selfie-​worthy truck paint job. Don’t expect frills, but do give it a try.

This is a review of the Uahi food truck at UH manoa outside of the Kennedy theater. I’ve had plenty of bad experiences at restaurants and food trucks but this is the one that actually prompted me write a Unilocal review (that means is was really really bad).
I ordered the Teriyaki burger, and after taking the first bite of it, I noticed it was kind of cool and the texture was slimy. Sure enough, the burger had just been slightly cooked on the outside, and was raw in the inside. Not undercooked. Raw. Cool, slimy, raw. I was actually able to dig a chunk out of it, roll it up into a ball, and slap it down onto the table like a pancake (seriously).
Naturally, I took it back to the food truck and showed it to the lady who was working the register. I told her the burger was raw in the middle and asked if they could throw it back on the grill for awhile. She flippantly told me that since I had already taken a bite out of it, they can’t put it back on the grill and there was nothing they could do. When I asked if they could just make me a new one, she made sure to notify me that the burger appeared to be cooked just fine. I showed her how raw it was by taking my finger and squishing the slimy meat, pushing it to the side and creating a little hole in the middle of the burger, hoping that she would realize that cooked meat is normally not this malleable. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and took the burger back into the truck where she said, in a loud and sarcastic tone, «I need another teri burger. This guy seems to think that it’s undercooked and he’s VEEEERY upset about it.» I wanted to correct her and say it’s not undercooked, it’s raw, but I was distracted by the half dozen or so customers who were giving me dirty looks, snickering, and rolling their eyes at me because of how the lovely cashier loudly explained my situation.
When they were done cooking my second burger, the lady who cooked it yelled (sarcastically) «teri burger WELL DONE!» which of course prompted laughter from both the customers and her fellow workers. Don’t get me wrong, I’m used to being the butt of people’s jokes (I’m a little funny looking), but I’m definitely not used to being laughed at and ridiculed by people whose business I am patronizing. My wife and I go to Uahi grill in Kailua regularly. We love it. In fact, that’s where we always take our friends and family when they come visit us on the windward side. Not anymore though, not after this experience. I just hope I don’t get sick from that first mouthful of raw hamburger meat that I ate.

This is in regards to the truck posted outside Kennedy theater at UH Manoa:
The food alone is maybe 3.5 stars. Pretty decent serving size and flavor but they tend to skimp on the veggies so if that is what you looking I’d recommend skipping here.
The 2 stars is due solely to the cashier that works here (an Asian women whose name I don’t remember). She is incredibly rude, quick tempered and not wary to make a half-​snide comment while taking your order. It is as though your presence as a customer is a burden to her, rolling of eyes and just generally flippant. I’ve been a few times so this is not an isolated event. However after a few times of the same I’ll-mannered service I’ve finally learned my lesson. Never going back, at least not while she is standing outside the truck.

I like to start with the good. Their sriracha ahi sandwich is very good, and their Mac salad is very good. I also had a decent Kali’s pork plate once. But today I ordered one of my favorite foods: Thai red chicken curry. It was terrible. I got a barbecue chicken plate lunch disguised as curry. It was chunks of fatty chicken, half burnt, half uncooked, on a bed of rice with an additional side of rice and curry sauce drizzled over it. There wasn’t a single vegetable in this dish, and the actual curry was an after thought. Just disappointing.
Uahi: I recommend you go back to your kitchen, pull out two big woks, FILL them with veggies and slow cook them in curry. Then come back tomorrow and your menu will be much improved. Such a simple dish to do well.

Delicious Kalua Pork and Kale plate with brown rice and Mac salad (other choices were white rice and Kim chee or green papaya salad). First time I’ve been here for a few months, and their menu has expanded quite a bit. Also got a Thai iced coffee that exceeded flavor expectations. Would come again.
Also: after reading the other reviews, I’d like to contradict some things that gave this truck fewer stars than it should have; First, I went to it at UH Manoa, and the cashier was anything but sassy. Before me, she dealt with a huge group of Japanese girls who took forever to order and each one had to ask what mac salad and green papaya salad were. She handled them patiently and was very kind to me as well. Secondly, their updated menu had all the correct offerings and prices on it as far as I could tell. Thirdly, the Kalua pork was soo so juicy and full of flavor, contrary to another review I saw. Exactly what Kalua pork should be.

Their food tastes so good and its worth how much you pay because I know some of the trucks on campus are kinda overpriced and give you less. But this truck was good. I had the siracha glazed chicken with green papaya salad while my friend had the red thai curry with tofu and kimchi. It was so good. The curry was a good combo with my chicken I kinda wish I got that instead haha.

I’ve bought food from here a couple times at WCC. The first few times I bought food from here the food was a lot better. I would order the Kalua pig and it would taste amazing with a ice tea lilikoi drink.
BUT, lately it’s just a total downgrade of quality. The food is not at it’s best and the lilikoi drink as well. The kalua pig lately either taste dry or not cooked enough. As for the lilikoi ice tea it tastes like there’s no lilikoi inside at all. I gave it a few more tries seeing if they were just having a bad day, but my past few orders with them is still a downgrade on how it was before when they just arrived to WCC. One of the girls taking orders (blonde), has a very poor attitude every time she takes my order. For me I don’t really care much for it but she can be a downer on your mood. Recently I’ve just learned is that they REQUIRE you to give tip when you are using cards.
I come here only because of the fact that The Hub is expensive, but now it seems like not even worth grabbing food here if I’m just going to get food that is not at it’s best quality.

You know, my 1^st visit here (UIG at WCC) was not a pleasant experience, yet I still wrote a positive review since the food was tasty and fresh. What’s repeatedly disappointing are the poor attitudes of the female cook and cashier.
Visit #1
I heard from a friend that the Thai Red Curry is tasty. So I ordered a regular plate with tofu and brown rice. The girl who ordered after me ends up getting her order first. I figure, whatever, she must have ordered something that’s quicker to make like a salad. I’m waiting forever, and then the cook keeps calling out someone’s name, but they don’t seem to be around. I then realize that the girl after me must’ve taken my plate by accident. The cook then looks at me and says she ordered the same thing as me but with white rice. She then sassily says I called out your name. Right, if I heard my name, I would have picked up my plate. Then she asks me if she should scoop out the white rice and put brown rice. I have no idea what’s going on as this is my first time ordering, so I ask if I can have my original order made. She probably took it out on my plate because I paid $ 8 for this dish and there were 8 slices of tofu with sparse curry sauce (no other ingredients in the curry) with brown rice and small side of pickled veggies. So I pretty much paid $ 1 per slice of tofu. I do not appreciate the cook taking her frustrations out on me and my food when I didn’t do anything wrong. Someone else took my plate. I should have known from then to avoid this place, but this is sadly one of the only two places to eat at WCC.
Visit #5
«Oh yay!» I’m thinking, as I see a sign that says «Special: Spicy poke plate or salad». So I order it, thinking it’s discounted. There was no price listed on the sign. I ask how much it will be, and the cashier gives me a sassy look like I can’t read the sign. Turns out it’s no special-it’s just different from what they usually offer and is priced at their normal $ 12 which is not a special price.
Today’s Visit #6: 4÷15÷15 at 11am
There’s a sign with their menu items with their prices on the side of the truck adjacent to the order window. Today I decided to order my classmate’s usual order-​furikake TOFU croissant sandwich with a side of kimchi in the sandwich. Sign says «chicken $ 6.50, TOFU $ 6, fish $ 7», so I figure my sandwich will cost $ 6 + $ 1 extra for kimchi = a total of $ 7. Of course the cost of the sides isn’t listed on the board either.
Female cashier: «That will be $ 8.»
Me: «The kimchi costs $ 2?»
Cashier: «The tofu sandwich is $ 7, and the kimchi is an extra dollar.»
Me: «It’s listed on the price board that the tofu sandwich is $ 6.»
Cashier: [with FIRM, IRRITATED voice] «It’s $ 8.»
Me: «You should update the price on the board.»
Cashier: «There’s a lot of things wrong on the board.»
Can you believe this?!? Update your prices for God’s sake, or if you’re taking out your anger towards me by increasing the price of my sandwich then SHAME ON YOU! What kind of business is this? I’m not trying to cheat your system. I just want crystal-​clear pricing like I get from any other restaurant I go to. We’re students at WCC. We can barely afford your food and then there’s these shady «specials» and incorrect price listing on the menu board. I was holding off writing this review as this is 1 of the only 2 places to eat on campus, but I’ve decided that I don’t want to eat here anymore because of the two female employees’ unprofessionalism. Please update your pricing and train your employees in customer service for others who will continue to frequent your food truck.
Btw, the prices currently on the board are the same as the one’s listed online on WCC’s site. Prices should be current since they’ve only been open since the beginning of this semester (January 2015).
I will be notifying WCC admin of this as we need more affordable food options on campus from people with aloha.