Ninja Plate Lunch

Ninja Plate I miss you! So sad that you’re closed :(

FINALLY! A place that caters to people of all stomach sizes/​shapes!
I go to these food carts and find that they always have tons of dishes, yet all range in the $ 7 range (and have monstrously big portions). I’m fine with the portions being big and all, but when I’m looking to have something to eat after a late night out I’m NOT looking to carry leftovers with me to the bar.
Unless I’m starvin’ marvin (which, I’ll admit I usually am), I won’t eat an entire HUGE rice dish, with TONS of meat and veggies. I’m usually in the mood to eat a little bit and being super full and sluggish is not a good thing.
Also, I don’t like to waste food and throw it away.
Also, I don’t like to waste money on food that I won’t eat/​finish.
So lo and behold, in comes Ninja Plate lunch. Wicked good hawaiian eats in ALL various sizes/​portions/​price range. I ended up getting a regular (and not large) meat&rice dish (which was MORE than what I expecting in size) for around $ 4, and a spam musubi for $ 2 (which again was more than what I was expecting).
4.5 stars for an awesome concept and an awesome food cart.

HEY — THIS CART IS AWESOME!
A very tasty, very well done Hawaiian barbecue, served up quick, very friendly service, for $ 5 (small plate) — everything you could ask for in a lunch!
I get the pork plate — the small plate is more than enough to fill me up for lunch. The regular plate is just $ 7 (now) and gives me lunch and dinner or a very hefty lunch if I’m up for it.
Just look for the tiny pink trailer across the street from Kells — can’t miss it!

After getting that email from Unilocal about local Hawaiian grindz, I’ve been on a mission to find these places to try out. One of these places was Ninja Plate Lunch.
I was little skeptical because after looking through the photos I was put off that kalua pig was spelled «KAHLUA PIG» on their menu! Hello Mary, Kahlua is coffee flavored liqueur NOT cooking in an underground oven. SMH!
Nonetheless, the food looked decent and the reviews were pretty high so I figure I’ll just try it out good or bad.
So last night after going out with my girls we were looking around for somewhere to eat and while driving around I found Ninja Plate Lunch so we stopped in the pay lot. They had shoyu chicken, kalua pig (which BTW was spelled this time with an okina or apostrophe WRONG! Don’t you know that when you spell it as KA’LUA you change the meaning? You’ve now called it «THE BATHROOM PIG»! Double SMH!), hamburger steak, loco moco, spam moco, and spam musubi.
Mini plates were $ 4 and regular sized were $ 6. So I ordered the loco moco after seeing one of the customers plates and it looked decent enough to try and at least the hamburger patty wasn’t the frozen bagged kind. One of my friends ordered a spam musubi for $ 2 and a mini shoyu chicken and kalua pig plate.
I sampled her mac salad and I don’t know what you other reviewers were thinking it was the BEST you’ve ever tasted. The mayo was watery and no flavor. So I told the cook to drown my loco moco and mac in gravy in hopes to enhance the flavor a more.
After waiting 10 minutes for my order, I give another star for getting my eggs right… scrambled well done. Sad to say though it wasn’t drowning in gravy but enough to give the mac a little more flavor.
I took a bite of my burger patty and it didn’t have any flavor and it was dry. It was just plain ol’ hamburger shaped into a patty and grilled. Maybe there was some salt and pepper in it but I didn’t taste any. The gravy tasted powdery since I had a gritty after taste. The only good thing in this plate lunch was the rice and eggs. I should’ve gotten the spam moco since you can’t screw up spam… at least I hope this lunch wagon can’t.
Speaking of spam I asked my friend how her spam musubi was. She said there was no flavor to the spam or anything. Just spam, rice, and nori no shoyu or anything for $ 2. At least soak the spam in a marinade of shoyu and sugar before grilling to give it some flavor.
So my review is pretty harsh but that’s a purpose of a review right? What can I say? I know a REAL and ONO local grindz plate lunch when I’ve eaten one being that I’m born and raised in HI. Maybe my standards are pretty high, but if you’re going to be cooking and selling local grindz like this at least have it taste a little more authentic.
Don’t think I’ll be going back to his wagon anytime soon. So two stars for the price and getting my eggs right.
All I have to say is NINJA PLEASE!!!

I’ve had so many friends raving this place out I was very fortunate to stumble upon it while going out on Saturday night. Had a glimpse of the menu but my eyes could not get away from the Spam Loco Moco. Right then and there I knew my night would not complete if I did not try out. Awaiting the completion of the meal I could not think of anything else. I kept thinking about how good it was going to be, the spam… the eggs… the gravy… the mac salad… *DROOL* Did I mention the spam? Oh man, when the girls handed me the meal and I took a bite it was like I was lost in space and time. It was sooo bomb! I can’t talk about it anymore because I’m getting too hungry. But, needless to say you need to go check it out for yourself.

I love Hawaiian food. When I rolled up on Big Ass Sandwiches and saw Ninja Plate Lunch next to it, I took a couple steps down the road to get some ono kine grinds.
small kalua pork plate. This is SMALL? Holy side of pig in a pile! Of course, white rice with teriyaki, and the requisite macaroni salad. Everything was super yummy. And get this…
FOUR DOLLARS.
Kick the dude in the trailer a buck tip, and for a 5-​spot, you just got your belly stuffed with some absolutely delicious food, while dining al fresco.

Salt pork: Tender, juicy, delicious pulled pork over rice. Do I detect a hint of ginger? Awesome. Overall, it’s maybe a bit salty for my preferences, but from what I gather, perfectly salty for the average American tastebud. Good stuff.
Loco moco: Who is the genius who thought of putting sunnyside-​up eggs over hamburger patties with a tasty brown gravy? They should write a book about this incredible person and their contribution to humanity. If the POTUS can win a Nobel Peace Prize, this person surely also deserves one.
Macaroni salad: possibly the best I’ve ever had. Not too much mayo (hardly any in fact), perfectly seasoned, nice use of vegetables without over powering the macaroni.
On top of that, the portions are huge and the prices are more than fair.
My favorite food cart/​truck/​stand anywhere on the planet. And that includes the ones I’ve tried in Hawaii. If they wanted to make Ninja Plate Lunch more like a Hawaiian food cart, they’d need to double the price, reduce the portions by 25%, and take 45 minutes to prepare your food.
I love this cart.

No, I’m not from Hawaii so I can’t speak to the authenticity of the dish I had or the cart food at all. I have had some Hawaiian food from around town but honestly that doesn’t really make me an expert either. So how am I qualified to judge this dish as just some ol’ haole? Well, I AM originally from the mid-​west and I love me some meat and gravy! Let me introduce you to my newest friend Loco Moco…
2 beef patties on top of a couple of heaping scoops of rice bedded down underneath some fried eggs. Already sounds like a gastronomical delight except it’s not done. Drown this in a heaping portion of brown gravy and throw some mac salad on the side and what do you get? Yep, Loco Moco… but it’s not just that, it’s also a slice of calorie induced gravy goodness I liken to heaven (if there is such a place, I dream of gravy rivers and chicken fried steak trees so this would totally fit in).
The portion is enough to fill any over sized appetite for one or a small family, all for only $ 6. If vegetarians could get over the whole animal thing this dish could be the answer to world hunger! My co-​worker says it makes for nice leftovers too, but I’d never know as I’m too much of a food glutton and licked the to-​go container clean. Pretty damn good if I say so myself.

You know karate? No.
You know kung fu? No.
You are a ninja? Yes.
What kind of ninja? Hawaiian food kind of ninja.
Spam Loco Moco here is delicious. $ 6 will get you a huge portion of rice, grilled spam (with eggs and gravy on top), and Hawaiian macaroni salad. The wait was short, the price is right, the taste is delicious. The «ninja» word fits this place just right. :).

I came back to try their Spam Loco Moco! A little bit on the saltier side for me but nonetheless delicious as usual! I still prefer the original Loco Moco as my favorite item on the menu!
Not to mention the yummy mac salad that comes along with these meals are perfect! I’m in love!

Hawaiian Plate Lunches in Oregon??? Where do I sign up???
Nick H. and I were on our fated epic discovery of PDX. After we left Voodoo Doughnuts we had no real direction… we were just going where the night took us. Ninja Plate caught my eye and I told him we should go check it out. What did my eyes spy??? LOCO MOCO! Nick H. was perplexed about my awe of seeing LOCO MOCO. We decided it was early days so we would come back after we’ve completed our discovery of PDX. Well several Washington Apple’s later we stumbled back to Ninja Plate. Being the owner of a very tiny stomach I decided that I would order the small plate. Nick H. claimed he wasn’t hungry and would sample mine instead… bad idea!!! I found an empty park bench and had a drunken conversation with Nick H. We were so engrossed in our conversation we almost forgot about the Loco Moco!
Loco Moco was also created by an evil genius. Rice, Beef Patty smothered in Beef Gravy, topped with an over easy egg. The perfect drunk/​hangover food. It was supposed to be all mine… remember Nick H. saying he wasn’t hungry? Well I had to pry my Loco Moco from his hands. Never let anyone get their hands on your Loco Moco!

I visited Ninja Plate Lunch on a recent trip to Portland and I am still dreaming of this pretty in pink beauty.
I adore Hawaiian food. Put a plate lunch in front of me and I’m one happy island girl. I never expected to find a Hawaiian place this good in the pacific northwest but I’m glad I did. Boyfriend and I found Ninja on Unilocal and since it was near our downtown hotel we decided to make a stop for lunch (followed by Voodoo Doughnuts, but that’s another review.)
I ordered the kalua pork and boyfriend got the chicken. We got the «small» size (which was still huge) which included a scoop of rice and a scoop of mac salad. We got back to our hotel and dove in. Upon first bite I knew we had found something awesome. The pork was so flavorful and tender, every mouthful was as good as the last. Boyfriend’s chicken was also perfection. Juicy with a nice sauce. Yum-​o. He would have gotten the katsu but apparently they don’t serve it anymore. The fryer tried to kill them. The machine, not a person…
The mac salad was great too — not overly loaded with mayo. Sometimes you get more mayo than noodle but this had a nice balance. I think boyfriend would have liked more mayo but I say he’s wrong. :)
As I stated earlier we both got the small size and we were more than stuffed. As delicious as it was I couldn’t finish it all.
Mahalo, Ninja Plate Lunch. See you next time I’m in PDX!

Awesome LOCO MOCO, great portions, at a reasonable price $ 6, & such friendly service!

The woman gave me the choice between brown and white rice. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I could get brown rice somewhere in this town without having to go through a secret handshake or something of the sort. Let me rewind.
I decided to try something new. I knew I would be eating lunch out on Friday and instead of wandering around aimlessly at a cart pod trying to figure out where to eat, I decided I would go to one cart pod, find a cart and get some food and not over-​think it as I am wont to do.
I’ll admit it. The bright pink paint caught my eye. That and there were people waiting in line. You can’t say that about all food carts. They are not all created equally.
Took a look at the menu and decided I would get the slow cooked and salted pulled pork. Lunches all come with your choice of rice along with a side of mac salad or fruit salad. Small, $ 4. Large, $ 6. I went with the large with a side of mac.
Nice day, so I took my food down to the waterfront and dig in I did. The pork was plentiful and so were the 2 scoops of beautiful brown rice. The pork had a nice smokiness to it. Might have been just a bit too dry for me, but there was some nice sauce on the rice and I ended up combining that with the pork which ended up working for me. As far as the mac salad goes, also very good. Some tend to be over mayonnaisey which is a really bad thing in my opinion. This one wasn’t.
Random cart finds. I might have to try that again. I was very happy with this meal.

1 am, a little tipsy, a little hungry.
I duck into a bar to use the restroom, I come out and my sweety is at this cute little pink stand ordering food.
He hands me a to go carton full of kalua pork goodness, rice and macaroni salad, he got himself sizzling slices of spam with rice and gravy and macaroni salad.
I watch him hand the very personable cook/​server a ten and ask «How much more money do you need?»
The answer? None. It is all paid for, except for the tip I drop into the tip jar.
We carry our oh so heavy cartons of goodness back to our room and gorge ourselves on the heavenly cheap cheap food.
With enough left over for another snack a few hours later.
I cannot wait to go back to Portland just to experience this all over again.

I’m not an expert on Hawaiian food, but I do know a good deal when I see one. I’ve been having the Kahlua pork and the teriyaki chicken about once a week for the last month or two. For $ 5 you can’t beat it. The meal comes with a huge heap of tender Kahlua pulled pork, and/​or teriyaki chicken, macaroni salad and rice.
Now that’s a tasty deal.

The food wasn’t too bad for the price. I think the hot pink color of the stand attracted me to this place. For $ 5 you get all the food as in my picture! If there were places like this near where I live, I’d be totally fat. The meat was a little dry, and nothing out of the ordinary but for that price it satisfies my wallet more than my stomach. Keep in mind it’s a food cart and not one of those gourmet food carts.

A friend suggested this cart as they said the portions were generous and the food was tasty.
I was all for it so we walked over there, met Kat, tasted a sample of the pork & chicken and both ordered the pork.
Lovin’ the $ 5 menu and to be honest, I almost ordered the hamburger wirh rice & gravy. Anyone who’s grown up eating Asian knows we love some hamburger meat & rice with either gravy or soy sauce.
I’m halfway through the meal now and here’s what I think — I’ve read that the pork is supposed to be salty and it is. Definitely very salty. The rice was great and the mac salad is OK.
I’m totally full and still have a lot of food left — and I don’t mean just rice. I mean pork is the most plentiful food in here.
All of this for $ 5 and they give me a Dum Dum lollipop, too? I’ll definitely come back and try that burger.
*update*
So I went back and tried the Loco Moco, two patties of burger atop rice w/​some brown gravy, the mac salad and two fried eggs on top.
I asked for light gravy b/​c I imagined they would just goop it on. That may have been a mistake. Granted it was raining outside and maybe Kat took pity on me and hurried my order but the burgers were completely pink on the inside. Were the beef of great quality, I’d have loved it but these are more than likely previously frozen Costco quality burgers and seeing it being so raw on the inside rather turned me off.
Not only that and being my first time ordering the dish, I didn’t think to ask but the fried eggs were runny. I mean gelatinous egg. I’m fine with runny yolk but clear white coupled with uncooked cheap burger meat kinda threw me for a loop so a large portion of this hit the trash.
Unfortunate, yes. I’m not completely turned off but may not visit again for a while.

SO GOOD! Mmmmm!
I wasn’t sure what to expect – I’m not exactly a Hawaiian food connoisseur – but turns out you don’t have to be.
First, let’s talk location. Right next to all kinds of bars, is where! Perfect when you’re a little buzzed/​hungry and don’t want to deal with long waits for expensive plates. Head over to this cute black & pink cart for a fresh air break and good eats.
I went around 11pm and split a pork plate w/​my boyfriend. The portions are very generous and each component compliments the others perfectly in terms of taste and texture. The trick is to get the macaroni salad, rice, and pork all onto one forkful. Everything was perfectly prepared. I did a little dance while eating it.
I also got to sample the terriyaki burger, and it was insane too.
I’d eat it everyday yo.

I love $ 5 menus — it’s really perfect to just hand a simple five dollar bill over and get a ton of food. This cart delivers the biggest, heaviest food in exchange.
I got the kahlua pork on two scoops of rice and macaroni salad. The pork was pretty salty, but also very flavorful. I recommend it over my co-worker’s chicken katsu.
They have some other choices aside from the plates, like the hamburger grilled with gravy and a fried egg. Heart. Attack.