L&L Hawaiian Barbecue

I love this place. It can be busy at times, but that because of the awesome food. Grate location, easy on the parking too.

Never taken time to review anything on Unilocal but wanted to warn everyone. The food is fine but it took almost 20 minutes to get it on lunch break. Lots of people grumbling about the wait. The employees never smiled and seemed miserable. The atmosphere was uncomfortable. I won’t be back.

L n L Don’t want you to eat. There amazing Chicken and Beef they don’t want you to have. You played yourself L n L. Bless up, your pathetic service needs it !

I am from Hawaii and although I don’t eat Hawaiian style all the time, I do crave it once and awhile. I live about 6 minutes away and I will absolutely drive to the one in Elk Grove than come to this one. Back in 2007 I remember it used to be good. I could tell that either local guys or ones trained by locals were making the food. Now it is way off and has been for quite some time. I stopped going to this particular location in 2009 and recently went to see if it changed any. To be honest, I was surprised that they were still in business. So, on my last visit I ordered the kalua pork/​laulau combo. The kalua pork was okay, but the laulau was terrible. It was old tasting and had that freezer taste to it. The price is not cheap either. I think it came out over $ 10. Back in 2007 it was $ 7.50 and it was made right, with the butterfish and pork belly in it. It was my go to plate lunch and I ordered it quite a few times back then. This one had a lean cut of pork in it with no fat. So, on top of being old and freezer burned, it was very dry. I spent about 5 years in the culinary industry and I am glad that I can make my own Hawaiian food when I want. (Shots out to my brother for the Hawaiian cook book) When I don’t have time, I will make the 1 hour round trip to Elk Grove. I took my brother that was visiting from Hawaii there and it seems like the other locals around frequent that particular L and L too. Please find some locals or real chefs to straighten this place out. 1 star until then…

This place always lets me down. They run out items like salad and brown rice constantly. When they do have them in stock they make the wrong order. They haven’t messed up my drink order yet, I’ll give them that.

This place is a disgrace to Hawaiian food. I got my chicken katsu plate (after being the 1^st person in and got my food 4^th) the breading was falling off completely and chopped to shit. My 2 year old niece probably has better knife skills. The Mac salad came with too much mayo and tasted bland. The rice was so mushy it could be porridge. I’ve been here before and have received below average service but today was the absolute worst. Please fire all your employees or retrain them all because the food was DISAPPOINTING to say the least. They don’t even have the island music playing!!! As a Hawaiian who lives on the mainland that is just bs.

After reading all the other reviews, I can finally confirm, «Ok, I’m not the only one then.» So this place had disappointed me TWICE in one day.
This past Thursday (12÷12÷15), I got off of work earlier so I wanted to grab some L&L for the bf and I. The bf was going to start work soon, so with the time limit, I wanted to call in to make the order in HOPES of picking it it up when I get there. I’m coming from the Arden area making phone calls to this location with no success of anyone picking up. At that point, I’m just hoping it isn’t too busy when I get there.
I get there and there’s probably 3 or 4 people waiting ahead of me. Right when I get in, the «chef» obviously made eye contact with me. He then switched his stare to someone who, I’m assuming, was standing in front of him and then back to me. Almost in a way of, «Oh, someone’s here. Go take their order.» Then I don’t know what happened but the he got down to grab something I think and I just didn’t see him anymore! It’s like he was hiding or something! This whole time in, not once did I even get a greeting. I must have waited a little over 5 minutes and thought, «I’m not going to deal with this» and ended up going a few doors down to that one Mexican restaurant.
Later one that night, I was coming back to the Natomas area from an office Christmas party and had that craving again for L&L…and also because the bf has never had it, so I was determined to introduce him to it. I didn’t even bother to call in first. When I got there, the parking lot was filled up and the lights inside were still on. I walk up, and of course the door is locked. Then I noticed a sign saying that they’re closing at 8. They were supposed to be opened til 9. I understand sometimes that emergencies come up or whatever, so I didn’t think much of it. I was irritated, of course, but just thought that it was all by coincidence. But THEN I come and read the reviews here and I guess it’s just a thing of theirs to close whenever they feel like it.

OK, so this place is pretty bad. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS SPECIFIC L&L! Let me tell you guys why:
1) Sign says they open at 10:30. Got here at 11:20 and it was closed. The workers were outside talking and one of them was smoking.
2) Not clean at all. Almost every table had bits of food from previous customers. A while later, the cashier went to wipe up the tables… with a cup and his hand. Didn’t use a rag, which was sitting on the table next to me.
3) Ordered at 11:22 and didn’t get my food until after 12. Really slow service… reaaaaallllyyyy slow.
4) that guy that was smoking at the beginning of this review? He was the chef. That guy that was cleaning the table I mentioned earlier? He was rubbing his face and was helping the chef prep food.
5) The BBQ chicken I ordered was WAY overcooked. Barely was able to taste the chicken. Also, there was no BBQ taste to it. The Macaroni salad was OK. Would be better if there wasn’t a total of 12 pieces of Macaroni. The shredded lettuce wasnt there either.
DONT COME HERE. SAVE YOURSELF! GO TO A DIFFERENT ONE! If this is the first one you visit, it will ruin the whole franchise hands down. Try the one in Elk Grove if anything.

I’m writing this review inside the restaurant, as I’m waiting for my food to be ready, because that’s how long it is taking! So far I’ve been waiting for 15 minutes.
The location and dining area are decent, normal of any other L&L establishment. The cashier was nice. I’ve been to various L&L locations and have typically had no problems. However, this location is my first and will probably be my last time coming here, due to the extremely long wait time. I can’t remember the last time I’ve waited this long at any fast-​food type of place.
It has been 20 minutes since I ordered my food, and I have now received my order. The kalua pork that I ordered is tasty and fresh, with generous portions. Definitely no complaints about the food. I’d only recommend coming here if you have a solid hour to spare, not if you have a short lunch break.

Currently waiting for my food, for the past 35 minutes and counting. The service is horrible, no greeting when I walked in. I was basically stared down until I let him know what I wanted. I understand if it’s busy, but there were only 2 people waiting by the time I got here… And my food has yet to be done. ALTHOUGH! 3 people after me has already gotten their food. I just don’t understand how chicken and rice takes 40 minutes to cook? No apologies of concerns… They basically have an «oh well, wait» attitude.
AND to top it off, they never even started my order!!! Finally decided to ask, and my «tag» fell.

They love closing ½ early almost daily claiming «we ran out of food.» Could you possibly run out of ALL food every day? What if I just wanted a burger or fries, when most people go elsewhere for burgers and fries?
I hate that I have to cut them off because I love hawian BBQ.

Don’t come here. The other bad reviews are accurate. SLOW service.
I came here after searching on Unilocal.I live a few miles away and was weighing out the options of going to this location or to Ono Hawaiian BBQ in West Sac which was 10 minutes further. Time was an issue because I had school in SF. Read the reviews. crowded at lunch, terrible service, slow, blah blah blah. Figured I would drive by to see if the line was long because my wife and daughter wanted Hawaiian BBQ. I knew there were a few places in the same plaza, so I decided to take the risk.
It wasn’t too crowded and there was no line, just about five or six people waiting for food. I ordered their version of the Atkins plate – BBQ chicken, beef, and ribs with two eggs in top over salad. My wife ordered a mini plate of chicken katsu. We ordered at 12:25. Heard the next order called out and it was about six numbers off. Cool for now, not that many people in front of us. Ten minutes pass by and a dude comes in, orders a regular katsu. Five minutes after that, a girl comes in and orders, didn’t catch what. So another ten passes and I notice that there are two people that were there before us and they still haven’t gotten their food yet. The guy calls out the number after us (chicken katsu) and the customer after us got his food. At this point it’s 27 minutes after my order was taken and I’m pissed because this dude ordered the same thing as my wife and daughter (they were splitting), so I go up to the front and talk to the cashier. I told him we that we’ve been waiting for almost thirty minutes and that guy ordered the same thing, just bigger size, as us and asked him what the deal was. He said sorry and that my order would be out shortly. One of the other two people spoke up and said, «yeah, I’ve been waiting ten minutes longer than him!» This lady ordered a BBQ chicken mini plate! So after that was said, the dude cooking looked like he was flustered and I’m 99% sure he was still cooking part of my dish because a few minutes later he put meat into what ended up being my plate. I waited for another five minutes for a total of about 40 minutes. The chick that was after the guy who was after me was already eating when I left. To top things off, I ordered my eggs over medium. Look at the picture. If you can’t cook eggs, you shouldn’t cook at a restaurant.
STAY AWAY! The other reviews are ACCURATE.

Got a mini Kahlua Pork plate for lunch from here today. SO DELICIOUS! The pork was seriously melt-​in-​you-​mouth tender, out-​of-​this-​world flavorful, and a great portion! I got the «healthy» mini, which means the pork was served with a scoop of brown rice and a tossed salad. The brown rice was great and cooked just right. The salad would have been better if it was dished separately. By the time I got to my office, it was warm from being put in the same container as the pork and rice.
The cashier was very friendly and the place looked decently clean.
My only other complaint is the time it took for my food to be ready. About 15 minutes for a to-​go order. However, my food was fresh so I would simply advise that you order ahead if you’re on a short lunch.

This place majorly sucks. If I could give no stars I would. They don’t answer their phones AT ALL! My boyfriend called twice to make an order for a party that is coming up and no one answered. I guess they don’t want our business.

Service and food is aight… not as good as other franchises.
And on several ocassions they tend to close early for no reason, says closes at 9 but they like close whenever they feel like. Maybe lazy or something.

The whole place is absolutely disgusting. The food, the dining room, the bathroom, it is all gross. The first time I ate here the food was bad but I was in a hurry so I did not really look around, I always give second chances so I recently went back. The employee asked «for here or to go» I replied «here» when my food came she called my number. I thought strange since other L&L’s bring the food out… But I thought whatever… When I walked up to the counter she was stuffing my food in a take out bag… No problem I thought if a employee not listening is the worst thing that happens no worries.
The garlic shrimp was served with the shells and legs on, when I asked if this was correct I was told that is how it is supposed to be. No other L&L I have been to serves them this way but hey… whatever, I can take a shell off. Except the shrimp had been so overcooked the meat was crunchy and I could not tell where shell ended and meat started. Again I figured whatever just eat it, once I got the shell off I found they had not removed the poop/​vein… No more whatevers… gross and lazy. If you are going to serve food do it right.
Looking around the dining room it is easy to see the place has not been moped or cleaned in months… years? The chairs have a foot of black filth on each of the legs, it looks like the grout lines are almost even with the tile because there is so much dirt in them. The bathroom was just as disgusting.
Never again.

I love this L&L! The food is always consistent and delicious and I know it’s consistent because I order the same thing every time — the mini BBQ chicken plate. The mini plate comes with one scoop of rice, one scoop of mac salad, and then the meat. The regular size plate comes with an additional scoop of rice. OMG, the mac salad is to DIE for!!! I am not sure why I even bother ordering an entrée when I should really just be ordering a gallon of mac salad! Yes, it is THAT good! There are a lot of different options to order on the menu and a lot of fun sides. We usually also get the spam musubi and lumpia. The lumpia are long and super skinny, but still pretty good. There are a couple different meats to choose from to have in your musubi. They now have kimchee and pork buns too. There is an option to make the combo plates healthier with veggies or brown rice. But if you are trying to get a beach bod, you probably shouldn’t be here.
This is the only L&L location I have been to so far in my life. I have tried other similar style Hawaiian BBQ fast food places, but they are always hella greasy and leave you feeling sick to your stomach. This L&L doesn’t make the food too greasy and I never get sick of it! I will get L&L cravings, even if it is for the SAME thing every time! We have been coming here for about 5 years now and I haven’t had a bad experience yet. Sometimes there is a long wait for your food, but that just means they are cooking it fresh, right? ;)

If you are craving rice and meat, a little cheap Mac salad and veggies that aren’t soggy this is your place! They are a tad slowww but they do seem to always be busy. not sure which comes first though.lol. They are willing to do substitutes which I like (no rice, no mac salad extra veggies? No problem) I do contest the calories listed on each food item, fyi.

So keep in mind that like the LL food chain. I’ve ordered pickup before. I’m here now but called 3 times and no one picked the phone. I walked in and called again to see what happens, they just let it go to voicemail. It wasn’t even busy.
Service is not great. They need a manager that cares. The service is similar to going to a cheap motel, don’t expect too much and don’t bring someone you care about to this one. Definitely go to a different LL location if it’s your first time, because the food is pretty good and service is decent at other locations.

Every time I have a craving for Hawaiian BBQ this is the spot I resort to every time. The food is consistent and I actually like that. This L&L is located in between Wendy’s and Fry’s electronics. When you walk in, you obviously smell the amazing food and see the giant menu: WITH:pictures ;-) score. There’s something about their macaroni salad that is just to die for. I always order an extra side because I am a tubby like that.
The food is cooked when ordered and they are pretty accommodating when it comes to special requests. Generally it takes 10 – 15 mins for your food to finish. They have the basic sauces at the front for you to get while you wait. The only downside to this location is the seating. No matter how many times I come in, the seats are always sticky. The food though makes up for it though.