L&L Hawaiian Barbecue

I ordered the Chicken Katsu plate and Loco Moco mini. Not that much food, but still six people that ordered after me received their food before me. So I went up and asked how much longer my food would take. The worker said that she dropped my food so they were making me a new one. I don’t care that she dropped it, she could’ve at least let me know why I was waiting so long. She could’ve offered something to make up for her mistake, but their service sucks. I should’ve complained and got my money back, but I was hungry and pregnant. I took off 4 stars in total because the amount of food was disappointing. The other L&L’s I’ve been too give nice full scoops of rice and macaroni salad. Also they don’t give you the Katsu sauce. They have none at all! What the hell?! Here it’s so wack. Service even more wack. Never again am I going here.

All I can say is I should have listened to the other reviews. I’m pregnant and got the craving for some really yummy Kahlua pork and cabbage. I asked for no macaroni salad. I don’t like it. The young woman on the phone said ok no problem. We will give you an extra scoop of rice. I ordered ANYOTHER side of rice for my son (his favorite food in the world) and a kids cheeseburger. Nothing is right. My extra side of rice is teeny tiny. There is macaroni salad with my FLAVORLESS food. And the KIDS cheeseburger had a mystery sauce on it. TO TOP THAT OFF. I call in to complain and tell them what they did wrong, the girl tells me well we are busy so… NOT AN EXCUSE. Then she ignores my phone call. Cool. I would rather drive all the way down to the Otay lakes location than have to deal with this place again.

I’ve been to dozens of L&L and this was an awful experience, had it been my first I probably would’ve never eaten L&Ls again. Service was awful. They took forever and the employees stood around talking to each other. When my food finally came out, it was a mess. There was hardly any lettuce, the meat was overcooked and all over the plate instead of neatly stacked like it usually is. The rice and macaroni salad was a jumbled mess. This location was completely sloppy and there were only 2 other customers there

If there was a possibility to click zero I would. The lady behind the counter was horrible and my food showed up with a fly in iT. I would never eat here. I know this is a chain. If I could talk to the owner I would to describe this visit. iT is obvious that the people hired cannot possibly be representing the brand this company would really approve of.

Worst L&L I have ever been to.
Got here an hour before they closed, ordered our meal, asked if we wanted it togo or to eat there… And hello, we were starving. The guy came up to us and said «we’re making your order togo because we’re about to close.» How professional. It’s not like it’s gonna take us over an hour to eat.
Also, the first thing you smell is the BLEECH AND CHEMICALS! It is horrible. It is also not the cleanest. The «water» is a different color. It’s not even clear. Ew.
Another thing… It’s 45 degrees outside and we had to sit outside to eat our meal because «she had to clean the tables» when it’s not even closing time yet. Nice nice nice

Terrible service. These guys look overwhelmed and incompetent. Have had multiple orders screwed up and despite my good nature to give them another chance they have failed miserably. Stay away from the Chicken Katsu (over cooked) and the BBQ mix plate too (way too fatty). Your better off hitting Jersey Mikes right next door instead.

Gotta start with I’m no newcomer to L&L’s. Been coming for years, to several different locations. Not consistently but there was many a day during college where a regular plate of Chicken Katsu would last me three meals. That was what L&L’s was about — the portions and the Chicken Katsu.
This location got those two things right… and that was about it. Definitely wasn’t feeling the atmosphere, and some of the prices seem a bit higher. After getting the food, the macaroni salad was bland. I mean, I couldn’t tell the difference in flavoring between the white rice and the macaroni salad. If anything the macaroni salad just made me sad because it tasted the same but had to be nutritionally worse than the rice.
It might be just this location but L&L’s has fallen. And this is coming from a guy who still enjoys Jack In A Box tacos. If I was given their Katsu I would eat to my hearts content and remember the good ol’ poor college student days. Beyond that however, nothing else from this location would bring me back.

I’ve eaten at a few L&L locations in L.A. county so I knew what I was getting when I came here while working in San Diego recently.
I was running a campaign nearby so for lunch, I decided I’d just walk over and grab a bite. Like all the other stores I’ve been to previously, the dining area is small with just a few tables and chairs in front of the ordering counter. I always thought they served large portions on their combinations so it was cool that I saw they had smaller sizes called «minis» here where you get one scoop of white rice and macaroni salad in addition to your protein of choice.
I usually get the barbecue chicken or the chicken katsu but I thought I’d try to cut down on the fatty oils so just had the barbecue chicken. The chicken was okay, not all that flavorful so it’s a good thing they have the teriyaki and Sriracha sauce on the condiment table to knock the flavor factor up a bit.
I always think the plates here are kind of pricey for what you get but I’m usually satisfied with whatever I order so it’s all good. The staff is friendly enough and when I noticed that my mini order seemed to only come with a ½ scoop of rice instead of the one scoop as advertised, after pointing this out, they were nice to get my an extra scoop.
In terms of fast food, this place beats eating at Burger King located a few yards away so check it out if you’re in the area.

My friend and I got chicken katsu and what they served was not chicken! My friend said it tasted like rabbit and I agree even though we both don’t know what that tastes like. Lml. We were dissapointed

The food here is not nearly as good as locations in la Jolla and point Loma. Got the macaroni salad and it was very bad. We’re pretty disappointed with this location. I’d recommend other places if you want good Hawaiian food made by actual Hawaiians.

So I’m sitting here as I write this. I would to start off by saying I used to work here 10 years ago. The sign that says, «Thank you for your gratuity» I made that.
As I walk in no greeting. Cashier is not welcoming. Mahi tastes like it has no seasoning. TV is playing. Where is the aloha music?
Now halfway through my meal and cashier is mopping the floor. So as I take another bite of my mahi I smell bleach and Clorox. That is appetizing –_​_​_​_​_​_​–
I’m ashamed of what this place has become. Service sucks. Employees suck. Management sucks. Now food sucks.
No reason to go here. I hope the sweetwater location (original location in sd) still has the islander vibe.
Go to Leilani’s café instead!!!

I can usually tolerate that the mainland L&L’s are not going to be as good as their Hawaiian locations (exceptions to Rudy and his ohana at the L&L in El Cajon).
But this L&L is a downright disgrace. The area in the dining room is dirty and dark. My order for BBQ chicken was greasy tasting… How do you guys even do that? And the grease tasted like old grease for that matter. My kids Chicken Katsu was fried too long, making it really crispy and almost burnt. Not sure if it’s bcuz they use thin chicken cutlets for the Katsu or if the fryer was too hot and just sucked away the moisture.
Either way, this place doesn’t deserve the name L&L Hawaiian BBQ. Sorry, but scoops of rice and Mac salad don’t equate to a proper «Plate Lunch» if the meat portion sucks. The franchise owners should really look into retraining the staff and bring back that Aloha spirit and flavor we go there for.
You managed to make my Hawaiian dining experience from «ONO» to «Oh-​NO!»
“I mua, ho’o pono pono” go forward and do things right.

The fat peeled off of my bbq chicken like slime. The cashier was unable to process my coupon on the back of my Von’s receipt for a free mini bbq chicken plate with the purchase of an entrée. I will not be visiting this location again.

I try not to go here but when I did, earlier today. I ordered a mix bbq plate Togo. As soon as I got home, hungry and ready to eat. I found a fly underneath all the bbq… This totally ruined my dinner and I’m definitely not coming back

I’ve been to at least 2 other L&L’s and this location is by far the worst.
The atmosphere inside the restaurant itself is pretty ghetto. It’s cramped inside yet they have room for a fish tank (not the cleanest I’ve seen either). So if enough of the tables are occupied you may be sitting next to the fish.
My recent visit to this location will be my last ever to this location — and my food was to go. I hadn’t had kahlua pork in a while and was craving it so my order was kahlua no cabbage regular plate. I hadn’t even finished paying the guy and my food was already brought out. The first thing that came to my head was confusion — How could they possibly have had my order ready that fast? It didn’t take long to figure out that my order was probably just sitting there for a while just waiting for some idiot to order what someone else probably ordered a while ago and never picked up.
I was hungry enough though. I took it home and opened it up and tried the kahlua. Pretty much the most flavorless kahlua pork I’ve ever had. At least the rice still tasted like rice.
Won’t be back

Definitely a little ghetto in here and I thought it was a little pricey until I saw the portions. I came here with my brother for the first time and he loves this place. I thought the food was just alright. I got the bbq beef and he ordered the chicken katsu. Also this place has Pepsi and not Coca Cola instant star loss. The rice and macaroni salad were bland. The BBQ beef meat was a little fatty and the chicken katsu tasted like KFC chicken. Reggae music was playing so that was pretty fun

This place is just a little ghetto and expensive. The portions are large but very pricey. Everytime we come here, which has been twice, there are super ghetto people here, the tables are sticky. Just gross. The «gentleman» at the table next to us was on the phone with someone talking about how his girl likes to let Chargers players «cream in her». All while she, and I, and others are sitting right there and can hear this vulgar conversation take place. And that wasn’t the worst of that conversation. The workers should have told him to take that outside… or home for that matter.
On to the food… the katsu is good as well as the spam masubi. I love the spam masubi. The bbq plate was not very good.

Looking forward to Hawaiian food so I Made sure to order quite a lot of food! I ordered the half-​and-​half plate with chicken teriyaki and Kalua pig with a side of spam musubi.
I split the play with my husband and I am still full! The portions are generous.
Chicken teriyaki was moist however the Kalua pig was watered-​down literally. It had good flavor but was soaking in water on my plate.
Spam musubi was awesome! All three of my kids ate it up.
Of course one of my kids had to use the restroom and the sign says no public restroom however I was a customer and my little son needed to use the bathroom… That’s annoying.

2.5 stars. As far as Hawaiian BBQ places go L&L is OK. Among L&L chains this one was slightly better than ok. Above average. Very small «dining room», most people are gonna take their food to go (so call slightly ahead). Almost had a problem redeeming my 10% check in offer. The employee said I needed to bring a print out next time because she «wasn’t aware» of these offers? But after hacking the register for about a minute 10% dropped off so I’ll give it to her for resolving the problem, because as we all know they can’t tell you NO in any restaurant. And this comes from working in a restaurant.
As far as the chicken katsu I was craving for some reason it was pretty good. Nice piece of chicken breaded and fried almost just right. I say almost because they can never cook it «just how I like it». Maybe I’m a fatass but one container of katsu sauce is never enough. The macaroni salad was OK, slightly better in taste than grocery store variety so maybe they just have a good grocery store variety. It also seemed like they were out of more than a few items. There was a sign saying they don’t have mahi mahi because of a shortage. I have mahi mahi in my freezer, you’re telling me I can get it but you can’t? And then you replace it with swai? And maybe I just overlooked it somehow but I didn’t see fried spam sticks!
I can think of a few other ways to spend $ 10+(with drink) but sometimes I just have a craving for chicken katsu you know? And since my favorite place in IB closed down L&L is there for my fix. Definitely not as good as a «mom and pop» place but it’s readily available.

This is the place to go for an island quickie… it also comes in mini size which is still quite pleasurable ;)
This place has been around for a long time… and the reason is clear. Its quick island food, reasonably priced, and tastes fresh/​delish at the same time.
Ordered the mini BBQ chicken. This plate comes with two heaping slabs of chicken, one scoop of rice, and one scoop of mac salad. With tax it is about $ 6.45. This is the perfect size to fill your appetite. If you eat a lot, the larger size is a bit more and will satisfy that beastly cravings no problem. Otherwise, I recommend the mini for a perfect portioned meal.
Chicken is usually always a little «fatty» in certain areas, and they do leave some skin on the chicken… but it is easy to cut into with a knife, pretty tender, and tasty. Extra condiments like soy sauce, terriyaki, and hot sauce are on the bar. The rice is perfectly cooked, and the mac salad has the right amount of mayo. Its a staple here. The chicken is bedded on a nice portion of cut up cabbage which goes very well with the meal… of course if you don’t want to eat it. just leave it there to soak up the oil and let it remind you a little bit of the island with some greens :)
Definitely a place to visit if you want some quick island food. They have other favorites like beef, ahi, shrimp, loco moco, mixed plates, etc. Cheers!