Aloha Fridays

Not the best in Hawaiian cuisine, that’s for sure… I had the Loco Moco and sure it was OK — but what I can’t get over is how much they charge for their plates when you can go to L&L or Ono’s or Ohana’s for a bigger plate for a smaller chunk of change. And tastier too. I can’t completely knock them solely on price alone though. As we all know, food truck foods come at a price (something that’s always hard for me to digest).
As for my loco moco, the pattie was cooked A-​OK, as was the egg, but the gravy left something to be desired. Was a bit too salty for my taste, but then I needed that gravy or the meat would have been a little too dry (on the outside atleast). Their mac salad was good.
Wouldn’t come here again, but I do see it’s intrigue!

Not very tasty, the chicken tastes like it had been reheated and there was a lot of fat and there was no salad dressing on the salad. Not satisfied at all. Especially for $ 9. Hell no.

I’m assuming this is the same food truck I tried on Abbott Kinney a few weeks ago during first friday. The teriyaki was amazing. I tried the chicken and the beef. Way better than Hawaiian BBQ chains like L and L or Ono. The quality of the meat was surprisingly good… and they give you a lot of food for the price. The salad and macaroni salad that came with it were both really tasty. I wish they were on my street more often. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

I don’t know why this truck is listed as «CLOSED»… I just ate there tonight. I guess, from what others have written, the truck was sold. That would explain why the salad and mac salad were different. Tonight, the mac salad was decimated and flavorless. The kalua pork was still delicious, but they only had it with cabbage (to the extraordinary disappointment of my son). That means, as others have indicated, the food was pre-​prepared. They did indeed get the food out immediately, but apparently the cost for speed was a drop in quality.

I’ve been coming to this Food Truck for a while and was surprised that i hadn’t written a review for it.
i ordered the Teriyaki Chicken/​Beef Plate today (see picture) it was pretty good and filling.
i would recommend this food truck to anyone to try.

Aloha Fridays has been my go-​to for food trucks in Santa Monica for over a year. Their Chicken Teriyaki was amazing and perfectly cooked every time. Service was a tad slow, but it was made up for in the quality of the food.
The truck was sold earlier this year and is now under different ownership. Orders used to take a good while, but now they come out super quick. That is because most of your food is already pre-​made and will be sitting on the grill just simmering. It is kept there on heat until it is ready to be served.
As a result, chicken now comes out burnt, dried, and charred. They will drown it in Teriyaki Sauce to try to cover the taste. You will end up throwing out most of your food because it’s soggy from the amount of sauce they drown it in.
Prices were dropped for a while with the new owners, but now an order of burnt Chicken Teriyaki with sides will now cost you $ 9. No longer worth it.
Avoid this truck.

The Aloha Friday truck used to be my all time favorite. However, quality of food has dropped like a rock.
Yes it used to take long for food to come out because they cooked everything after the order was placed. Now, most of the food are precooked. One of my favorite items used to be their Kalua Pork and Cabbage. Since it’s now premade, the cabbage is soft and soggy. The beef patty on their Loco Moco used to be good size, now it has lost at least ¹⁄₃ of meat. It’s tiny. The Asian dude that used to man the cooktop scraped the surface after ~15 minutes of cooking to keep it clean. Now, it’s got so much buildup, it’s nasty and sticks to the chicken. Speaking of their teriyaki chicken. They’re now boiling it in water first to lower the cook time, but that really dries out the meat.
All their changes have definitely lowered wait time, but the quality of food is taking a huge hit. It will no longer be my go-​to trunk. Let me know if you’re making adjustments to improve food quality and I’ll return.

Let’s see… I tried this place during the food truck Friday’s in Granada Hills. It looks good, and I love Hawaiian food. It wasn’t busy so I placed an order for Loco Moco and SPAM Musubi. It took quite an eternity to get the food out… But when it did, I was happy and my wife and I were eating dinner on the sidewalk with my bro. Lots of food it was… It tasted great and all, and I finished the whole Loco Moco.
However, here’s the downhill… Whatever was in our Loco Moco is suspect to giving us food poisoning. It HAD TO BE the Loco Moco because that’s the only thing my wife and I shared… Her symptoms emerged Saturday morning, while mine took a while and emerged a day after. It was NOT something we ate at home either, definitely the Loco Moco from Aloha Fridays. It couldn’t be the lobster rolls or the Indian food we shared with our brother either that Friday night, as he ate the same thing and didn’t get sick. He didn’t have ANY of the Aloha Fridays food.
Tread lightly people… This is my 2^nd food poisoning from a Food Truck to count…

The food looks good in pictures. It even looks good when they hand it over to you. I ordered the Chicken Katsu and a spam musubi. I’m a huge fan of Hawaiian food, normally.
Let’s start with the Chicken Katsu. Price was fair. $ 8 for a plate, which includes white rice, green salad, macaroni salad and the Chicken katsu. Good portion for the katsu. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t bad. The «katsu» sauce was literally just ketchup with pepper flakes. Not a fan.
The rice is a little stickier than I’m used to (too much water).
The green salad looked like the type of salad you get from a bag (which is fancier than the normal iceberg lettuce with shave carrots, etc). I didn’t care for the salad.
The macaroni salad. Man, that’s one of the sides I usually love with my Hawaiian food. This mac salad was al dente. This is the first time I’ve ever had al dente pasta in my mac salad. The dressing for it was bland, and not at all the flavor that I expect from Hawaiian mac salad.
The spam musubi… well, I just can’t say I liked it at all. The seaweed wrapped around it was chewy, the rice was (as previously stated) too sticky, and the teriyaki sauce was too sweet.
If it wasn’t for the chicken katsu, I probably would have just given 1 star. I’m not sure I’d try this truck again. It makes me really sad, because I really wanted to like this truck.

If you read my previous review, I said this place is «would probably get a 5 for taste but it took 40 years for the orders to come out, which is not good for a food truck.»
Well, since it was good, I came back the next week and got food here again. Upon coming to the window, the guy asked if I was me, he who wrote the aforementioned «4 star but slow» review. I reaffirmed by review and he promised to get the food out faster this time, telling his crew to help me out.
I got the katsu plate which was huge and delicious as expected. They were out of spam masubi though.
In all honesty, this truck still takes a while to get food out, owing to the complexity of the food and the popularity of the truck, but the food is top notch and the team obviously cares about it’s work.

Tried this truck at Granada hills food truck meet and it was extremely underwhelming. First sign that it may have been bad was no one was in line for this truck. I ordered a lychee green tea (canned drink), musubi, and the chicken cutlet combo.
The drink wasn’t cold enough and the cutlet was dry. The musubi was alright not the best I’ve ever had. It was a little sweeter than what I’m used to. I know food from food truck is supposed to be pricey but the portions here were way small. It also took a while for my food considering no one else was in line or ordering from them.
I probably wouldn’t give this place a second chance.

Pretty bomb katsu! good size for $ 8. Mac salad is moist and tasty. They give you a spiced up ketchup too. The katsu is spicy in all the right areas.
Caught these peeps near Universal Studios… hope to find them next week!

Haha, it’s definitely been awhile since I’ve gotten Hawaiian cuisine and when I saw this truck I HAD to get it!
The menu is simple — 6 or 7 dishes ranging from teriyaki chicken or beef to spam musubi. I’ve tried both the teriyaki chicken and beef and I’ve been pleasantly surprised both times — not just by the quality, but the QUANTITY. GEEEZ do they give you a lot. They PILE on the meat and rice, with generous portions of salad and macaroni salad. Definitely plus 1000 bonus points for that. I can’t even finish my portion for lunch and it only costs $ 8!!!
As much as I really like this truck, it takes FOREVER to get your food if there’s a line. This place is NOT fast. The past two times I’ve been here, I’ve had to wait 30 – 45 minutes for my food. I wish I was exaggerating :(
Look, if there’s no line where this truck is — this is a must try! It’s good, greasy, Hawaiian cuisine that will last you a LONG time and it’s pretty darn cheap. But if there’s a line … you might want to either re-​think OR be willing to wait awhile for your food.
Other than that, I love this truck. Definitely gives me delicious lunch AND dinner :)

My cousin and I tried this truck last night during a windy night on food truck row in GH. I was anticipating a great meal from this truck after reading all the rave reviews about their Loco Moco. Unfortunately, our meal was not satisfying but rather disappointing. The dish comes with two meat patties and two eggs over rice with a side salad and macaroni salad.
We watched him flatten out the meat patties and fry them on the grill while the eggs were cooked over easy in a frying pan. The gravy was warmed in a pot that looked burnt and dried on the sides of the pot and did not look appetizing at all. Fortunately, we did not taste any of the burnt gravy on our meal. The patties were placed on a bed of cold rice and generously topped with gravy, and served with the two sides.
When we got home and started to dig in, one of the patties was cooked to perfection, but the other patty was still raw, pink, and cold inside. Coming from a food truck, I would expect the hamburger patty to be cooked well due to fear of salmonella. There wasn’t really anything desirable about the entire meal. The macaroni salad also lacked any flavor.

Way back when, the runny egg used to scare me… Too gloopy and messy. But then i started to realize how that runny yolk will take certain foods to another yummy level, especially against fried breading, or scooped up with some carbs…
The Loco Moco plate came with two heaps of hamburger patties in this delicious gravy over rice with fried egg that split open with glorious yolky goo. I havent’ had much loco moco in my life (too me moco means something entirely different– so i stayed clear many years) — but i can say that i really liked my plate which also came with a small side of green salad with sweet dressing and some mac salad. The mac salad i was hoping would be epic, cuz i LOVE mac salad, but this one was a little too black peppery for me. Dude reminded me of my handy dandy mac salad add on= SHOYU. Shoyu and mayo is a match made in the rising sun.
The guys who work the truck are friendly. Prices are reasonable. The plates can take awhile — i like how u can see the guys cooking your food through the window. Next time, i need my spam musubi fix.

2^nd Review — 5 Stars!
Trust me, this is the Best Loco Moco that I’ve personally had, better than L&L, etc. They make it fresh right in front of you — rolling up the patty by hand — frying it on the grill, getting all crispy brown — I ask for the gravy on the side so it doesn’t sog up the patty — over easy egg on top with a good helping of white rice. Damn! Even better with hot sauce! Cool your mouth off by eating the greens and macaroni salad. These fellas got it down! And they’re knowing my name which is cool, feeling like that bar Cheers you know what I’m sayin’. $ 7, $ 7.50 if using your card.
HOLLA!

I finally got to try their Mochiko chicken! I’ve tried ordering it twice and failed because they ran out. It was definitely worth the wait. A good portion of juicy chicken fried to perfection. What made it so delicious was the Mochiko (sweet rice flour) as an ingredient in the batter. They must’ve put some addictive chemicals in there because I kept eating it even though I was full.
Forget Loco Mocos! Mochiko chicken is my new favorite Hawaiian dish!

Even though we had already had dinner, when Kent D, Tuan C and I saw Aloha Fridays parked outside the Tiki No bar, we knew we wanted to try it!
The guys on the truck were SO nice, they even offered to bring our food inside the bar so we could sit inside and wait. That kind of service alone deserves 5 stars, in my book!
Then when we tried the food, giving them 5 stars was a no-​brainer:
Kalua Pork $ 7 — a generous serving of tender and perfectly seasoned pork, with cabbage, over rice. With a lightly dressed salad and macaroni salad on the side, this was a generous portion — and not overly salty like some Kalua Pork dishes I’ve tried.
Loco Moco $ 7 — OMG this was GREAT! A big, tender hamburger patty, topped with two fried eggs and a meaty-​rich brown gravy, over rice. Also served with lightly dressed salad and macaroni salad.
This carb-​rejector (of late) had a REALLY hard time staying away from the rice soaked in the Loco Moco gravy and the super yummy macaroni salad! Oh, evil carbs, how you taunt me: /​.
If I sum it all up:
1) awesome service
2) large portions
3) great tasting comfort food
4) value for your dollar
I’d say this makes Aloha Fridays one of THE BEST TRUCKS AROUND!

Aloha in the Hawaiian language means more than hello or goodbye; it means affection, peace, love, compassion, and mercy. I am grateful that this trucks lives up to their name.
This truck showed me compassion, mercy, and affection all at the times when I needed it the most.
My aunt just passed away a few days ago and I was feeling self destructive so I drank wayyyyyy too much. Stumbling back to my car I «stumbled» into this truck.
Minutes later I find myself hunched over their trashcan hurling my brains out. One of the main guys Ross was nice enough to see how I was and if I was doing okay.
Since I had just hurled all my organs out of my body I thought it best to eat something to help with the drunkenness. Ross and Armando suggested the Loco Moco and it was PERFECTION! A thick hamburger patty with 2 fried eggs and gravy on top of rice served piping hot with some macaroni salad. All i can say was it was the perfect remedy to the shittiness I was feeling. It made me feel human again.
You know you want it :)
Freudian much?

Lucky for me that Aloha Friday to set up shop on a Tuesday because I finally got the Loco Moco that another truck failed on.
And it was worth the wait. Don’t let the fact that they are a trailer pulled by an Econoline scare you off; this is a real gourmet vehicle by any means.
Aloha Friday is an authentic Hawai’ian truck with authentic plate lunches served by two authentic hawai’ian co-​owners. Ross the frontman and Armando the chef. Served in a plate with three compartments, the Loco Moco is a bed of white rice, two burger patties, brown gravy and a fried egg. Everything was perfect; the burgers were firm, the rice was soft, the gravy was thick and the egg was fried perfectly. if I was the cook, I would probably throe a little more brown gravy on there, but i always think that. Most of you would be pleased though.
The other two compartments are a big scoop of great macaroni salad, and a smaller green salad, with a rich Italian dressing. You can’t improve on it either.
it was $ 7.00 tax included and the Diet Coke was only a dollar more.
«Gourmet Food Truck #101 on my never-​ending quest to try every truck in So Cal»