L & L Hawaiian BBQ

Out of pure hunger for “Hawaiian” food and something local, I have given L&L-San Mateo 3 opportunities to redeem themselves and after tonight, I will not be returning there again. I had requested the Garlic Shrimp meal and told the woman that I wanted white rice instead of brown, but keep everything the same. Instead of a green salad as advertised, she gives me macaroni. I was very displeased when I came home to see that the “healthy” Garlic Shrimp dish was fried with burnt garlic. San Mateo gets no stars from me.

I love the location in Millbrae – clearly different owners and very GENEROUS with the servings and offer exactly what you want and then some. Also, they don’t get frazzled when there are 2 customers. Seems to me that San Mateo needs to get MAJOR tips from Millbrae.

This is a fast food type of place with the usual Hawaiian fare (mix of japanese, chinese, korean) which basically serves “comfort food” with big helpings of starch and fried bits. It’s one of my favorite places and I think some of menu is very good ..and some items are on the “meh..” scale, so your milage may vary depending on what you order.

The chicken katsu has been my favorite for the last several years. It’s always been hot, crispy and juicy whenever I’ve ordered. It’s light on taste (salt, etc) otherwise but the dipping sauce is good.

Their macaroni salad seems to be made with a thicker and creamy (Japanese?) mayo so it’s more on the richer side.

The BBQ chicken musub still has it’s skin on, so it’s juicy. The marinade seems to be a ginger teriyaki sauce and it does tend get messy but that’s just the nature of the beast with it’s 2.5 inches of white rice, LOL!

They also have things like spam musubi, or the Loco Moco (hamburger patty, rice, brown gravy) that are “meh” for me. Not too tasty and you can make it yourself at home. The BBQ Korean ribs were ok, could have been better quality beef. Wasn’t really impressed with their fish plate.