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| - I was driving around my neighborhood when I Yelp'd Hawaiian food and Makai popped up. Saw the location and didn't recognize it on the map due to the fact that I drive by there 4x or more a week and didn't know about it blew me away. Regardless of having heard about it or not the reviews were fairly good on Yelp though there were only 10, I had to give it a go! (After talking to one of the three owners who are brothers I learned they opened only 3 days prior to my visit, pretty amazing reviews considering how long it has been in business).
I walked in and it wasn't very busy but there were a handful of people eating in. Walked up to the counter and right away and was greeted by a friendly guy with a big smile. I asked, "so how does this work?" Meaning, how do I order? After explaining I pretty much choose the amount of meat I want and I get 1-2 sides along with rice (base). I ordered the Ono'est= Large: chicken katsu (x2), pulehu steak, tossed salad with sweet onion vinaigrette and garlic edamame.
-Chicken katsu: crispy, hot/fresh, not greasy considering its deep fried.
-pulehu steak: tender, juicy, perfectly sweet and savory, real island bbq.
-tossed salad: fresh and crisp, tried it with glazed almonds and though I'm not sure if it is homemade it paired great and was delicious.
sweet onion vinaigrette: vibrant color, not too sweet. *there is also a creamy sesame dressing that sounded great too.
-garlic edamame: if you like garlic you will love this, edamame was still firm with a good crunch.
They also approached me instead of me asking, if I wanted to try the poke and of course I did. The two I tried were ahi (tuna), one had a creamy texture/flavor and the other was traditional. Flavors all poke lovers would enjoy!
*Try to go early to be sure you get your hands on some.
Words to describe my experience here:
Fresh, authentic, savor, Aloha, the bomb-dig-gity!
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