Heard that Island Loco was going to be at Four Peaks' Tasting Room in Tempe on the 3rd and the 5th, so I decided I'd take visiting family and Mom along for our first try of both businesses yesterday. (I've never had IL's products, but the food truck's offerings looked and sounded great, and the reviews have been pretty positive from a few Yelp friends that I know and trust.) For some reason, I was under the impression there would be authentic Hawaiian sweets on board, perhaps shave ice (nope) or malasadas (fryers were being repaired), so it was a disappointment not to find any. However, the food that we had were delicious, if not almost worth the pain I had to suffer soon after consumption! We quickly found theTasting Room via smartphone's Navigation, saw Island Loco's food truck parked in front, and parked at a nearby space (there are many). After ordering our food, we went into the Tasting Room (food would be brought to us), which was just a room with tables and a bar counter that faced a window that looked into the brewery's warehouse. FYI, tours of said warehouse ISN'T available at this location. While FP food isn't available, the manager was able to provide us paper plates and extra napkins to use, since the food truck only supplies the to-go containers in which the foods are placed and sealed plastic utensils, salt and pepper packets, and single napkin.
Between three adults and two children, we all were very satisfied with the three entrees ordered:
Kalbi short ribs platter, $11-- short ribs marinated in traditional Kalbi sauce, two scoops of hot rice, and choice of side (Hawaiian mac 'n cheese).
Fusion Sliders, three for $12 (or two for $9), choice of side and any combo of Kalua pork with lomi, Kalua pork with Asian slaw, and Chicken teriyaki with Asian slaw. I chose one of each, plus more Hawaiian mac 'n cheese.
Hawaiian burger with rice, fried egg (any style), and mac 'n cheese, with choice of brown gravy or another topping, which I've forgotten- sorry!
Everyone loved the Kalbi ribs! So much so, Mom asked me to order another one to-go. I found the meat to be too fatty, so I just trimmed the non-chewable gristle and put them aside. The flavor is exactly like Filipino pork BBQ (on a stick), so Filipino Yelpers will know exactly how these taste! :) The Hawaiian mac 'n cheese was light, yet flavorful, and the noodles were tender, but not mushy! I enjoyed this side very much, although I did notice too late that the dressing had very skinny and short ribbons of carrots (allergy), so it's one of those "enjoy now, and pay later!" deals for me. :( Mom said the rice was excellent-- she asked me to try it, but then remembered that I had an allergy. She said it was a pity, since the texture was very good!
I asked Mom to see if the slider I was looking at was chicken (I try to avoid corn and anything that eats corn as much as possible), and she said it was pork, so after asking her again if it was chicken teriyaki, she said, "no, it's pork," I tried it. Loved the texture, but it was definitely chicken. I knew the slider next to this one was Kalua pork since I could spot it beneath the Asian slaw, but the other one had chunky lomi (Hawaiian-style pico de gallo) and I couldn't see what was underneath it. (Obviously, I couldn't recall which slider came with the lomi topping, or I would not have to ask Mom to identify the meats...) I can't recall if sister enjoyed the pork with lomi, but I think she finished the meat portion. Everyone enjoyed the bites pork and the chicken we all passed around. My only complaint was that the buns felt like pieces of paper on my tongue at times. Y'know, as in when you sometimes take a bite of food wrapped in tissue and you get a chunk of paper stuck to the food? So there I was, picking off what felt like paper on the tip of my tongue, and it's actually a piece of the bun- weird! Otherwise, the buns had a mildly-sweet flavor to them and were tender. They complemented the fillings well. (However, I would wait until they chose another bun variety before ordering "slider" style again, because that paper texture was very annoying.)
Niece had the fried egg and brown gravy-topped burger patty over rice and choice side of Hawaiian mac 'n cheese to herself, and while she liked it, she preferred the Kalbi short ribs much more. This entree was basically a Loco Moco, but I think it was named so, because you could also choose Japanese curry topping.
Bring cash if you don't want to be charged a card fee. I think I was only charged one time, even though I had two transactions.