Ohana Hawaiian BBQ

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Location
825 Russell Blvd. #20A, at University Mall
Hours
Sat -Wed 11:30am - Midnight
Thu & Fri 11:30am - 1:00 AM
Phone
(530) 750-1888
Website
[WWW]http://www.ohanabbqcorp.com/
Established
October 2007
Payment Methods
Cash, Credit Cards, Other
Menus
[WWW]Ohana BBQ Menu

Ohana Hawaiian BBQ is a Hawaiian barbecue restaurant which replaced Teriyaki Express at the University Mall.

Ohana offers a "combo plate" which consists of a choice of meat (BBQ chicken, chicken katsu, BBQ beef and so forth) with rice and macaroni salad for $6.50. They also offer smaller "supa bowls" which contain less meat, rice and mixed veggies for $4.50.

In terms of drinks, they offer a variety of fruit smoothies.

Comments:

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2007-10-30 02:09:28   A thoroughly disappointing non-option for vegetarians, unless smoothies count as a meal for you. —AlexMandel

2007-10-30 08:47:37   Their chicken katsu is pretty good, and you get a lot of meat. But, the average price of most meals including tax reaches $7.00 flat. I guess this isn't too pricey on its own, but it's not cheap. —JustinBaker

2007-10-30 10:32:57   They have one by my house in Monterey Park and it's usually packed at lunch time. I love their volcano chicken. —CarlosOverstreet

2007-10-30 15:18:47   The food is so-so, and there seems to be a problem with flies buzzing around the place. —MichaelMurray

2007-10-30 17:23:05   Volcano chicken is amazing. I found it throughly enjoyable and better than Teriyaki Express —EmilyTung

2007-11-01 23:51:01   Just tried the volcano chicken from the Davis location yesterday. Maybe it was because there was a long line, but it seemed like I had smaller portions than at other locations and the volcano sauce was cold and came in a seperate cup that I had to pour on the chicken. At other locations, they pour warm sauce over the chicken katsu. I'll try another plate before I decide to pass judgement. —CarlosOverstreet

2007-11-04 09:56:45   i wish they had the "mini-meals".. other hawaiian bbq places offer smaller portions of the meals for about half the price.. i can usually never finish a full meal and would get the mini meal.. but they dont offer it =/ —shawtee

2007-11-04 21:26:15   The food is pretty good. Go with three other people and get the family meal for 25 dollars. It's a whole lot of food for the price. —TamDo

2007-11-07 12:26:01   dude this place blows ass man bring back the teriyaki express dawg ohana is ass garbge t-rex for life smoke weed —ohanadildos

2007-11-07 13:35:43   This place sucks! I hope I can hold down the food long enough to add my comment. All I had was some deep fried, nasty, breaded, meat-like substance with a sickeningly sweet sauce. The steamed rice was easily the best part of the meal. Never again! —CraigP

2007-11-07 14:53:07   Ordered the chicken katsu because it was recommended to me by a friend. I threw it out after a couple pieces...and I'm not even picky! It was greasy, fatty, and made me feel ill. I normally don't post negative comments about restaurants because I know everyone has different tastes, but eating here made me nauseated for the rest of the day. It was SO terrible. Just so horrendously terrible. Oh! and since when do hawaiians forego veggies?? Macaroni salad, rice and fried chicken??—even KFC offers you a corn on the cob option! —JillWeinstein

2007-11-08 15:47:39   I agree with Jill this place blows n shady as well. Dman chicken karage is nasty. Also there's this tall guy made a smoothie and when he put it on the counter he spilled the whole thing,not ONLY THAT, he scope the smoothie back into the cup, and then stalled for a while. and pour it back into the blender and blend it and gave it back to my friend. he thought we didn't see, but we just pretend not to see n see wat that guy would do.... man, and their food are just mediocre as well, n its hella expensive

2007-11-08 16:19:08   Initially I had high hopes for Ohana BBQ coming to town. I thought that it would at least have more variety than Terriyaki Express. But I was completely disspointed with their food and their service. At least at Terriyaki Express before, they had nice managers that were friendly, even though their food didn't have that much variety. But Ohana BBQ has variety, but all of the food is the same. It's dry, some of my beef was burnt. I thought that there was at least some sort of vegetables inside, but all i got was some macroni salad. After eating a few bites, i couldn't take it anymore. Everything was just meat meat and more meat. And the meat wasn't very good either. I'd rather go to the korean restaurant downtown, at least their meat has some sort of flavor and it's not so dry. I miss Terriyaki Express...Ohana is another example of a big franchise company that has taken away the smaller owner restaurant atmosphere and serves food so mechanical and so tasteless. In reference to the last guy's comment about that tall shady guy working there, i can attest to what happened. I too saw him spill the smoothie all over the counter, and then used his bare hands to swipe the smoothie back into the cup. He hesitated and stood there staring off into space wondering what he should do, and then he decided to give that away to a customer. How much does a smoothie cost? he did it front of everyone. That's so nasty!! I think this happened like the first day or 2 they opened. —sarahnewman

2007-11-08 17:30:16   not terrible but pretty close. The food was not tasty at all. The pound of food bowls are basically a pound of rice. And when i went there was about 50 flies in the room. Teryaki express never seemed to have such a fly problem. Just plain nasty. —MattHh

2007-11-11 12:10:07   Contrary to most, I like Ohana so far. I order the Kalua Pork and its good. Prices could be lower, but usually Hawaiian food places are on the higher end. We just wish they had Teriyaki Chicken on the menu. On a funny side note, when we went there for the first time my boyfriend asked if they had Kalua Pork and the worker said, "No . . but we have Kalua Pig." —MissL

2007-11-11 13:29:45   i wish they had vegetarian options!! —JessicaRockwell

2007-11-16 13:00:44   I was pretty disappointed with this place, however, this was the first time I had hawaiian bbq. I might just not like the type of food entirely. —GregMediati

2007-11-18 00:54:06   Eating here is a nice alternative to eating food at the Old Teahouse. BUT, I think it's safe to say that alot of people are just not as satisfied with this place as they were with Teriyaki Express (the previous tenant). Just think about this: For $7 you can get a plate of bbq chicken with no sauce, two small scoops of rice and macaroni salad with Ohana; For $5.25 you used to get a plate of bbq chicken with a lot of tasty sauce, a serving of rice equivalent to two full sized rice bowls, a salad and an orange wedge with Teriyaki Express. —PatrickSing

2007-11-18 00:54:54   Oh and I also forgot to mention: Now you wait 5-10 minutes to get your food with Ohana; used to be you waited 1-2 minutes to get your food with Teriyaki Express. —PatrickSing

Why you even comparing dis wit Teriyaki Express??? Dis NOT japanese food. It's Hawaiian! Get it straight! A 5-10 minute wait is noting, especially wen you stay getting freshly made stuff! - BT

2007-11-18 11:15:31   pretty lame excuse for a hawaiian bbq place. its probably the worst ohanas i ever ate at. L&Ls should have moved in instead. —DonaldJaye

2007-11-18 11:23:50   Let me tell you, my supervisor bought me lunch here and I got MONSTROUSLY ILL! It may have been because of the bulk production (we catered) or something else, but I got major food poisoning! BEWARE! —ArianeMetz

2007-11-18 13:25:41   Seriously bland food. There was a lot of it but it did cost 7 bucks so I would expect it to. The macaroni salad was a pleasant surprise at first but then the sauce turned out to pretty much just be some mayo. The thing that really sealed it for me is that I am getting my "for here" meal in a Styrofoam box. One of my favorite parts of TE was that it was a fast food place that gave you your meal in a real bowl that was washed, not thrown away. It really annoys me when people waste pointlessly like this. If the food was amazing maybe I would change my mind but it didn't impress so I doubt I will ever come back here. —CraigFergus

2007-11-18 21:06:18   craigfergus,

EVERY hawaiian bbq place serves their meal like that. —DonaldJaye

2007-11-18 21:12:34   I prefer L&L but it is far away- there is one in Fairfield and one in Sacramento. —KenichiSan

2007-11-19 13:40:49   Horrible. Do not order BBQ Chicken - it's a stringy gristly mess. —TamBell

2007-11-19 17:37:49   Their food is so-so. Shady looking place, but then again, some of the shadiest places in the world have wonderful food... This Ohana location lacks flavor. The BBQ Chicken is scantly marinated and the macaronni salad has less flavor than the rice. 3 out of 5 stars. —CarlosOverstreet

2007-11-20 17:27:53   Ono Teriyaki is waaay better (check my profile for more info!) —ArianeMetz

2007-11-26 22:04:35   No offense to those veggie diet people, but what does "BBQ" entail? If you go to a place that has that as a store title, expect MEAT. Not all places offer a veggie menu. People that expect a veggie menu to be offered at a "BBQ" should go to a fast food place. The food isn't bad, but I'm not a big fan of hawiian food myself because the first time I had some, I had a violent stomach ache and I've never had a liking for hawaiian food since.

The place is new and is doing alot of renovations and getting better as the weeks go by, its getting better bit by bit.

However, if you expect a high class place, you are mistaken as well. Flies will be a problem anywhere because of rain and the cold weather. If you don't believe me, leave open your front door for 30 minutes to an hour and your home will be invested in flies. The place isn't high class, but you've got to admit: get your money's worth even though if you don't like so much meat in a meal.

Just don't go into the new place with high expectations and you're expectations will be met. Shiet, what do you expect when its main competition is Old TeaHouse? —Wamisu

2007-11-26 23:59:26   I went in a few weeks after they opened. I was the only one in there, yet they screwed up a very simple order, and were incredibly confused when I brought it to their attention. I'd ordered the pork bbq dish with gravy, and a fish taco. I got no gravy on my pork, and fried prawns. It took some time to convince the owner/manager of what I'd ordered, even with the receipt. Once he understood the problem, he bitched out the cooks in what sounded like Vietnamese. Food-wise, the pork was dry and flavorless, and all they offered for substitute gravy was some generic teriyaki sauce. The fish taco was terrible - an overly breaded piece of very pungent mystery fish crammed into a dry corn tortilla with some kind of sickeningly sweet "tartar" sauce and some cabbage. This place has potential, but it'll be a long long time before I'll try it again. —ChrisLambertus

2007-12-02 21:29:27   I found that the shrimp taco was decent and I liked the BBQ chicken. For the price it was not half bad —DonGibson

2007-12-08 17:17:45   I'm seriously laughing at all the people complaining about a lack of vegetarian options at a Hawaiian BBQ place. Only in Davis. —SeatonTsai

2007-12-09 02:14:45   This place was terrible. The prices very expensive. I ordered the Hawaiian Roast Pork Combo. The Macaroni salad was warm and had too much mayo. The pork was mushy, greasy, and nasty. Most of what they gave me were huge fat globules which I had to discard — every bite tasted like lard. My friend had the bbq chicken, and it tasted better. I'd avoid this place unless you're very curious or unless you want to shorten your lifespan by a few years. Go to OT next door if you want a rice dish. —CalvinV

2007-12-18 14:39:31   The food isn't bad and the portions are huge. Volcano chicken is by far the best dish. —CameronTracy

2007-12-18 21:40:16   I don't understand why you can't accept greasy and lard-ridden food for what it is. This is a much better replacement than Teriyaki Express (that stuff was seriously sketch) and really hits the spot when you're drunk/high and looking for something nice and fatty. And those of you who think L&L is better than this place is ridiculous. I've eaten both at L&L, Ohana, and Ono and all three restaurants taste the same. —EmilyTung

2007-12-18 22:54:27   all you guys who stay looking fo vegetarian food ... GO SOMEPLACE ELSE! Local kine grindz (fo us island boys) NO MO VEGETABLES! Dis place stay as authentic as you can be fo being ontop da mainland. If you guys no can handle one plate lunch - 2 scoops rice, MEAT, an one scoop mac salad, no even tink of coming to Hawai`i fo visit. You not goin appreciate da culture dea anyways. Fo all of you guys who like da grindz, come ova an try da REAL TING! I know, some of you guys goin say, "Ho, no listen to Tenn cuz he no can even talk good english" but at least I stay from da islands an know wat local kine food supposed fo taste like. You guys from da mainland have no clue! Ohana folks, tanks fo coming hea! Yo curry katsu is real ONO! Tanks fo bringing a small piece of home to us local boys up hea on da mainland. —BrandonTenn

2008-01-22 17:47:09   Alex, Why would you go to a BBQ place expecting it to be vegetarian-friendly? Your logic doesn't make sense. —BrandonMinow

2008-02-23 10:41:30   I like the food but the service lacks. One time I asked for a shake, but the forgot to make it. So i had to wait longer than usual. —Johnkenny

2008-02-26 12:26:05   I accidentally ordered the "Hawaiian BBQ Pork" thinking it was kalua pork. The pork meat was good, but the sauce wasn't that great (I thought it was gravy until I took a closer look at the menu online, later). After I ordered, I noticed a sagging poster away from the counter that advertised a "Laulau Combo"...that's what I would've ordered had I seen it (next time!). Aside from the Hawaiian kalua pork and laulau items, the menu here is probably best described as "multicultural diner foods of Hawaii." —DukeMcAdow

2008-03-04 17:04:47   I enjoy many of the menu items, and I think they are worth it. The staff is polite as well. —AnnaF

2008-03-14 00:00:00   Went here a few days ago and was completely disappointed. I got the BBQ Chicken, fried shrimp and Mahi Mahi combo (#2). It tasted alright, but half my chicken was skin. The others...eh...your typical fish'n'chips kinda food.—ClaytonRehmus

2008-03-16 19:12:59   The only I like here so far was the chicken katsu. The overall food is greasy. I would only eat here if i had to. —AlexN

2008-05-03 17:28:50   I think the foods pretty good and fills you up, but it is expensive relative to bay area prices. If there's a long line expect to wait a while for your order, there's usually only one or two chefs at a given time. —Noobster123

2008-05-10 23:21:09   Theres a bunch of these around the bay area, I find that this location is about the same. Its great when I dont have cash for teahouse, and they accept cards. The prices arent outragously overpriced, but arent cheap either. The bowls are cheaper than the katsu plates, a bit smaller but it still fills me up when Im looking for a quick bite. —JimL

2008-05-22 00:46:33   i tend to eat here every now and then because of the lack of food in my apartment and the convenience of its location. hawaiian bbq is over priced, fatty, greasy, and sloppily done. It's a shame. Teriyaki express or whatever the old place was, was excellent. Cheap prices and pretty good grubb. Overall, this place is probably one of the worst places to eat in davis. not worth it. make the extra trip for some quality food. —film

2008-05-29 12:49:54   I like the food here and the fact that they stay open pretty late. One time they "ran out of fries" but yet wouldn't refund my money when I asked for money back (I paid for the fries). They ended up giving me like half the price of the fries back, which was pretty shady. Otherwise, I eat here all the time. —Loccster

2008-06-01 21:25:31   The service pisses me off. I go in there, order my food. The group of people behind me orders their food, and talks to the cashier in what i presume to be cantonese or something. Then the group of people all got their food before me, and I end up waiting for 40 minutes.

This happened to me 4 times (yeah I counted), but I still continue to go there, I dont know why. —jchau87

2008-06-10 15:06:19   Good food. The people who work there are nice, also...but you have to wonder about their service sometimes. They took my money, gave me the receipt, and forgot to place my order with the kitchen a few months ago. Not the most business friendly lapse in judgment to make. —sososharp

2008-07-10 15:36:15   horrid food!!! the only thing i liked was the white rice. I got bbq chicken first time i went there. it was a thin piece of greasy chicken, flavorless macaroni salad and a ton of rice. wth? i vowed never to go there again. but i did go, i was hungry that day and i decided to order something different thinking that maybe i just didnt order the right thing first time there. i got "seafood". it was shrimp and some other fried fish. but tell me, where was the fish at? it was like giant breading hiding tiny tiny pieces of shrimp and fish w/ a bunch of oil. its not completely bad i guess if ur starving, but the teryaki place that used to be there was better and a lot faster. food is very flavorless at ohana's.

i hope i dont get real hungry again and go for a 3rd try. i'm such a sucker. —KimberlyMiller

2008-07-30 14:50:54   It's not gourmet, but it is authentic. We just got back from a vacation on the Big Island, where we fell in love with cheap/fast plate lunch places (eat like a local, I say), so we thought we'd give Ohana a try back in Davis. In both format and taste, this is right on the mark, although their gravy & sauces could be better. And you get a lot of food for the price. My husband and I could easily have split a plate. For the real deal, skip the soda fountain and go for the Hawaiian sodas in the refrigerator. Lilikoi and Lychee! Yum! —CynthiaCCC

2008-09-11 11:11:00   Now I'm the type of guy that enjoys some fatty food once in a while. I would order the Guadalupe burger with chili cheese fries at Carl Jrs, which is in my opinion one of the most fat-filled fast food restaurant there is. But after eating their Chicken Katsu, I even feel nauseous. The first few pecies tasted delicious because of the breaded part on the outside and the creamy, lean meat on the inside. After those few peices, you will no longer be flavored-shock to the nasty fat and its texture just under the bread. Ooh, it's texture is a horrible experience. I imagine the fat layer is thicker than the breaded part. I threw away the rest of the food. I'm having migraines right after eating Chicken Katsu, and I'm never going to order that again.

But this place isn't without its good food. Try the volcano chicken combo or the loco moco bowl. Volcano chicken is like the spicy version of Chicken Katsu, and either there is less fat, or you don't notice it as much because of its good sauce. As for Loco Moco, I prefer the loco moco bowl for $4.50 over the $7 combo. You'll get the sunny-side up egg, steak, vegetables and deliciously steamed rice underneath. With the combo, half of the takeout box (they serve their combos like this whether or not you order dine-in) is filled with steamed rice and a sorry-excuse for vegetables. The vegetable side for Loco Moco combo is refrigerated macaroni that is coated with a thick layer of mayo sauce.

On another note, their steam rice is the best rice I have ever tasted from any restaurant. Someone mentioned they were speaking in another language to each other. A few of the cashiers and the manager were speaking Mandarin, and I believe they brought a little of their rice cooking tradition into the mix. —WengFF

2008-09-25 07:19:52   Bring back teriyaki express. I got the mahi-mahi, was super hungry, and the first bites tasted so good. About the 4th bite or so, I just starting tasting salt. It even overpowered the natural "fishiness" taste of the mahi-mahi. I was extremely hungry, but couldn't even finish my plate; it was like munching a paste form of soy sauce. —DCWine

2008-10-12 10:31:59   Fried meat with rice, so healthy. —feichu-huya

2008-10-24 09:51:19   I miss Teriyaki Express too! The food here is just too greasy and fatty for me. I also loved the steamed vegetables at Teriyaki that you could get place of rice. Does anyone know why they didn't reopen at a different location? —LokiAbbi

2008-11-15 13:33:00   This is obviously not a gourmet or health-conscious restaurant, but if you are very hungry and are not overly concerned about your waist measurement it is a great place to go. The dollar:food ratio is excellent. The Hawaiian Barbeque combo is especially good. Since the portions are fairly large, I often eat half there and have the remaining half for dinner. —Xenophon

2008-11-15 17:52:41   I came here a while back with some friends. I don't remember what my friends got but I had ordered the bbq mix combo. I have to say that it was actually good. I, of course, regretted it for many reasons, but not for taste. The chicken had a slight greasy taste, but was perfectly cooked and juicy. The bbq beef was quite saucy (just the way I like it) and the bbq ribs were ever so tender. Now its not the best bbq I've had but I thought it was quite decent for the price. Since I don't actually know what "Hawaiian bbq" is supposed to be like, I assume this is it. Of course, though, it is a bbq joint, so the food is gonna be quite unhealthy and not at all make you feeling like you're doing your body good. I sorta wish they had options for the type of bbq they used for everything instead of using the same one for everything. The only two complaints that I had were that it seemed to take well over 25 minutes to get my food (I'm assuming that's because they cooked it fresh, but somehow I don't think so) and the macaroni salad thing was super wet, not at all saucy like mac salad should be. Otherwise, if you just need a quick bbq fix, this is the place to go. If you're looking for a better idea of bbq, drive to Woodland and check out Ludy's. —SunjeetBaadkar

2008-12-07 13:40:10   Despite the mixed reviews, our group of six friends needed a place to eat that was within walking distance and decided to forge ahead and try Ohana for the first time. We followed the advice of reviewer EmilyTung and got drunk beforehand (this was by far, the most useful recommendation of the comment section). We got the Volcano Chicken x2, Spam Mocho Chocha, Shrimp Taco, and Gravy Chicken with an egg. Here were the results: 2 people puked up their meals during the night (Spam + Shrimp Taco), 1 person pooped 4x times in the next 8 hours, 1 person felt constipated 12 hours later, and 2 people felt full of greasy food and gross but generally okay 12 hours later. Consensus opinion was that this vomit-inducing, digestive system-screwing, not-worth-the-money-even-though-it's-gotta-be-the-cheapest-food-by-weight-in-Davis-ing restaurant will not be visited again. —DavisResident

2009-01-26 23:13:16   if you have little money and don't want to spend a lot on a meal then STILL DON'T GO HERE. just eat your money. it's probably less likely to make you feel sick then the shit they serve. —film

2009-02-11 16:22:29   My apartment is really close to the U Mall so I come here a lot. The BBQ chicken is quite good. Can't say anything about the wait or the customer service because I usually call in and order before I walk over. It's always done after the 7 minute walk. I've never gotten sick after eating here, either. My housemates and a lot of my friends like it here, too. —fszeto

2009-02-23 13:02:34   Way too greasy for my tastes. —LokiAbbi

2009-03-10 13:07:13   prices are too expensive....nice people...manager has bad hygiene....geez —foxylee

2009-05-01 13:10:39   that cashier name michelle gives good services... —foxylee

2009-05-04 16:44:21   The prices are a little high. I had to wait a long time, probably more than 15 minutes, for my order. The food is yummy. I like their BBQ mix. —thtly

2009-06-11 02:22:35   i like ohana cuz its delicious. it is the best. —timisgay

2009-06-22 18:23:02   the smoothies here are amazing —aro4474

2009-07-14 20:27:16   I got a really bad stomachache the first and only time I ate here...don't want to experience that again! —davisgirl10

2009-08-09 20:40:39   This is a great place to eat, the food is very tasty, especially their BBQ dishes. —IdealParadigm

2009-08-16 14:28:23   the food is meh, i find a lot of fat dangling on my meat than meat,if you look behind the cash register there is a big tub of MSG! msg is bad for people, yet that probably makes their food tasty. One of the cashiers seems to always be texting or making phone calls instead of working. —lajolla4joya

2009-08-20 14:28:23   I ordered my food, threw away the receipt as I headed out, and then I went home. After I saw Ohana forgot the sauce, I went back to get some. I repeatedly told the cashier what the situation was. It seems the cashier forgot my face from 5 minutes ago. When I finally got the sauce and went back home, my food was all cold and unappetizing. If this were to happen and I were the manager, my policy would be to give extra sauce on the house. It doesn't end there. The sauce was vomit worthy. —WengFF

2009-09-17 22:37:04   Wait, did I order the Salt with Chicken? I meant to order the Volcano Chicken. :( —Ansel

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