I saw the new location of Homestyle Hawaiian back in April. But I just kind of took my time heading on over. These days, I need to space out those plate lunch visits....especially since Homestyle Hawaiian's portion sizes were usually pretty generous. Plus, I'd been visiting HH since beginning at the Mesa College Branch, back in September of 2009. Since then, I've done a ton of posts on HH and had visited their other locations in Chula Vista and Midway. So, not anticipating a very different menu, I just took my time until last month.
I liked the interior; very local kine "gastro-pub-ish". There are about 20 pulls; with everything from Cal Creamin, to Kona Brewing....to Bud Light. Things seemed a bit confused as I didn't quite know what the drill was while waiting for a table. It seems at first the young lady was going to take my order....so perhaps this was fast-casual? But when I said this was for "here"....I was directed to a table. I saw this happen a couple of more times during my two visits.
I really enjoy a "chicken cutlet" when I'm back home. In local terms; katsu comes with local kine (usually ketchup based) katsu sauce, while cutlet means topped with gravy. Try that here in San Diego and you'll get blank stares. I did want to add a bit of gravy to my diet, so I went with the "Make your own Loco Moco" with Chicken Katsu as my base. The gravy a bit gluey, but went well (with some Tabasco...you can take the boy off the island, but....you know) with the nicely fried katsu. The egg was a bit over cooked. There was at least a scoop of rice under the proteins to go with what was topped with furikake. The rice was decent. The item that surprised me the most was the mac salad. I'd never been a fan of HH's mac salad, but it seems to have gotten better over the years. Today it was nicely chilled and decently salted and not overdressed with mayo.
The young lady who served me was very nice, if a bit disorganized and "spacy".....she brought me my plate and then forgot my utensils having to bring me some, same with the Tabasco. Still, this was a nice enough meal.
So I returned with my coworkers Daniel and Calvin. Same really nice young lady, same forgetfulness. She almost brought us another table's food. Then Daniel's Lava Chicken arrived without any "sauce" on it.
I got the combination Korean Chicken and Katsu with (of course) gravy on it.
The Katsu was bit over fried this time around and on the dry side......thank goodness for the gravy which was nicely flavored. That Korean Chicken wasn't quite as good as I recalled; fairly low on flavor, a bit over fried with some burnt bits and on the dry side.
Perhaps they are still settling in, but things seem to be a hit and miss. I'll return in a couple of months to check back in. The location is prime for this type of concept, even with Island Style Café nearby.
Homestyle Hawaiian Pub & Eatery
10601 Tierrasanta Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92124
Hours:
Monday 5pm - 9pm
Tues - Sat 1130am - 9pm
Closed Sunday
I have to visit that location again. I like how they have a bigger menu than the original location.
Posted by: Soo @ hungryones | Thursday, 06 October 2016 at 09:23 AM
I look forward to your post Soo!
Posted by: Kirk | Thursday, 06 October 2016 at 08:47 PM