Ohana Hawaiian BBQ - Santa Rosa

2150 Santa Rosa Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95401
(707) 571-8882
Parking: in shopping center parking lot

Last Visited: June 3, 2006

Food: 2 to 3 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Service: 3 stars
Price: $ to $$

Although Ohana Hawaiian BBQ is a chain restaurant, it’s unique for the area – at least until the Petaluma branch opens up. Think fast food style with a little longer wait.

When you enter Ohana, the friendly staff greet you with a loud ALOHA. The restaurant colors are warm and sunny with wall murals depicting Hawaiian settings and of course, a woman with a lei and a grass skirt. Hawaiian music fills the room.

The menu is displayed behind the counter and offers BBQ selections including authentic Plate Lunch (though they call it Lunch Plate to accommodate the mainland style of jargon) to burgers and fries. It appears that everything is made fresh considering the wait time. Our wait time for two dishes was about ten minutes – not so fast for fast food, but it tasted good. And, being an authentic Hawaiian fast food place, they offer Loco Moco and Spam Loco Moco too. Yes, SPAM.

- Grilled Short Ribs Combination Plate – Three short rib steaks are marinated and grilled and placed over raw shredded cabbage. It’s served with a scoop of macaroni salad and two scoops of steamed rice. The rice is a bit loose, and I prefer mine a touch stickier. Two of the short rib steaks were just right, while one had more tendons. The flavor was very good with a sweet tang to the meat. The macaroni salad is good when accompanying the other items on the plate but a bit too much mayonnaise if eaten on its own – accompanying the shredded cabbage balances it out. Good. A healthy portion for a good price. $6.75

- Grilled Spam Saimin – A hot bowl of soup containing ramen noodles and grilled spam rectangles. It really is fresh with piping hot soup. Good. $3.75

- Hawaiian Drink – choice of several Hawaiian Sun canned drinks from the refrigerator $1.25

The only room for improvement I would make is more environmentally friendly packaging – Whether dining in or out, everything comes in Styrofoam.

Ohana offers catering of many dishes too – perfect for a party. And there are also party packs available too. There are multiple locations in California, mostly through the East bay and LA area. Check it out for a flavor of Hawaii in Sonoma County.