I had a craving for some Chicken Katsu (which my husband calls glorified chicken nuggets) and Homestyle Hawaiian had been on my list for a while. Many months back, my family and I tried to go to the Mesa College Drive location one weekend afternoon. It was crowded and there was no seating (it’s a pretty small place) so we decided to go elsewhere on that day.
Today we chose to go to the Tierrasanta Blvd. location. It’s located in the Tierrasanta Town Center that has several other small restaurants and stores as well Smart & Final, RiteAid and AutoZone.
The interior is Hawaiian themed and they appear to have a large selection of beers on tap. There is more seating than the Mesa College Drive location.
Service was quick and my husband ordered some Kimchi (a bargain at only $2.00) and French Fries as appetizers.
For our mains, my husband wanted the “Saimin” which was the only soup that they had. Unfortunately they did not have it so he was kinda bummed out.
I ordered the Katsu Chicken and my son ordered the 2-Item Combo Plate with Teri Beef and Korean Chicken.
The Kimchi and fries came out fast. The fries were of the small steak fry variety and were hot, crispy and good. We all enjoyed them. My husband was the only one to take on the kimchi. He said it was quite spicy and good. However, it was hard to manage as it seemed to be almost just one giant piece. It could have used a bit of slicing up to make it more manageable.
I thought my Katsu Chicken was good. The chicken was juicy and the outside was crispy and flavorful. The Katsu sauce was a bit underwhelming though. They also only provided a small cup of it for a big stack of chicken.
The Teri Beef was tasty but like the Kimchi, could have benefited from being cut up a bit more. If you picked up one piece, you kinda picked up the whole pile. There was also a sauce on the plate (I think it was the Lava sauce) that my son didn’t like. I didn’t get a chance to try that but my husband did like it.
They clearly have more interesting items than what we chose on our visit. I think I’d revisit and try some of the other items like the Kalua Pig (listed as a popular item) or even a burger. I’ve had some really great burgers from Hawaiian places in the past.
One final oddity occurred with the bathroom. I decided to use it before we hit the road to go home. The door was locked so I started waiting. Minutes went by and my husband showed up and started waiting with me. Just as we started questioning whether we should just leave, one of the employees appeared and said that he thought the bathroom door must have locked itself again with no one inside. He used a steak knife to open the door and we were able to successfully use it before we left. An odd ending!