Kona Kitchen

Name: Kona Kitchen

Description on their web: a casual family dining experience where you’ll find a tempting array of Hawaiian and Japanese dishes prepared with the care of a home-cooked meal

Neighborhood: Maple Leaf

Address: 8501 Fifth Ave NE, Seattle WA

Packed?: It’s always busy, but it’s big by Seattle standards, so we’ve never had to wait. We’ve also never had issues with parking.

What we ate/drank: Kim Chee Fried Rice, Loco Moco, Dah Braddah Omelette(Portuguese sausage, jack cheese, green peppers, onions), Saimin, Hamburger Steak

Comments: They serve lunch and dinner at Kona Kitchen and even have a bar/lounge section for karaoke on Fridays and Saturdays, but we always come for breakfast. It’s the nearest thing to local Hawaiian meals you’ll find in Seattle.   We’re familiar with Hawaiian food and while I wouldn’t tell out of town visitors to go out of their way to eat breakfast here, it does hit the spot if you have a hankering for Hawaiian grindz.

I had to translate some of the menu jargon such as Ono, Keiki, Loco Moco, Broke da Mouth, Braddah for my wife when we first started coming here, but she’s now an expert. See below for translations.

Kona Kitchen also feels like a real Hawaiian place, very homey and relaxed. I get the feeling a lot of folks in the neighborhood frequent the place. We overheard a few of the customers say they eat there every morning! It’s also one of the few sit down diners in Maple Leaf that serves breakfast, so it’s always busy, especially on the weekends.

Like most Hawaiian places the portions are huge. Also, Hawaiian breakfasts consistently incorporate two of my all time favorite processed meats-spam and Portuguese sausage!  So my go-to is normally the Dah Braddah Omelette, my wife’s go-to is the Loco Moco and my daughters is Saimin. There is a lot of parking but be careful, the parking lot is all buss up.

One fun bit of inside info is that the place is owned by Yuji Okumoto, the actor who played Chozen in Karate Kid II.  He’s the one who kicked the Karate Kid’s ass.

Translation:

Ono – Delicious

Keiki – Kids

Loco Moco- hamburger patty on rice with gravy poured over it and a egg on top

Broke Da Mouth – Broke The Mouth, Ex. This Loco Moco soooo delicious it broke da mouth.

Da Braddah – The Brother

Grindz – Food

Buss up-Busted Up / Broken

If I never see you plenny long time, bumbai we go to Kona Kitchen. Dey got big kine kau kau.
Translation: If I haven’t seen you in awhile, let’s meet at Kona Kitchen later on. They have large portion meals.

Ratings (Scale 1-5)

Atmsophere: 3.5

Service: 5

Food/Drinks: 4.25

Bang for the Buck: 4

Overall: 4.25

Locals Only Rating: Locals “in the know” know about it

Server restaurant recommendation to visit in the future: Varsity Inn by our server(Lara?)

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