Koa – Hawaiian Comfort Food on The Ave

*****NOTE: This review was done prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things will get back to normal soon and hope you will continue to support these local businesses****

Koa

Recommended by: We were having friends over for a visit and craving Hawaiian food. Since we were going to the University Farmer’s Market, we decided to head over to nearby Koa for take out.

Description on the Koa’s website: Hawaiian Food. Coffee + Food

Neighborhood/Type:  University District

Address: 4754 The Ave, Seattle, WA 98105

What we ate/drank:  Japanese-style curry (beef or veggies) with rice, kahlua pork and cabbage with rice, or Portuguese sausage & eggs with rice

Comments: We’re big fans of Hawaiian grub. It’s the ultimate comfort food for us. Seattle has a wide variety of Hawaiian food places from the upper scale, Ma’ono and Super Six, to the more relaxed casual places like Kona Kitchen and Kauai Family Restaurant.  Koa is even more “relaxed” and “casual”. It’s located on The Ave. That’s all you need to know.

Koa is actually in the old location of Morsel, which moved down the street to a brand new building. And the owner of Koa also happens to be the owner of Morsel, but that’s where the similarities end. The menus could not be more different. Where Morsel specializes in fancy biscuit sandwiches, Koa specializes in just three Hawaiian dishes.

• Japanese Style Curry
• Portuguese Sausage & Eggs
• Kahlua Pork

That’s it! When you only have three dishes, you can run lean and mean with the number of ingredients needed and you can really concentrate on those three.  Although they only have three dishes and it’s easy to try each one on it’s own, Koa allows you to split dishes. For example you can order half a plate of curry and half a plate of Kahlua Pork.

The Portuguese sausage and eggs is pretty basic. Can’t really screw that up. But still it’s nice to have a place to get it when you have a craving.

Kahlua Pork is also a simple dish, but it’s gotta be seasoned correctly. Koa’s has the perfect amount of salt and smoke and is tender and juicy. It’s topped on top a bed of shredded cabbage and rice.

Japanese style beef curry are normally thicker and a little sweeter than say Thai or Indian curries. Koa’s curry is indeed thick with beef and huge chunks of potato and carrot. This is the perfect dish for those cold PNW days.

When we first discovered Koa in the beginning of 2019, their prices were lower as you can see in the table below:

We really don’t have an issue with the higher prices for one reason.  Let’s talk about the portions. Take a look at the photos.  On this particular visit we bought three large portions and split it amongst 4 hungry adults and 2 kids.  We didn’t even make a dent. We had left overs for a few more nights. When you look at the portion size even with the price increase, it’s still a screaming deal.

Koa fits the bill for when our family has a hankering for Hawaiian food. They have 3 simple dishes that they do well, huge portions, quick service and guaranteed leftovers.

Ratings:

Atmosphere: 4.00

Service: 4.50

Food/Drinks: 4.25

Bang for the Buck: 4.75

Overall: 4.40

Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.

• • Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
  • Most locals know about it
  • Locals “in the know” know about it
  • Only those who live close by know about it.
  • You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!

Servers recommendations to visit in the future:   

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