It been two months into Happy Wallet Adventures, and I have reviewed Monterey, Shanghai, Salt Lake City, and Boise. But for some reason I have not reviewed anything in Seattle. Over the holidays my parents came to visit. So I figured no better time than now to review some of my favorite spots in Seattle. Our first stop was Pac Island Grill.
Pac Island Grill
Pac Island Grill is a Hawaiian Barbecue restaurant in Federal Way, a suburb about 20-30 minutes outside of seattle. I first discovered this place through work. They had catered a lunch for us and the second I bit into their pulled pork I was in love. While Federal Way is a bit of a trek from where I live, the food is so good that we take out out of town guests to it while they are here.
Pac Island Grill is not subtle when it comes to the theme of its restaurant. You get bashed in the head with the Hawaii theme the minute you walk in.
Some may consider this over the top Hawaiian decor tacky, but honestly all that matters to me is the food. I don’t care if a restaurant is a literal hole in the wall (I am pretty sure I have eaten in a literal hole in the wall) so long as the food is good.
Pac Island Grill Food
Pac Island Grill is not really a place for vegetarians. Their Menu and dishes are extremely meat heavy and vegetarian options are limited. Pac Island Grill prides themselves in their flavors of their meats and marinades touting their award winning Kalua Pork. They offer more than just BBQ meats, if you are not feeling meat they also offer a lot of seafood options.
Every time I go to Pac Island Grill with my parents we order the Ohana Sampler Platter. The Platter has large portions of their Kalua Pork, Katsu Chicken, Loli Loli Chicken, and Potstickers.
Their menu states that this platter serves 2-3 people, but the four of us always eat a lot of food and have a significant amount of leftovers. As my wife is obsessed with Spam we ordered the Spam musubi.
While all of the food on this platter is amazing, my favorite is the Kalua Pork. Their slow smoked pork has a level of flavor that very few restaurants can match. Their pulled pork is by far the best pulled pork I ever had. It is sweet, smoky, and rich all at once and the meat just melts in your mouth. The Loli Loli BBQ chicken is probably the runner up on this plate. This chicken is covered with a sweet sauce similar to a teriyaki, yet different enough to set it apart from teriyaki chicken.
Price
The entrees at Pac Island Grill are extremely reasonably priced for the area. They run between $9-$15 a person and provide you with more than enough food to overeat and still have leftovers. The Ohana Platter we ordered was $31.95 and the spam musubi was $5.95. This came to about $9.50/person before tax and tip. This is an incredible value because we took home enough food for probably another 2 meals.
Overall
I have been to many Hawaiian restaurants in the Seattle area and Pac Island Grill is by far my favorite. The flavors they cook into their meat are out of this world and cannot be matched by many other restaurants. They provide massive portions for a reasonable price and are a must try if you find yourselves in the Seattle Suburbs.