This is going to be a “one off” post. You’ll soon see why.
I was in the Poway area recently and was looking for an early lunch. I thought about checking out the new location of HFS, but it was just not poke weather, and I had already tried out Pho Tan in that strip mall. I recalled that there was a “Hawaiian BBQ” place in the mall near North Park Produce, so I parked and took a look. And yes, the place is named Ipo Hawaiian BBQ.
It was on one of those rainy days and I was just wanting a loco moco so I walked on in.
Hmmm…..looking at the menu…
Teriyaki – Garlic Shrimp…….Pineapple-Orange Chicken….Tornado Potato? Fresh Coconut? Seems like what someone “thinks” food “back home” is like?
Anyway, I ordered the Loco Moco, $18.55 from the nice young lady. She kindly gave me a cup for water. Taking a look at the cup, well, it was interesting….
And then looking at the condiments……
No Tabasco….but LKK Soy Sauce…no Aloha Shoyu or even Kikkoman!
And then the loco moco.
It just didn’t look right, that really tarry-dark-black gravy.
The best item on the plate was the mac salad, which still needed salt and had too much mayo.
Still, it was edible.
The rice had furikake sprinkled on it, a plus; but it was cold and on the chewy end of the scale.
That gravy was super thick and had a weird bitter-sweet flavor.
Even worse was the burger patty, just look at it.
While decently seasoned, it was almost burnt, super chewy, and dry.
At least the eggs looked fine, until you actually put that fork into it. It was over cooked and had that “fishiness” that I don’t care for.
There were a couple of stray eggshells in there for (not-so) good measure.
You know, I hate wasting food; but between that gravy, the leather-like burger, fishy-overdone eggs….well, I just couldn’t bring myself to finish this.
There’s a part of me that feels bad about doing this post and perhaps if Ipo was closer to home I’d give it another try. But doing a 45 mile round trip and spending about twenty bucks it’s just not worth it to me. Though perhaps “FOY” SD Julie might have a recommendation for what to get here? Or perhaps one of you out there might know what I should try?
Funny thing; if I recall correctly, “Ipo” means something like “sweetheart” in Hawaiian…based on this loco moco……
Ipo Hawaiian BBQ
12370 Poway Rd.
Poway, CA 92064
Current Hours:
Daily 1030am – 830pm
So, here's the score using the 
STUFFS: While eating, I noticed a gluey component under the eggs. Not a fun texture and quite bland. Looking over the menu; I guess they also include sausage gravy with this? Overkill in my opinion. 1.0
Not sure about the Pico de Gallo as a side….funny, at first glance I thought it was Lomi Salmon! Four rather slices of Port Sausage; based on the texture and taste, I'm thinking this seemed like Redondo's? I'm fully "team Purity", but this was fine. Two scoops rice and two easy over eggs completed the set. The scoops of rice seemed on the smallish side; but I can't put it away like I used to, so this was fine. The rice was perfectly cooked and the eggs nice and runny.
This was interesting. The katsu had been sliced lengthwise and were as long as my fork. Rather unwieldy to eat.
The katsu sauce was very "local", being ketchup based, tangy and perhaps on the sweeter side of the scale. The mac salad was quite "local" tasting as well, having a touch of vinegar and some shredded carrots. The macaroni was nicely cooked, but unevenly coated. This was probably my favorite item on the plate.
One big minus was no mac salad, which I kinda liked on my previous visit. One big plus; they have Tabasco! Tabasco sauce has been the condiment I've used for loco mocos since small kid time!
This was a bit different than what we'd had before. The baechu kimchi didn't taster fermented this time around; though the Eomuk Bokkeum, the fishcake panchan had a bit of spice and sour tones and was much better. The heukmi bap was on the mushy side.
The cayenne did bring some decent heat to the dish, but I also did the "typical" loco moco move…..I added a touch of Tabasco; the acidity-spice bumped things up even more. Old "loco" habits die hard I guess?
The hamburger patty was quite lean and chewy, but the beefiness did come thru and completed the dish well.
As I figured it was typical "LA Kalbi" – flanken/cross cut ribs. First thing I hit up was the mac salad. It was quite plain , with a few strands of carrots. It needed some salt and pepper and was kind of "watery" as the mayo hadn't really coated the macaroni well.
At most places, the chicken would be tenderized to an even thickness, but this was not, thus some bites were pretty thick and tough.
On this visit, it seemed like the gentleman who I believe is the owner was working the kitchen, so I was interested to see how my food would turn out. The first good sign was the mac salad, which while still in need of more salt and pepper was evenly coated and the mayo not runny like on my last visit.
Yep, it's a Loco Moco ($12)….well make that a "loco moco" with those quotation marks. First off, it's topped with bacon, which ain't a bad thing…since of course there are some good locos that have fried rice with stuffs like Portuguese Sausage…..the bacon was a tad overcooked, but heck, at least it was crisp. The item that really threw me off was the slices of toast. This was a new one for me. Which led me to send a 
It had been over 2 years since I'd last 
So, how was this? First off, the rice isn't as well coated as before, though it still has a decent spiciness and some nice chunks of Portuguese Sausage. The burger has always been lean and without filler, which makes it nice and beefy if a bit more chewy than others.
This was interesting; the gravy was mushroom based and not terrible. The egg was over-cooked; I don't think the short drive back to the office was an issue though.
The skin wasn't too bad, a bit beyond the crispness I enjoy, but not bad. The flesh was really tough and chewy….I'm thinking that this was made way ahead of time and then dumped into the deep fryer. It was also pretty darn salty so the sawsawan wasn't needed.
