Hawaiian Restaurant Near Me in Alhambra: Aloha Food Factory's Macadamia Nut Pancakes

Aloha Food Factory pours a secret cream sauce over its macadamia nut pancakes, and a small stack of two costs $8.99 at 2990 W Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91803, on the corner of Cabrillo Avenue. The kitchen is shut on Mondays, opens at 9am Tuesday to Thursday, and runs until 8pm on Friday and Saturday, the only two dinner nights of the week. Search Hawaiian restaurant near me from the western San Gabriel Valley and this snug shack beside the 710 is the home-style kalua pig option.

The current chapter belongs to co-owner Aaron Luong, who told the Alhambra Chamber's Around Alhambra paper in 2022 that he was making fried rice at age eight and cooked to get through college. Laid off early in the pandemic, he was approached by his friend James, who had tasted his cooking and saw the chance to take over Aloha Food Factory. In his words, they worked together with Betty to get the kitchen running again in August after it had closed that March.

That July, the Chamber chose Aloha Food Factory for its new Restaurant of the Week program, and the shop marked the week by giving away a free Spam musubi or macadamia nut pancake with any two-item breakfast or island plate. Google now lists the business as Asian-owned, and the restaurant describes its own food simply as traditional home-style Hawaiian cuisine, naming the macadamia nut pancakes and the kalua pig as what it is known for.

The Infatuation gave Aloha Food Factory an 8.1 and told readers to focus on the macadamia nut pancakes, sweet and fluffy under a cream topping the menu only calls a secret cream sauce. A large stack of three is $10.99. The same nutty treatment goes on French toast, at $8.99 for two slices or $10.99 for three, so a table of two can split one of each without anyone feeling left out.

Kalua pig is the savory signature, and the critic called it moist and cooked to perfection. On the current ordering menu it costs $9.25 as a side, $9.99 as a bowl over rice, and $15.50 for a full pound to take home. Lau lau, described on the house menu as fish and pork wrapped in taro leaves, is $10.99 a la carte, and a family order of two pieces is $20.99.

The plate lunch is built from a long list of entrees. One entree costs $13.99 and up, and two entrees cost $18.50 and up, each served with rice, vegetables and a scoop of mac-potato salad. Choices on the menu include teriyaki chicken, katsu chicken, spicy chicken, meatloaf, char shu, kalbi, braised beef short rib, Spam, Portuguese sausage and fried fish, and the printed menu offers gravy, teriyaki or sweet and sour as sauces.

Breakfast plates follow the same logic. A plate with one meat, two eggs and rice is $13.50 and up, and the combo with two meats is $17.50 and up, and the house menu says breakfast is served all day. The Infatuation recommended the plate with Portuguese sausage and wrote that it is what every child in Hawaii eats with family on a Sunday morning. Four pieces of Spam musubi are $5.99.

Smaller appetites have an easy route. Bowls of char siu, kalua pig, teriyaki beef, teriyaki chicken or vegetables are $9.99 each, and a scoop of mac salad is $2.50. Lomi salmon is $5.50, spicy garlic shrimp is $15.25 a la carte, and Hawaiian Sun drinks are $3.99. For dessert, Hawaiian shave ice starts at $5.99, and the printed menu also lists haupia, the homemade coconut pudding.

Fridays and Saturdays are the nights to come, since the kitchen stays open until 8pm and the dinner menu on the website adds stir-fried saimin with wontons, noodle plates and a seasonal saimin soup. The printed dinner menu also explains 'awa, the kava drink served for relaxation in Pacific Island ceremonies, along with an FDA caution, and invites diners to ask about a kama'aina menu. Fried rice, $13.50 and up, carries a warning to allow 15 minutes or more.

Skip the burger and fries section. The dinner menu's double-patty Volcano burger and the $8.99 chili cheese fries are there for picky eaters, but the reason to drive to this corner is the island cooking, and Ernie's Burgers sits right next door at 2970 W Valley Blvd if someone in your group insists. Ernie's also solves the Monday problem, since Aloha Food Factory is closed that day while Ernie's opens at 7am and serves until 8pm.

Carryout through the restaurant's own ordering page runs on a narrower window than the dining room, from 9:30am to 3pm Tuesday through Thursday and not at all Friday through Sunday. The owners posted on Google this month that online ordering through Menufy is live, so a weekday pickup order is the quickest way to get pancakes without waiting for a table. On weekends, plan to eat in.

The Infatuation described the restaurant as a little shack off the 710, and the official site points diners to the intersection of Cabrillo Avenue and Valley Boulevard. Without a car, Google Maps puts the Cal State LA station 1.5 miles away, about a 34-minute walk via Circle Drive and Westmont Drive. For anyone who cannot make the drive, the homepage notes that online orders can be set up for delivery as well as carryout.

If dinner on a Friday leaves room for more, walk 0.3 miles east along Valley Boulevard, about six minutes, to Hengry at 2718 W Valley Blvd, an Asian fusion restaurant with a 4.8 rating on Google that opens at 5pm and takes reservations. For a morning stroll, Granada Park at 2000 W Hellman Ave is a 1.5-mile, five-minute drive via S Fremont Ave, with an outdoor heated pool, tennis courts and ball fields, and it opens at 5am.

Aloha Food Factory, 2990 W Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91803, at Cabrillo Avenue. Closed Monday; Tuesday to Thursday 9am to 3:30pm; Friday and Saturday 8:30am to 8pm; Sunday 8:30am to 4pm. Macadamia nut pancakes $8.99 for two or $10.99 for three, one-entree plate lunch from $13.99, Spam musubi $5.99 for four, kalua pig bowl $9.99. Online ordering at alohafoodfactory.com, and catering requests go through the site's form.