Hawaiian Restaurant Near Me in Parkside: Little Aloha's Garlic Shrimp and Shave Ice

Little Aloha has no tables inside, closes at 7pm, and runs a kitchen where every dish on the menu is gluten-free. The takeout counter sits at 1115 Taraval Street, San Francisco, CA 94116, on the Parkside block between 21st and 22nd Avenues, and it opens Tuesday through Sunday from 11am. A full garlic shrimp plate costs $18 and a cup of shave ice is $7, so this is the Hawaiian restaurant near me that Parkside residents can reach on foot for lunch or an early dinner.

The L Taraval light rail runs straight down Taraval Street, and the Taraval and 22nd Avenue stop leaves you less than a block from the door. Muni runs the line from 5am to midnight every day, so getting here is easy from West Portal or the beach end of the line. Drivers face the usual Sunset hunt for curb space on the numbered avenues, and there is no lot, so plan on circling a few side streets.

Because the shop is takeout-only, the practical seating is the bench out front, which The Infatuation recommends for anyone who wants to eat shrimp while it is still crisp. Otherwise carry the bag to McCoppin Square for a picnic. Ordering ahead through the shop's Square page for pickup or delivery is the fastest way to skip standing around the small room, and that same page lists every item with its current price.

Owner Brian Lew grew up in San Francisco, and his family spent vacations in Hawaii for years. Each time he came home he missed shave ice and garlic shrimp, and nobody in the city made them the way he remembered. He told the Sunset Beacon that the whole motivation was to show the cool flavors of Hawaii in a food town that had somehow never embraced them, and he opened Little Aloha in March 2024.

His cooking training came from catering, not restaurant lines. For more than ten years Lew helped run food at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown, coming up with creative dishes to sell there every spring. Shave ice was the hardest thing to get right: he studied the machines used in Hawaii, how the ice should be stored, how thin each shaving should be, which cups to use, and whether San Francisco water froze differently.

Lincoln High School shaped the menu too. Teenagers from the campus started showing up at lunch, and that crowd inspired the half servings sold at half price. The other regulars are adults who treat Hawaii as their default vacation and want a taste of it between trips, which is exactly the customer Lew pictured. The website describes a cozy takeout-only shop with pre-packaged snacks sourced from favorite spots across the islands.

Every plate comes over rice with blanched seasoned cabbage. Garlic Shrimp uses peeled fried shrimp in a housemade garlic butter sauce at $10 for a half or $18 for a full. Hurricane Shrimp swaps the butter for house furikake, Kewpie mayo and green onions at the same prices. Shrimp + Sausage pairs the garlic shrimp with pineapple sausage, and The Infatuation says it is the smoky sausage that really sings.

The house spelling is "Moco Loco," ground beef patties over poached eggs with brown gravy, $9 for a half with one egg and $16 for a full with two. Furikake Chicken uses glazed thigh meat at the same two prices. For something lighter, tofu poke comes with spicy mayo, crispy onions and wakame salad. A sous vide poached egg can be added to anything for $1.50, and a side of extra garlic butter sauce costs the same.

Spam musubi starts at $4, built with a sweet soy glaze, house furikake, seasoned rice and seaweed, and The Infatuation's verdict was that it has no notes. Hurricane Tots cost $7 with furikake and arare rice crackers. Newer tot waffles press tater tots into a waffle and top them with kalua pork for $13, poke and pork for $14, or ahi tuna for $15. Hawaiian Sun cans are $3 and Kauai Kookies are $6.50.

Shave ice is $7 and is the reason the shop exists. The Sunset Beacon listed flavors such as lilikoi, lychee, watermelon, mango and coconut, plus house blends like Blue Hawaii, POG and Tigers Blood, with vanilla, ube or macadamia nut ice cream or adzuki beans packed inside. The Infatuation praised the super fine texture, rare in the city, and said they would eat one even on a foggy day out in the Avenues.

Malasadas come from Ocean Malasadas and are delivered fresh on Saturday mornings, in flavors that include haupia, ube, lilikoi, mango, Nutella and sweet cream at $4.75 each, or $4.50 for a plain traditional one. They are the only items in the shop that contain gluten, so they arrive prepackaged and stay at the front of the store, away from the kitchen. Come on a Saturday if you want the full selection on hand.

Lew built the half servings around the Lincoln High lunch crowd, so expect students at midday on school days; an afternoon stop pairs better with shave ice. The shop is closed every Monday. On a Monday, the plan B is Ono Hawaiian BBQ inside Lakeshore Plaza at 1501 Sloat Blvd, Suite A, which Google lists as open from 11am to 9pm that day and serves standard plate lunches with rice and macaroni salad.

An honest skip: do not order a full Hurricane Tots box as a side if you are eating alone with a full plate, because the furikake, arare and spicy mayo make it heavy and The Infatuation pegged it as a sharing snack. Order the half plate instead and spend the difference on shave ice. Party trays priced by the pound, from kalua pork at $17 to tuna poke at $37, need two days' notice.

Walk to the corner of 22nd Avenue, at 1200 Taraval, and you reach the Parkside Branch Library, which the Sunset Beacon notes was the first of eight Modern-style branches that the firm Appleton and Wolfard built for the city between 1951 and 1966. A 1950 photo published by the paper shows the building still under construction, a fun comparison to make from the sidewalk while you finish your shave ice. The L Taraval stop is right at the same corner for the ride home.

Little Aloha, 1115 Taraval Street, San Francisco, CA 94116, Parkside. Open Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 7pm, closed Monday. Takeout only, with a bench out front. Garlic shrimp $10 half or $18 full, Moco Loco $9 or $16, spam musubi from $4, shave ice $7. The kitchen is gluten-free; Saturday malasadas contain gluten. Pickup and delivery orders through the website.