Q: positive

A: Raku is great. There are some fantastic dishes, like their housemade tofu, their agedashi tofu (often run as a special, but pretty much has become a daily offering), the pork cheeks, the green tea soba, and their soy sauce! (I think I heard once that they make it themselves?) The only menu item I stay away from is the pickles-- I normally LOVE oshinko, but I don't really like the pickles at Raku because they're bland. There are only a couple drawbacks. First, the speed at which you get your food can be inconsistent. Last time I was there, we had to wait a good 45 minutes before we saw any food. Some times the food comes out very slowly, other times it's ok. Don't eat here if you're in a hurry-- we usually take a couple of hours for a meal. Second, this is not a place I would be able to eat very often simply because much of the food is very salty and fatty. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE salty and fatty, but a little goes a long way and it gets overwhelming at times. For this reason, I don't eat here more than once a month. Third, some of the grilled items are cooked inconsistently. The first time I ate at Raku I was BLOWN away by the beef tendon, which was very fatty and slightly gelatinous, but grilled and charred (so it was crispy and slightly bitter), and served with a sweet sauce. DELICIOUS. I've since ordered it several times, and it's never the same. The last time I ate their (a few days ago), I swear it didn't go anywhere near a grill, so it was just pure fat and it was gross. Nonetheless, this place is still one of my favorite restaurants I enjoy regularly! Very popular for locals in the restaurant biz.

Q: negative

A: I am not one who is stingy with my stars, but I am willing to give this place 1 star due to the fact that at least the food was edible (we did not get food poisoning) and the servers were nice enough even if there was a language barrier. We decided to try this place out coz there was a $50 gift cert deal from restaurants.com (must order $100 worth of food,there was 6 of us) and after reading yelp reviews from others(I should've listened to the negative ones, I AM open minded about reviews though, and I figured that the reason behind the negative reviews was because they were not Asian and they were just not used to Asian food, coz most of the reviews from asians said good things about the place, WELL I AM ASIAN and here is MAI review.) I really don't want to be a hater, but the dining public has to be WARNED. the whole dining experience to SUM it all up was DISAPPOINTING & the food was UNSAVORY, MSG filled and OVERPRICED. I went on an MSG induced coma after that dinner. Now i am going to give you our orders by the $$$ $9 minced pork lettuce wrap (way too salty with frozen veggies), $11fried calamari (very greasy and it was mostly batter little squid), $4 Vietnamese fried spring rolls (2 pcs of mediocre egg rolls) $9BBQ pork(bland no flavor, it wasn't what I wanted anyways, I asked the waitress if they were on skewers and she said yes and they weren't) $9 grilled pork meatball(5 tiny pieces with lettuce and limp noodles, mediocre at best) THATs just appetizers! For entrees we had $8 Pho Dac Biet (contrary to other reviews it was not good. The soup did not taste like real beef broth at all) $10 lemon grass steak (small pieces of beef with tons of overcooked veggies, green onions mostly, I did not see nor taste any lemon grass, too salty) $9 Singapore noodles (again wrong info from waitress, seems like she just answers yes to every question asked...hmmm) honestly I really did not understand the flavor of this dish, it was not good too. $19 sea bass with ginger sauce, the sauce was good, but the fish was not fresh, it was flaky & dry. $5 Tom yum gai soup bowl (supposed to be with shrimp instead of chicken, but language barrier once again) it was ok, nothing special, the chicken had a stench to it, my nose is really sensitive to that kind of stuff.) DRINKS $3 lychee juice(ok), $3 Thai lemonade (too sweet) DESSERT $6 mango with sticky rice (mangoes were sour, sticky rice & coconut sauce ok) Which leads us to a GRAND total of $153 including 18% gratuity & tax, less $50 gift cert we paid $103 out of pocket, divided between 5 adults, it was $20/person. Now don't get me wrong am not whining about the price nor did I say that the servers where rude, I just thought it was a huge RIP OFF and for the %18 tip we had to leave the service was at best mediocre (they should provide an interpreter) Needless to say I learned my lesson, sometimes what you think is a good DEAL might turn out to be a RIP OFF. Needless to say we are DEFINITELY NOT COMING BACK HERE & I HIGHLY DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE! Yelpers HEED my WARNING, am not giving this review because I was bitter, I just felt it my duty to inform the public. Thanks for reading.

Q: positive

A: Exactly what I expected. Nothing more, nothing less. The donut burger thing was a fun little desert. I would definitely eat there again if I were at Mandalay Bay, and wanted a burger. I wouldn't go too far out of my way for this particular burger. There are a ton of places to get a great burger in Vegas. This place is definitely in the top five.

Q: positive

A:
Ono! This is the real thing - fast food Hawaiian Style. When we were in Kona last December we had lunch at an L&L --- because we wanted local food and they were the busiest place we saw. Well, the menu is exactly the same at the north Phoenix location (they also have one in Mesa). It may not be the healthiest food, but it sure is good! L&L is in the Happy Valley Town Center shopping center (at Happy Valley Rd and I-17), across the parking lot from Lowe's. Note that the Aloha Kitchen in Mesa, Arizona is more of a Hawaiian style mom and pop corner restaurant than is L&L - if you prefer that.