Hula's Chinese Bar-B-Q is a great restaurant to visit for an interesting meal. You get to build your own stir-fry, from the meats, tofu, and veggies to the sauces. You basically walk down a large buffet line and choose the items you want and the quantities for each. Once you have piled the food nice and high, you can make any combination of the ten sauces (including but not limited to soy, teriyaki, garlic, ginger, and the incredibly spicy "Mongolian Fire Oil"). They cook it for you on a large circular grill, which is a sort of art form to watch on a busy day. It is returned to you fully cooked and ready to eat.

They have many different choices for the stir-fry. The meats are beef, chicken, pork and lamb. Choose whichever you like, or any combination thereof. They also have tofu for those who don't want to partake in the meat. The veggie selection is huge and includes carrots, onions, squash, mushrooms, broccoli, sprouts, bell peppers, spinach, and more. They have thick Shanghai Noodles brought in from San Francisco, which are definitive to the Hula's experience. The meal comes with soup, rice and appetizers. Please note: if you are vegetarian and would like the grill cleaned prior to having your food cooked, just ask and they will be happy to take care of that for you although it does take a while and the line will build up.

Depending on what time of day you come, you may or may not be able to take your leftovers home with you. The lunches (served 11:00-4:00) are one single trip, but you get to keep as much as you can cram into the bowl. Many interesting stuffing and stacking strategies have been employed in order to get the most bang for one's buck. Dinner (served 4:00-closing) is a different story. It is all you can eat, but you are not able to take anything to go with you unless you get only one bowl. The strategy here may be more about making several different combinations throughout the evening rather than one gigantic concoction. Whatever time of day you go, the possibilities for meat, veggie and sauce combinations are nearly endless.

The lunch price applies to all take out orders (since you can't really take advantage of "all you can eat" when you aren't there to eat) and children 10 and under are half the adult price.

Comments

2008-08-26 21:14:35   Good, fresh food and friendly staff at the Esplanade location. —StellaChiara

2009-01-06 10:50:43   This is a great place to bring out of town friends and family. It's almost guaranteed to satisfy since if you don't like it, you've only got yourself to blame ;-) Among those that went with me the other night, their fat oriental "Shanghai" noodles seemed to be really popular. Their Kung Pao soup was only so-so but their rice was of good quality and quite sticky (just how it should be). Since many restaurants are closed Mondays, Hula's is a good way to fill the void. I recommend two scoops soy sauce, 1 scoop oyster sauce, 2-3 scoops Mongolian Fire Oil, and as much garlic and garlic sauce as you can stomach! —RyanMikulovsky

2009-06-23 14:10:10   While I love the Hula's experience and am always impressed with the cleanliness and great tasting fresh food, I cannot recommend the restaurant on 20th due to its poor service and less than hospitable management. I have been going to Hula’s since they opened over on Esplanade years ago. I usually have really enjoyed my meals, despite the raucously loud and cafeteria-style eating environment. However, when I brought my 93 year old grandmother in for a hula’s family party, the management on 20th street became indignant when I asked about a possible senior discount or allowing her a child’s-portion charge since she eats very small portions. He cited the fact “we don’t cater to seniors” and that if she wanted to eat at his establishment she has to pay like every other person. In addition, our server took punitive action and repeatedly needed to be flagged down from talking with other wait staff for the remainder of our stay. I was very disappointed and will not be returning to this location. I hope the Esplanade restaurant has hired more wisely than their counterpart. —70.130.68.76