L&L Hawaiian Barbecue Opens Pāhoa Location

Hawaiian Barbecue. PC: L&L Facebook page.

L&L Hawaiian Barbecue has arrived in Pāhoa.

The restaurant chain opened its 205th location at the new Puna Kai Shopping Center, located at 15-2714 Pāhoa Village Road in historic Pāhoa Town, on Wednesday, Aug. 12.

The 1,100 square foot restaurant provides takeout and accommodates 14 diners for eat-in service. It is adorned with distinctive local touches that are unique to Hawai‘i island and Pāhoa. In the expansive, 25-foot ceilinged space, ocean-colored metal chairs line surfboard-shaped tables carved of mango wood by Puna Gallery owner Amadeo Markoff. Turquoise accents punctuate L&L’s traditional red and yellow colors.

The Pāhoa restaurant is owned and operated by Greg Arcibal, who also owns an L&L restaurant in the First Insurance Center on Ward Avenue in Honolulu. The restaurant’s menu includes breakfast items that are exclusive to Arcibal’s two locations including power bowls, oatmeal, chia pudding, quinoa, traditional island breakfast with spam, pork sausage or corned beef hash, a breakfast sandwich, French toast, and pancakes.

Like all L&L franchises, the Pāhoa restaurant also serves L&L favorites such as Barbecue Chicken, Chicken Katsu, Kalua Pork with Cabbage, Loco Moco, and more entrée staples, all served with two scoops of rice and mac salad. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue’s sales have remained strong. The company opened six new restaurants this year in California and Arizona. Last month, it opened a location in Nanakuli, the first new franchise in Hawai‘i since 2018.

“We are so pleased to bring another L&L Hawaiian Barbecue location to Hawai‘i Island,” said L&L Hawai‘i CEO Elisia Flores. “As always, the Pāhoa store will serve our signature Hawaiian comfort food, and we will also focus on doing everything we can to ensure safety and convenience for our customers.”

Safety measures include a sneeze guard over the counter, on-going sanitation measures, correct PPE for employees, a hostess at the door to control the number of patrons, frequent sanitization of equipment and furniture, and floor markings to ensure six feet of distance between patrons.

The new restaurant will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.