This Beaverton L&L is the Honolulu-based chain’s only remaining outpost in Oregon, so here’s a chance to try barbecue beef bowls, garlic shrimp, and four types of musubi (Spam, barbecue chicken, chicken katsu, Portuguese sausage) without the wait. Delivery is available via UberEats or Postmates, and L&L offers some seating outside.

For a slight step up from L&L, diners can walk a block over to one of three Roxy’s located in an A-frame structure that looks like it could’ve been a former IHOP. The best bets are the garlic fried chicken or shoyu chicken — and even pre-COVID it was recommended to get food to-go due to limited seating. Order online for pickup.

Northwest Portland food cart Hapa Howie’s serves classic Hawaiian plate lunches, plus comforting dishes like loco moco, Kalua pig smoked with kiawe wood, Spam and eggs, and mac salad, of course. The cart even has a vegetarian-friendly tofu on offer, battered and fried in egg and dressed in sweet garlic or spicy barbecue sauce. Hapa Howie’s offers pickup or delivery through DoorDash.

This restaurant just south of downtown near John’s Landing has all the requisite Hawaiian trappings, but its big family-style combos like the Big Kahuna Platter and Karate King’s Feast make it a hit for at-home luaus. The fun-loving restaurant also serves mainstays like shoyu hot dogs with rice and eggs. Curbside pickup is available or use GrubHub, UberEats, or DoorDash for delivery.

This North Portland Hawaiian food outpost features chef Chris Cha’s wide menu of creations: avocado or tempura shrimp musubi with shoyu sauce, furikake garlic fries, and one-, two-, or three-meat plate lunch specials. There’s also seven different poke dishes to choose from, or you can build your own; it comes either Hawaiian style on rice or house style topped with shredded lettuce, pickles, tobiko, tamago, spicy mayo, and shoyu glaze. Order pick-up online via their website.

Named for the Hawaiian 808 area code, this casual counter-service restaurant with two eastside branches has most of the classics covered, as well as the Aina burger topped with crispy pork belly, spicy mayonnaise, and kimchi relish. Vegans looking for Hawaiian food will find a couple excellent options, from teriyaki grilled tofu (also available “spicy Korean-style”) to curry bowls. Diners can call to make to go orders or by using UberEats, DoorDash, Caviar, or Grubhub for pick-up or delivery; the restaurant is also open for dine-in.

The food cart at Gigantic Brewery specializes in plate lunches that include garlic furikake fries and saimin, a Hawaiian noodle soup complete with char siu and those jagged-edged pink-and-white swirled fish cakes (kamaboko). Order online for takeout, or order delivery through Uber Eats. For those located west of Portland, the Beaverton cafe has the same menu, and some tables set outside, but all the food is still packaged to-go.

Never mind that poke isn’t traditionally served on rice, raw fish makes a fitting star ingredient in the world’s current love affair with build-a-bowl meals. Chef Ian Hung trained under celebrated Hawaiian chef Alan Wong, and the fish is prepared the traditional way, pre-marinated — Hung gets creative with extras like runny-yolked sous-vide eggs and shichimi guacamole. This minimalist, fast-casual spot accepts online orders for pickup or use Postmates, Grubhub, Caviar, DoorDash, or UberEats for delivery. 

No-frills food truck Mgwalexs — inside an old trailer on Northeast Cully — serves bites like spam musubi and potstickers alongside pineapple chicken, two- and three-meat combo plates, burgers and gyros, and stand-out sides like a peppery and flavorful mac salad that’s garnered a cult following. They also import cans of Hawaiian Sun fruit drinks from the islands.

This casual cafe (with a branch in Milwaukie) has more combo plates than the competition, so it’s easy to sample three classics like teriyaki beef, kalua pork, and wild-caught garlic mahi mahi all at once, even if solo. Ohana also has a large selection of desserts, from an Okinawan purple sweet potato pie on a macadamia crust to a Kauai coffee creme brulee. This is one of the only Hawaiian restaurants in town that serves the island staple poi.

This Southeast 82nd food cart is serving tasty and satisfying Hawaiian dishes in the plate lunch category, delivering large portions of crowd-pleasers like tender guava chicken, crispy fried mochiko chicken, and juicy pork adobo. On occasion, lolani’s Plate Lunch also makes a mean version of lau lau, little parcels of pork and fish wrapped in steamed ti and luau leaves — it’s available as an add-on to a two-dish combo plate, for particularly hungry visitors.