Ray's Kiawe Broiled Chicken

We had just visited the Dole Plantation, and our next planned stop was to checkout this “word of mouth” BBQ chicken mobile that is similar along the same veins of the shrimp trucks. Be aware that there are 3 locations that this van goes to. This one that we went to is located in a gas station and is open on Tuesdays and Fridays. As a reference point if you are a tourist like me, this is located south of the Dole Plantation.

Ambiance & Service

Be warned that this is cash only. There is no seating, so this is purely a takeout place. We ended up buying food and ate off the hood and trunk of our car.

Food

The Plate ($10) came with half chicken, sauce, salad, and pineapple coleslaw. They unfortunately somehow ran out of rice that day, so they substituted salad. The way the chicken is flavored is very similar to Peruvian pollo a la brasa. The seasoning was a bit salty for me, so having that rice would’ve been lovely. The pineapple coleslaw was very watery and had similar flavors to KFC coleslaw. The sauce was decent. It was probably a mild soy sauce with some tartness to it. You don’t really need to dip the chicken into the sauce unless you want to change one salty flavor for another. The chicken was pretty tender, but it wasn’t mind blowing. For the price though, it definitely has its value.

Final Verdict

Ray’s is really a no frills BBQ chicken place that serves good chicken at a decent price. In my mind if you have your Peruvian pollo spots already, this is probably going to be comparable in what it is. I think the flavor of this did not leave a huge lasting impression.

Yelp Jabs

SO FRESH. SO DELICIOUS. They grill the chicken right in front of you and it’s such a quick meal.

I suppose this Elitist has never had “fresh” BBQ chicken before.

Yummy broiled chicken and about 20-30 min wait on a weekend at most

Many of the Yelp reviews say this is so good, but set your expectations that this is just chicken. In my opinion, it’s not worth a 20-30 minute wait in general, but since this is island food, I’ll let it slide.

Revisions

1. Apr 26, 2023 - Initial revision.