Q. Do I have to wear a Hula Skirt?
A. Of course, in order to get the full effect of our Hawaiian theme we do require Hula Skirts before entering. Fortunately we do have a couple "loaners" if you find yourself near but without your necessary attire (undergarments required with this option).
Q. Do you wear Hula Skirts?
A. Not any more, we’ve tried many things since taking over this establishment in July 2009 – one that didn’t work so well was the Hula Skirt on our staff. After one of our cooks making a flame broiled Salmon caught his skirt on fire we were required to discontinue this practice by the fire marshall (or was it L&I, or the Health Department, maybe our insurance agent?).
Q. What’s up with the "tude”?
A. Our philosophy here is that every customer is different but obviously came her for the same main purpose – To EAT. We’ll try to identify what kind of service each person is looking for, be it “coddling and hands on service” or “give me my food and leave me alone” – most often somewhere in between. This of course proves difficult to figure out so in general expect that our attitude is simply that “The customer is here to get great quality food at a very reasonable price, and most likely would have liked to have it 10 minutes ago”. Therefore when we’re busy or someone is waiting to be fed, it’s all hands on deck to accomplish this mission and we may not be very sociable until the mission is accomplished. To make this long story longer – people get grumpy when they’re hungry and we’re just trying to make the world a better place.
Q. Who’s behind this hubbub?
A. Short answer – Ron & Tanya Riordan, born and raised right here in Spokane, WA - call me ;) 509 688-9863.
Long Answer – From what we’ve been able to piece together the restaurant was started on Sprague Ave in the Spokane Valley around that terrifying time known as Y2K. Since we all lived, the power stayed on, and no one needed the hoarded cans of SPAM in their basements - another restaurant was soon established. This second one even further out in the Valley featured some type of Premium Ice Cream. Not sure of the time frame but both of these stores were closed and the one we all know and love was opened in the Wandermere Fred Meyer Shopping Center in early 2005. It was bought and sold a couple times and then shut down for good when we showed up to eat in April of 2009. Since we knew this place had a great product and the community would just not be the same, we pursued re-opening the restaurant and did so July 1, 2009.
Q. I liked the “old” Hula Hut Grill - Is the menu / are the ingredients the same?
A. This is a tough one, from what we have been told by our customers is that it’s “better than ever”. We did not receive any written recipes from the previous owners but did hire a manager who had previously ran the restaurant to get us started out. All of the cooking processes have been kept primarily the same. The recipes are also the same as far as we know. The only changes we’ve made are to improve quality and consistency. We are continually making every effort to buy more local products and be “green” as is the rage and right thing to do. The only real product changes have been to get better cuts of meat and use products without MSG and wheat when available. Our Teriyaki Sauce is MSG & Wheat FREE. We're now using ANGUS Beef, local Honey, and our primary food source is URM - a Spokane grown and based company.
Q. Do you still have the Hawaiian Ice Cream?
A. No, we use another great local company - Brain Freeze! We originally tried to find the "Hawaiian" ice cream that was carried here in the past but found that it was never really "Hawaiian" in our eyes. There are two different companies with the same name, the one offered here on the mainland, and a completely separate one in Hawaii. According to their wesite they are "not related to or affiliated in any manner with ... Hawaii".
Q. I've got some really great products and absolutely amazing services to sell you, how do we get in touch?
A. Send us an email with what you have in mind. If it looks like something we're interested in we'll call you back. Our philosophy here is pretty simple - Great things sell themselves, if it's going to cost more than it's going to make - probably not interested.
Q. Can you donate to our fundraiser, auction, community event, etc....?
A. We do occasionally donate to these type of events, unfortunately we cannot contribute to them all. We receive several requests every week for great causes but don't have the resources to make good on them all. Please email you requests.
Q. This looks like a really cool place to work, can I come and work there, I'll work for free just to be part of the team?
A. Well we do have to pay you as required by law but we do accept applications all the time. We have been very fortunate to have had very little turnover since we started in 2009. We see our team as a key ingredient and select very carefully those that will fit in with our other team members. Experience is not a major factor in our selection process. It's a great place to work and you can get an application here.
Our FAQ's our mostly factual but there's a little fun thrown in. We think you can figure out the difference.