Pac Island Grill: Food good enough to eat twice

I was once told the only way to tell the quality of a meal is by how good the leftovers taste.

And with the amount of food you get when you visit Pac Island Grill, you will have no problems filling both your belly and a to-go box.

This Federal Way restaurant prides itself in the volume as well as the quality of its Hawaiian-style barbecue. And it has the awards to back up its claim. In 2006 and 2007, Pac Island took home the Best Entree award at the Taste of Tacoma.

The menu: In 2005, Leianna Landon and her husband, David, paired with her sister and brother-in-law, Raeleen and Jim Smith, and a mix of Hawaiian food and Asian fusion found its way to a strip mall just blocks off I-5.

Traditional Hawaiian dishes are what they specialize in. The kalbi ribs (fire-broiled short ribs marinated in a teriyaki-barbecue sauce) was the 2006 Best Entree award winner, while the Loli Loli chicken (grilled barbecue chicken) and kalua pork (slow-smoked pulled pork sautéed with fresh cabbage) won in 2007.

What to write home about: The best deals come in the 13 Combo Pacs. You get a choice of two to three different meats; two scoops of rice; and macaroni salad or coleslaw.

Sound like a lot of food? It is. But 10 of the Combo Pacs come in a "mini" version — a smaller portion of meat and only one scoop of rice. The price of the combos runs between $9.79 and $15.49 for the regular size, $8.49 and $12.69 for the mini size. Everything else on the menu is less than $10.

The setting: An abundant collection of palm trees and wicker chairs are seen throughout. The only thing missing from making you feel like you're at a real luau is the sand and the ocean. On Friday and Saturday nights, they clear out a corner of the restaurant and bring in Hawaiian bands to play for the patrons.

Summing up: Three combos — the Big Island Deluxe ($14.49), Island Chicken Trio ($10.69) and K & K Combo ($10.69) — plus saimin noodles ($5.95), haupia pie ($2.85) and pineapple upside-down cake ($3.75) came to $48.42 and was enough to feed four people with plenty of leftovers to take home.

Jon Fisch: 206-464-8326 or jfisch@seattletimes.com