What: Ate-Oh-Ate
Where: 2454 E. Burnside St.
When: 11am - 9pm Daily, HH 4 - 6pm
Honeys Heart: $5 HH Mai Tai
Katie and I have been trying lots of new restaurants on our weekly dates, but we haven't made it out in time for happy hour in a while. So in the spirit of cheap dates and connecting with our happy hour blogging roots, we hit up Ate-Oh-Ate's Hawaiian happy hour on Monday night. I wouldn't say that Hawaiian food is top of Katie's and my list, but we were lured in by the fact that Ate-Oh-Ate is brought to Portlanders by the owners of Laurelhurst Market and Simpatica Dining Hall.
It took us a few minutes to make decisions, but the $5 happy hour Mai Tai pints were an easy choice. Two of those please!
Our favorite way to enjoy HH is to select a few items and share so we went for the Sliders (3 for $5)- two with Kalua Pig and one with Shoyu Chicken, 2 Scoops of Mac Salad ($2) and the Daily Poke Special ($1 off- $6.95).
The daily poke was tuna mixed with sesame oil, green onions, and sesame seeds. I'm glad we got this to balance the heaviness of the other plates. This rotates so I would be interested to try other versions.
Of the two sliders I liked the kalua pig most, it was savory and perfectly cooked. The chicken was good too, but the shoyu sauce made it a little sweet- too sweet for me.
The 2 scoops of mac salad was definitely not the healthiest option, but it felt like a true Hawaiian side and we decided to go for it anyway. I appreciated that it wasn't as mayonnaise heavy as some can be and that it's only $2.
The best part of the happy hour is definitely that we each spent less than $15 each including tip! The restaurant is very family friendly and the ambiance leaves a little to be desired. Katie and I thought the food was good, but we might not be running back in lieu of the many HH options out there. If there was a patio I could easily see myself enjoying a mai tai or two, otherwise we would definitely recommend it as "guy food" (or "people that really love Hawaiian food"). To be fair, we were sticking to the HH options so the full plates, curries and noodle dishes could bring something else to the table.
Other happy hour items included a House Cheeseburger ($5), Korean Chicken Wings (5 for $5), Fried Rice ($2), and Spam Musubi Tempura ($2)