Golden Grill

This will be a more informal review than usual, mainly because it was one of those spontaneous "hell, let's try this food stand and see how it is" dealies. I was walking on Court Street during the Hoopla 3-on-3 basketball event (in Salem, Oregon) when I spotted one of Golden Grill's food stands at the corner of Court St. and Capitol St. NE. Curious, I ordered a pound of their Hawaiian chicken ($5).

Golden Grill's "Hawaiian Chicken"

Love how that teriyaki sauce coats the chicken, making for a glistening appearance

Where I come from, it would be called teriyaki chicken, but whatever. I was very skeptical at first because I had never heard of these guys before. But as the cook scooped the extremely moist chicken out of the chafing dish, my tune changed. I also saw lemon halves on the corners of the chafing dish, which I knew would make for a great mix with the sweet teriyaki sauce.

Golden Grill uses dark cubed meat for their Hawaiian chicken here. As expected, I loved the chicken. Very moist, very tender, and full of teriyaki flavor. The lemon in the chafing dish may have been more for decoration, as I did not get much lemon flavor in my serving.

I personally added some sriracha to my serving and happily wolfed down the chicken in about two minutes. I did get a few fatty pieces of chicken, and some of the pieces were not cut all the way through. I would have also preferred the chicken hot off the flattop grill, as opposed to the warm pieces in the chafing dish. But other than that, I really can't complain. $5 got me a pound's worth of chicken, stuffing me to the gills quite nicely.

Overall, I was pleased with this experience. I failed to ask if they have an actual restaurant in Oregon, but if I happen to see them again, I would gladly go back for more of their Hawaiian chicken! 7.5/10