Hukilau, the local Hawaiian joint known for yearly spam musubi eating contests and smothering pretty much anything in gravy, has a problem keeping things clean apparently. A tipster over at EaterSF explains the patio-blessed spot at Masonic and Geary has been shuttered by the Department of Health due to, "food contamination, disease transmission and vermin infestation." Which: yuck. A note on the door suggests the closure is temporary, but as a couple of Yelpers have noted, reports of food poisoning have been ongoing.
Take, homesick Hawaiian Kai R, who starts off with a stern warning after a visit in March of this year:
I miss my island comfort food really bad, but I will never come back here again. Not only did we both get so sick we had to leave work early next day (so bad I got kidney pains), but everytime we ate there it smelled like a kitty litter box... Hukilau no ono unless you want to lose weight the embarresing [sic] way down below, eat backwards up above & smell Johhny Cat litter while eating your lau-lau!
We're not even sure what that last part means, but it doesn't sound pleasant. And then we have Michael N.'s report from May:
3 hours after we left, I started to hyperventilate. I really couldn't breathe and thought I was going to die... Now I'm dead because of them. But they did have a good beer selection.
It's really unfortunate because the Loco Moco (a burger topped with two eggs, smothered in gravy) would be a gut-busting, bar food treasure otherwise. (We ate it once. We did not feel good the next day, but at the time the queasiness was blamed on an overindulgence of Fernet-Branca.)
