Mama’s Hawaiian Bar-B-Cue

We ordered the Loco moco. I was expecting warm soft rice and hot dish, since it took awhile for us to get the food. But when I took the first bite, the rice was cold and some of the rice was hard, like it’s been sitting out awhile. The only items that was warm was the burger and egg. Even the sauce was cold. Maybe they let my food sit out before calling my name. No wonder it took awhile. Sorry, but it was a disappointment. Not coming back. On the positive, the cashier was really nice.

We ordered for delivery! They get 4 stars because I loved that they package the meat separate from the French fries and sauce, so our order was hot and still crispy and the delivery man was courteous and prompt. The Talapia was clearly frozen, but none the less it was crispy and had good flavor. The terriyaki beef was moist tender strips of beef and although the sauce is a little thin, it has a nice semi-​sweet flavor which I found pleasurable. The teriyaki chicken was the same, good flavor. The bbq pulled pork had a nice bbq sauce which was sweet, tomatoe base (my guess). All in all it was a substantial meal at a fair price. Tip, if you order fish, mix their chili sauce with their packaged tarter sauce and its a great dipper. Eat well, live well and enjoy!

Stay away !!!
Went here for lunch today, worst mistake ever !
The men’s bathroom … they had shit on the floor, in toilet and on the toilet … Nasty !!!
They had no paper towels and no soap in the dispenser.
When we finally got our food, they must of not wanted us dinning with them because the package our food up to go. They knew we were staying because we purchased two of their reg size soft drinks for $ 2.50 … so $ 5 for drinks and they wanted us out the door ???
The Food … eek !
I have had Chicken Katsu at ton of places … this place made the worst tasting Katsu I have ever had!!! Not only was the Katsu horrible, the Katsu sauce was basically Ketchup out of a bottle.
The two sides I had were sticky rice, which was dry as the Sahara desert and the macaroni salad, which must of come out some dumper over by the university.
Save your money and go some place else or go to a different Mama’s … this one is the Worst in all of Tucson !

Great late night place to eat. They have a variety of menu items and specials, like spam masubi and spam burger. I’ve always had fresh, hot food made fairly quickly.
The chicken Katsu was pretty good, and they have so many sauce options you can have. I really enjoyed the loco moco, especially when I was surprised by the slight spicy hamburger, which was tasty. The eggs were perfectly cooked. They also have the fancy soda dispenser where you can pick various flavors of soda and choose between regular or carbonated water. The pork is delicious and the side salad has a unique mango salsa/​slaw on it. Enjoy!

pork is everything! Thanks Mama’s!

If you want to wait two hours for your food this is the place for you. We will have to see if th food is good at this point I’d be happy with cardboard. You’ve been warned

Great great staff.
I had the Kaluah Pork Plate and it was delicious.
But really it was the staff at this location that made the visit so warm and exciting.
Keep up the good work guys
(Sunday evening/​afternoon staff)

Chicken piccata was amazing along with the sautéed spinach. It comes with potatoes but I opted for all spinach. We also had the seared ahi. Really wonderful and seared perfectly. Nice wine list as well.

Absolutely delicious ! Had the Kaluah pork and coconut shrimp. Both delicious. Teriyaki sauce was super tasty too!

Surprised this doesn’t have higher reviews ! The BBQ is absolutely delicious. We order the Big Kahuna plate nearly every time (along with the Kalbi short ribs) and it neverrrr disappoints! Order the macaroni salad and drown it in their house made teriyaki. Drown your entire meal in their teriyaki sauce for that matter and you will not be sorry! You’re welcome.

Amazing food. Great late night or post workout meals. Convenient delivery. The big kahuna is one of my favorites. But I also love the short ribs and the loco moco.

ON MY MAMA mama’s is the place. This is where you go if you’re up late at night and need that sweet tasting chicken. Get the macaroni salad and got won’t be disappointed. If you’re disappointed or don’t like it I can’t trust you anyways stay away from mama’s.
They skimp on the yaki sauce.

This is a «im drunk at 3am» place and nothing more. Food is well below par, not worth going any other time.

More than 1 hour and 15 minutes and almost 2 hours and the food is still not here… if I could not give any stars I would… about $ 50 worth of food and they can’t even do good service? wtf… I don’t know it’s almost like the whole list of «things to do if you want to lose customers list»…again wtf

I will come here when I miss a meaty meal. The portion is HUGE and I just can’t get enough of their chili sauce, so good.

Have since taken the family and turned two sets of friends onto this place — it continues to be perfection. Orders always right on the money and ready on time. Food is amazing. Counter staff friendly. Easy to order. Love, love, love.

«A-​OK» is right. If you order a salad or get salad as your side, Mama’s serves up plentiful portions of decent-​but-​not-​exceptional meat with a tasty-​but-​not-​stellar Hawaiian salsa on a huge plate of fresh mixed greens. Note that we watched plenty of people around us getting the rice and macaroni salad reviewed by other Unilocalers, but we definitely did not envy them, as our monster fields of lettuce happiness looked a whole lot more appealing.
Here’s the breakdown from the Mom angle — I took my kids, ages 10 and 7.
— 10yo doesn’t «do» kid menus, and she loves sandwiches (and has expensive taste, but that’s another matter; blessing and a curse). She got the pork sliders with salad. The sliders lasted all of maybe 3 minutes, especially when she dipped them in the über-​sweet Oriental sesame dressing. Good call. Yum.
— 7yo had kalua pork with salad. He cleaned the plate. Granted, the kid loves salad (did I mention that I may be the best mom in history in terms of getting my kids to eat well??) but the pineapple didn’t hurt — he declared this «candy salad» to be the best ever. *** The kids’ meals are a GREAT deal — his dinner was probably as big as mine, at a kid-​meal price. Love it.
— Me: chicken salad (salad with the Hawaiian grilled chicken). Looked like about 6 oz of succulent sliced chicken breast (not the best ever but pretty darn good, eh Marge, I give it an A-​) on a huge plate of greens with the same salsa. Cleaned the plate without guilt.
Situated adjacent to the UA campus, the place is chock full o’ Wildcats, of course. Fortunately I could care less what college students think, and ignored the funny looks they gave me when I had to issue a stern reprimand to Child #2 who was hogging far too much booth bench space and inconveniencing his sister. If you have the guts and/​or lack of etiquette to go to a restaurant in a bikini top and short shorts, even a Hawaiian in Tucson, you can’t expect to be taken seriously… but I digress. Most of the hungry Cats chowed down in quiet contentment.
Skipped the desserts but kids were eyeing the pineapple upside down cake, which looked like a diabetic coma waiting to follow blissful indulgence, shareable by at least 3 people.
Service was OK but had a hard time understanding the cashier — it’s loud in there and enunciation wasn’t her strong point.
Are we going back? Sure, because kids, pineapple, meat, and salad are an easy win. We’ll check out the East side location next.

Soooo ono! Best Hawaiian style food in Tucson for sure and it reminds me of zippys back on O’ahu!
Spare ribs are always fantastic and the occasional spam musubi can seriously make any day a good one.
Mahalo nui loa!

For my Combo Plate, I chose the Chicken Katsu and Kalbi Short Ribs with macaroni salad and mixed vegetables as sides. My partner-​in-​chow got the Big Kahuna which includes beef teriyaki, chicken teriyaki and Kahlua pork with brown rice and macaroni salad for sides. Our favorite meat was the chicken katsu! The katsu sauce was sweet and had hints of soy sauce flavor.
The staff were very friendly and warm. We felt that the restaurant offers good value for money.

As indicated by my 6 check ins in two weeks, I am a recent fan (a big fan at that) of Mama’s!
I am cursed with the extreme love of late night food. Not just a snack, but a full meal with all of the food groups represented and like 800 calories in one sitting at 1am. A curse indeed, especially being a picky eater in Tucson. The options are slim, so discovering the teriyaki tofu at Mama’s changed my late night snacking!
I am a traditionalist and stick to the teriyaki tofu and brown rice. The tofu is amazingly sauced, a little crispy outside and soft inside. My fiancée changes it up and has gotten several different things, all of which he really enjoys. The staff is friends, there is chili sauce on the table and they are open until 3am. I have never had a bad experience there.
Next time it is 2am and you are headed to the Taco Shop or Nico’s turn around and give Mama’s a try! You will not regret it!