Ono Hawaiian BBQ will open its first Long Beach location June 27, joining some 115-plus locations across California and Arizona. Moving into the former Hiccups space at the Traffic Circle (or El Cilantro for those with long-term memories), Ono is ready for its Long Beach debut after announcing their presence this past April.
What to expect at Long Beach’s first Ono grand opening? Hawaiian dancers. A ribbon-cutting ceremony. $100 promo card raffles. Exclusive merch giveaways. And even better: Patrons visiting the Long Beach restaurant can also enjoy an in-store, one-day-only Buy One, Get One Free offer—available all day.
How a $50,000 gamble and a love of Spam musubi turned into Ono Hawaiian BBQ.
Joshua Liang will be the first to tell you he wasn’t built to sit behind a screen debugging code all day. In fact, his short-lived career in programming—fraud detection, specifically—lasted just nine months after graduating from UC San Diego. But Liang didn’t see that as failure. If anything, it helped him figure out what he didn’t want to do. And what he did want? To bring a taste of Hawaii’s comfort food to Southern California in a way that felt personal, fast, and consistent.
So in 2002, with less than $50,000 scraped together from savings and credit cards, Liang and his older brother Joe—who had been working in restaurants since their family immigrated from rural southern China—signed a lease on a former fast-food spot at in West L.A. where Santa Monica Boulevard meets Bundy. No touchscreen registers and certainly no polished franchise aura at the time. Just paper notepads, a hand-me-down cash register, and a whole lot of hope.
They called it Ono Hawaiian BBQ.
The expansion of Ono Hawaiian BBQ has been wild across the past decade.
The concept was never meant to be flashy. No reimagined takes on kalua pork. No deconstructed musubi. Just generous portions of teriyaki chicken, beef short ribs, breaded katsu, and that signature “scoop scoop” pairing of rice and mac salad. It struck a nerve with transplants from Hawai‘i craving a taste of home, and quickly won over the uninitiated looking for something hearty and a little different from the usual burger-and-fries circuit.
By keeping things consistent and leaning into volume, Ono Hawaiian BBQ quietly grew from one location to over 115 across California and Arizona. Liang, who has largely kept out of the spotlight, built his empire by keeping costs low, recipes tight, and service streamlined. It’s the kind of place where you know exactly what you’re going to get—and that predictability, paired with a nostalgia-heavy menu, became its strongest asset.
In a time when many fast-casual concepts try to pivot toward minimalism or boutique polish, Ono kept it old school: bright orange signage, counter service, foam clamshells stacked high with food you could split in two but probably won’t. And while it’s easy to see the polished version the chain is now, it all began with Spam, grilled chicken, and two brothers who simply liked the way Hawaiian food brings people together.
Ono Hawaiian BBQ is located at 1946 N. Lakewood Blvd. and will open Friday, June 27 at 11AM.
