Longboards

Longboards is not a place I would go out of my way for. I've been here a couple of times just because it's a walking distance from my apartment. They do a really bad job of advertising, I probably wouldn't have known about the place unless I lived this close.

Food is average, nothing too exciting or amazing. I had the  teriyaki chicken. There was both rice and some sort of macaroni salad on the plate as a side. The macaroni salad was disgusting, and I didn't even bother to try to finish it. Appetizers are better than their entrees.

Service is ranges from average to terrible. At night, the waitresses kind of just sit around and hang around with their friends who come in. Although one waitress is good enough to do that and serve us which I don't mind at all. It just gets to be a problem when they clearly don't want to do anything, rush you to get out of their, and give you attitude. Another waitress actually looked angry at us when we came in and she had to serve us. Yes, I'm sure the owners also think they're paying you to talk to your friends and ignore us.

They have live music on Saturday's, but it's still pretty dead there.

Great new local spot.  Being right around the corner it's become the go to place for great good.  Great staff and cheap drinks. Tried quite a few dishes... None have been bad.  And the weekend brunch.... Epic.  With one of the best Bloody Mary bars I've tasted in a long time.

On a business trip to Newport News, did a Yelp search for someplace good to eat.  Found Longboards, a Hawaiian-themed bar & grill nearby.  Raw fish & Hawaiian food?  For this Hawaiian, I was so there!  I already ate dinner, so I had a beer and the ahi tuna poke appetizer (or as we say pupus).  Haven't had poke since I left Hawaii 4 months ago, so this soy sauce-based poke really hit the spot (brok da mouth).  I saw all the other goodies, and I made a promise to myself to return the next night for dinner.  Went with friends and got the Big Kahuna, a mixed plate of teriyaki beef, teriyaki chicken, and kalua pig (pulled pork).
Wow, what a disappointment.  The teriyaki sauce tasted like it came right out of bottle.  The kalua pig was a big mess.  It should have been seasoned very simply with rock salt.  This one had vinegar adobe-style, and the disappointing teriyaki sauce.  The macaroni salad side tasted pretty sorry, but what took the cake was messing up the white rice.  They used some jasmine Chinese style rice, not the medium grain Calrose/Hinode sticky rice.  A friends grilled mahi mahi fish was also smothered with the teriyaki sauce.
I didn't expect Longboards to match the best in Hawaii, but with all their claims of an owner growing up in Hawaii and going there to taste/get ideas, I expected something good.  When you have disappointing ethnic dishes, I'm torn between the chefs not knowing how to cook things authentically or pandering to local tastes.  Anyway go to Longboards for the poke and plan a Hawaii trip for the real deal.