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Duke's Huntington Beach

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stvchin
stvchin
First Reviewer
3 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
1
Review
2
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Editor Pick

Duke's

  • June 4, 2006
  • Rated 3 of 5 by stvchin from Tustin, California
Duke's

Duke’s is a higher end small chain restaurant originally from Hawaii, serving American cuisine with a Hawaiian flair. Duke’s is located next to the pier in Huntington Beach at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and the dead end of Main Street. While we waited, we went over to the pier and people watched. After a 40 minute wait, we were seated at a nice table with a view of the beach. There is a restaurant called Chimayo located on the floor under Duke’s. We didn’t wander there, but maybe sometime in the future we will.

Duke’s décor is Hawaiian, with lots of wooden construction and plenty of tropical plants in the lobby. There is also a balcony section outside on the beach side. The servers all wore Hawaiian print shirts and a girl in a Hawaiian dress made the rounds selling leis. We ordered soft drinks and were served them rather quickly, with a nice basket of warm sourdough rolls and butter. My friends chose fried calamari appetizer, the teriyaki sirloin steak, the Huli Huli chicken, and I chose the prime rib. The entrees come with garlic mashed potatoes, but anything other sides or substitutions, including a baked potato, are a la carte. The waiter who took out order memorized the whole order without writing anything down.

The fried calamari arrived quickly, and we could immediately tell it came from a box. The plate of calamari wasn’t big at all, and the pieces of calamari are obviously processed, as they look more like steak fries than squid. The flavor was pretty fair, but it was served in the cocktail sauce. I would have preferred the cocktail sauce on the side, and a side of tartar sauce too.

Our dinners came out shortly thereafter. My friend’s teriyaki sirloin came out with a grilled fresh pineapple slice and mushrooms for garnish and looked quite good. I tried some of my friend’s Huli Huli chicken breast and found it tasty, but a slight bit dry inside. My prime rib came with au jus sauce already poured all over it. I didn’t mind it that much as I did with the calamari’s sauce. The prime rib and the garlic mashed potatoes that came with it were good too. Although the prime rib was good, there wasn’t much that distinguished it from any other good prime rib I’ve had.

After clearing off our empty dinner plates, our waiter recited the desserts us and described each of them from memory. All of the dessert items sounded quite good, from the fresh key lime pie to the hula pie. Unfortunately we were all full and passed on the dessert. In total, our bill came to $69, not including tip or tax.

In summary, Duke’s is a nice upper scale restaurant to go to once in a while for the Hawaiian and beach atmosphere to people watch, as there are some nicely dressed and good looking people dining there. It’s slightly pricey, but still fairly good.

From journal Dining Around Orange County

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