Looking for L&L Hawaiian Barbecue vegetarian options? Order the Tofu Bowl or Tofu Musubi. Those two, plus an Aloha Veggie Burger and a run of sides, make up most of what’s actually meat-free here. Everything else on the board leans hard into chicken, beef, pork, and seafood. For background on what about the vegetarians means when we review a chain, that page covers our approach. Below is exactly what to order at L&L and what to skip.
A Quick Look at L&L Hawaiian Barbecue
A single walk-up restaurant on Liliha Street in Honolulu started it all. Eddie Flores Jr. bought the original L&L Drive-Inn in 1976 so his mother, Margaret Flores, would have a business to run. Johnson Kam joined her as a partner soon after. Neither man had any connection to whoever ran the drive-in before them, but they kept the name anyway.
Franchising started in 1988. By 1999, the chain had renamed itself L&L Hawaiian Barbecue for its move to the mainland, since “barbecue” reads clearer to mainland customers than “drive-inn” does. More than 230 locations operate across roughly 20 states today, plus a handful in Japan, and the Flores and Kam families still own the business privately.
Nearly every plate follows the same format: two scoops of rice, one scoop of macaroni salad, a protein. Hawaii pride runs through the brand, right down to “National SPAM Musubi Day,” a holiday the chain created for August 8 to celebrate the canned-meat-and-rice snack that made its name on the mainland. That same rice-and-nori shape is what makes a Tofu Musubi possible. Tofu just stands in for the Spam.
L&L Hawaiian Barbecue Vegetarian Options: What to Order
Chicken, beef, pork, and seafood plates dominate this menu, so the vegetarian side is short. Names and availability shift some by location and franchise owner. What follows covers what shows up on most L&L menus nationwide as of 2026, and the Tofu Bowl and Tofu Musubi are your closest options to a full vegetarian meal.
Portion size matters here too. L&L sells most of its seafood, beef, chicken, and pork lunch plates in “mini” and “regular” sizes, though the Tofu Bowl typically shows up as a single size on the board. Bento boxes, which pack several smaller portions into one container, are built around meat combinations at most locations. Some franchise owners do carry a vegetarian bento built around tofu, but it’s not standard chain-wide, so ask before you assume your local L&L has one.
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Tofu Bowl (rice, tofu, choice of side) | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check (sauce and fryer vary by location) |
| Tofu Musubi (tofu, rice, nori) | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check (sauce and fryer vary by location) |
| Aloha Veggie Burger with fries | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check (bun and patty brand not confirmed) |
| 5-Piece Vegetable Rolls | ⚠️ Check (confirm filling, some Hawaiian-style versions add shrimp) | ⚠️ Check |
| Tossed Salad | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check (depends on dressing) |
| Macaroni Salad | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (mayonnaise contains egg) |
| Steamed White Rice | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| French Fries | ⚠️ Check (may share a fryer with breaded fish or chicken) | ⚠️ Check |
| Katsu Sauce / Teriyaki Sauce | ⚠️ Check (some katsu sauces are Worcestershire-based, which traditionally contains anchovies) | ⚠️ Check |
| Malasadas (Portuguese donuts) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (eggs and milk in the dough) |
| Ube Cheesecake | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Ube Upside Down Pie | ⚠️ Check (some pie crusts use lard, confirm locally) | ❌ No |
Bowls, Musubi, and the Aloha Veggie Burger
Rice topped with tofu and your choice of a side, priced in line with the BBQ Chicken Bowl or Kalua Pork Bowl: that’s the Tofu Bowl, the most filling vegetarian order on the menu. The Tofu Musubi takes the same handheld format that made the chain’s Spam version famous and swaps in a block of tofu, pressed onto rice and wrapped in a strip of nori. Preparation isn’t standardized chain-wide. Some locations pan-fry the tofu, some grill it, so ask before you order if you avoid food fried near meat.
A burger is the only other format on offer. The Aloha Veggie Burger comes with french fries and sits on the same menu board as the Hamburger and Cheeseburger. Nobody at the corporate level publishes the patty brand or a full ingredient breakdown, so ask your location what’s actually in it if you’re avoiding something specific beyond meat.
Sides, Salads, and Appetizers
Macaroni salad and rice come with every plate lunch, and both work as standalone sides for building your own vegetarian plate. Genuinely vegetarian, just not vegan, since the dressing is mayonnaise-based. Tossed salad is another safe vegetarian pick, though check the dressing if you’re keeping things vegan, some house dressings lean on buttermilk or a touch of dairy.
Treat the 5-piece vegetable rolls as a “check first” order rather than an automatic one. Fried vegetable rolls at Hawaiian and Pacific-fusion spots sometimes fold in shrimp or shrimp paste for flavor, and no standard recipe is published here, so ask what’s actually in the filling before you count on it as a vegetarian side.
Desserts and Drinks
Portuguese-style fried donuts sold by the box of 10, malasadas are vegetarian but not vegan, since the dough goes in with eggs and milk. Ube cheesecake and ube upside-down pie follow the same pattern, both built on Okinawan purple sweet potato with a dairy-based filling. Watch the pie crust specifically if you’re strict about this. Some pie crusts at any chain use lard instead of butter or shortening, and no crust ingredients are published here to confirm either way. Fountain and bottled sodas, iced teas, and Hawaiian Sun juices round out the drink menu, and every one of them is vegetarian and vegan.
What’s Vegan at L&L Hawaiian Barbecue?
Not much. One vegan review site that surveyed the chain went as far as saying it offers zero dedicated vegan items, and that’s close to the honest answer for anyone wanting a guarantee. Steamed rice is the one item that’s vegan without any caveat. Tofu Bowl, Tofu Musubi, and the vegetable rolls come closest to a full vegan plate, but each depends on how a specific location handles sauce, fryer oil, and filling. No single nationwide answer exists. Call ahead or ask in person before ordering any of the tofu items if vegan matters to you.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
Meat, seafood, and vegetarian items cook in the same kitchen space, and in some cases the same fryer, so cross-contact is a real risk here, not a theoretical one. Ask about katsu sauce and teriyaki sauce directly. Traditional katsu sauce builds on a Worcestershire base, and traditional Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies, so don’t assume either one is vegetarian without checking first. Egg or dairy can turn up in macaroni salad, tossed salad dressing, and any dessert on the menu.
No allergen guide or gluten-free menu exists on the national site, and this isn’t a dedicated gluten-free or allergen-free kitchen. Talk to the location directly if you have a serious allergy, rather than relying on the printed menu. Franchise ownership means allergen practices can also vary store to store, so what one location tells you about the fryer or the sauce might not hold true two towns over.
Tips for Vegetarians at L&L Hawaiian Barbecue
- Order the Tofu Bowl or Tofu Musubi first, they’re the only items built as a full vegetarian meal rather than a side.
- Ask how the tofu is cooked. Some locations fry it in the same oil as breaded fish and chicken, so speak up if that matters to you.
- Skip the vegetable rolls unless your location confirms the filling is meat-free, since some Hawaiian-style versions add shrimp.
- Build a side plate from rice, macaroni salad, and tossed salad when the Tofu Bowl isn’t available at your location.
- Check on the katsu and teriyaki sauce before adding it to anything, since some recipes use a Worcestershire base.
- Don’t expect a dedicated vegan menu, and confirm sauce and dressing ingredients in person if you’re vegan, not just vegetarian.
- Menu boards differ by franchise owner, so call ahead before you drive out expecting the Tofu Bowl at a specific location.
Conclusion
A handful of real picks make up L&L Hawaiian Barbecue vegetarian options: Tofu Bowl, Tofu Musubi, Aloha Veggie Burger, and a set of sides that stack into a full plate. This isn’t a vegetarian-friendly menu by design. It’s a meat-and-seafood plate-lunch chain with a few workable exceptions, so ask about sauce and fryer oil before you order if you’re strict about it.
Our guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants covers how we rate chains like this one, and every restaurant guide we’ve written lives in one place. Pacific and Asian-inspired menus in the same lane include Panda Express, WaBa Grill, and Jollibee, all worth a look if this one’s your speed.
