This Hawaiian plate lunch chain is planning 10 new locations in North Texas

Want to get away to Hawaii, but don’t want to spend money on a plane ticket? North Texans are about to get another Hawaiian food option not too far from Fort Worth.

Ono Hawaiian BBQ, a Hawaiian plate lunch restaurant chain, plans to open three new Fort Worth-area locations soon, documents and its website show.

Here’s what to know about when the restaurants open and what’s on the menu.

What is Ono Hawaiian BBQ?

Ono Hawaiian BBQ is a fast-casual Hawaiian plate lunch restaurant, meaning that each plate comes with one serving of meat, two scoops of white rice and sides of macaroni salad and vegetables. A plate lunch is usually served in a styrofoam container.

Historians believe the plate lunch evolved from the Japanese bento box — another form of takeaway eating — in the 1880s, when giant fruit and sugar companies owned huge plantations in Hawaii. The companies brought in plantation workers from China, Japan, Portugal, the Philippines and other places. The workers would eat their bento box lunches in metal tins full of rice and leftover meat. Those types of lunches were later served on lunch wagons and, finally, in restaurants like Ono Hawaiian BBQ.

Joshua Liang founded Ono Hawaiian BBQ in Los Angeles, Calif. in 2002 with his brother Joe. They started the first Ono location with Joe in a hole-in-the-wall spot near Santa Monica Boulevard. The chain now has more than 115 locations across California and Arizona. Soon, Texas will be on that list.

Where and when will Ono Hawaiian BBQ open near Fort Worth?

Ono Hawaiian BBQ is planning three locations near Fort Worth:

• Burleson: Exact location TBD, but somewhere near southwest Wilshire Boulevard
• Haltom City: 6360 N. Beach St. (where a Schlotzky’s used to be)
• Hurst: 1840 Precinct Line Road (where a Taco Cabana used to be)

As of Monday, Oct. 27, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation only has a file for the Hurst location, which says renovation will be completed by Nov. 28.

Ono is also planning to open seven locations in the Dallas area. Here’s where those will be:

• Carrollton: 3328 E. Hebron Pkwy. #101 (where a Schlotzky’s used to be); expected completion date is Dec. 26
• Dallas: 6216 Retail Road (near a former Del Taco at Skillman Street and Northwest Highway)
• McKinney: 4610 W. University Drive #110; expected completion date was Sept. 26
• Plano: 8724 Preston Road (where a Chick-fil-A used to be); expected completion date was Aug. 1
• Rowlett: 4510 Lakeview Pkwy (where a Dairy Queen used to be); expected completion date is Dec. 1
• Royse City: 506 W. Interstate 30 (where a Dairy Queen used to be)
• Wylie: 2020 N. State Highway 78 (where a Hwy 55 Burgers, Shakes & Fries used to be)

This is the chain’s biggest expansion from the West Coast. All locations are expected to open in early to mid-2026.

What’s on the menu at Ono Hawaiian BBQ?

In addition to beef, pork or chicken plate lunches, Ono’s menu also includes:

• Aloha Plates (a meat or fish entrée with rice and a salad)
• Spam musubi appetizers (comes in Spam, BBQ Chicken or BBQ Beef flavors)
• Shrimp appetizers
• Crab Rangoon appetizers
• Combo meals, including fish, shrimp and grilled spam and eggs
• Hawaiian Sun drinks
• Family meals (three entrées)
• Salads
• Mini meals (one entrée, one scoop of rice, one scoop of macaroni salad and vegetables)
• Kids’ meals

Meals can be ordered for dine-in, takeout or drive-thru.

This story was originally published October 27, 2025 at 4:53 PM.

Jake Harris

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

817-390-7237

Jake Harris is the Service Journalism Editor for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has spent nearly 10 years working as a digital producer across newsrooms in Texas. He mainly writes about pop culture and local North Texas happenings and occasionally writes concert reviews.