Ma’Ono Fried Chicken & Whiskey restaurant is located in West Seattle and is a restaurant known for its special seasoned fried chicken and varieties of whiskey.  It is also known for having lines of hungry patrons waiting outside its doors when it opens daily at 5p.m., waiting to dine on their popular chicken entrée. I made a reservation for 5p.m. and upon entering the restaurant we noted that we were the second set of diners amongst a handful of patrons at the bar. Interesting, as we expected many more patrons to be seated. A fellow foodie accompanied me, which worked out great in order to be able to sample more than two entrées. We had a big doggie bag afterwards. Our entrées consisted of Half Fried Chicken, Fatty Saimin, Oxtail Soup, along with a side of Mac N Kimcheese and warm Portuguese sweet rolls. Let’s start with the chicken. I was very disappointed with this signature dish. It was fried too hard for my taste. It’s actually twice fried and probably would have been better if it had been fried once, as some pieces were a tad dry. However, it was seasoned well, which lived up to the restaurant’s name Ma’Ono – which in Hawaiian means flavorful. I did enjoy the sauce that accompanied the chicken. It tasted like a blend of a barbecue and a sweet and sour sauce, a very nice blend. The Fatty Saimin – Rich smoked pork & pork fat broth, kalua pig, bacon, cured egg, scallion, furikake (fishcake). This dish was from the noodle section of the menu. I usually don’t eat noodle soups (like Vietnamese Pho’) as there are usually more noodles than I want to eat. In spite of this dish having too may noodles,it had several different ingredients that worked well together. However, the highest selling point for ordering this dish was the bacon. It was a nice thick slice of crunchy bacon.  Gotta have my bacon! My dining mate ordered the oxtail soup and after tasting it I actually liked the flavor of that soup more than my Fatty Saimin – It consisted, of course of oxtails, rice noodles, carrots, cilantro, basil, peanuts, and mung beans. This soup was packed with flavor! The Mac N Kimcheese – Ma’Ono’s take on mac and cheese wasn’t what I’d expected in a mac and cheese, although it was a bit runny it had a little kick to it, and it was sort of addictive. Ordering the Portuguese rolls was an after thought. They were delivered to us right out of the oven and reminded me of Hawaiian sweet rolls, which I love. We contemplated ordering the popcorn ice cream; and was educated by our waiter on the popcorn infusing technique. However, after sampling the previous dishes we were full; we’d had enough and there was no point in being gluttonous, right? The ice cream just didn’t make the cut! Overall, it was a good dining experience; I just wish that the fried chicken lived up to the hype.  I included the next picture of my Cosmopolitan because I like the glass.