Aloha Specialties To Temporarily Shutter for Major Remodel

Aloha Specialties has been an always busy, important fixture at downtown's California Casino and Hotel since 1985 and is now ready for a "major renovation." Part of a year long, continuing, multi-million dollar overhaul at the resort, new paperwork has also been filed for a remodel of the Redwood Bar and Grill.

Located on the mezzanine, Aloha Specialties is scheduled to temporarily close from June 13 until August 29, with the possibility those dates might shift. In addition to the interior design, improvements will be made behind the scenes, including plumbing and electrical work.

Open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m, the restaurant is very popular with Hawaiian guests who flock to the hotel via package tours arranged by the casino. Menu favorites include saimin, Spam musubi, their selection of plate lunches and rice bowls.

The name Aloha Specialties debuted in Las Vegas in 1980, when Herb Yamagata created the first local beef jerky store. In 1985 he expanded with the restaurant, run by Larry Yamagata, a former executive chef with the Sheraton hotel chain in Hawaii. A sister restaurant, Ross J's Aloha Grill arrived in Henderson in 2001.