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We are going to be on oahu for 10 days in May. I am trying to find the places that people who live on oahu go to eat, Not tourist traps but good food! No preferences. I could not find any references in any of the threads or archives.Looking forward to any suggestions. mahalo
Fancy smashy everywhere but if you go to the Ala Moana Mall (like everyone does) which has been touted the biggest indoor mall in the word, make it to the food court. I don't know how many food places there are but "Mama's Spaghetti" is just about the best shrimp scampi and fresh fish around IMO(even beat mine lol). For a more local mall go to Pearlridge Mall which is very nice for shopping and eating (has theaters too).
Or if you want to get real down go to China Town and cruise for the afternoon and seek out any many number of good ole little eaterys. China Town is a must for shopping and seeing some real culture.
Just about any place in Hale'iwa is nice if and when you travel to the North Shore.
Ward Center has many good places for day and night dining; my favorite being Dave and Busters which is a bar, restaurant, game place. You can eat, drink, and play all kind of games. It's a casual, family, hang out place to have fun. Ryan's probably would be more suited to your taste. There are many eating establishments surrounding the Ward Center as well. Ward Center also has multiplex movie theater that has 3-D.
Probably my favorite place to go out on Oahu is the Pearl City Tavern which is a fine dining establishment with the world famous Monkey Bar. Yes; there are real monkeys in the bar. It's mauka of Pearl Harbor.
The Waioli Tea Room is nice for tourist and locals alike to go for afternoon tea /lunch. It's in Manoa which is quite beautiful.
Are you looking for cheap, super upscale, or something in between? Here are a couple of suggestions for each:
Super upscale: Hit Alan Wong's or Nobu. There's also La Mer and Chef Mavro, but I think the first two have better food & experience. Make reservations and plan to spend the evening.
Moderate: Hakkei... terrific Japanese place, tucked super out of the way. You'll need reservations because it's tiny. Town on Waialae for either breakfast, lunch, or dinner. JJ's Bistro also on Waialae (they have a new restaurant J2 open with $25 prix fixe menu... haven't been yet, but I'm sure it's great).
Cheap: Go to Ono's or Helena's for Hawaiian food (each does some stuff better and some not as well as the other). Find where the Melt food truck is (twitter.com/melthnl) and pay them a visit for lunch some day. Go to a shrimp truck on the North Shore (I'm partial to Macky's in Haleiwa, but lots of them are good). You could also hit one of the farmer's markets and get some of the awesome prepared food on offer there: Saturday mornings at Kapiolani Community College (across the street from Diamond Head crater); Thursday nights in Kailua; Sunday mornings in Haleiwa.
If your hotel doesn't include breakfast and you like to go out for it (I love eating breakfast out): Orchids has a nice upscale brunch and so does the Hau Tree Lanai. I hear good things about Eggs & Things for cheaper breakfast in Waikiki, but I've never been because I can't stand the wait (go early if you want to go). If you can head to Kailua, you can go to the good but overrated Boots & Kimo's (long wait there, too) or Moke's for equally good food and shorter wait. (Moke's doesn't have the mac nut sauce everyone is crazy for at Boots & Kimo's, but I think is otherwise a better bet.)
Thanks for the replys. Keep them coming. I don't care about the high end stuff. We were there in August 2010 for three days. This did not give much time to explore all the attractions: Airizona Memorial, Punch Bowl, the regular tourist stuff. We did find the International Market Place, which was a great diverse place to eat and loved it. Most of the other places are mainstream tourists. We figured that most of the people who live there do not eat at these places. And figured that most people that live there know the best places to eat. Not necessarily cheap, but good. Sometimes a little hole in the wall that you would never find on a short visit is the place to eat. So this gives you a little more information as to what we are looking for. We appreciate all input and suggestions.
Mahalo
Probably my favorite place to go out on Oahu is the Pearl City Tavern which is a fine dining establishment with the world famous Monkey Bar. Yes; there are real monkeys in the bar. It's mauka of Pearl Harbor.
Kiawe Grill has some really good stuff if you like Korean food (local Korean BBQ plate). There is some special method they use to make their meats extra smoky. Kiawe Grill - Korean BBQ - Kobe Beef - Hawaii
Liliha Bakery is known for their cream puffs, but they have an awesome little diner there that also serves a lot of local favorites like hamburger steak, mahi mahi, teriyaki beef, etc. www.lilihabakeryhawaii.com
Leonard's Malasadas has a good variety of malasadas (portugese donuts) that you should definitely try when you're in town. www.leonardshawaii.com/
Shokudo is where all the young people go. It's a japanese style bar (izakaya) that has a lot of modern fusion favorites. It gets really busy, so reservations are recommended. www.shokudojapanese.com/
Zippy's is about as local as you can get and is pretty much all over the state. Also, give McDonald's portugese sausage, eggs, and rice morning plate a try. It's only available in Hawaii McDonald's and shockingly, is actually my favorite breakfast ever. Yeah, I'm really talking about the golden arch.
I haven't tried Ono's but have heard it is really good. I've also heard positive things about Kua'aina (burgers) in Ward.
A lot of people in Honolulu love Asian food, so you will probably see a lot of Asian fusion or just straight out Asian cuisine as "local" food... Do you have specific preferences?
I was gonna pitch in a favorite of mine... Roy's Hawaiian Fusion... when I discovered something odd... the reservation website lists only the mainland locations, no Hawaiian.
Then I checked the store locator, and now the 6 Hawaiian locations show up, but unlike the mainland stores, the hours and details are missing for all of Hawai'i ... "Info not available"
Smells to me like Roy Yamaguchi might be preparing to split the company and pull away from mainland investors, but I dunno. Anybody hear anything?
Anyway, Honolulu and Waikiki locations are still open.
Hmmm. Yelp seems a mixed bag, but this was easily a highlight of our week easting in Ohau. We went with 3 friends who are apparently regulars, so perhaps that skews my experience.
whats good up north shore? breakfast, lunch dinner... nothing fancy
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