Anisha H.
Yelp
I will say this if you've been to Hawai'i craving spam musubi and your Godmom is Filipino who's no longer with you, and you're craving her excellent lumpia. This is not the place to satisfy either craving.
I was so excited when I came across this place during a Google search for my wedding. I lit up because I haven't seen any good Hawaiian-inspired places in a long time. My fiancé hasn't had the pleasure of experiencing Hawai'i just yet, and my Godmother passed away last head before he could taste her amazing lumpia rolls. So I said win-win, one-stop-shop... Let's go!
The location of the restaurant was different but fun! We loved the site pen and the vibe of the area. When we walked into the restaurant, there were only two tables seated. No one came to the front to greet us. Yet, they all stayed at the bar and yelled across the room. I thought that was odd, but the place was pretty small, but still, it's a business. Anyway, we asked if they had availability for two people. They proceeded to ask if we had a reservation, and we said no. We found them and were hoping to grab dinner quickly. They said they had no open availability for tables (as my fiancé and I looked at each other and the only two tables with guests), but we could sit at the bar if we wished. So we did, and both said, I hope this isn't how they daily operate their business, especially on a Saturday at 5 pm.
At this time it was four parties in the entire restaurant, and I can list the number of people at each one. It was more people working than visiting. We could not comprehend why they were making such a big deal about us not having a reservation.
We sat down, and the bartender provided us with starter waters and access to the menu. With happiness, I ordered the spam musubi and lumpia to start. Then I noticed everyone that worked in the restaurant and was at the front had on masks, but the workers in the back did not. Don't get me wrong, and I could care less either way; however, don't request that your guests walk inside with masks on. We had all of five steps from the door to the bar, and they looked at us like we were crazy not having on masks. But then we looked through the peephole into the kitchen, and every person back there wasn't wearing a mask, including the baker. That was a bit frustrating because it made us feel like we weren't welcome fully. After all, we forgot our masks.
When the food came out, it looked ok, and the spam certainly didn't have the teriyaki glaze I'm used to in my spam. The lumpia seemed different, and when I took my first bite, I knew, not even close to my Godmothers, but besides that, it wasn't good at all. It was filled with purple cabbage and not meat. The meat makes lumpia so good, and they missed it entirely, which I feel caused the lack of flavor to the roll.
Then the spam musubi tasted Fisk dry to me. There was hardly any teriyaki on the spam, and my fiancé even noticed, and it was his first time trying it. I wouldn't say I liked it, and I shred that with the bartender.
When our entrees came out, those were good and filling. I ended up boxing mine up and making two additional meals out of it. It's a ton of food if you're looking for food quantity and flavor. My fiancé enjoyed his food, but he said it was a piece of fish and some veggies with extremely sticky rice.
Out of four items, we ordered only one thing that was excellent and satisfying hence my reflection of rate.