Roxanne A.
Yelp
The Alley is located in Aiea Shopping Center on the upper level. It is separated from the Bowling Alley but if you get seated closer to the lanes, it's fun to have something to watch. Parking is OK, it gets crowded and if it's really really bad you might have to resort to parking downstairs by the McDonalds side. Inside, there's a couple of booths closer to the kitchen/ordering area but there are lots of tables closer to the bathrooms and bowling lanes.
Every time we come, we ALWAYS enjoy the food. Everything always comes out fresh and doesn't take too long. This time we ordered: garlic fries, edamame (sauce on the side), loco moco, tasty chicken, and oxtail soup. Our server was Justin and he was great! We asked to have our apps come out first because it bugs us when we get our apps and entrees at the same time. The garlic fries were so fresh and crispy with generous amounts of garlic all over. The edamame was a light appetizer that we enjoy and have the sauce on the side because it does have a little kick! It's in-between a sweet and sour but savory sauce. Kind of like BBQ and sweet and sour. Justin asked us if we were ready for our entrees and we told him in a little bit and they came out shortly after.
For the loco moco plate, it's 2 patties, two eggs and two scoops of rice and we ordered it with toss salad. The patties are so juicy and thick and the ratio of egg:Patty:rice is perfect with plenty of gravy all over! We got a mini tasty chicken with salad instead of rice and it was so fresh and not too drenched in sauce (the skin is the best part!). The pieces are large so it looks like a small portion but trust me you'll get full quick. The oxtail soup is a must get! We got it with hapa rice (1/2 white, 1/2 brown) and it comes with a side of ginger and cilantro, and a dipping sauce on the side. The soup itself has lots of oxtail meat, baby bok choy, some shiitake mushrooms and peanuts. You can even pay extra and add saimin noodles to your soup too. Everything that we've tried here is great and can't complain at all. The service is always friendly but our server Justin this time was exceptional - he checked on us frequently and always made sure we were okay which we really appreciated.
The Alley is a restaurant that we'll always come back to, and make sure you always save room for the lemon crunch cake! Thank you for yummy food and great service.