Always enjoy going to see stars performing here. Recently saw Bini and it was a fun and…read moreentertaining show. The only bad thing was that the soda dispensers failed and they could not serve soda drinks about 30 minutes after opening the arena doors to the public. I added in a video below. Prices have risen also to use the parking garage

Happy that you could purchase from the vendors food, snacks and drinks to bring into the arena…read more Ushers available to Help you find your seats dressed in green and white printed aloha shirts. Security was posted within the audience seated throughout the concert. The ac was strong. An older crowd in the audience. The row in front of us had their heads bobbing to the music. The performer had local guests sing a duet with him, had BYU choir on stage, the Honolulu symphony Orchestra plus his own band performing. Glad there were two large screens to see Josh Groban sing. Helps when large and tall people sit in front of you at the last possible moment. Felt almost like a gospel vibe to me but could be cuz I was not familiar with the majority of his songs.

One of my friends couldn't make it to a mens volleyball game, so I went with his girlfriend and her…read morefriends instead. Debs wanted to see a game, and well, here we were. Parking wasn't too bad and we parked at the very top. I have never been to this arena. It's a good size! Lots of concessions but we planned to go eat after. Of course, we were in the nosebleed sections but it was a great view and we could see all the action. Gotta hand it to the community! The families, friends, fellow students, alumni all come out to support the men's volleyball team. We had a lot of fun learning when to "chee hoo!" When to yell "ROOF!" And just scream for UH. I'm glad I got to experience it! Now, getting out of the parking structure did take us a while, but it was all good! GO BOWS!!!!

We went to watch the Hawaii wahine volleyball team last night against Georgia state. It was opening…read morenight for the wahine. They look like they have some good hitters with Tali Hakas back from injury last year. Again like in years past, height will be an issue. I've been wanting to try Dave's Dogs. I finally got my chance.i ordered the "Don Ho". It's all beef frank with 2 strips of bacon, cheese and onions with a garlic mayo drizzle. It was good but i wish had more of the garlic mayo. I also got a churro from the concession stand. It's nice and long but not hot. There's no chocolate dipping to go with it. Sigh. It was good to see a lot of the Hawaii sports memorabilia and past athletes showcased around the arena. It adds a really nice vibe. A short but good history of UH athletics. Parking is really expensive. $10

UH Mānoa's Baseball field as a graduation venue is the absolute worst!…read moreIts such a far walk for families (children and elderly alike) from the parking garage. The rules they implemented during graduation were simply not enforced either. No rubbish, strollers, carts, etc. The amount of people who broke the rules was ridiculous. Many of us followed the guidelines and that made attending graduation incredibly difficult (ex. carrying your babies due to no stroller). They should rereview how they handle graduation crowds and get the right amount of staff to enforce it.

Food- 5 stars Service- 3 stars…read moreAmbiance - 5 stars I attended a UH baseball game the other day and had a great time!! It's a viiibe once you get into the stadium because you are greeted with all UH baseball fans dripped with some cool UH swag. The field has gotten a major facelift since the last time I attended a game ! The baseball field is 100 percent turf and designed to reflect the school's colors. There are many vendors to choose from when you are on the second floor concourse. I ordered summer rolls and Chicken from Olay's Thai and was completely satisfied! The service was okay. I felt like there were no ushers available in our section to help direct us to our seats. We also wanted to order Miller lite beer at first, but something was apparently wrong with the keg connected to their line at the time. Will def be back to get some Pogmosa and try a hotdog!

Ric's- short attention span review:…read more 2017 was their 8th annual festival. Small in terms of what one would expect of a festival. Mostly food trucks, snacks with a sprinkling of service booths with information. (Yelp had their booth, yay!) There was a small entertainment stage area on the mauka side of the fest. Auahi street was blocked off roughly from between Nordstrom Rack and Agu Ramen. Area was really packed, hard to maneuver. No place to sit and eat in the fest. footprint. Most people ate standing up or took their goodies and sat by the Nordstrom/TJ Max area. A little more space with a couple of portable tables and benches would have been nice. Most interesting food offering: the pineapple fried rice with shrimp topping. A half pineapple boat stuffed with fried rice and topped with shrimp. Big enough for two, $13. Not a festival I would go out of my way for. But if in the area, why not?

Parking was horrendous, we spent maybe 20 minutes circling around the parking garage floors before…read morewe got lucky. At least it was free. Rice fest was set for 3-9 pm. We arrived around 5 ish & it was still dreadfully hot. Dozens of vendors were there so I was excited to explore, it was pretty lively with entertainment and games to support Meals on wheels. Some vendors accepted card purchases & some were cash only...luckily I had a $20 What's disappointing was a few booths had "sold out" signs & it was only 5 pm. My favorite booths: I can't recall the name but it's the booth with rolled ice cream? The strawberry mochi was amazing!!! The horchata ice cream was yummy too & im usually not a fan of the drink. Lines were long for the corn booth, I got the Mexican corn & it was delicious! Corn came from the bulk packs you get from Costco. We got our BBQ plate at Chamorro grindz around 6 ish & they ran out of their signature red rice, definite bummer. If I knew before I ordered, it would have definitely impacted my decision to eat there. Kelaguen was good, BBQ ribs were ok. Ulu's lemonade: refreshing as always. Favorites are rob's special (favorite?) and blue hawaii. To be completely honest, I don't know if I'll return next year. This was my first year and it was just way too hot and pricey. Major plus was there were dozens of dogs, win!!!

I've been going to the Punahou Carnival at Punahou School for years as it was a mere 7 minute…read morewalking distance from where I once lived. But for this year, it was a different experience, not just travel wise but overall. As expected, parking can be difficult to find for this weekend event. You can either pray to the street parking gods to have a spot available nearby the campus or pay at nearby locations like Central Union Church or neighboring school and churches ranging from $10.00 to up to $30.00. Food items and games (except for the E.K. Fernandez games) can be purchased through scrip. There are many scrip booths available on campus for you to purchase scrip from. Most of the crowd tends to go to the scrip booth at the entrance of the school, but I found it more convenient to go to the other areas like by the white elephant tent or kiddie land as the lines are much much shorter. One key thing to remember is that the booths only accept credit/debit, Apple Pay or Google Pay to purchase scrip. No cash will be accepted. One scrip is 50 cents, a whole sheet of scrip is $10. It does tend to get busy during this event and it is highly expected that you will be waiting in line for the food. Unfortunately this year, the food was just...meh. The regular gyro that costs about 15 scrip had an equal amount of protein and onion (if you know me well enough, I'm not a fan of raw yellow onions). The noodles (that I always look forward to) that costs about 10 scrip with char siu, was bland and didn't have that many char siu pieces. The teri burger (9 scrip, 10 with cheese) was nostalgic but also meh. But the most upsetting food we had this time around was their famous (turned infamous for us) Portuguese bean soup (32 oz. is 18 scrip, limit 2 per person). When we got home and were ready to partake in that so-called hearty, comforting bowl of soup, we were faced disappointment with more broth than the actual ingredients. It was so watery that I was only able to identify only 4.5 pieces of elbow macaroni in that 32 oz! My friend's soup however had a lot of ingredients (she went earlier in the day instead). To make things worse, they moved the soup station further away from everything else, meaning extra walking (without any markings or signages) to just be let down. Although this year's experience wasn't the greatest, it's still the Punahou Carnival, with its usual crowds, usual announcements over the PA, and its nostalgic charm. Hopefully, they'll improve the food quality (the best ones we had from this experience were the malasadas and corn on the cob) and include some signages or arrows to point us of where to go for the hot items instead of letting us go on a hiking adventure up, down, left, and right through the campus.

The iconic Punahou Carnival is like any other popular place so expect crowds, looking for parking,…read morelines, but it's a priceless experience with the right mindset. It's always held the FIRST WEEKEND in February. First, the parking. Only volunteers receive on-campus parking. The public can find free parking on adjacent streets like Dole, Clark, Whitney, Wilder or opt for paying flat rate at Maryknoll School which is a short walk across the street, St. Clements Church about a block west, Shriners Hospital is 2 blocks makai, Central Union Church 2 blocks makai, and St Peter's is 3 blocks makai. Traffic can be crazy around these areas with a lot of pedestrians so extra caution. If I didn't live within walking distance I'd probably Uber over to save time. I give the carnival 4 stars - until the scrips can be purchased online or a QR code. Waiting in line to purchase scrips can be difficult when you're bringing young children. That being said, we purchase more scrip for both days so we don't have to wait in line again. It's fifty cents per scrip or $10 for entire sheet. Credit cards only- no cash accepted. When you enter through main gate there's a scrip booth to the right but also more on the diamond head side which usually isn't as busy. This year there was also one near Bishop Hall (mauka) where more of the keiki games were. I highly recommend the carnival website which gives great info to plan your day. A map shows food, games, bathrooms, scrip booths, art gallery, logo shop, white elephant, plants, fruits/vegs was awesome for us to plan our attack. A list of Punahou games (EK Fernandez is separate) and food booths with amount of scrip needed helped us figure out how much scrip to purchase for both days. It also says which places take scrip or credit cards. The food is basic carnival - which to me always tastes good because of the great memories growing up. Teri burgers, saimin, wok-prepared char siu noodles, malasadas, Portuguese bean soup, Hawaiian plate with kalua pig, rice, poi, lomi salmon, sweet potato, pineapple, hot dogs, spam musubi, corn on cob, taco salad, nachos, mini Haagen Daz ice cream cups, gyros, smoothies, soda, bottled water are all reasonably priced. This is a FUNDRAISER to give financial aid to more students- which are about 30% of the classes. Bathrooms are scattered throughout the carnival and pretty clean. Also have accessible portapotties placed far enough away from activities with portable sinks and soap. Police officers posted at each scrip booth and also entrances/exits, as well as security. The first day on Friday is busy because Punahou and Maryknoll allow students early access. Evenings after-work/school crowd gets busy so if you have small kids it could be a little overwhelming plus walking to your car in dark perhaps bring flashlight as sidewalks are narrow with cracked asphalt, and alerts cars who may be distracted or in a rush to get outta there. Saturday is the busiest since most people have the day off. Not sure why but this year didn't seem as busy- lots of room to walk around and the weather was perfect. It ended earlier at 10:00 PM instead of 11:00. EK Fernandez has their own area for games and rides. You can either purchase at their booth or download QR code and pay for games and rides with your phone. The prizes are nice- really huge stuffed animals and inflatables. Punahou games do not give out prizes at their booths. If you win or as a consolation prize they give out coupons which can be redeemed at the Prize Tent located up top by Bishop Hall (Diamond Head / mauka of White Elephant tent). This was nice because we didn't have to carry it around with us and could redeem upon leaving. The Haku Booth had a sign saying pre-ordered only so check Carnival website for details. They are beautifully made by the students. The Portuguese bean soup and Hawaiian plates are located mauka in the cafeteria. Be prepared to wait in line but it goes quickly as there's a limit of 2. You may sit in the cafeteria to eat or there are groups of tables just outside. They sell small cooler bags if you plan on taking home or we brought our own. There is also a schedule of live music to enjoy. There was NO CHICKEN PLATE this year so we missed that rotisserie chicken cooked at the carnival on campus. The art gallery had moved to Bishop Learning Center because the library was being renovated so we enjoyed checking out the beautiful artwork and paintings for sale which were mostly local artists. In our experience it's always been a very safe and clean carnival- we took our 2 year old granddaughter this year and she loved all the games and a couple of rides like the "hot air balloon" and carousel. Lots of sunscreen, water, and people-watching made it all the more enjoyable.

I was lucky enough to attend a Lei Day event at Waikiki Shell featuring live music and hula, and…read morethe setting could not have felt more perfect for it. The venue immediately reminded me a little of the Hollywood Bowl, but on a much smaller and somehow even more charming scale. With Diamond Head rising in the background, the views are absolutely spectacular and give the whole experience a distinctly Hawaiian sense of place. I was also impressed by how good the acoustics were, especially in an outdoor venue. It's very easy to access from the main Waikiki hotel area, which makes getting there surprisingly convenient. Between the music, the atmosphere, and the scenery, it ended up being one of those memorable Honolulu evenings that really sticks with you.

Shelling out for an event…read more.. Honestly the last time that I've been back to the Waikiki Shell is my graduation o_O woah....though I could be wrong but sadly I don't get out very much but thanks to Nadine who asked if I was interested in a concert which I really was made me so happy to return and experience it all under the stars. Parking is always an issue but luckily we got there early...early enough to find one right away as it fills up quickly which you'll have to park at the next lot which can be a distance that we didn't want. What I wasn't prepared for was the wait as the time to enter was delayed by 30 minutes I did wished that I knew you could bring your own water just as long it's in a plastic bottle though there was lots of food options there it was spread out so far I wished there was just a single place to order but I was already exhausted from waiting that all I wanted to do was find our seats. Nadine selected great seats right in the center and close enough that we're able to see the concert well, bathrooms are at the front gate and I noticed there was another one on the opposite side as well, it's nice to have an open air atmosphere gave it a nice relaxing vibe. Thank you!

Ward Field is a multi-purpose sports and gathering area to the right of the Nimitz entry gate. The…read morefield is used year-round for softball, baseball, soccer, football, and other athletic activities. The field is quite large, so there may be more than one game playing at a time, depending on the time of year and the sport. There are bleachers, benches, and dugouts in different sections to accommodate both the players and the spectators. When JBPHH needs a large space for an event, often they will erect tents at Ward Field. This is a frequent gathering area for the Fourth of July and other holidays. There is plenty of parking right next to the field, but additional parking can be found at the buildings surrounding Ward Field when it gets to be crowded. Most of the area here is in good repair, but because this field gets used frequently, the ground can become muddy and lumpy if there's a big crowd during a rain shower. If it looks like rain, military or cowboy boots will help to keep your feet clean and dry. Security and staffing will depend on each event, but the annex building is staffed during regular business hours.

My husband and I went to the Mayjah Rayjah 2013 Concert last night. We had a great time. Even…read morethough we are on the 'mature side' and didnt know any of the artists. I wanted to do something totally different for our 28th Wedding Anniversary. We sat on the over 21 side (the alcoholics side) as they were affectionately known throughout the night . We chose this side only because it had a better angle to the stage. We got there really early but didnt need to really. We were first in line at the express entrance because we bought a Groupon for the concert.. There is really no need to arrive early and line up for hours we discovered unless you really really want to sit right down the front on the cement step near the stage. There is more than ample room to put your blanket down and relax and watch the show and the stage can be seen from anywhere. We sat on the first path half way up the hill just near the sound desk and it was perfect. By the end of the night though we had a lot of people standing on the path behind us but that didnt happen until about 11.30pm. I am a watcher and I watched the ample ample amount of security guards, no one seemed to be misbehaving even on the 'alcoholics side' and everyone was having a great time dancing and singing. You cannot repeat CANNOT take in anything other than a blanket. I bought 2 stadium seat thingys with the padded seat and back attached from Walmart for $18, they were well worth it as we sat on the grass for 7 hours and hardly got a 'numb bum'...... Each bag is checked thoroughly, every zipper was open and searched. Large backpacks are not allowed in and what was allowed in were completely searched as well. The drinks were overpriced, water, sodas were $3 each but the food was reasonable. 2 Hawaiian plates, rice with salad and chicken or chili franks were $8 each so not too bad. We didnt have any alcohol so not sure of the price, but previous yelpers say it was expensive. They were selling the large cans of Bud Light and looks like mixed drinks as well. Overall it was a fantastic night. If you dont want the noisy revelers sit on the under 21 family side but if you want an alcoholic drink you cant go back over till its all gone!