I decided to try Broken Rice this past Friday for a takeout dinner. I've heard a lot of great things about it so I was curious about it. Not sure how long Broken Rice has been in this location, but I know that there have been a lot of tenants before them that have come and gone. We went around 5:00pm and they didn't have any customers. This didn't bother me since I had my little one in tow and she was just climbing all over the place. Since it was my first time I asked the lady what's good or popular here. She couldn't really give me an answer. She kind of just said that everyone has their own preferences when they come here, which really didn't help me at all. I just thought she would give me some pointers. I ended up getting several dishes because I wasn't sure what my husband would want. I got the crab fried rice, spring rolls, beef Pho, and shaking beef. I really liked the crab fried rice. They put actual real pieces of crab and not the junky imitation crab. I told my husband that the fried rice was one of the best ones I've had. They had a different kind of sauce to season their rice besides regular shoyu. It was a pretty big portion and I still have leftovers. You know what the best part of this fried rice was? It didn't have peas or carrots! Woo hoo! The other dishes were also good. The beef pho's broth was very tasty. Again it also tasted different than other Pho places. Like they added a different ingredient or something. The shaking beef was well flavored but in my opinion the pieces are cut too thick. But that could just be me, I'm just not a meat/steak kind of person. I did however like the rice under the meat. I couldn't get enough of it. My husband ate all the meat and I saved just the rice so that I could eat it for breakfast. The spring rolls were just okay. I've had better spring rolls before. It just felt like they were small and missing something. I've been to other places that have better spring rolls. It was a little expensive but I'd go back there. read more

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Cute family run business in kaimuki! I ordered the chicken broken rice which was a decent size. Can't wait to try something else from here! read more

Broken Rice - chicken broken rice - Vietnamese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

I love broken rice. Even being forced to just do take out, their food is worth it. Although, I do prefer dine for obvious reasons. My favorite dishes include the beef lemongrass soup, shaking beef, special broken rice, and affogato. I have not tried the affogato for takeout though. I can't really describe it, but their food is more flavorful than other Vietnamese restaurants that I've tried and their dishes are different. They also don't have an extensive menu. Usually when you dine in, service is pretty fast and seamless. That's also the case for takeout. However, if you call and want to pick up right away, that might not be possible if they are busy. Parking is also convenient because there's a large paid parking lot behind their building that is shared with other restaurants and shops in the Kaimuki area. When it is safe to dine in at restaurants, I'm definitely eating at broken rice. read more

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Searched for a "light healthy lunch" in the Kaimuki area and found Broken Rice thanks to our awesome Yelp community! We were the only ones seated when the restaurant opened at 11, but less than an hour later every table was full. So what was the attraction? For our table of three, the lemongrass chicken and broken rice plate was ridiculously DELICIOUS! Moist and flavorful, we all liked that the meat was thinly pounded so easy to eat with chopsticks. Came with a generous scoop of rice (cute, tiny grains) that was fluffy and moist, just the right amount of carbs we needed. The vermicelli noodles and chicken was refreshing, hitting all the senses with crunchy cucumbers and minced peanuts mixed with a light sauce. And the chicken salad carried the light refreshing theme with the added punch of bright burst-in-the-mouth grape tomatoes. Service was a tad slow due to there only being one server for the whole restaurant. Bathroom at the back of the restaurant was clean even if it felt weird to walk through the kitchen to get there. Price point around the same if not a skosh higher than my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in King Street by McKinley High School. Metered parking in the lot behind the restaurant which is tucked on Waialae between Cajun King and Coffee Talk (thanks to a Yelper photo, we found it easily!) I'd go back when I'm in the area! read more

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I was in Hawaii only for a few weeks, but was already craving Pho. Having come from NYC where authentic pho restaurants were far and few to little, I was suprised to have the craving hit me in Honolulu. Thankfully, a friend (and also coincidentally fellow Yelp Elite) introduced me to Broken Rice! As this was about two months ago, COVID was still relatively low. However, the tourist surge kept me really vigilant and so I went as soon as the restaurant opened. It is first come first served so if you want a table, go early. There is a parking lot (paid) nearby otherwise, it's standard HNL parking - difficult (for street). While I wanted to get the beef pho, my friend had eaten something that caught my eye. CRAB bun rieu. I had to get it. And another thing caught my eye - fresh baguette with pate. HOW COULD I NOT? Crab bun Rieu PROS - big freaking crab claw right on top - huge portion - very flavorful soup: not just the spices but the taste of seafood. It wasn't bland at all. It wasn't super salty either! - great balance ratio of noodles to other ingredients. CONS: - none Baguette and Pate PROS: - FANTASTIC quantity - it's definitely meant to be shared, and I fortunately did not have anyone to share it with because I LOVE pate. - bread came out warm and fresh! - large amount of pate (which is great for the ratio of pate to bread) but also came separate so you can spread it yourself! CONS: - none! Oh man, I would definitely go back. I rarely give five stars, but I will have to go back for sure. I want to say that given the issues of COVID and how many are on unemployment (and many collecting more than they would with a job), there have been a lot of service industries who have found it hard to fill their staff back up to match capacity. This is also not counting the surge of tourists. I had really good service even though it did take a little bit longer than most restaurants to get the food out. Not to mention it is definitely authentic! The price was way more than it is in pho restaurant stateside but I can understand the increase given the lack of pho in the area, the lack of business overall due to COVID and the costs of living in Honolulu. For what I got and it's flavor, it was worth it to me. Thank you! read more

Broken Rice - crab bun rieu - Vietnamese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Wooowww the pho here is phenomenal. The Beef Rib Soup is pricey, but it is definitely the star of the show with all the diff kinds of meat and rich broth. Probably my favorite pho ever. The meat really does fall off when you pick it up, and the noodles and soup TOP most other places. SOLID portions! Everything tasted clean and fresh. The Grilled Pork Chops plate was perfect too, and had a great portion size!! read more

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Whaaaat!! How did I not know of this place?!? Move over pig and the lady! Broken rice is coming after you! The locations is off on waialae - on the same block as Koa pancake house. There's metered parking behind the building or you can just park in the other lot the next street over and not worry about coins and feeding the meters. I seen a photo on social media of their crab noodle soup and it had a huge crab claw in it! Not too many places serve this so it was definitely on my to try list. I called in my order and picked it up about 15 mins later. The service was super friendly and very considerate. The pricing was kinda high but it's what you'd expect with what was in there. My crab soup was about $18 but it was packed full of flavor and very delicious. I would go back to try other things but I'm sure it would be quite a large bill since their items are around $15 read more

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Between reading some raving reviews about Broken Rice by other Yelpers, a picture of their bun rieu (crab noodle soup) on IG convinced my tummy that this was the meal to explore a new place I haven't been to. Parking is always a challenge in the lot on the weekend so we tried to go right at 11am when they opened. The man that worked the front house was very hospitable, promptly seated us, took our order, refilled our water. It's very clean almost sterile in the restaurant. Interesting, they had wall art only on half of their walls. The chairs were metal and not very comfortable. My partner started with the Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk $4.00. We wanted to get the spring rolls others were raving about but noticed it had shrimp so had to pass as he's allergic. I am too but I had taken Zyrtec, shrimp is life and an allergy won't stop me. I came for and got the bun rieu (crab noodle soup) $18.00. It had one crab claw in it, some crab pieces in the soup and definitely crab in the pork meat balls. It was tasty, I finished all my broth too. While I did enjoy it, I'd want to try other dishes next time. My partner got the bun bo hue $14.00 (spicy lemon grass noodle soup). He said it was pretty spicy. I did try some of the broth, which was pretty tasty. There's beef shank, steam pork & tendon in it. Comes with bean sprouts, mint leaves, a lemon wedge and jalapenos. Ended the meal with taro tapioca $4.00, which was served chilled. I liked that a lot. It also comes in banana. I definitely plan to go back and try other dishes. read more

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I recently went here with my family and a few friends and absolutely loved it. The service was quick with our waiter being very friendly. He brought out paper and crayons for the baby with us to play with. I wish I hadn't eaten before hand because the food was amazing. I ended up getting only a small amount, but I will definitely need to go back and try more when I'm on the island again.The pho and shrimp fried rice were some of the best i've had. Overall I really enjoyed the restaurant and highly recommend it. read more

Food is ok. Meat a tad too salty; perhaps marinated too long, and not enough rice on the plate. Service is poor.

My husband knows that I hate spending more than $10 for a bowl of pho unless it's in a big bowl filled to the brim with everything. This is a little quaint place with bright yellow walls. The service was excellent. They only had 1 girls waitressing and taking orders and did not skip a beat. We ordered the following: Shaking Beef ($19) - It had cubed rib eye cooked with garlic soy sauce. My husband ordered this and he said it was delicious. However for me, the $19 was a little too hard for me to swallow. Shrimp ($14) - My daughter ordered this. It had shrimp sautéed with garlic. My daughter really liked it. Beef with Lemongrass Soup ($14) - This is Bun Bo Hue. It had beef shank, steamed pork and tendon. I have to admit it was pretty tasty. The soup was made perfectly. Beef Rib Soup ($18) - This pho had tenderloin, brisket, meatball and tendon. We got this for my son and he really liked it. I don't know if we'll go back again because of the prices but the food was very good. read more

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Love this place!!! Oddly while driving past them for years, we finally decided to stop and smell the roses! And we are sooo thrilled we did!! We made reservations because we weren't sure how busy they would get. Parking was in the back, same lot as Jose's, etc and we walked around and entered the restaurant on Waialae. From the outside, one would never be able to assume how clean, quaint and welcoming inside was. We were kindly seated and was able to view all these amazing photos of Vietnam and Asia around us. Truly amazing! We then ordered vegetarian spring rolls, Shaken tofu, lemongrass beef and beef noodle soup aka pho! Everything was absolutely amazing! Had a nice chat with the owner and he explained that the beef pho broth was boiled for 10 hours. The food here is truly flavorful and made with love. We will be back!! read more

Broken Rice - Vietnamese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Not bad but per all the five star reviews, I was a little crestfallen. Spring rolls were good, not greasy. I really didn't like the shaking seems like it lacked a necessary sweet note. Very clean and organized place. Poor beverage options unfortunately. read more

Broken Rice - Spring Rolls (4 Pieces) - Vietnamese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Aloha, a GF loves this place & hyped it up, nice. She explained the "broken" rice to me that it's shelled & fluffier, nice. We had the pancake (not on the menu, you have to ask for this dish), that was really good, would definitely come back for that, but the beef plate was very typical of any Vietnamese Restaurant, good but for $18 a little pricey. I'll need to return for the Pho, as it looked really good too on the next table. I love the decor, beautiful scenic pictures from their home, very nice. Will definitely return to work my way thru the menu. Mahalo read more

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This is my favorite Vietnamese restaurant, hands down. Yes you wait a little longer for your food but that's because everything is made fresh, made to order. And, might I add, the food is pretty darn good! My favorite is the beef rib soup - meat falls off the bone, so tasty. The owners are very friendly folks. Can't go wrong here. read more

During Covid this place was pretty decent for takeout but when we visited on 10/12/23 not the same at all. Here's my story. I tried to open the door but it was locked. We are the only people standing right outside the restaurant. He proceeds to come to the door and sees us standing there but instead of opening the door and welcoming us in.. he looks at us and only unlocked it. No greeting as we come inside. Only gestures in a direction for us to sit at the smallest table awkwardly placed on the side of the entrance. We are the only people eating there because they just opened. We could have sat anywhere but he specifically said "you sit here." We ordered the vermicelli bowls. Lemongrass chicken was overly salty (before pouring the fish sauce) and the portions were unbelievably small. $16.50 for trash. After he ran the bill he disappeared the entire time. This place is called BROKEN for a reason. Food sucks, over priced, and rude service. Never going back. read more

Wanted Vietnamese food before we leave Hawaii and I gotta say the food was so good! We ate everything. I had the special broken rice with chicken and pork chop and the meat literally falls apart, juicy, and tender. I love it. My husband had the beef rib soup noodles and he absolutely love it saying that the meat just falls off the bone and the broth was perfectly well done. Highly recommends this place if you want Vietnamese food. read more

Broken Rice - Special Broken Rice - Vietnamese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Everything was delicious and freshly prepared, the staff was very nice and welcoming. Great little local spot with amazing food. read more

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Went to Broken Rice for dinner on a Saturday night. I called at 4:45 to make reservations for 5:45 and she checked to see if they can take us. After a few minutes, she came back on the phone and said that they are very busy but they can take my party of 2. We arrive there at 5:30, and expect the place to be packed, only to find one lady who was waiting for her party of 6 to arrive. All of the other tables were empty!! Kinda funny. We ordered the liver pate, spring rolls, lemon grass beef and oxtail pho. I really liked the liver pate and oxtail pho. I've had better spring rolls and my husband said his lemon grass beef wasn't too tasty, he said he didn't taste a strong lemon grass flavor and said that it was more like bulgogi beef. The service was pretty quick and we were out of there by 6:30. There is street parking or you can park in the municipal lot behind their building, just be sure to have some spare change. It's 25 cents for 20 minutes. read more

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Had dinner here with a few friends one night, and one of them picked this place. To my surprise this place has amazing food here. It was more of a traditional Vietnamese style cuisine. I had there broken rice special plate, and it amazing. My colleagues ordered the beef plate that also. Looked good too . We all finished our okayed, and the service was on point. We all agreed to come back again for second round if we're on the side town again awesome choice and highly recommended here read more

I love Vietnamese food, hardly come out to Kaimuki area, but after watching Jojo Rabbit at Kahala theaters, we decided to try the Vietnamese food here. Parking is either meter street parking or the parking lot behind the restaurant which is also meter parking. The menu is simple which is a good thing. When the menu has too many items listed down, it makes it difficult to choose. But went with the spring rolls vermicelli noodle bowl and my bf had the crab soup. The rice noodles were delicious with a generous amount of spring rolls. Love throwing on that sauce they give you with the noodles. The soup base for the crab soup was not that spicy. I kinda of wished the waiter would fill up my water cup earlier than later. I drank 2/3 of my water and got a little thirsty after devouring my noodle bowl. It is nice chic restaurant, does need some improvement on the service. read more

Oh Broken Rice, where have you been with your OXTAIL SOUP! I was transported back to happier times with the aroma of perfectly seasoned broth, and fall off the bone melt in your mouth oxtail. I would have been perfectly fine eating the oxtail soup with a nice bowl of rice and no noodles at all! I'm definitely a forever fan, this made my week. I found this gem on yelp, and I was pleasantly surprised when we first walked in. Nice clean and modern dining area, minimal decor, immediately seated and greeted by two smiling workers. The menu is small, which was great! And our order was taken fast. I also tried: Spring rolls - hot crispy and fresh! Four in one order with lettuce leaves, cold noodles and nuoc cham. These were awesome! The rolls were just the right size, not too much filling and ultra crispy! Beef lemongrass soup (Bun Bo Hue) - this was savory spicy and fresh all at the same time. It comes with fat noodles but I substituted with flat. Both of our soups came with a fresh serving of veggies - bean sprouts, lemon, basil, and sliced jalapeño. I eat a lot of pho and I've never had any as fresh as here when it comes to the meat they use! The beef brisket all the way down to the thin sliced sausage were so tender and tasted fresh. The oxtail was simmered to perfection and melted in my mouth. I'll be back broken rice! Shout out to our awesome waiter, I didn't get his name - older gentleman with dark hair. read more

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Cyndy's Bottom Line: Tasty delicious Vietnamese Metered street parking or paid parking lot $1.50. Reservations online. Casual and clean ambiance. Located next to Coffee Talk. Stopped in for lunch and I was happy we did. The food is made of high quality fresh ingredients. You can taste the freshness of the vegetables. This is what we ate: *Pork vermicelli bowl - Grilled pork so tasty delicious in a bowl on top of lettuce, bean sprouts, shredded carrots, garnished mint leaves, peanuts and green onions and vermicelli noodles on the bottom. Served with fish sauce. Pour the fish sauce and mix it all up. So yummy! *Beef Pho - the broth looked so rich and flavorful and there are pieces of beef in bone. My gf said it was so good and delicious. read more

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Fresh, delicious, light food. The server is not the friendliest but the food is worth it to eat in or take out! The shaking beef is amazing; by far my favorite and I don't eat a lot of beef any more. The chicken salad is also delicious. read more

Wow, I just love the bun bo hue here. That's the lemon grass spicy beef noodle soup. It's such a simple Vietnamese dish but if you know what I know, it's so hard to find a good bowl of this in Hawaii. Most places make some sort of watered down version of this soup. But here they make it authentic. I can't wait to try other dishes here. But I would just come back to get the bun bo hue again, and probably only that dish! Can't go wrong with what you know is good. read more

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Broken rice has a modern look to some traditional Vietnamese cuisine. Some of the traditional dishes also have a new twist to them. If you enjoy Vietnamese food, you need to try this place. Food is delicious and decently priced. I got the bun bo hue. Finally, a place that has bun bo hue! Honestly, it was my first time ordering this because I love pho so much! If you haven't had the chance the try, you need to try it! The lemongrass and other herbs make it so aromatic! The citrus and spices added a nice contrast in flavors. We came in around closing so there were only two other parties. Fortunately, they still served us. The dishes felt a bit small to me, so if you are a big eater, I recommend getting some appetizers to share too. Parking is not the best around here so good luck with that. Come over and try! read more

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Wow. Wow. Wow! Yes! Finally, a place in Hawai'i that compares to the Vietnamese food in Atlanta! We came here for my husband's birthday, and SO pleased we did! Service: On top of it. Friendly. Gracious and helpful. Food: Vegetarian Salad (Goi chay) - The flavors will make your taste buds sing. It's a perfect medley of savory, sweet, and crunchy. The Basil and mint really hold this dish together, and the crispy garlic sprinkled throughout is the perfect touch! Spring Rolls (Cha Gio) - Words from my family: "These are the best spring rolls (egg rolls) I've had in Hawaii!" And boy, have they been on the search for good Vietnamese food since moving here from a heavily Viet-saturated market of Atlanta, GA. My sister chowed down and I would have to agree. These spring rolls were perfection. Chicken Liver Spread (Pate) - "Oh my God. This is goooood!" --my sister, who doesn't even like pate very much. We licked this one clean. The liver pate is made with love and the smoothness of the flavor won't disappoint. Special Broken Rice (Com Tam) - The portion is generous. The chicken was flavorful and moist, as was the pork chop. It was so refreshing to finally have traditional Vietnamese side dishes here. The shredded pork & clear noodle and meatloaf were such delightful side dishes for this plate fit for a king! Shaking Beef (Bo Luc Lac) - Yes! The steak was perfectly seasoned and every last cube was bursting with flavor. Each bite of the bo luc lac was tender and not a single piece was left. Beef Spicy Noodle Soup (Bun Bo Hue) - The broth was not as thick as we are used to, and there's no blood cake in it (as the traditional style), but this was still good. The fragrant lemongrass mixed with the spiciness is a winner. Grilled Shrimp Vermicelli (Tom Nuong) - This is the best grilled shrimp on vermicelli that I've ever had, including Atlanta, hands down. The pieces were big, juicy, and I might've stolen an extra piece from my mom's dish. She finished the entire bowl, which attests to its taste, as she's a pretty picky eater. Thank you, Broken RIce! We truly are happy to find Vietnamese cuisine on the island that boasts traditional dishes that have maintained their integrity. I can't wait to go back to try some more items on the menu. read more

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Great Vietnamese restaurant. We were looking for a new place to try for dinner. Read the solid reviews and the menu choices looked good. We ordered the shanking ribeye broken rice plate, the broken rice house combo plate, crab fried rice and spring roll bun bowl. We also got iced coffee and lavender lemonade. Everything was delicious and we made it before the dinner rush so service was pretty quick. read more

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The food was fresh and well seasoned. i ordered take out and it was ready and waiting when I got there. We orders the shakin beef and the broken rice special, they were both excellent. I also orders the chicken salad, which rounded out the meal well. We will be back. read more

When I Yelp it is either: A: a restaurant or business that could use some tweaking; B: a restaurant or business that is is in dire need of help; C: a restaurant or business that is AMAZEBALLS! This was my first time here and was invited to join a friend for lunch. I don't frequent Vietnamese places and when I do it's often just a Pho kinda place. "Broken Rice..?" Sure why not I thought since I'm not paying right..? Food is food and I'm grateful for the opportunity to invest time with a friend. We met for lunch at noonish and there was a total of 4 others there. Okay I guess we will have fast service then! Sat down and ordered the Shaken Beef entree since I like Beef and Garlic and although from the other pics on Yelp don't do much justice, surely they won't screw that up. I could smell the savory sauce and garlic before it came out of the kitchen. . . . IT . . . WAS . . . AMAZING!! . . . Soft tender cubes of ribeye with a delicious garlic sauce kinda reminds me of Goivanni's Shrimp sauce but better and on beef! I typically avoid white rice as it's too much carbs for me, but I couldn't resist the broken rice as it seems lighter and not as heavy as one would think white rice is. Maybe cause it's broken..? IDK, but I ate everything on my plate and it was so savory I didn't want to finish my last three bites cause that was all that I had left I too each bite about 3 minutes apart so I could savor it as much as I could. Service was great and prompt as it should be with only 4 other people at the time. I will surely be back (maybe tomorrow) to eat there again for lunch and possibly for dinner it was that delicious! I highly recommend this little Vietnamese place! read more

Broken Rice - Shaken Beef & Broken Rice - Vietnamese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Now that I've had time to come back here on multiple visits, I have to say it stands out from other Vietnamese restaurants in this area because of it's relaxing atmosphere, chic interior and excellent soup for noodle dishes. Since they first opened, they've added beautiful large canvases that highlight Vietnam. The canvases bring intrigue and life to the interior. The vibe here is welcoming and relaxed vs the hectic pace of Hale Vietnam and low key eatery of Saigon across the street. Their soup for the noodle soup offerings ranks top amongst the myriad of Vietnamese restaurants. I love that they don't give you hoisin and Sriracha because really good pho broth is perfect on its own!! Trust me, their pho broth is good by itself! Appreciate the love in their soups with each sip! The focus here is quality vs quantity. If you are going to cry about that, leave. They really do have a commitment to quality and I commend them on that because a lot of places cut corners. The Vietnamese coffee here is excellent, btw. I hope I've convinced you to give this place a chance and fall in love with it slowly like I did. read more

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Yummy. This was a delicious little find. I got the beef rib stew (which is listed as a soup and is thin like soup) but wow!! Incredible flavors and the meat is sooo tender. My daughter had the beef noodle soup/pho and my son the shrimp fried rice. Both were delicious and they would come back for again. Plus the owner took such good care of us. They were busy w many take out orders while we were there Definitely will visit again. read more

Impressive! We ordered the shaken beef, crab pho oxtail pho and spring rolls for appetizers. The shaken beef was sautéed in a garlic butter. It was moist and delicious. The Oxtail pho was a different take then the usual Oxtail soup as it does not come with a side of ginger and shoyu, however was Ono! The meat was fatty ( I like) and fall off the bone with a harmony of flavors simmered in all the spices. Yum! The spring rolls were perfect, crispy, tight and meaty. And the star of the show was the crab pho! Wow! The broth was full flavored as if they simmer crab over night. There are crab meatballs that just sort of melt in your mouth, there was a nice piece of shrimp and tofu that compliments the soup in its entirety. The service was great! Very attentive and polite. Atmosphere is clean and the tables are larger than most restaurants with this size. I enjoyed the pictures on the wall. Are the prices a wee bit too high? Yea it is.. but I have to admit, it was so worth it! Take my money! Lol we will be back again and again! Thank you Broken rice! read more

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I love restaurants that are willing to accommodate picky people like me. I wanted to try their rice since it's "broken" but I didn't want to eat seafood. So I asked if I could get their vegetarian salad on their rice and they said sure! Every bite was delicious. My little one was able to eat the chicken and beef so that's a good thing. I would go back and have that same vegetarian salad on broken rice any day. read more

Broken Rice - Vietnamese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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I'm always game to try new places to eat, so recently I went to a restaurant called - "Broken Rice" with my lunch buddy. This restaurant is the new kid on the block up in Kaimuki town...........very nice and simple decor, and basically this place features Vietnamese food with something different...........something probably a lot of Hawaii folks haven't seen before, it's called - "broken rice". What is broken rice? Well, the best way to put it............... it's rice that is basically busted, so you get the small bits & pieces of the broken rice, as the rice gets broken while it's being processed. In other words.......you're basically eating the "reject" rice or the crap! Lol! But what the broken rice brings to you is a unique texture when eaten, and if you look closely at your rice on your plate, you will see that the rice grains look different. To me, rice is rice...........I was first exposed to "broken rice" last year when I took a trip to the bay area, as my cousin took me out to dinner one night at a Vietnamese restaurant which featured broken rice. If you're curious about broken rice, it's worth it to try it at least once in your lifetime.............as for me, I think I'm one & done on this. Upon walking into this new restaurant, I could see that the restaurant was clean & well maintained. Upon looking over the menu, we ordered the following items - 1. Spring Rolls - 4 Piece Shrimp, Ground Pork, Carrots, Long Rice, & Onions. Wrapped & Deep Fried. ($8.00). 2. Chicken Plate - Lemongrass Chicken with Vegetables, & broken Rice ($13.00). 3. Crab Fried Rice - KIng Crab, Egg & Vegetables. ($18.00). What can I say about the grub? Although the food here is a bit pricey (I paid $52.00 with tip for our lunch meal, as I don't know how they do their math here, as I got a bill for $46.00, then I added my tip), the food here was just okay, nothing that really knocked my socks off, if you know what I mean.......... I did try my friend's Chicken & it was delicious!!!! Shucks, I wished I had ordered that dish instead! As for me, I went with the Crab Fried Rice. I though the Crab Fried Rice lacked flavor, and it really didn't too much crab in it either. I think I'd pass on this dish if I ever come back here, as I felt the dish wasn't worth it, for what they charged on the menu. Service here was great, no complaints here as the servers are pretty attentive. Parking - The parking situation for restaurants in Kaimuki is basically the paid municipal parking lot, metered parking, or if you're lucky...........maybe you can find free parking on some side street in the Kaimuki neighborhood. read more

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I had a friend in college who would pick the least brightest gal in the class to be her study partner. If she could get that gal to get an "A", she knew that she had mastered that class. That's what I did when I went to Broken Rice for the second time. I chose my skinniest friend who is a picky eater to go to lunch with me. She is not a Yelper and she's quite frank in her statements, so I was curious to know her opinion. We ordered the Beef pho, the Grilled Pork Chops, and the Shaking Beef. My skinny friend loved everything and said that she would tell her son and his girlfriend about this new restaurant! So - Broken Rice passed my version of a "blind test". We were walk-in customers and had full service! (The only minor note was that we were seated near the door and could feel every warm gust of wind when customers went in and out of the shop.) Our meal overall was excellent! The servers were attentive and offered to box up our leftovers! Initially, I had lunch here with my Lunch Buddy (Daniel C.), Lyla D., and her husband, Ed, a couple of days prior to my "Pop Quiz". We knew that this was "soft opening week" and that the regular service would not be available when reservations were made. The main man was taking orders, bussing tables, collecting the payments, and serving up delicious and beautiful dishes! He was calm, efficient, helpful, and friendly! FOOD: We had the Crab Fried Rice (moist and tasty), Shaking Beef (cut a bit thicker, so it's rarer, but flavorful), Grilled Pork Chops (excellent, and has conveniently scores in each piece), Special Broken Rice plate (a little of everything), and Spring Rolls on vermicelli (I finished this one up)! We devoured everything! ENVIRONMENT: Clean, bright, simple, and modern. There is a restroom - just be careful when walking through the kitchen. PARKING: there is metered street parking in Kaimuki Town, but I parked in the Municipal Lot and just paid $1.50. I sure would return for more of this yummy Viet cuisine! They're offering 10 percent off during their Soft Opening, so go now! read more

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We had heard through the Yelp grapevine about the recent opening of this new Vietnamese restaurant in Kaimuki called "Broken Rice". Luckily, by the good graces of Yelpville, fellow Yelper Daniel C coordinated our get together. After juggling schedules about, Daniel called to make lunch reservations for his wife (Mink), Nadine C, my husband and me. Unfortunately, Mink was unable to join us because she wasn't feeling well. Ah, next time! As others have noted, the origin of Broken Rice is fragmented rice grains, broken in the fields, during drying, during transport or milling. Due to the uneven or irregular breaks, the cooked texture is softer or fluffier than whole grain rice. Eating the broken rice is nutritionally the same as whole grain. However, as one might guess, the fragmented rice usually costs less and has been preferred by the poor OR eaten by choice for its texture. Broken rice is known as com tam but in America, it's rice grits. Oops, I digress. FOOD: We ordered several dishes to share among us. - Crab Fried Rice (Com tam chiên cua) $18 - Grilled Pork Chop (Com heo nuong) $13 - Shaking Beef (Bò lúc lac) $19 - Special Broken Rice (Com tam) $16 - Spring Rolls on vermicelli (Bún cha giò) $13 Except the spring rolls on vermicelli, each of the dishes included either a salad (lettuce & tomato), romaine lettuce and a huge scoop of broken rice. The flavors were nuanced by lemongrass, garlic, mushrooms and fish sauce. The broken rice was fragrant, light, fluffy and non-sticky. SERVICE: There was a male server, owner, I think, who accommodated us Yelpers by placing the dishes on a nearby table so we could allow our cameras to capture the "magic". We leisurely ate each dish as they came out one by one from the kitchen. Because we were there early, the restaurant was empty but within a few minutes, the restaurant filled. The server maintained good service to everyone by consistently refilling our water glasses and periodically stopping by to "check on us". We all enjoyed our lunch selections and although we felt the selections were a bit pricey, the portions were shareable. Yes, yes...we'll be back to try more of their Vietnamese specialties! read more

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Second time eating here and my opinion has gone down a bit, maybe I just ordered better the first time. We ordered the shaking beef, which was beautifully seasoned and well cooked. But, I felt that at the price of $19, it was a whole lotta white rice, and a little salad or something would have gone a long way to balance the dish. It does come 'with slaw', as advertised, but it was maybe 2 Tbsp and was way too sweet. We also ordered the special broken rice ($18) and we're pretty disappointed in this one. It looks a whole lot like the lemongrass pork chop on rice. The rest of the items qualified more as garnishes. The pork chop didn't do it for me either. It was over marinated so the salt has denatured the meat making it stringy. The beef lemongrass soup was good, but definitely spicy, and did have a bit of a funky background taste I couldn't quite place - kind of like chickpea water. If they offered the shaking beef on a huge salad of mixed greens I meant do that again, but otherwise, this place at least lived up to its name in that the dishes are heavily rice forward. read more

Broken Rice - Shaking beef. Tasty, but $19? That's the full order. Mostly rice. - Vietnamese Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Really fresh and yummy flavors and pleasant service. Both the chicken vermicelli and pork broken rice were delicious.

My husband and I always order the shaking beef plate almost weekly from Broken Rice because it's THAT GOOD! It's a little pricey at $20 each but it's so satisfying we can't help but crave it each week. Shaking beef is a cubed rib eye that's cooked in the most delicious sauce and served on top of rice. I'm salivating just thinking about it! We always call in our order ahead of time so we don't have to wait and pick up our takeout 20 minutes later. The owners are really nice and it makes us feel good that we're supporting a local business in Kaimuki. Broken rice is located a few doors down from Coffee Talk, across from Pipeline Bakery. Metered street parking or lot behind the building. read more