Mahalo to Gio for being our wonderful hole-in-wall food tour guide. My husband and I loved checking out places we've never been and we also appreciated that we were given a little free time to explore markets on our own as well. Gio was eager to answer questions, lend recommendations, and make sure everyone was having a great time. Thank you! read more

Toms of amazing food options. Was very accommodating for vegetarians and pescatarians.

We did this Hole In The Wall tour with our 71 and 81 year old moms. What a terrific time we all had! Shuttled around in a Mercedes passenger van by Dennis"Big Bear" and Matthew Gray, the owner himself, was a gigantic treat. We were regaled by their food tales and enjoyed so many fabulous bites! There was just enough walking to keep it interesting, and the variety of foods and learning about Hawai'i was fab for all! Iconic items such as the manapua and malasada were included. But also featured were places like the open market in Chinatown and the Ying Leong Look Fun Noodle Factory. I love how personal this tour is. Our group was really excellent. Everyone was on time and sang a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday for my hubby. We will remember this for a long time, not just the food. read more

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Don't miss out on this! What a great way to spend some time driving around the city and stopping to sample some delicious foods that you might not try on your own. Gio was our tour guide and he made this tour amazing. Made us feel right at home for our first time in Hawaii. He was knowledgeable and kept the Hawaiian spirits up! I'd highly recommend anyone considering this tour to do it! read more

Hawaii Food Tours - Food Tours Near Me

We were four senior ladies on a 5 day trip to Honolulu. None of us were into sun bathing (skin cancer) so we booked this Food tour. An energetic, personable young man whose name escapes me (did I mention we are seniors?) picked us up at our hotel in a nice minivan & drove us to Chinatown where we got to try different Pacific Asian dishes & fruits as he explained how they were prepared, etc. It was very enjoyable & I highly recommend it. read more

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We did the Hole in the Wall Tour. We had 2 guides (Doug and Echo) and they handled the logistics of the tour in a very organized, professional manner. As a former chef, Doug was very knowledgeable about the food on the tour, food in general and Hawaii. We really enjoyed all the tastings and the opportunity to learn more about the area. read more

Hawaii Food Tours - One of the many tastings - Food Tours Near Me

I wish I had read Lan L.'s review before going on this tour, but let me start off with the good points for the Hole-in-the-Wall tour. Our guides, Bill and Sahara, were great! Very informative and fun. They gave us great tips on which restaurants to eat at while you're here. After the tour, they also sent us an email with all the information for the things we ate that day as well as recipes. Another good thing about the tour was that it was great getting away from the tourist area of Waikiki and getting to eat so much food. I was definitely stuffed. Now for my criticism of the tour. Most of the tour took place in Chinatown. Definitely shouldn't call it a Hawaiian tour if most of the food you're eating is Asian food. As for me, I've been growing up on Asian food all my life and I've tried all the Asian food they gave us to try. Lychee and Longan are not exotic fruits to me. Also char siu and Chinese roasted pork is common. Not to mention I've had better than the place they brought us to as the best char siu and Chinese roast pork in Hawaii. Definitely better Asian food other places than what they gave us on the food tour. Overall, I don't think I would recommend this tour to any person that has ate a lot of Asian food in their life. read more

Hawaii Food Tours - Hawaii Food Tour Bus - Food Tours Near Me

On time, friendly, knowledgeable and food was great. Tasted the classics as well as new and exciting options. Everything was delicious. Would greatly recommend. read more

My partner in crime arranged this food tour for us and I was pleasantly surprised. First of all, Robin and Ari were the best food tour guides anyone could ask for. They really went out of their way to answer our questions and to make this tour as enjoyable as possible. They even gave us recommendations of restaurants. If you are very familiar with Chinese food, then this tour is not for you. But since our Chinese food scene in San Antonio is a bit primitive, I was really looking forward to this. The tour takes you to the local's favorite spots and to Chinatown, which always fascinates me, because of all the markets. One has to remember all the different cultures that help make up Hawaii and have contributed to the food scene. One thing to remember before booking this tour is that it is from 930am through 230pm, and be prepared to do some walking and don't eat breakfast because you will eat a lot and be pleasantly stuffed by the end of the tour. They also supply you with bottles of cold water. read more

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After finding information on the food tours on another website and confirming it with Yelpers, I was excited to sign up. Did this on my first full day on Oahu, and it was a great way to start off a vacation. We did the Hole in the Wall tour, which takes you around to several different eateries and locations through downtown and Chinatown. We had Matthew and Keira as our guides, the owners of the company. They picked us up from our hotel in their comfy Mercedes bus, and we had nearly a full group (there were 11 of us total). There were so many stops that we had throughout the day and at several eateries that I wanted to hit up during my time on Oahu. Luckily we got to visit so many places so we didn't have to worry about going to them later in the trip (nor worry about parking). We made several stops around town, were able to have a little time to walk around Chinatown as well. Each stop detailed the food we were to sample, the cultural significance in relation to Hawaii, and the history of the establishment that served the food. Educational and delicious! A sampling of what we had: mauna pua from Royal Kitchen, Cocoa Puffs for Liliha Bakery, malasadas from Leonard's, rice noodles from the only spot on the island that makes 'em by hand, fresh lychee (it was in season!), ahi poke, spam musubi, pineapple, char siu, etc. Trust me, it was excellent. I think I took pictures of everything I ate that day - Yelp, what is your photo limit again? My cousin, who is local, told me that a lot of the places we went to were 'legit' places. I detest tourist traps (unfortunately sometimes they are unavoidable), but this tour definitely avoids those spots. Another great thing about having Matthew and Keira is the fact that they work very well together. They have their tour pretty much down to a "T". I speak and train professionally for a living, and let me tell you, they know how to engage their audience, are full of bountiful amounts of information, and not only address the entire group but try to talk with you one on one. At the end they asked what each person liked about the tour and any ways they can improve it for the future - always nice to see people trying to improve their already magnificent business. All in all, a great experience, and there's still time left over in the afternoon to do other activities (if you're not too full and want to just sit on the beach afterward)! I'd recommend doing this earlier on your trip if you'd like to hit up some of the places on your own time later during your stay. Also, they'll give you suggestions on other great places to eat throughout town, which we did. And not just Oahu, but other islands as well! I agree with the others to wear comfortable shoes, bring a camera, don't eat beforehand, and ask questions! read more

I am deducting a star because I think that the tour cost is a bit overpriced at $99+ per person. All the food we sampled probably just cost $20 per person. I don't know how much of the remainder is for overhead expense and how much is for profit, but bottomline is, that's a lot...especially since we paid for 2. A tiny voice inside me wants to say, "Ripoff!", but I won't because the overall experience was still a pleasant one...thanks to our tour guides Bill and Jess. They made all the difference! They made us NOT regret joining the tour. In fact, we're even glad we joined the tour. Those two were awesome! They're hardworking, friendly, funny, knowledgeable, thoughtful...they're the best! They made sure everyone had a blast. They picked us up promptly in front of our hotel at around 9:10am. The first stop of the tour was at Royal Kitchen where we each had a baked manapua with our choice of filling. I got the char siu while hubby got the portuguese sausage. Those little buns were delicious! Our next stop was at Chinatown. We went to Ying Leong Look Funn Factory for a behind- the-scenes look at how rice noodles were made. We were given about half an hour to explore by ourselves. Bill stayed at the meeting spot while Jess ran out to prepare the food we were to sample. Hubby and I just strolled for a few minutes then he just opted to converse with Bill regarding Hawaiian food and culture. When the group reconvened, the food tasting began. We sampled some rice noodles, Korean bbq chicken, exotic fruits such as longan and rambutan, chewy coconut macadamia nut candies, apple banana, spam musubi, poke, li hing mui pineapple, and lychee pineapple li hing vodka cocktail. We walked a few stores down to Sun Chong, a store that sells "crack seed" and all other exotic preserved fruits, nuts, seeds, crackers, fish and candies. We sampled the li hing mui. We then crossed the street and walked another few steps to Char Siu House where we had some char siu (Chinese sweet boneless pork), and the 5 layers of heaven roast pork (with the crunchy skin). Bill and Jess also provided us with bottled water. They even handed out hand sanitizer, wipes, and dental floss :) We then left Chinatown and went to Bubbie's for some mochi ice cream. We each got to pick two flavors. I went for the raspberry white chocolate and vanilla. Our last stop was at Leonard's bakery for some malasadas. I got the custard malasada puff while hubby ordered the macadamia nut malasada puff. At the end of the tour, Jess emailed us a detailed list of the places we visited and the food we sampled. It was really a five-star customer service. I recommend this tour especially to those who love food and have money to burn. Some tips: a) Schedule this tour during your first few days in Hawaii because you will get tons of tips on great places to dine, b) Be adventurous; try all the food, c) Don't be shy to ask questions. Bill and Jess are both accommodating and knowledgeable. I would have given it a 5-star if they lowered the price to $60-$75 per person. read more

Matthew and Keira are your tour guides and hosts for the day (and your friends by the end of the day)! Super duper friendly and helpful! They answered several questions and were able to switch my tour day due to a change in my schedule! They picked me up at my hotel (in their new comfy van) and made sure we (everyone on the tour) was introduced to one another. They pointed our several historical spots in Honolulu as we made our way to 2 fantastic bakeries, a noodle factory, China Town and tried many delights on the way :) - Some of the delights we tried - Baked Manapua, CoCo Puffs, Rice Noodles with Shrimp/Spring Onion, squid meatballs, exotic fruits, a yummy cocktail created by Keira. They also made sure we had plenty of water along the way as well! Keira also show us and talked bout what "Crack Seed" is and gave us an opportunity to try some if we liked! At the end of the tour, they passed our a restaurant info sheet and let us know they had restaurant recommendations for other islands if were going other places. And said we could call if we got lost or could not find one of the places on their list. Top notch service! What was even cooler than that...they followed up your tour with an email of the places they took us and what we tried at those places so we did not have to take notes during the tour!!!! I highly recommend this tour and I plan on doing it again the next time I am their way! Tips: Don't eat breakfast before going and plan on a late dinner. Also, plan this tour early in your trip rather than later because you will want to go back to some of these spots :) read more

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The Hole In The Wall tour is well worth the price. I recommend booking this tour during your first or second day of vacation because the guides often recommend many great places to eat and things to do during your stay. Matthew, Dennis, and Joy were fantastic guides, and Matthew and Dennis are chefs, so they really know what they're talking about. You will travel mostly on an air conditioned shuttle, which we thought was great b/c it allowed us to visit many parts of Honolulu, including China Town. All the food is amazing, and The Hubs and I found ourselves re-visiting China Town, esp. the Royal Kitchen, many times during our week in Waikiki. After doing the food tour, I felt much more confident navigating China Town! Our guides recommend a few restaurants that we actually tried later in the week and they were absolutely fantastic, including House Without A Key, Sasabune, and Romy's Shrimp. This is a very professional and organized food tour. Top Notch!! Okole Maluna! read more

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A fantastic food tour I highly recommend this tour to any foodie out there.We had Greg and Sahara they were so informative and knowledgable. Well done Hawaii food tours we loved it! read more

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Well this was an adventure from start to finish, my dear old mom was so hesitant about this. When we were done she was an expert on China Town and even tried some Poke before we left the island. We bought fresh vegetables and shrimp for our dinner in the chinese market place, including a purple sweet potato. Which my mother has not stopped talking about. We grilled on a BBQ at the hotel (yeah I know we are weird). Matt and Keira, we look forward to one of your other tours next time. We are also armed with a list of fun place to visit in Los Angeles.... go figure that. Oh and we have been back to the Royal Kitchen 3 times. And in closing, I shall always remember the crunchy won ton ! Bon Appetit ! Reverend Lisa and the Reverend Momma read more

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The Whole in the Wall Food Tour was excellent, even if you may be apprehensive about doing something that is "scripted" or concerned about sticking out like standard tourists. To begin with, Matthew and Keira's personality really shine through, and they are excellent people who really make you feel comfortable. I, myself, do not like being grouped in with people I do not know (one of the reason I generally avoid tours, etc..), but interaction between them and others in the group is never forced (no "icebreakers" horray!). However, with the host's warm personalities, you quickly feel at ease asking questions and having general discussion between them. My husband and I did the food tour our first day in Hawaii, as we planned for it to help us orientate ourselves to the island, it's different areas, and the various types of food it had to offer. Matthew and Keira did a stellar job doing just that and more - not only were we introduced to Hawaiian treats, but also the best of the best available. The tour also gave my husband and I some geographical point to remember (such as Chinatown) so when we went exploring on our own it would be easier (and it was). Do: *Bring walking shoes - you'll be driven to different areas in a super big and comfy BMW van, but you will do some walking and standing at different points. Leave the stiletto's at home - after all, it's a whole in the wall tour! *A camera (if you're a foodie photographer, like myself) Don't: *Don't be afraid to ask questions - Matt and Keira have a wealth of information that they are more than willing to share, but they might not always know what you're interested in or looking for. *Don't eat before going - you'll have plenty on the tour. *Don't worry about writing everything down - not only do they take notes for you, and write down other recommendations, at the end of the tour they send you a huge e-mail summarizing your entire trip (though, with the detail they do it, it's hardly a summary)! read more

Hawaii Food Tours - Keira! - Food Tours Near Me

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After a nice long vacation in Hawaii, I knew I had to post some great reviews. Hawaii Food Tours was #1 on my list. Being the lagger that I am, its taken almost a month (eek!). Anyway, I have to say that the Hole-in-the-Wall was definitely one of the BEST tour experiences I've ever had. I do a lot of traveling each year and have tried different tours and food tours as well. But I have to say that HFT sets itself apart (which is quite refreshing nowadays! Honolulu is so inundated with tourists which makes the cheesy, generic tour packages a very lucrative business so you will see that everywhere you go. However, If you're looking real, true, meaningful expereience of Hawaii, then you need to go off the beaten path-- you've got it here with Hawaii Food Tour's Hole in the wall tour. Matthew and Kiera treat you like a good friend...actually like family to put it best. The fun starts the very second you step in their brand spanking new Hawaii food tours van. They tell you all sorts of fun facts about Hawaii and there is never a dull moment. The food was awesome and you get to see the vendors at work while taking a slice of history and culture with it. I just can't say enough good things about Hawaii food tours and if I do, I dunno when to stop... I had a wonderul time with these two and all the cool people I met on this tour (we had an adorable lady named Shirley who was joining for the 5th time...which speaks for itself!). If I could offer a money back gurantee, I would! read more

Dear Matthew and Keira, I'm so sorry, this review is long overdue! My husband and I took the Hole-in-the-Wall tour in September 2010 and we had a great time from start to finish. Hawaii Food Tours gives a well-rounded view of what people eat in Hawaii and provides the historical context as well. In a fun way, of course! Plus, you get to eat lots of great food and walk around Chinatown (bring walking shoes and an empty stomach). I've been coming to Oahu every year for over 15 years and I still learned a lot from taking this tour! And I thought I knew it all, hah! Our guides, Matthew and Keira, were friendly, helpful, and informative. They even told us to e-mall them with food/restaurant questions later if we thought of anything else! They sent a follow-up e-mail with a list of where we went on the tour and some recipes. I highly recommend this tour! NOTE: For the naysayers: #1: You complain about the price...do you own a business? Because it costs money to run one, FYI. And you, the customer, get round trip transportation, a four-hour tour, and lots of noms for only $99. That's a great price, and they are up front about the cost and what you get, so stop complaining. #2: Someone complained that it's all Asian food. Guess what the main influences are for food in Hawaii? ASIAN FOOD. read more

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Matt and Keira - those are the only two people you need to meet in Hawaii! We just came back from Hawaii and we have to thank those two for making it worth while. We signed up for the Hawaii Food Tour "Hole in the Wall" and we enjoyed every moment of it. They picked us up at our hotel, along with 8 other people and we were on our way!!! The main theme of this tour was obviously Hole in the Wall places. They took us basically to the best places Hawaii has to offer! They not only took us to these wonderful places, they explained to us the history behind some of these dishes, the history behind the places we visited, and what the food was and how it is made. Keira also keeps a card for each couple and write down any suggestions Matt gives us. She basically saved us from writing notes! They also emailed us all the places we went to and all the things we ate. They emailed us some recipes they make and their suggestions on some of the best restaurants to eat. Loved all the foods they gave us!! Loved the conversations we had with Matt and Keira! Loved the people that went on the tour with us! GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT!!! read more

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My wife and I did the hole in the wall tour and it was fabulous. We went to the Chinatown area, which we would never known about. The owner, Matthew, is a trained chef and a great conversationalist; he also had wonderful reccomendations for different places to eat in the area. Krystal was one of the other guides and she was really personable and knowledgeable. Gio is a local chef who was training to be a guide; he was engaging and charming and knowledge too. They were all terrific. We ate Portuguese bread baked bao buns that had numerous stuffings to try. I had the cha shu pork and my wife had the purple sweet potato. We each tried each others and both liked the one we ordered best. This was a true hole in the wall place that I would have never tried and it was great. We then walked around the Chinatown area and were emerged in local culture, seeing lei makers, hanging peking ducks and an amazing open air food market at the Kekaulike Mall. We went to the Ying Leong Look Fuun Factory and watched them make Chinese noodles in the old tradition, watching them steam them in towers and fold them. We then set up a little sitting area in a covered space and tried some local fare, that was brought to us in courses. First we had the noodles we just saw prepared with some cha shu pork. Matthew had a sauce he made that we could add and it was terrific. We then had wonton wrapped deep fried candy apple bananas. These bananas are firmer and sweeter than regular bananas, with a definite hint of green apple.we then had a steamed dumping with pork and shrimp, with another sauce that Matthew brought. Simply divine. We then tried these little fruits called longans, which tasted like melon and had the texture of grapes. We then finished with some incredible local ahi poke that was the freshest and best I've ever had. I bought some of the apple bananas to eat before we leave. We then walked to a local Chinese market that had herbs, spices and dried fruit: lovely. We finished at Liliha Bakery, which a friend told me about. We had these chocolate cream filled pastries with brown butter cream on the top. OMG! You will try things you've never heard of and have a wonderful time. This is a great tour and one which I cannot recommend more. My wife and I had a terrific time and can't thank Matthew, Krystal and Gio enough. What an engaging experience! read more

Matthew and Kiera do an outstanding job of bringing you the best of Honolulu's local foods, from baked manapuas (Hawaiian bread stuffed with fillings of your choice), ahi poke (marinated tuna), fresh, hand made noodles, fresh malasadas (fresh made custard like fried donuts), roasted chinese barbeque pork and roasted pork belly. The food is amazing and the tour guides provide insightful yet hilarious commentary to give the tour a bit more depth than just talking about the food. The tour whisks you around a number of destinations around Honolulu in a van in a group of about 10 people, and you're given a good, "best of local dining" experience. Matthew and Kiera are extremely accommodating, helpful, and willing to give you recommendations on whatever you want to see, or wherever you want to go. A note to keep in mind is that Matthew and Kiera are constantly refining their tour to make it a better experience, so while some things on their advertisements fall off the tour, I fully understand that it's being replaced with something else on the tour that's equally if not completely better. If you're in Honolulu and looking to see more than just the beaches and wildlife, I can't think of a better way to spend half your day! read more

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The north shore tour was fantastic. Doug and Echo took us along the science route heading north and stopping at some wonderful locations along the way. Loved the coffee stops and the food was wonderful! Highly recommend! This is a local group and all the money stays local. read more

Hawaii Food Tours - Food Tours Near Me

Went on this tour, originally gave it a 3/5 on tripadvisor then later changed it to 1/5. The owner wrote a condescending email to me in regards to my personal integrity based on my honest review. My review on tripadvisor is still posted and it is very fair as it was my personal experience and opinion on the tour. The owner threatens to contact his "legal" team. I can't believe the audacity of this man. He has threatened with legalities with many other customers in the past for writing negative reviews. What kind of business does that? I filed a complaint with the BBB hoping they would help. This man lies and says my husband and I are a couple that have been scamming local businesses in Oahu. The BBB did nothing..... Please don't give this business your hard earned money. It's really not worth 100pp. Contact me and I can tell you more details of the tour. I've been on other food tours that are far more filling and way cheaper. This is such a tourist trap. I'm sure most of the money is to pay for that mercedes benz van they pick you up in. read more

The owner also sent me a harassing email after I posted a negative review on TripAdvisor, that was taken down. I was called a "hater" amongst other things that questioned my character. He also threatened legalities. Another negative review written by someone else who also had a horrible experienced was removed too. What a scam. The only trustworthy forum on tripAdvisor is found at http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60982-i38-k3297271-Hole_in_the_wall_food_tour_will_leave_a_hole_in_your_pocket-Honolulu_Oahu_Hawaii.html. Read all the forums and decide for yourself. read more

Argh, I'm so torn about how to review the "Hole in the Wall" food tour. We got this as a birthday present, and while the concept is fantastic, it was far from being my favourite thing to do in Hawaii, especially to the tune of $108/person. On one hand, our tour guides Greg and Rachael deserve a full 5-stars. They were friendly, upbeat, and knowledgeable, and were very enthusiastic and helpful in answering questions and getting the group excited. In fact, my favourite parts of the tour were when they shared fun facts and anecdotes about the different buildings and landmarks in Honolulu, including pointing out places where they filmed Lost and Hawaii Five-O after finding out we were huge fans (don't judge). On the other hand...well, if your favourite parts of a food tour were the non-food parts, then that's saying something, right? I think the biggest issue that we had is because 95% of the food tour was spent in Chinatown sampling Chinese foods. If you're Asian or grew up in a city with a sizable Asian population like Vancouver, LA, San Fran, or NYC, you will not be impressed by BBQ and roasted pork, rice noodles, or dim sum buns, especially when chances are that they'll be no better than what you can get at home. Furthermore, even for those not well-versed in Chinese food, the tour focused way too much on just one subset of Hawaiian cuisine. Where was the kalua pork, the lau lau, the shave ice, the garlic shrimp, and the plate lunches? Where were the Japanese, Korean, Filipino, and Portuguese dishes - cultures that also played a significant part in developing Hawaii's food scene? The only straight up Hawaiian dishes that we got on this tour were malasadas from Leonards (delicious!), cocoa puffs from Liliha bakery (also delicious!), and manapua buns (Hawaiian interpretation of Chinese bbq pork buns) from Royal Kitchen. We also got small pieces of spam musubis, ahi poke, pineapple with li hing powder, and caramelized banana while we were in Chinatown, but I'm not sure where those came from and have had much better versions elsewhere in Honolulu than the ones we got on the tour. As one previous reviewer mentioned, the non-Chinese part of the tour was also very dessert heavy, making it difficult for diabetics or non-dessert lovers to enjoy. Another downer: it goes from 9:00-2:30 (roughly), so if you're short on time in Oahu, be aware that taking this tour is a pretty big time commitment. Like I said, this is a great concept and hats off again to Rachael and Greg for being so awesome. It's not easy to keep a crowd going, and their enthusiasm and having ample cold bottles of water handy really helped move the day along...not to mention that I will be forever grateful to Rachel for recommending the chilli at Zippys. I recognize that a tour like this can't cater to everybody, but with a little tweaking, it certainly could be a heckuva lot better. read more

Giovanni Mazzarella was our CCA (Certified Culinary Aficionado) and he was AWESOME! He had a great attitude from the moment he picked us up to the moment he dropped us off! He had a smile the entire day; he had an answer for every question; he had a napkin for every bite; he was on top of EVERYTHING throughout the entire day! We would highly recommend this food tour as we learned a ton, ate the best food and had a blast making great memories in Honolulu!!!! 10 out of 10! We would 100% go back! He shared us the entire trip within hours of completing it and even shared a few awesome recipes to try at home!!!!!! He provided his best restaurant list for us to try with various categories depending on your mood! read more

Most companies apologize if someone had a negative experience with them, but not this company. My wife wrote an honest review and had a very condescending email sent to her from the owner. I do not approve of the customer relation practices of this business. I feel that a business should treat the customer with respect before, during, and after. They were sure nice to us before and during but not so much after. I wanted a plate lunch so badly. At the end of the tour, I thought that maybe I misread the brochure. When I got back to my condominium, I found out that I didn't. Then I thought to myself while reading the brochure, wait a minute, I also didn't get to try the Mediterranean food, Vietnamese summer rolls, or the Bento Boxes! No wonder I was still hungry. I thought that the tour was overpriced already, but when I didn't get those foods I was even more bummed. I asked them about this and they said that I was never promised these foods. But then why put it on the brochure? So if you read the brochure and thought you were going to get these things, you were wrong. I recommend that they either provide customers with what was on the brochure or change the brochure to be less ambiguous. Be prepared to do a lot of standing during this tour. My wife and I are runners and our feet hurt at the end of the day. There is a lot of standing outside restaurants/bakeries while Matt goes and gets you finger foods. It was uncomfortable standing and eating in Chinatown because we had to continuously swat flies and avoid homeless people. The van was the only nice thing about this tour. At the end of the day, I figured that's probably where all of my money went. I recommend eating a light meal some time earlier in the day. Especially if you get up at 5am and the tour isn't until 10am. This will help you get full during the tour. Bring hand sanitizer and a camera if you plan on going on this tour. read more

Stephanie M's October 2013 review is dead-on accurate to my experience with the "Hole-In-The-Wall" food tour. PROS: + Miale (pronounced Miley) and Robin were fun, knowledgable and friendly tour guides + also the fact that Miale was 38 weeks pregnant AND still working is nothing short of being a superwoman + fun to go with a group of friends ... or with a good group you familiarize yourself with during the 5 hour tour + thoughtful planning from the tour guides - like providing bottled waters, foldable chairs, baby wipes and a hack-style trash bin + took us to some famous Oahu shops like Leonard's Bakery (2800+ reviews) and Liliha Bakery (1300+ reviews) + you do get full by the end of the tour + provides an email immediately after the tour of all of the stuff we ate (good to reference back) CONS: - like other reviews, it's pretty much a Chinatown food tour, therefore "foreign" foods weren't foreign to me - not for foodies ... more for inexperienced food noobs. A lot of the foods weren't exotic or new to me. Char siu pork and longan/lychee are common staples in Asian households. - toured a lei flower shop and totally thought we'd get a free lei, but we just kept walking :( - $108/person seems a bit steep. We're nibbling on 10+ items ... not having a 10-course meal (maybe we're paying for the gas??) I think the biggest misconception was walking in thinking they would showcase rare Hawaiian delicacies, but when you spend 90% of the tour hanging out in Chinatown, it's misleading and a little disappointing. Granted that I got to venture outside of Waikiki, but this is a tour best suited for non-Asian foodies. OK to experience, but once was more than enough for me. read more

Matthew Grey has been getting rave reviews for this tour for several years. We have been to Hawaii many times, so we decided to try it. The hosts are funny and interesting, but the food is not as good as advertised. We visited two iconic pastry shops which served very tasty deserts in the form of Malasadas, and coco puffs. The Indian food was not so good, that was our major meal. It was bland, and did not compare to our previous experience with Tandori cooking. Our other morsels were pieces of odd fruit in Chinatown, some small bites of Hong Kong barbecue, which wasn't very good, and a pastry with meat inside. We spent $104.00 each for a four hour tour. The actual food we ate was worth about $12.00. It's not a good deal. The factual data was interesting, as were some of the areas we visited, like a noodle factory in Chinatown. However, the main meal was a big disappointment. This tour would be a much better deal at half the price, which it was until this year. read more

My family and I had an awesome time on the North Shore food tour from these guys. Chef Matthew Gray and his better half Lin were our guides and they were both super friendly, engaging, knowledgeable and, most of all, deeply in love with both food and Hawaii (and each other I'm assuming). Our stops included malasadas (Portuguese doughnuts) at Agnes' in Kailua, garlic shrimp from Ted's Bakery, kalua pork and poi at the Waiapole Poi Factory, and coffee and pie (Ted's Chocolate-Haupia Cream Pie) at the Waialua Estate. The whole trip, including lots of facts and interesting tidbits about Hawaii's people, culture, geography and cuisine, was great fun. In fact, one family in our group had been on tours with Matthew three times they liked it so much! We will definitely do another tour with these guys whenever we come back to Oahu. One last anecdote - as it happened to be our last night in Oahu, I asked Matthew what place we should absolutely visit. Without hesitating, he recommended Alan Wong's, but said we probably wouldn't be able to snag a table so late. So he personally called the restaurant, explained the situation and the hostess made a reservation for us at his request! Needless to say, you don't find that level of service anywhere these days. If he would do that for us, I'm sure that you would find the tour to be just as awesome an experience as we did. Mahalo! read more

Had the most wonderful day with the Hole-in-the-Wall Food Tour. Whenever we've traveled & stayed more than a couple of days in new place, we've found it very useful to take a tour as a general orientation. Often, these tours are cliche, but still useful to get the layout of the land. Other tours add to the overall enjoyment of our visit, saving time & money and resulting in a smile at some future connection. (Hey, remember when we...) The Hole-in-the-Wall Food Tour falls into this second category. While driving from place to place, discovering what's where & how-will-we-get-back-later, we ate. We ate well. We had the best starting point since they picked us up in front of our hotel. (Tomorrow: Wake up. Request Uber. Eat manapua. Walk back while enjoying the early morning quiet.) Our hosts: Bill, driver, has a breadth & depth of knowledge that only one who grew up here possesses. Addie, "Cruise Director," brought the interest & enthusiasm of a young person who finds something new & exciting around every corner. During the drive, Bill & Addie spoke in turn, pointing out significant cultural & general interest spots. "Fun Facts" were sprinkled throughout, & even though we learned how ABC stores actually got their name, I personally like the second, but vulgar, option. From time to time, they told us a restaurant we were passing was an excellent spot & here's why. The "why" is what I want to know, such as where to get a full order of perfectly fresh poke for less than $8, since we paid $12 for an undersized "Happy Hour" portion near our hotel the night before. They were never negative about any place. For us, the tour reflected what folks who live & work & raise their families here eat in the course of everyday life. We were shown places I'd stop at on a regular basis. We tasted things I never even heard of, and some fruit I would never, ever buy, but it was so delicious I'll grab some for a family event if only to watch them freak out. If I could find manapua in Los Angeles, I'd take a box to the office instead of donuts and be the most popular guy around. For days. If you've never been to Waikiki, I'd encourage you to schedule this food tour as your first activity. You'll spend a day not needing to worry about what to eat. (It's 7p, and I'm still not hungry.) You can ask your guides anything about any food place you've heard or read about. Q: It is good? A: Yes, but if you want the (whatever), go here.... Q: Isn't that expensive? A: Yes, but they serve 5-7 courses and you can stop at any point. The chef will give you a bill for only what you've eaten. Now, I'll grant that their answers are opinions, but I don't think this business would have been around for more than 10 years if their information wasn't generally accurate. Here's what you get: Most of a day (5+ hours) spent driving to different places you'd probably never investigate. On an air conditioned bus. With someone else driving. Food included. No costs beyond the booking charge, unless you shop on your own. If you have any questions even days after the tour, they encourage you to call. read more

I had so much fun on this tour! Gio was our guide and he was friendly, entertaining and super knowledgeable since he is a trained chef. He knew so much about the local spots and cuisines. He took us to a Chinatown market and let us pick out several fruits that he later cut up and prepared for us with some special Hawaiian sea salts, citrus and powders. He really made the tour extra special for all of us lucky enough to have him as our guide. I highly recommend this tour for any foodie! read more

We took this tour on our first full day on Oahu and so glad we booked it at this point.... Greg and Miale we're absolutely awesome hosts and guides, giving us plenty of suggestions for places to eat, see and do! So about the tour...... do not eat breakfast before the tour! We sampled so many unique foods and at places that we would have never found on our own....... don't worry, they provide you the list with addresses so you can continue to enjoy the food the remainder of the trip. I especially enjoyed the coco puffs from Liliha Bakery (how I wish they would ship those!) I only have 2 pieces of advice: 1. Book this tour... seriously book it now. 2. Do it early in your trip so you don't waste your time and calories on all those touristy places... these people know their food and won't steer you wrong! Maile even has some mad map drawing skills..... check it out!!!! read more

If you've never been to Oahu before or if you've been but haven't ventured beyond the gross touristy stuff, the Hole-In-The-Wall tour is a must. We take a vacation on Oahu annually and we did this tour on our first trip. Every time we go back, we re-visit some of the places we were introduced to on the tour as well as try places on Matthew's list of recommendations. My favorite stop is Royal Kitchen for manapua and Liliha Bakery. Both places are musts now on every return trip. One caveat: if you are already an adventurous eater and know your way around ethnic delicacies and "China Towns", this tour might not be for you, though you do get access to some things that you wouldn't if you were not on the tour (like experiencing look fun noodles being made). If/when you do go on the tour, my recommendation is to ENGAGE with the tour guides! Talk to them. Ask questions. Taste everything they offer you. Get recommendations for where to go for dinner. If you just sit back and let it happen, you're not going to get as much out of it. Oahu has some amazing food all over the damn island and this is your opportunity to find out where to go. Sure, Yelp is helpful for that, too, but the tour guides now the island back to front, up and down, side to side. Take advantage of that local knowledge. read more

Review for hole in the wall food tour: Robin and Krystal were wonderful tour guides! I don't want to give away all of the places they take you so I won't talk about the restaurants, but just know by the end I was stuffed with so much delicious food : ) Even though I had been to two of the places on the tour it was great to hear all of the background behind the food, which made the repeat experience that much better! At the end of the tour they gave us AMAZING recommendations for restaurants, which we tried and loved! Also they send you an email after the tour with a recap and recipes. I'm definitely making some of the food for my friends and family! read more

This was one of the absolute best experiences of my life. the couple who hosted the tour were awesome and knew a TON about food, Oahu, and history. We met great people on this tour and loved every single second of it. The only thing I was sad about was that we took it on our last day in Honolulu and we werent able to revisit one of the MANY AWESOME places this tour took us on. I cannot say enough about how happy we were with this experiences. If I came back and it was triple the price Id pay it to go again. read more

If you like food, you should do this tour. If you don't like food, you should do this tour so it changes your mind. Greg and Kiera, our guides, were the best. I can't say enough about how much I liked them. Maybe it even borders on love. I felt like I made two new best friends, but you know how it is. The road to a man's heart runs through his stomach. They love their island, and they love sharing that love. You should do this tour first so that you can soak in their deep local knowledge. It'll make your visit on Oahu way more informed. I won't even bother reviewing the food, because I don't want to spoil the surprise. One caveat: vegetarians might be disappointed. Otherwise, just go! GO! And bring an appetite! read more

This was my favorite activity my husband planed on our recent trip to Hawaii. I am not an adventurous eater so I was really afraid of what kind of food they might serve us. I was so surprised at how many things I loved. I tried food I would never seek out on my own. The bakery with the coco puffs was worth the whole trip, amazing! I loved the hole in the wall tour in particular because it made my husband and I confident to go back to those places and we knew what to order and believe me, we went back for the coco puffs. Matthew and Keira were so fun, so nice, open and welcoming. You can tell they truly love what they are doing and I enjoy spending my money with people like that. I would definitely bring comfortable shoes, light clothing (it's hot in September) and maybe even an umbrella. If you can, plan this for early in your trip so you can go back for more good food throughout your trip. We only had three days left and wanted more time to stuff our face at the yummy places they showed us. Next time! read more

This is a must see attraction! Set aside half a day to do this trip, it is highly worth it. Ok, so our honeymoon may have turned into a Foodimoon, I'm ok with that. This is the first "activity" I scheduled months before our honeymoon. Needless to say, we were pretty pumped up about the Hole in the wall food tour. I'm not going to go into too much detail as I don't want to spoil anything. But I will tell you this, Mathew and Keira were great. They both really know their stuff and they are so nice and fun to be with. The wife and I are big foodies and we were very impressed with the different places they took us. If you want a down to earth, authentic food tour of Honolulu, then this is right up your alley. The bus came right at 9:30 and I believe we were done by around 2pm. Please Please Please come on an empty stomach. We met many people and made a lot of new friends. I will never forget this part of my trip. read more

Picked up by Hawaiian Food Tours at 9am for their Hole in the Wall Food Tour. This half day trip takes you to some of the local eateries that tourists rarely see, many of them in and around Honolulu's Chinatown. Our first stop of the day was the Royal Kitchen in the Chinatown Cultural Plaza where we tried a local breafast favourite - baked Manapua. This Hawaiian take on the traditional Chinese steamed bun comes in a variety of flavours (both savoury and sweet) including chicken, sausage, sweet potato and black sugar. I opted for the smoked kalua pork which was very tasty. Our next stop was Liliha Bakery were we tried their signature dish - Coco Puffs. These reminded me of profitoroles with a rich, creamy centre topped with Chantilly icing. Yum. No wonder they sell 5,000 of these little morsels a day. We left the bus in a parking lot and took a two hour walk around Chinatown where we visited the Ying Leong Look Funn Factory that has been producing rice noodles here for more than 50 years. Very interesting to see how they're made. Even better to eat them (which we of course we did), combined with some Korean BBQ chicken from a place in the nearby Maunakea Marketplace. Delicious! After this we cleansed our palates with some fresh dragon fruit and rambutans before trying a couple of varieties of dumplings from the Sing Cheong Yuen Bakery - both very tasty but the "Chinese Pot Pie" was my favourite. After this we tried spam sushi (yes, you read that correctly - they make sushi with spam here) and ahi poke which is basically tuna sashimi. Nice - even the spam! Fresh pineapple next sprinkled with li hing powder - a local favourite made from preserved plum powder. After all that food it was time for a drink; a lychee and pineapple smoothy that our guide Robin sweetened with some infused vodka. Our final stop for the day was Leonard's Bakery where we tried the Malasadas - Portuguese Doughnuts. Like the manapua we had for breakfast, these come in a variety of flavours - I tried the cinnamon flavour, but by this time I was so full I couldn't finish it. The Hole in the Wall Food Tour is a must if you're visiting Hawaii. Our guides, Robin and Ari, where great - friendly and helpful as well as having an in depth knowledge of the local foodie culture and history. Great tour. Highly recommended. read more