Always the best tasting laulau's with the most value! I will honestly never buy laulau's anywhere…read moreelse! 10/10

I was at the Kapolei Commons Farmers Market and saw their booth. A nice guy was working and made…read moresure no one stepped in mud. I started talking to him about the family business and how his Mom & Dad has been making and selling Lau Lau and Pipikaula for years. They make their authentic food and also sell plates at the Kapolei Don Quijote parking lot and Kroc Center Night Market. I bought some Laulau and there were juices in the bag and it was wrapped in foil. I bought the warm Laulau they also sell it cold so you can store at home . I heated it up and it was the best Laulau I ever ate. Juicy, the meat was so tender and tasty. The taro leaf was cooked to perfection. I wish I bought more & will try some Pipikaula next time. Maybe if they sell some plates more people will know what a gem Papa Laulauz is.

Service- 4 stars Food- 5 stars…read more I ordered a small pan of Gandule rice and 5 pastries from Shantell's last week Monday for my dad's birthday get together. First, you need to know that this business does not have a brick and mortar location. You are able to purchase items from their menu at craft fairs and farmer's market . However, they do offer catering. The contact number can be found on her business IG which is shantells_cocina. Shantell was extremely communicative via text. She informed me that my order would be $95 before tax because she sells 5 pasteles for $35 and a small pan of gandule rice for $60. We agreed on a location that was convenient for me. She. met meet at a public place with freshly made gandule rice and pasteles. My family and I loved every bit of her food and everything was mopped in 2 days. Thank you Shantell for doing business with me at the last minute. Highly recommend Shantell's Cocina for your catering needs!

This whole plate beyond satisfied my cravings! The service was friendly, welcoming, and incredibly…read morefast. The empanadillas were amazing! I'm already looking forward to my next visit!

For $16, you get an entire chicken! What a steal! You can…read moreget the Grandmas sauce, which is soy based with tastes of ginger and garlic. The chicken itself is already marinated plentiful, but if you want a little extra something, I'd recommend getting the sauce; it also goes well with the rice. Chicken was tender and had so much meat. Service is fast. This business was run by a bunch of kids, who were friendly and efficient.

Ray's Kiawe Broiled Chicken is a local favorite that has a pretty intense following. Many people…read morecome here to enjoy the chicken. It is literally cooked outside on a nice fire. Waited in line for a little bit and maybe about 30 minutes our chicken was done. Ordered just a whole chicken to try and this was my first time having it. The seasoning is light and the chicken is juicy. I would say this actually tasted pretty alright. But I think I like mine slightly saltier or seasoned more. But overall if you ever see this off the road you should stop by and try it out.

A night in Kaka'ako is always a fun place to explore, and just be entertained!…read more The Honolulu Night Market at Our Kaka'ako is indeed a fabulous adventure into the biggest street/block party filled to the brim with all things local...food, retail and culture. I've been to so many and each and every one is very unique where you can find either fashion runway stage, live street art, or even a dance night in the barn. I just love the vibe SALT and surrounding Our Kaka'ako brings with the vibrant art we're so blessed to have and this particular night (November 19th) there was actually much more shopping just perfect for the holidays and the party went further down to Ya-ya's. Tonight I was fortunate to have gone after work so I kept it short but found some awesome treats. Some straw toppers to add to my holiday gift giving and some cheesecake cups (OG, Strawberry and Cookie Butter) of course I got one of each to share...ate the Strawberry which of course omg was yummy!! Not too sweet as the Strawberries was just perfect as I tried to get an even scoop of it all in every bite. Walked further down and honestly wasn't in the mood to wait too long for anything found something that would just exactly work for me. Ya-Ya's Chophouse & Seafood and tonight they had two items - Steak Kebabs - Fat Fried Rice with TAB (aka Thick Ass Bacon lol!) I seriously wanted the fried rice but thought that the Steak Kebabs was more sensible for me personally and it came with two kebabs each fully loaded with steak, mushrooms, peppers and onions with a huge scoop of rice! So many options I really was considering including Henna from Henna Happens, Birria Tacos from Dolce Vita, Corn from Corn Onoz Hawaii but though there's always a next time yes!?! I remember pre-pandemic Yelp had a booth here and hoping as things return to normalcy that we'll see it back again one day (hint hint!) Absolutely love this Honolulu Night Market as it offers so many cultural coolness that you can't find anywhere else! Thank you!

There were only about 4-5 food trucks when I visited, and it felt small. Around 6 PM, the area had…read morevery few people. There was some live music, but it seemed more like a quick stop for tourists rather than a real night market. I didn't try any food because the atmosphere wasn't appealing, so I left quickly.

I wouldn't say it's hidden but it's kinda hidden since it's a little bit away from all the food…read moretrucks. It's on the way to the small museum that is in the area with the car that's painted. Very nice people & it smells and tastes amazing. Only downside is my plate had a lot of bones, which i would've preferred the bones to be meat instead. Chicken plate 4/5 wish there was less bones more meat Spam Musubi 3/5 nothing unique about it, just a simple spam Musubi, the rice to spam ratio could be worked on though.

Dreaminggg of the day I can get this chicken again! My husband and I came to the North Shore for…read moreGiovanni's and enjoyed lunch at the shrimp truck. After we were walking around checking out the other options and we sampled a piece of chicken here. Even though we had just ate, we purchased some chicken to share because it was THAT good. We made small talk with the people there and ended up enjoying ourselves so much! A year later, I came back to Hawaii with my mom and this was our first stop. The same excellent customer service and the same excellent food. I cannot recommend this place enough, it will always be our goto when visiting Oahu!!!

The Shrimp Scampi and rice are really good, what they are known for!…read more The Pros- Good food and decent pricing. The Cons- 2 dollars for parking (ain't bad but just a heads up", seating can be difficult to find. I always stop on my trip around the North shore. It's in a great little town.

Updated becauseI don't want the business to suffer a 1star. I appreciate they responded too…read more This is not for this truck specifically. The line for this was long. Food looked good. They make you pay for parking. Most of the trucks were closed or just took cash. You couldn't sit any just any table. You had to have ordered from that cart to use the table. We left. The whole thing was very disappointing. I will say my family was HANGRY. It played a part in the absolutely no patience

Literally the best shrimp I ever had. Absolutely delicious!!…read more I don't say that lightly either. It was otherworldly!! The staff was great too!!!! I'll be back!

Giovanni's is one of those places where memory does a remarkable amount of the seasoning. I've been…read moreeating here across decades. Enough visits that this is no longer about catching them on a bad afternoon, ordering the wrong thing or failing to understand what the place is supposed to be. I've tried the different shrimp, stood in the lines, eaten at the tables, navigated the parking, brought people here and returned because, for a very long time, Giovanni's was simply one of those places you went when you were on this side of the island. At some point, repetition becomes evidence. The truck itself has become an artifact. Covered in signatures, battered by time, photographed millions of times. There was probably a period when all of that felt charming. Now it mostly feels tired. There is a difference between patina and neglect and the surrounding experience has increasingly crossed that line for me. Flies, crowded tables, overflowing activity, rough parking, heat, trash nearby. You can romanticize rustic only so far before rustic starts asking for a pressure washer. Then there is the service, which has consistently been the hardest part for me to understand. I don't need anyone performing hospitality like they're auditioning for a resort commercial, but basic warmth costs nothing. Too often the interaction here feels impatient and transactional, as though the customer is somehow inconveniencing the operation by showing up to buy the food. After enough visits, you stop calling that an off day. And then there is the plate. The shrimp itself is actually the least offensive part. It is generally cooked reasonably well. Tender enough, rarely destroyed and when you get a good batch you can understand why this formula became so popular. Everything around it drags it down. The rice has repeatedly been soft, clumped and bordering on mushy. I am annoyingly particular about rice, but rice is not some decorative substance placed beneath the main event. It matters. When half the plate is rice, screwing it up is not a minor detail. The garlic is abundant, certainly, but abundance and care are different things. It often arrives more like a wet mass of processed garlic than the fragrance and texture you get from properly chopped fresh cloves. Add the butter and oil and you certainly get intensity, but after several bites the whole thing becomes heavy rather than interesting. The little salad on the side generally feels like an afterthought that has been waiting for someone to remember it. And that is ultimately my problem with Giovanni's. The entire experience feels as though its reputation arrived at the destination years before the restaurant did and everyone decided there was no longer much reason to keep improving. People will continue coming. Of course they will. The name is famous, the truck is recognizable, the photographs are practically mandatory and nostalgia is one hell of a business model. I understand it because it worked on me for years. But strip away the mythology and ask a brutally simple question: If this exact plate came from an unknown truck with no history, no signatures and no reputation, would you still wait in line for it? I wouldn't. Two stars. The shrimp can still be decent and I have too many memories here to pretend the place means nothing to me. But nostalgia should bring you back to a restaurant. It shouldn't be responsible for making the food taste better. I kept returning because tradition can turn habit into taste. I'm done confusing the two.

Drinks, snacks, hot foods AND ICE-CREAM?! Chee-hoo!…read more Located on the bottom floor of Kapolei Hale you'll find the snack shop. Having worked in Honolulu Hale/near FMB in town, I love the Kapolei Hale snack shop! The staff are so nice and the assortment of snacks is winnaz, especially when your girl doesn't feel like eating cup-a-noodle! Things in the snack shop: - Obviously soda/water/juices -Hot foods (meat loaf, pasta, omelet) -Cup-a-noodles - ICE-CREAM (Melona bars, drumsticks, ice cream sandwiches) Like I mention, the staff are always super nice. The food is also really good too. Not to mention their food is such dealz! My meatloaf plate came with a drink and under $10! It's hard to find a filling meal these days without spending an arm and a leg. If you're in the building for an appointment, consider supporting the small shop. #supportlocal