One of my favorite restaurants and best Latin food I've had on island! I almost want to gate keep-…read morebut it's too good not to share. Service is good, staff is friendly and welcoming. Decorations are cute and fitting. The food is amazing, so so Ono! Would definitely go back and definitely recommend.

If you care about cleanliness and actual authentic food, avoid Coquito's Hawaii…read more They advertise authentic cuisine, but the food didn't taste authentic at all -- it was bland and disappointing. But honestly, that wasn't even the worst part. The hygiene was a huge red flag. I watched staff repeatedly touch their hair and face, then go straight back to handling food with no handwashing or gloves. I even saw money being handled and then food being prepped immediately after. There were also small kids running around in both the front and back areas, including near food prep, and people walking in and out of the kitchen who didn't even appear to be staff. Overall, the environment felt very unprofessional and unsanitary. It made the entire experience uncomfortable and hard to trust. Definitely not a place I'd return to.

As I browsed to see which trucks I haven't tried at Taco'ako Tuesday, I came across Kai's Pastele…read moreShop which I haven't seen before. I guess I'm the first to review this truck because I couldn't find any other posting on Yelp: Pastele stew - 4 stars - For $7.50 plus 20 cents tax (yes, this truck is one of the few that the tax is not included in their price) it pretty much tasted like the stew I make, but they had more ingredients in it. I like how they blended in cabbage, olives,. chunks of tomatoes and some other spices other than your basic carrot, potato, onion and celery in it. They gave a pretty big serving with two scoops of rice and watercress salad. Pastele - 3 stars - For $4 you can order the pastele ala carte. It's something I haven't eaten before, so I can't say if it's better or worse than other places, but it was something different to try - if you like spicy, it has a spicy after-bite to it. Goes well with the stew. My friend ordered the taco, and he said it was ok. However, I can't rate it since I didn't try it. Service - 5 stars - the man and woman were very friendly and answered my questions on what a pastele is, but more so because I didn't know what a pastele was or tasted like, he gave me a free sample to try, which is something not many lunch trucks would do. They also sell tacos and burritos, but I have to go back to try those too before being a fan of the truck.

I'm gonna be honest and say that this is the best Pastele place I've been to on the island…read more I can't say that i can compare it to an actual sit down puerto rican restaurant, since I'm not familiar with many around the island, but in comparison to all the Pastele trucks and stops Ive been to around the island, this one takes the cake! I've been to stops along the windward side, while heading down toward Koolau. There used to be (not sure if its still there) Pastele stops along the road. One of the guys that used to serve Pastele along with poke had decent Pastele, but his business was way sketchy. The dude would always "accidentally" miscount the money. He also inaccurately counted up the total of your order in his head. Not to mention his erasable white board was unreadable which made the prices even harder to determine. So don't go to that guy! Instead go to Kai's. Great prices (you don't have to worry about getting ripped off) and their Pastele ingredients are unique in texture. I'm really not even sure if they were made out of the traditional banana base. But i don't really care because they were just so awesome! They offer a a few different types Pastele with different types of meat all at different spice levels. Also several other peurto rican dishes which i still have yet to try are available. Next time I'm getting the seafood Pastele. I'm so bummed because they sold out the last time. I'm a huge fan of seafood and Pastele so when i saw it on the menu i just thought it was the coolest mix. (if you've never had poke with your Pastele you should def. give it a try)

A beautiful time capsule preserving the past of our home…read more The food was hot and fresh and perfectly done. Everything was seasoned so perfectly. The service is concise yet full of love, Perfect for weeknights or special occasions.

Ahhhh I love this place the Lua Ham Hock omg winna winna chicken dina lol just an all around good…read morecomfort food I WOULD LUKE TO THANK TES AND HER MAN FOR LUCH always happy to meet new ppl especially when dey from the hood thanks to both service good setting is like ohana Marie

Hubs and I love the Thursday Wai Kai Market! It's close enough to us where we can walk there. It's…read morea great break from cooking and cleaning at home lol. Best of all, we get to try so many new delicious local bites! We now look forward to our Thursday dinners! A few weeks ago we had already ordered our dinner at a couple other booths, but while waiting for our meals to be prepared, we took another lap around to plan for our next week's meal haha. I was excited to see a Puerto Rican food truck! It had been so long since we've had Puerto Rican; I was counting the days until we came back lol. I placed my order for the Tripleta sandwich and we took our stroll while waiting for our meal. I asked for no potato stix on my sandwich; personal preference, but I definitely know a lot of people who would've enjoyed the added crunch! It was ready just as we returned about 8 minutes later. Each bite was juicy, perfectly seasoned, and fresh. The bread was divine and soft, the best pair to the symphony of meats and veggies. I will definitely be trying the plantains next time! Along with more of their menu; everything sounds so yummers! For the meat sandwich lovers; the tripleta does not disappoint!!

I tried their food and it was good. I got the Pincho-con. It was $28. Flavor wise it was good but…read morepresentation wise I was disappointed. From what they posted on Instagram I was highly excited to get it but when I received it, the sauce wasn't mixed in with the rice. Also the person running the window was a young person. They weren't being rude but they did seem like they were bored. I ended up paying with a $50 bill for a $28 dish. So my change would have been $22 but instead I ended up getting $12 back. So.....like I said flavor was good. Presentation was disappointing. Service was meh. My overall score to this establishment is 2 out of 5. I won't be coming back because I don't trust the person running the window.

The best patele on island, I've tried many and always come back here…read more It's local comfort food. My favorite: The Ultimate Patele plate Gandule Rice, Patele, Patele stew on top and Bacalao Salad. It's takeout only, there might be a few seats outside, but it's fun to pick up a plate and go to a nice park nearby to eat your lunch/early dinner under the shade of a large tree. You must come to this tiny location in Waipahu to experience this deliciousness!

Restaurant with a catchy Pigeon English name. Located adjacent to the bus terminal in Waipahu on…read moreHikimoe St. Frontage of the shop was plain with a counter on the connected to the wall with four plastic chairs to sit on.. Looking to find a decent tasting Pastele. Decided to try Wat Get Kitchen. We ordered the Hapa plate. It comes with one pastele, gandule rice and bacaloa salad. My wife and I wanted to try the empanada. Unfortunately the fryer was broken. The Pastele had a good taste. The rice was ok. The Bacalao salad was made fresh as we were watching. Not a bad choice if looking for pastele. We were served by Cory. Funny and very personable. Enjoy.

Worth following and hunting them down…read more Very friendly service and they make it easy to order by using instagram messenger to place orders. Gandule rice was amazing and probably the best I've ever had, packed with flavor and ingredients that you can pretty much just eat it by itself. While the food is expensive, they do give a lot of food which increases the value. The pastelillos was also a delicious treat. Packed with ground beef and cheese and accompanied by their creamy sauce, it makes you wanting more. Overall very good food and would recommend.

We went to Puerto Rico this past June 2023 and fell in love with mofongo. You can't really find…read moremofongo in Hawaii and happened to find this place thanks to Yelp. They have authentic tasting dishes. Very friendly customer service and be sure to follow their Instagram to see where they are or when they are operating.

I've tried a few different Puerto Rican places on island, but this food truck serves up some Ono…read morefood! They do some pre-order pickups/pop ups and events. My coworkers and I were lucky to have her parked across of workplace today. I ordered the pastele stew plate with gandule rice and cornbread. The pastele stew punches your tastebuds with flavor! So delicious! The gandule rice is great and flavorful on its own, but with the pastele stew smothered on top it's next level good! The surprise hit was also the cornbread! Like wow! It was buttery, sweet but not overly sweet, and the texture was great! Can't wait until her next event or pop up!

I finally found a day and location that I could make her pop up. I ordered online 2 pastele bowls…read morewith gandule rice. Lumpia's, empanadas, and cornbread. Let me tell you her cornbread is the best I've eaten! Soft, moist and mouthwatering good! Now for the stew. I don't know what happened but it was not as good as when I previously ordered. When I tasted it, it just did not taste as good as I remember. It lacked the flavor and depth of flavor I remembered. I was disappointed. The rice had this after taste I could not figure out. I was bummed not only with the flavors but the wait even though I pre ordered.

Teixeira's Pasteles can be found at the Kailua Farmers Market held every Thursday evenings @ the…read moreparking near Longs. They are usually on the mountain side of the parking lot. You'll recognize them by their bright red sign. Teixeira pasteles are the best I've found so far.....probably because it reminds me of the pasteles my neighbors used to make. The lady who sold them to me said it was her grandmother's recipe. If it wasn't for the black olives I'd swear it was my neighbor's recipe (my neighbor used green olives). For those of you who have never tasted a pastele this is the epitomy of comfort food. They are sold as combo with Spanish rice, or separately 2/$5.00. I usually buy them separately...they re-heat well. They've also begun selling smoked meat, and you can buy it by the bag or as a small plate: 1 scoop rice, smoked meat (and I think mac salad?) I haven't tried it yet, but if it's anything like their pasteles it should be delicious! Yelp 365 Challenge: #7/365