Rainbow Drive In

This restaurant has been around since 1961 and it's a favorite in Honolulu. Rainbow Drive In serves "local kine" food, such as boneless chicken with gravy, beef stew, chili hot dog, hamburgers and french fries. 

My favorite meal at Rainbow Drive In is breakfast.  After a morning of running, swimming or surfing, this is a great place to stop by and get some pancakes and eggs, french toast, corned beef hash or fried rice.  This restaurant also has reasonable prices.  Expect to pay about $5 for breakfast, maybe more if you order coffee or a soda.

Note: this is not health food!  Order pancakes or french toast and you will be amazed at the slab of butter they put on your plate.  But oh, it does taste good to melt that butter and eat your…

The Willows Restaurant

The Willows is located on Hausten Street in Moiliili, a Honolulu neighborhood near the University of Hawaii.  The Willows originally opened its doors in 1944.  The restaurant featured a true Hawaiian ambiance, with open air seating and water features.  In the late 1990's the property was completely upgraded and still it retains that special local atmosphere.

What's cooking at The Willows

The Willows features a buffet.  We've all probably been to a buffet where you could eat all you want but the food wasn't that great.  On the other hand, EVERYTHING tastes great at the Willows!  They serve great salads, fish, crab, prime rib, dessert, you name it.

The food is local style and there's something here for every taste.  Seafood…

Torito's Restaurant in Honolulu

Torito's restaurant is located at Market City in Kapahulu.  This restaurant is a local favorite and it's been around for quite awhile - I first ate there around 1998.  Torito's is a local favorite because of the great menu and reasonable prices. Two people can eat at Torito's for about $20 including tip.  Add in some margaritas and the price will go up!

My favorite dish at Torito's is the vegetarian quesadilla plate.  I order my plate with black beans (they normally serve pinto beans).  This will keep me satisfied for about $7.  The chicken enchilada plate is also delicious.  Once in awhile I'll have the huevos rancheros for something different.

Toritos is open for lunch and dinner.  The lunch plates are a little…

Los Chaparros

Los Chaparros opened in 2005 on Beretania Street in the McCully-Moiliili area.  Husband Mario (from Mexico City) and wife Lisa (a Californian) decided to create a restaurant with authentic Mexican cuisine.  

The Los Chaparros name

In Spanish, Los Chaparros means "the shorties."  Both Mario and Lisa are, uh "vertically challenged."  They're not tall.  So the restaurant name reflects their statures.

What's on the menu?

All kinds of good stuff!  We've eaten at Los Chaparros many times.  The other night my girlfriend had her usual Chicken Enchilada and I tried the Chile Colorado with corn tortillas for the first time.  As usual, the food was great.  We're not big drinkers, we split a blended margarita and it too was very tasty.  It was ice…

W&M Bar-B-Que Burgers

This drive-in is tucked in at 3104 Waialae Avenue in Kaimuki.  What, you haven't seen it before?  W&M is pretty well hidden.  You can find W&M by driving to the intersection of Waialae Avenue and Saint Louis Drive (you'll see City Mill on the corner).  Continue Kokohead-bound (east) just past City Mill and there's W&M, right next door.

What kind of food do they serve?

It's pretty much American style with Hawaii style added in.  Hamburgers, friench fries and teriaki burgers.  As you can see from the lunchtime crowd, this place gets busy!  They are open Tuesday through Sunday for lunch.

Remember how McDonalds was in the old days (before the Big Mac)?  Hamburgers, fries and a coke.  That's what W&M is like, but add in some teri…

Dee Thai Restaurant in Kapahulu

This restaurant is located at 829 Kapahulu Avenue.  Dee Thai has been around about a year or so. A food court was in its place prior to Dee Thai.  The decoration of the restaurant's interior is... interesting.  The walls are pink. Paintings appear to be traditional Thai mixed with some felt portraits that remind me of the paintings seen in Tijuana.

Parking for Dee Thai

Dee Thai does not have a parking lot.  Vistors park on the street or at Bank of Hawaii's parking lot, about a block Diamond Head of the restaurant.  Dee Thai has an agreement with Bank of Hawaii, so that their customers can park here in the evenings after the bank is closed.  It only takes a couple of minutes to walk to Dee Thai from the bank parking… Read Full Post

Sabrina's

Several people have told us about this cute little restaurant near Saint Louis Heights.  They raved about the food.  I was a little skeptical.  In my younger days I worked as a cook at two Italian restaurants and have eaten many tasty Italian dinners.  A lot of Hawaii's Italian restaurants are good but they're not always great.

Sabrina's location at the corner of Waialae Avenue and Saint Louis Drive is loaded with restaurants.  Many of them open up and then close after a few months.  The other night it was getting late and we didn't have much to eat at home.  My girlfriend suggested we try Sabrina's.

We sat down and there were just two other tables with customers.  That made me wonder more about the food.  On the other hand, it was 9 p.m.,…

Ninnikuya

Take a look at the sign, Ninnikuya is known as the Garlic Restaurant.  And oh is this good stuff - if you like garlic!

Dinner at Ninnikuya

We shared a spinach salad for starters.  In the salad there was cooked garlic and it tasted great.  Dinner was a ribeye steak served sizzling on a platter with large chunks of garlic.  We cut pieces of the steak and chunks of garlic and the taste was just fantastic.  A side order of garlic-fried rice balanced out the meal.

Each time I've been to Ninnikuya, everything I ate had garlic in it.  I think nearly everything on the menu has garlic.  The desserts are non-garlic foods, but you can have some garlic sauce added to your ice cream if you're in the mood.  Oh, and if you get gas easily, bring some…