McDonald's

2476 Kalakaua Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 971-1766

Vitals:
Open 5 days a week from 5:30 am to 12 am
kid-friendly
credit cards accepted

Sometimes, you just have to eat fast food and eat something that is quick and familiar. We wanted to hit the beach early and didn't want to go searching for a breakfast place so here we were at McDonald's. That said, it was clean, the service was quick and we were able to get in and out in under 10 minutes.

What's neat about this location was that in addition to their usual fare, they also offer more localized food options. Pictured here was the spam, rice and egg combo. It was actually pretty good! When you travel with a toddler sometimes you just have to get a few things and hope and pray they want to eat some of what you've offered. The spam and rice, while not my choice of meat, was a hit with the toddler (hurray!). I had my usual Egg McMuffin.

Ono Hawaiian Foods

Ono Hawaiian Foods

726 Kapahulu Ave
Honolulu, HI 96816

(808) 737-2275

Vitals:
M-F: 11 am - 8 pm
Cash only
small but can be kid-friendly

Talk about a salt overload. I guess I'm not used to that much salt. As long as you don't have high blood pressure and aren't necessarily worried about your cholesterol, this place was pretty good. There wasn't enough space inside and parking was a pain, so we opted to take food out and eat it at the condo. My only other complaint is the lack of veggies, but with that, on to the food.

What did we order? We ordered a combination with lau lau and kalua pig and the Salt Meat Watercress a la carte. The portions are quite generous. My favorite? The Salt Meat Watercress by far. It was basically a soup with a lot of soft and fatty meat with chopped watercress. The broth was amazing - it was salty and it had a certain richness that was nicely complemented by the slight bitterness of the watercress. I'm sure they used a lot of herbs in the broth, but I couldn't quite figure it out, probably a mixture of ginger and some other herbs. In any case, the meat and watercress mixed in with a bit of rice was so fulfilling. It seemed strange to have soup in such a hot place like Hawaii, but it was so good.

The combination plate was also pretty tasty. Even though the meat was rather salty, I just made sure to eat a lot of rice with the meat. There was a small sampling of some other things (like a lomi salmon (not a fan) and haupia (coconut dessert - nice but too small)).

Again, this place was cash only and with the combo plate at around $14.95 and the salt meat watercress at around $10, we were looking at a $30 lunch. Not bad considering we were eating more authentic Hawaiian food that actually tasted good, but still, it was a bit on the pricey side.

Alley Restaurant Bar and Grill

Alley Restaurant Bar & Grill

Aiea Bowl
99-115 Aiea Heights Dr, Ste 310
Aiea, HI 96701

(808) 486-3499
website

Vitals:
Sunday - Wednesday: 9:00AM - 9:30PM
Thursday - Saturday: 9:00AM - 10:00PM
** Breakfast served 7:00AM - 10:00AM **
kid-friendly


We went here because we had heard about the lemon crunch cake. From what we heard, it's a must try. It's out of the way from the regular places, a bit hard to find (and not in a great area), but it was an interesting place to have dinner. Who would have thought about going to a restaurant in a bowling alley?

We were not disappointed with the food here. We tried the mixed plate with Furikake Ahi, Alley Fried Noodles and salad (pictured above, around $14) and I tried the oxtail soup ($13.50). The fish was fresh and flavorful, the noodles and salad were typical.

The oxtail soup. It's an interesting dish and quite good but a bit on the salty side. The soup base was a bit heavy on the soy sauce, but it wasn't too overpowering. While there isn't much meat, it is very soft. The condiments it came with was nice, so that I could make it my own.

Now on to the dessert. We tried the lemon crunch cake and the pumpkin crunch cake (each, $4.75). The lemon crunch cake had a butterfinger type crunch topping with a whipped cream frosting. I couldn't really taste the lemon, but there was slight hint of it and the cake was was pretty light and not too dense. It was really good, but even better? The pumpkin crunch cake. It had a thick topping of whipped cream, a pecan type crust and a pumpkin pie like filling. It was sweet but not too sweet and decadent. You can't go wrong with either of these choices, but if I had to choose, I'd have to favor the pumpkin crunch cake.

Leonard's Bakery

933 Kapahulu Ave
Honolulu, HI 96816
(808) 737-5591
website

Vitals:
Sun-Thurs: 5:30 am - 9 pm
Fri-Sat: 6 am - 10 pm
$
****


On our way to Boots & Kimos, we decided to take a pit stop at Leonards (carbo loading, but loving it!). They just made these Portuguese doughnuts - we ordered the plain sugar and the cinnamon. They were warm, slightly crispy on the outside with a soft, slightly doughy but light and fluffy inside. Service is on the slow side (I was waiting behind a person who just couldn't decide what to order - they do have other pastries there). Awesome doughnuts - super yummy and bigger than I expected. There were pretty cheap too (around $0.8/doughnut, cheaper by the dozen).

Cheeseburger in Paradise

2500 Kalakaua Ave # A
Honolulu, HI 96815-3683
(808) 923-3731
website

Bleh. They claim to have the "best" burgers, and I have to disagree with their point here. I think watching birds fly freely throughout the restaurant just killed the mood for me (doesn't seem clean to me).

It is one of the more reasonably priced restaurants right across from the beach (not counting McDonald's but rents must be pretty high), but it's still no excuse for mediocre food. The burgers just seemed average. Although the menu says they use 1000 island dressing - it just doesn't work well in a burger. Maybe I'm a bit biased, and I generally compare burger joints with In-N-Out, and this didn't even come close.

I got the standard cheeseburger ($8.95), hubby got the Schrooms & Swiss ($9.95) and we ordered some sweet potato fries ($5.95) and chicken tenders for the kids ($10.95). We barely finished our meal (the bird helped with the crumbs my kids left). It was a bit unsettling to see 3-4 birds feed off of crumbs my kid left under his high chair. I would have rather gone to McDonald's just a block away....

Ted's Bakery

59-024 Kamehameha Hwy
Haleiwa, HI 96712
(808) 638-8207
website

Vitals:
Monday-Tuesday: 7 am - 6 pm
Wed-Sun: 7 am - 8 pm
***
$


Ted's Bakery is famous for its chocolate haupia cream pie (pictured). We stopped by this bakery (it's easy to miss, a small bakery in a blink and you miss it location by Sunset Beach) on our way to Romy's. The bakery isn't a destination in and of itself, but it makes some nice desserts that you can take with you (to the beach, to lunch, to any place really).

Since we were found this place, we got a slice of the chocolate haupia cream pie and a slice of the chocolate macadamia cream pie as well. The whipped cream frosting was light and slightly sweet, the coconut cream and the chocolate cream complemented each other nicely and the crust was slightly flaky, if a bit underdone. I was expecting the coconut layer to be a bit creamier (it had a slightly gel like consistency), but overall, it was good.

We preferred the chocolate macadamia cream pie. The chocolate cream was thick, decadent and had bits of macadamia nuts with the same whipped cream frosting. Either way, you can't go wrong with either of these choices, both were very good.

Romy's Kahuku Prawns & Shrimp

56-781 Kamehameha Hwy
Kahuku, HI 96731
(808) 232-2202
website

Vitals:
Open everyday from 10:00 am - 6 pm
Outdoor seating
outhouse facilities
can be kid-friendly (for older kids)
cash only
****
$$

Based on recommendations from locals, we went to Romy's. The highway in the North Shore is dotted with a lot of shrimp trucks. Romy's, I believe, has their own shrimp farm and they harvest their prawns and shrimp daily. You can tell that the prawns are really fresh. We ordered the butter and garlic sauteed prawns with white rice ($12.75, but you can order brown rice for $1 extra). It's not cheap, but the portions are reasonable, and there is a sign at the stand that says "it's not fast food, it's good food", and they are right.

You have to like garlic to order this dish, it was covered with sauteed garlic. We're not the shell eating type, and so we got a bit messy trying to peel the shells (thank goodness there is an outdoor sink with soap), but the prawns with the garlic sauce is outstanding. The prawns were meaty, succulent and fresh. I didn't even need the side soy sauce that came with our plates. We also ordered a Kahuku sweet corn ($3/ear), and we could have skipped it. The corn was dry, small and it wasn't sweet at all. A coke washed it all down and we were happy.

We actually stopped by Ted's bakery to get some of their famous chocolate haupia cream pie on the way to this shrimp truck and it was a nice ending to a good meal (a bit decadent after the meal we just had, but when you're on vacation......) We've been burning through cash on this trip (it seems like most places are cash only), but it was worth the trip.