Oahu cheap eats

[torakris]

My family and I are headed to Oahu in 2 weeks for 4 nights (this part of a 2 week 3 island trip), we are staying in Waikiki and will only have a car for one day. This means we are going to be limited to what is in walking distance.

This is actually my 8th trip to the islands but the last time was 12 years ago so I'm not really sure what is around anymore.

We are a family of 5 (kids are 9, 12 and 14) and the kids eat everything and a lot of it so I really don't want to spend all of our money on food.

What are your recommendations for cheap but good eats in the Waikiki area for breakfasts, lunches and dinners? Preference is for local, non-national style chains (ie Cheesecake factory, which apparently in #1 on tripadvisor). We also aren't too interested in Japanese food as we can eat that every day...

We are going to be renting a car for one day and doing an island tour, current plans are to hit Ted's Bakery for lunch and maybe a couple of the shrimp trucks (sharing one plate among the 5 of us to taste as many as possible. For dinner we are thinking of going to Side Street Inn back in Honolulu.

We also need a breakfast for this day, the problem it is a Sunday and a lot of the places I looked at aren't open on Sunday. I don't want anything too heavy as we will be doing a lot of eating that day but we will have car and I would like to hit someplace good outside of Waikiki. Our first stop will be the giant maze at the Dole Plantation, so any recommendations between there and Waikiki would be great.

[Aloha Steve]

Aloha Kristin

We have a local network that has a program called guess..............."Cheap Eats"

Here is a link to the website, with videos included with the reviews. As you can see by looking at the reviewers, they have tasted a lot of food.

Welcome back and I hope its a glorious holiday for you and the family.

Edited for spelling

Edited December 9, 2009 by Aloha Steve (log)

[docdix]

Hi,

I really enjoyed Ramen Nakamura at Waikiki. A hole in the wall japanese kitchen, they serve a fantastic array of Ramen... try the Oxtail Ramen set, it comes with some gyoza and rice. Seeing though that your coming from japan I don't know if you'd want some Ramen in hawaii but it was very reasonably priced.

Hope this helps

[David A. Goldfarb]

A shrimp truck we like on the North Shore is Romy's Shrimp Shack, but we haven't tried all of them. I forget which one is the "original" one, but maybe Steve or someone else knows.

Don't miss the malasadas at Leonard's, 933 Kapahulu Ave. Study the map before you get there, because you may have to go around the block to get to the entrance, depending on which way you're driving.

There used to be a really good lunch truck in the parking lot at Sandy Beach, but it wasn't there the last time we went. I don't know if that's permanent or if he just wasn't there for a few days.

[torakris]

Thanks for the links and the info!

I wasn't actually interested in Japanese places, but I took a look at Nakamura ramen and their specialty appears to be an ox tail ramen. My husband has been searching for some place that does an ox tail soup similar to (the now closed) Nazo's on Maui.

He and my son are going to try them for lunch on the day the girls and I head to the outlets...

[Aloha Steve]

He and my son are going to try them for lunch on the day the girls and I head to the outlets...

FYI, there is a shuttle that will take you there and back from Waikiki, if you are going to the Waikele outlet area.

There are a few places to get a snack out there as well.

In fact, there is a Japanese restaurant, Kunio,LOL which has the absolute best California Roll sushi ever! They coat the outside with panko batter and it is crunchy heaven. Real crab, all the ingredients are very fresh, in fact you cannot order it to go! My wife also likes the O'Yakudon (sp), chicken with rice in a bowl.

LOL, telling you about Japanese food and my spelling, OK....you can stop laughing now

[torakris]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I had been looking around for places in the Waikele outlets area and all I could find was awful fast food!! The outlets that I go to in Cleveland every summer are the same so I figured we weren't going to have a very good lunch that day.

I will eat sushi over McDonald's in any country!!

[Aloha Steve]

In that same area is a fast food Sushi restaurant, please no go. Its worth the xtra $$ to have the food at Kunio.

There is also a Korean restaurant, which have never eaten anything from and a ice cream store in the same little area.

Also there is, as you mentioned the Golden Arches LOL

Don't forget to check Saks off 5th Av first. We've gotten some things for 20% of the original price.