Every time we drive by I’m like, let’s go there soon. I really want to check it out. Ray cringes, and pretends he doesn’t hear me. St. Louis Drive In sits at the corner of Waialae and 3rd Ave. and is pretty easy to miss since it’s so small. The place looks a bit tore up from the floor up; the kinda place that you should mentally and physically prepare yourself for, you know, with meditation, yoga, and tums, lots of tums. This draws me for some reason.

Hey, no worries, no dress code here.

Ray ordered the Mahi Sandwich, $6.55. It looks really good, yet really weird, is that a pancake in his sandwich? After poking and observing a bit more I discover that the fish is battered with pancake mix. Did they run out of regular batter or are they trying to be innovative? A drive in being innovative? Could happen. I’m not saying the next top chef works here, but maybe it’s grandma’s secret recipe. The sandwich was alright. The batter was good at first bite but then the fish just seemed limpy, and mushy. I felt like the pancake around the fish just acted as a sponge and soaked up the grease from the grill.

I ordered the Beef Stew, $5.95. It came with two scoops of rice and a small mac salad. The rice was horrible, hard some spots and mushy other spots. The stew was atrocious, definitely left overs, probably from early that month. It wasn’t very hot, hell, it wasn’t even warm. I got one half of a potato. It was as though someone got lazy and decided to cut the potato in halves to save time, instead of pieces. The beef was the worst part though. When you think of beef stew, you think of slow roasted, super tender meat right? At least I do. The beef was like jerky. No joke. It was so tough that when I took a bite some of it managed to get stuck between the walls of my teeth. At first I was hugely disappointed with the amount of meat I got but after taking a bite, I realized it was plenty because I couldn’t find it in myself to eat any more. Yep, this definitely gets the award for Worst Beef Stew Ever Made.

“You happy now?” Ray says with a sarcastic tone. He shakes his head, and just looks at me. It’s so fucking annoying because I know what he’s thinking, that this was exactly the reason why he doesn’t like coming to places like this, because the food sucks salty donkey dick cheese. But he doesn’t say much more because he knows I wouldn’t hesitate to smash my beef stew in his face. After eating we rush home because Ray has a weak stomach and his asshole needs to throw-up. I slide open the door while he’s on the shitter and that’s when I say, “I’m happy now babe.”

I do want to add that service was friendly and prices was super cheap. They have daily specials, student specials, and grape juice. Some items I found on the menu that are super duper cheap are grill cheese - $1.45, tuna sandwich - $1.75, 3 pancakes - $3.30, loco moco - $4.80. Because of it’s cheap prices I support this place, just do yoga one hour before you come, tums are optional.

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St Louis Drive In
3145 Waialae Ave
Honolulu, HI96816

Get Directions(808) 734-3673

Boston’s North End Pizza is another great place to get some serious grub. With locations all over the island I’m surprised this place doesn’t have a website. The only other Boston’s I’ve been to is Kaimuki on Wailae. Boston’s is the kind of place that no matter which location you visit it will be a good experience.

The place is a pretty basic pizza joint. You walk in order your piece of the pie and wait for them to heat it up. You can order a whole pie fresh but if it’s just one slice your jonesing for then odds are it’ll be premade behind the counter.

This is one slice. I know massive right? This one is the spinach and garlic I think. One slice is 1/4 of a whole pizza and as you can see is the size of two regular slices and cost about five bucks.

Rays pizza slice. Not a bad deal for a filling meal for around $5.00. Oh, and the pizza’s not bad either. Even though it’s not fresh, it’s reheated so it tastes fresh enough.

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Boston’s North End Pizza Bakery

29 Hoolai St
Kailua, HI96734

Get Directions(808) 263-8055

Here are some photos I’ve found of my last trip to the Golden Palace.

I know this looks a bit slimy, but it was more silky than slimy, chicken wrapped in won ton skins with gravy

This was my least favorite. The inside was filled with way too much mochi and very doughy.

I still think it’s crazy when I tell my friends about dim sum and they’re like, “dim what?” I was brought up eating this stuff and I’ll never get tired of it. Where else are you able to sample little bits of everything without breaking your wallet? As a matter of fact, dim sum has been probably one of the cheapest, most fulling meals for me. When Ray and I go I don’t think we ever spend more than $15.00. What a steal.

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Golden Palace
111 N King St
Honolulu, HI96817

Get Directions(808) 521-8268

Alright, I’ve been holding off on writing this post long enough. If you’ve been a good little fan and reading all my post then you’ll remember when I said Metis, or Rainy Day Cafe is the best internet cafe on this island in one of my previous post on Morning Brew. Metis just recently changed its name to Rainy Day Cafe. I personally thought the name Metis was more fitting. The manager was hired to give the place a nice douche job. Although the cafe was nice before I do notice a few subtle changes that really enliven the place.

As you can see, this cafe is pretty spacious. Unlike a lot of internet cafes around the island, there’s plenty of space. There’s seating at the counter, couches, and at the tables. Like a good internet cafe, they have computers for your using pleasure, not that kinda of pleasure you sick, sick man, for a small fee of course. Now, if you already have a laptop, sweet, because if your a computer whore like me and can easily spend countless hours with your laptop, then you’ll appreciate all the power outlets they provide. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to an internet cafe and been forced to leave only because my computer ran out of power. If your hungry they have a small selection of food and if you want something sweet they have a nice array of pastries and tarts to choose from, all which look very tempting. Also, the restrooms always looks clean and inviting, which is a nice bonus, as we all know coffee is a laxative. Every time I go into the restroom to do my thing, I regret not taking my fully charged laptop with me. I swear I can hear the toilet say, “come in old friend, my how I missed that sweet ass of yours. Come sit on my face.” And I respond, “don’t mind if I do.” I think a bidet would look quite nice in here. Anyhow, internet isn’t free. I know I mentioned many times that all business should give free internet but if your a noncorporate internet coffee shop, then I guess it’s okay. The fee is $3.00 per user but Ray, Shane and I like to all go in and pay for only one user and pass the access code around. There’s been days where we are the only ones in there and still we pay for only one user fee. I know they’re not stupid and have to know but they probably just don’t care or know that we are just loyal customers and would rather spend the money we save on food. Here’s what we bought.

This Bagel Sandwich, $4.95. Yes only $4.95. There’s not a lot of places that have food for under five bucks so even if you don’t have any desire to use a computer and you just want to to grab a quick bite that’s cool too.

This bagel sandwich comes with fresh romain lettuce, cheese, tomato, cucumber and a creamy pesto sauce. Everything works in conjunction really well. The creamy pesto gives it a nice gourmet touch while the cucumbers really balance out the strong natural flavors of the salami.

Next we have the New York Lox Bagel, $6.50. The last lox bagel I had was at Bogarts and apparently if I go back there one of the workers will jizz in my food. She’s a female so I’m assuming in order to do this she would have to squat over my food. Either way, no thanks, besides the one at Rainy Day Cafe is cheaper. Like all Lox Bagels it comes with cream cheese, slices of thinly sliced onions, tomato, smoked salmon and capers. Ray and I ordered this before and we’re ordering it again because it was just that good.

Did I mention that they have pastries. I notice that they pastry selection changes from time to time, which is good because that means we’re always going to get something fresh. On this day they had a huge array of baklava. I’m not Jewish, or Russian and maybe that’s why I’m not really crazy about baklava, but it just looked so pretty that I had to get one.

I got one and it came in this over sized container.

Side view of my baklava.

Top view of my baklava. It was a really small piece and cost my somewhere around a buck fifty. This one had pistachios and like all baklava’s, was soaked in honey. I’m glad I didn’t get two because one is usually all I can eat. I like sweet, but baklava’s are too sweet for my liking. Lets me on.

On a separate occasion I had cake. The chocolate cake was moist and spongy and the cream was the soft whipped kind. I’m sorry but I don’t remember how much this cost me, I’m guessing around $3.50, but I do know that it was worth every penny.

There you have it folks. This place is by far the best internet cafe on the island. Lets face it when it comes to internet cafes, it’s all about the ambiance. This place makes for a nice work space. It’s a little hidden right outside the mall which is probably why it’s not always ridiculously busy.

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Rainy Day Cafe
1601Kapiolani Blvd # 150
Honolulu, HI 96814

(808) 945-9944

Have you notice that there’s not a whole lot of Southern Restaurants here? Well, if you feel like taking a drive to the Makaha on the West Side you’ll find one called Southern Swell. The first time I’ve been here was on vacation back in February. Since then there’s been a change of ownership. Of course we didn’t know this until we last came here.

Along with the ownership there have been a lot of changes, like the decor of the whole place. Before, the name suited the place well. When I say that I mean it was really hot and draggy. I don’t remember exactly, but I do recall seeing a lot of gray when I think of it last. Now, as you can see, they managed to liven up the place rather nicely. I do want to mention however, this was the nicest part of the restaurant, the rest looked like a dirty, cluttered mess of someones home.

There was seating out in the side patio as well. It was a pretty large area that was covered so we were able to enjoy being outside, yet still feel like we were inside and not burning up under the sun.

Now, if you come here expecting expecting a huge array of southern comfort foods like collard greens, crawfish, sweet potato pie and grits you won’t find it here. But they do have the traditional country fried steak, biscuits and gravy, mac and cheese, beer batter catfish, chicken wings, smoked pulled pork, baby back ribs, BBQ chicken, corn on the cob and potato salad to name a few.

We came here for smoked, BBQ anything. Last time we were here there was a huge smoke pit out front where they smoke your meat all day until it was as tender as a baby’s ass. It was a bummer to not see it here this time. We decided against ordering any serious BBQ and shared the Smoked Chicken Quesadilla, $7.50. It came in a 12 inch flour tortilla with cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, refried beans, smoked chicken and tomato jam. Yes tomato jam. It’s that big red blob that looks like, well, I don’t want to ruin your appetite so I won’t mention it, but contrary to what it looks like, it was de-licious. I can’t say I ever had tomato jam before and now that I have, I’m a fan. There wasn’t a whole lot of chicken and the refried beans gave it a mushy consistency. Overall, the quesadilla was good but didn’t have the heartiness you’d expect from southern food.

Along with quesadilla we shared the Smoked Pulled Pork, $8.00. It came on a pathetic bun, topped with homemade BBQ, steak fries, and a pathetic slice of pickle to match. Let’s start with the fries. Do these look like steak fries to you? I’m not an expert in the fries department so correct me if I’m wrong, but my idea of steak fries are thick, sizable fries. These were thin, some parts were paper thin and they were seasoned with pepper rather than salt. Also, they didn’t have any chalkiness, which is a good thing. I know it sound like I’m bashing them and I’m really not. Just calling it the way I saw it. To my surprise actually I enjoyed these, “steak fries.” The bun for the sandwich was pathetic. It was the size of a bun you’d expect if you ordered a kids meal. As you can see the sandwich came with no veggies, just meat and BBQ sauce. This didn’t surprise me because Southern people aren’t really known for their large consumption of fruits and vegetables. The pulled pork was really tasty. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten bad pulled pork in Hawaii. The BBQ sauce had a nice sweetness and added great flavor.

Overall, I have to say I’m not a huge fan of this place. I think I prefer the prior Southern Swell. I’m not saying you guys shouldn’t try this place. As a matter of fact I think you should. It was good. More reasons for you to come here is B.Y.O.B. That’s right, they let you bring your own beer. I absolutely love places that let you bring your own alcohol. Did I mention all the free wireless internet you can get. Yes free, who doesn’t love internet these days. I think all business should offer free internet for the fuck of it and the fact that they do is awesome.

Like diners, I’m a little stereotypical when it comes to southern food. I know it’s a little ignorant, but hey, at least I admit it. It’s something I need to work on. I’m just going to be brutally honest here so if your sensitive or get offended easily stop reading. When I think southern food I think obesity. I haven’t had a whole shit load of southern food, but the times I have had it wasn’t very impressive. The vegetables are usually overcooked to the point where ‘ no nutritional value whatsoever, soaked in grease, cooked with ham, and look like a mussy mess. Come on have you seen their collared greens, two words, baby shit. Also, it’s called comfort food because after eating it your doused with a sudden case of food coma, too lethargic to move, so where ever you are, one must find comfort, you have no choice. And over time, you look like one big comfort-able bean bag. How fucking awesome is that? I do want to add that Southern people really know how to BBQ. Look, I’m going to stop before I piss off the wrong people and end up in pieces and ran through a wood grinder. I’m just going to end this post with a few links to back me up.

Obesity in the South

Southern Comfort Food is Too Much of a Good Thing

Religion + South + Comfort Food = Obesity

Southern Discomfort Food

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87-070 Farrington Hwy

Waianae, HI96792-3114

Get Directions

(808) 852-9893

If you live on Oahu and your into pastries, desserts, ice cream or anything sweet, then this food review site should be perfect for you. If there’s one thing you’ll see a lot of in here it’s sugar. I’m sure you all think I’m some obese stubby Asian but I’m not, I just think like one.

So Ray and I are driving by and I’m like, “Stop! Lets get some cake.” Ray slammed on the brakes, did a quick u-turn, and hauled the car into park. What I liked best about this place is that they sell cake by the slice. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into a bakery to see a beautiful work of art teasing me. Its torture when all I want is to take my eye candy to the next level, only to find that I have to buy the whole freaking cake to do so. Aaaggghhh!!! Well not at Mary Catherines. I don’t know her, but she knows me, if you know what I mean. She understands me. I got this slice of strawberry short cake for $2.50. I have to say, probably the best $2.50 I’ve ever spent. The cake was soft and moist, the strawberries inside were sweet and the cream was whipped, and not the super sweet cake frosting that are on most cakes you get from a grocery store. Now, if you have more mouths to feed and you feel like doing a good deed get a whole 6″ for $12.00 or a 12″ for $22.00. That’s probably cheaper than a whole cake ordered form a grocery store and undoubtedly better.

Not into strawberry short cake, have no fear, variety’s here.

There’s no seating inside as it’s really small and a little cramped but there’s plenty of seating outside.

This is one of my new favorite finds. In my professional opinion, people don’t consume enough cake these days. Really, when was the last time you had cake. And I don’t mean during birthdays or weddings. I suggest you go here one day on a whim, order a whole 6″ cake and have them write on top, ” Because I love you,” bring it home and surprise someone you love.

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Mary Catherines Bakery & Cakes
2820 King Street
Honolulu, HI 96826
(808) 946-4333

When I was a kid my mother use to take me to San Jose on her days off. San Jose has a huge Vietnamese community that made my mom feel right at home. We would drive an hour just for some pho, then before we drove back home we would make a stop at a deli to stock up on some Vietnamese sandwiches.

If your not familiar with a Vietnamese sandwich it might look a little odd at first. A basic one, like the one you see above will consist of pork sausage, pickled sweet and sour carrots and radishes, cilantro, meat paste, mayonnaise, and sometimes a few fresh slices of jalapenos on a French roll. These have to be one of my all time favorite sandwiches.

This one was really good. However, I didn’t really care for the fish sauce they put on it because it made the sandwich a little too salty for my liking.

Summer Rolls, $4.29. These were large and nicely rolled. I liked that it came in a combo pack of one shrimp and one shredded pork roll.

As for my dessert I couldn’t decide between almond jello or tapioca so I got them both. At the low rate of $1.50 I could afford to treat myself. The almond jello was good but the tapioca one was really mushy and soft. I don’t think it was overdone, just probably sitting there too long.

Bale Sandwich Shop is one of the largest local chains in the state. With two locations in Maui, one on the big island, one on Kauai, and about twenty here on Oahu this place has really prospered and grown.

Overall I’m pretty satisfied with this place. The prices were fair, food was good. Just don’t order the tapioca unless it looks fresh and remember to ask for the sandwich without fish sauce.

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Ba Le Sandwich & Vietnamese Shop
333 Ward Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 591-0935

Every time we have plans to try this place another restaurant intercepts us in on the way. Well today we were determine with a one track mind and tunnel vision we finally made it for lunch.

The restaurant is quite large once inside.

This was our first pick. I have to say I’m not a huge fan of fried dim sum, only because by the time it rolls out to our table from the kitchen it’s not as hot and fresh. I’m sure we all can agree fried food taste best right out of the deep fryer when it’s hot and crispy. These fried shrimp won tons were crispy but they were room temperature, like they had been sitting out for hours.

I was quite certain that my taste buds would be a huge fan of these seafood balls rolled in sticky rice, but I was wrong. Wow, it just had a huge seafood taste that was so overpowering I could only eat the outer layer of rice on one of them. I don’t know what seafood is used but just think of seafood bologna rolled in sticky mochi rice. But maybe that was just me, cause Ray really liked these.

Pork hash is a must at dim sum. It’s just a safe plate as it is always delightfully fresh and appetizing.

Here’s another dish that’s new to me. Mochi balls stuffed with meat n’ stuff. Just so you all know, I’m not really a mochi fan. I do enjoy it but in small amounts. Biting into one of these was a little overwhelming for me because there was so much chewy mochi that it made it hard to swallow and when I finally did, it seemed like it wanted to come back up. However, once I made my way to the center I found the stuff inside to be surprising delectable.

Steamed pork buns, yet another classic dim sum pick. These were hot and tasted fresh not to mention very filling even after just one.

This time I saved the best for last. If you have not had these pineapple buns you must stop what your doing right now and get some. The sweet flaky top, and hot creamy egg custard filling puts you in a state of shear bliss. Do not get these things at a bakery, it’s never the same, only at a restaurant. Better yet, get them here they were amazing.

The whole bill came out to around $15.00. That’s why I love dim sum so much, it’s fun, delicious (most of the time), filling and always so cheap.

Here are some other reviews on Good Luck Chinese Restaurant that I found. Enjoy!

‘Ono Kine Grindz

Yelp

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100 N Beretania St #101
Honolulu, HI 96817
(808) 524-9988

This post is long overdue and I apologize for that. I try to keep my post as current and fresh as possible. As most of you already know, I’m still somewhat new to this island. Ray and I made a bold move back in March and dropped everything just to move out here. We didn’t have internet at first, but luckily the hotel next to us did, Ray’s computer was strong enough to grab it but it was slow and he needed to get work done. He searched for places that offer free wifi and are within walking distance online at wififreespot.com. Coconut Cafe was on the list and really close so we decided to pack up our laptops and have lunch there.
The place is extremely small, not really an ideal place to work. I think there were 3 tables and all two seaters. We scan the menu and this is what we got.

Ray ordered the Seafood Mixed Sandwich, $4.99. All sandwiches are served with your choice of lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, cheese, cucumbers, carrots, mayo, and mustard. He said this sandwich didn’t taste right. The seafood tasted bad like it had been sitting there in a tuperware container for a while. I took a bite and it tasted a bit mushy. I’m not a fan of seafood sandwiches unless it’s grilled.

I couldn’t decide so of course I resorted to dessert. I got the Azukibean Shaved Ice with condensed milk, $3.99 but the condensed milk cost an extra .75. This was rather large and a little messy. It looks more exciting than it tasted.

I also forgot to mention that online it states that internet was free, which was the reason why we went there in the first place. When we got there it cost $8.00 a day. Of course we didn’t pay, that’s just ridiculous and false advertising.

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Coconut Cafe
2441 Kuhio Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 922-8700

Dim sum here I come. Yeah, I’m sure no one has ever said that before. When it comes to Dim Sum, I consider myself to be pretty darn experienced. Growing up in Pleasanton, California every Sunday our family would drive to San Francisco just to have dim sum. My father would read the Sing Tao Daily the week before in search of what the critics were saying was the newest, flashiest, and most affordable dim sum restaurant in all of San Francisco. Of course they were always in China Town. Thinking about it now I can’t help but miss my family. Golden Place is my first dim sum experience in Hawaii and it brought back fond memories for me.

I say that because like a lot of dim sum places that I went to as a child, from the outside it looks like a standard Chinese restaurant, but you walk in and it’s a little bigger, brighter, and busier than what you’d expect. As soon as we walked in one of the ladies pushing the carts of food stopped everything she was doing and ask, “how many?” We say, “two” and being a small group she points us over to the smallest table at the far corner of the restaurant.

I can’t tell you how aggravating it was to be ignored. Since we were in the corner they would of had to roll out of their usual route to get to us, not hard right. It wasn’t like they couldn’t see us, because the restaurant was a big open rectangular room. They just chose not to see us, probably because we wouldn’t have given them very much business being just two people. The table next to us, of two as well, we’re also getting impatient. Finally after sitting there for about 20 minutes I get up and decide to take it upon myself to get some food. Oh, also, I forgot to mention, that it was our anniversary on this day. August 25th makes it two years since we’ve been together and we’ve been engaged since February. Back to the story, so I go up to an abandoned cart, go through the bamboo trays for something tasty to eat. The lady comes back, I direct her to our table and have her follow me. She’s a total bitch and just stands there instead of showing us what was in the trays, so again I’m like whatever, don’t mind if I do. I get up and start going through all the trays myself showing Ray what was underneath each lid while the lady just stood there next to me. This is what we picked out.

This is sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves flavored with minced meat and sometimes a yolk from an egg. This is one of my favorites at dim sum and very filling.

This is my all time favorite pastry, pineapple bun. I don’t even know why they are called a pineapple bun as there is really no pineapple flavor. Like most pastries they’re best hot. Inside their cavernous walls lies gooey moist egg custard. Here’s some more fun food knowledge for you. I don’t know why, but for some retarded reason they only sell these pineapple buns at dim sum restaurants. Bakeries will sell similar ones, but the inside is usually some kind of dry filling, like coconut or beans and never as good.

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like Pork Hash. It’s the one of the few things every person new to dim sum must try. These were really good.

Here’s some more fun food facts according to yours truly. Pork hashes are always accompanied in the same cart as these shrimp dumplings.

Maybe it’s because they just go so well together. We got two each of the pork hash and shrimp dumplings.

We decided that next time we eat here we’re going to say, “party of five, they’re meeting us here.” That way, we’ll be seated at a much larger table that is along side of their cart route. The bill came out to just over $12.00 for 6 dishes. Not bad for dim sum, but if you didn’t notice, only 3 items each were given per tray but they were a lot bigger than the usual 4 pieces that are given from most dim sum places so we were o.k. with it. There’s also food being sold just as you walk into the restaurant for to go. So if you want to eat but not dine, that would probably be better.

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Golden Palace Seafood.
111 N. King St.
Honolulu, HI
(808) 521-8268

Located right outside of Waikiki is a local diner, with real local prices. This is the type of place that I hoped to be writing about when I first started this blog. Not diners, but just cheap places. After all, my blog is called, “cheap places to eat in Oahu Hawaii” I would hope that I could live up to the name at least sometimes. The truth of the matter is, there’s just not that many super duper cheap places to eat out here. And to make matters worst, the grocery stores are more expensive than dining out at times. Well, Rainbow Diner is exactly what I would expect from a diner, not good, cheap, and yes, very affordable.

There’s seating outside, under a shaded cover. I got in line and scanned the menu for something that would satisfy my morning breakfast appetite. Holly shit, are they for real, Loco Moco - $3.25, Toss Salad - $2.00, Hamburger - $1.55, BBQ Burger - $1.70,
Pancakes - $3.75. The list went on and on. I don’t think I saw anything over 7.00 and only a few items over $6.00. Blood rushed through my veins, my sweat pores started to dampen and,” I desperately wanted to make love to a schoolboy,” well not really, just thought I’d throw a quote from Dumb and Dumber but ya’ll get the point.

I got the Breakfast Special, two eggs cooked the way you like, choice of meat, with rice or white or wheat toast for $4.50. I picked the mahi mahi. Now, when I say it’s not good, maybe I’m over exaggerating, it was decent and then it got bad. Perhaps I picked the wrong thing to eat. Who has fish for breakfast, right? Everything was fried in heavy oil so after I was done eating I felt like my insides were heavily coated with lard. Who knows, maybe it’ll help speed up the digestion process.

Here’s a picture of the fish over eggs.

French Toast, $4.25. Again, this was decent. Ray said it was kinda like grilled bread with powdered sugar. Nonetheless, he ate it and it served it’s purpose by filling the empty hole in his belly.

Rainbow Diner is a very basic as can be diner. The whole time I was here I only saw local people. I want to say that I’ll never be back, but something about this place, the diner, locals, low prices and basic food reels me back in. Sometimes basic food is all I need and does the job. I said before, I rarely go to the same place twice unless it was just that good or just that cheap. Cheap humbles me. I’ll give this place one more chance before I check them off, but it won’t be for a while

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Rainbow Drive-Inn
3308 Kanaina Ave.
Honolulu HI 96815
(808) 96815

I have to wake up at the butt crack of dawn in the mornings to move the car before I get a ticket or before it gets towed. So instead of reparking it and going back to sleep, Ray and I decide to start our day off with a smoothie from Jamba Juice.

I know a lot of you don’t really care about Jamba Juice, or any other major chain places, but this isn’t really about Jamba, it’s about the new Acai Cups they have. If you’ve been following my blog, then you already know that I’m a sucker for acai bowls, or in this case, cups. So when Jamba Juice joined the band wagon and decided to come out with one of their own I had no choice but to
give them a fair try.

While this is the winner when it comes to prices, only $4.50, it didn’t do it for me when it came it satisfaction. There’s just something special about acai smoothies in a bowl. In a cup, with fruit and granola it just seems more like a wanna be parfait. While the fruit was good, the granola was more like bits of cardboard. It was so bland that I would have preferred the cup without the granolas than with. There was no honey. When will places learns that acai bowls, cups, will never reach their full potential unless they are generously coated with nector from mother nature, yes, owey goey honey. I went up to the counter and asked for some and they didn’t have any. Fortunately, Star Bucks does and where there’s a Jamba Juice there’s tends to be a Star Bucks, since Jamba is owned by Star Bucks. Actually it was not my idea, but the employee of Jamba, “people go get honey packets next door all the time.” Sweet, don’t mind if I do. I walked next door up to the counter and asked for some honey. They gave it free of charge, with a smile. Yet another way to jack Star Bucks and not hate on them.

Get Directions

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Jamba Juice
625 Kapahulu Ave Honolulu, HI96815
(808) 734-4177