Stopped by today for lunch while my wife was meeting some friends at NM. Sat myself at the bar and ordered a beer and Kilauea Burger. Man, the beer was ice cold. It was great. The burger however, it was pretty horrible. I of all people couldn't even finish the whole thing.

The Kilauea sounded like the ultimate burger for me...it had melted pepper jack cheese, thin crispy onion rings, and a black pepper-jalepeno pepper crust. I expected something huge as it was 10 bucks but I guess I forgot how expensive rent is at Ala Moana. When the burger came, two things came to mind, how huge it looked and where were the fries? Disappointed, I rechecked the menu to see if fries came with the burgers, they don't. When I checked out my "huge" burger, I found out that the patty itself was no thicker than a McDonald's patty. Also, my "medium" cooked burger was pretty much well done with a crispy burnt crust on it. Well, it's kind of hard to cook a thin patty medium unless you just flash fry it for a second on each side.

After my first few bites, I thought the burger was actually quite tasty. Then the pepper crust hit my taste buds. What a horrible taste! Imagine chomping on a mouthful of burnt peppercorns. I love black pepper but this was horrible. It was disgusting.

Needless to say, I finished my beer and got the hell out of there without even finishing half of my burger. The bartendress took away my plate and didn't even ask me if I was sure I was done, as if others have left Kilauea burgers uneaten in the past.

Now if only the burger didn't have the pepper crust, I'd say it would be a very tasty burger. However, for $10.00, I'd rather go to Teddy's, have a decently sized burger, fries, soda, and desert, and have enough to pay for my gas guzzling SUV to drive me to the Hawaii Kai location and back to town.

PS-The waitress basically threw my burger at me. Oh, and most people sit at the bar to have a nice conversation with the bartender. Today's bartendress had no personality at all. All she did was talk story with the other bartendress.

Tom's Tip: If you order the Kilauea Burger, don't forget to ask for NO PEPPER CRUST!