Ippy’s Hawaiian BBQ — Restaurant in Hawaii

The location is great, nice vibes, very clean. Service staff were kind and helpful. The food was completely lackluster. Came in on a Monday at 11:40. Ate three plates with the family and had a total of five items plus sides.

The Kailua pork was dry, hardly any sauce, and salty. Tasted like it was cooked on Saturday and reheated for us today (they are closed on Sunday). In fact this is a theme throughout all the food. The bbq sauce was great, but had to pay for extra to have enough for the food.

Fries were a bit overdone and unsalted.

Garlic shrimp were freshly cooked but were a bit underdone. The main issue was the lack of garlic. I think they used a minced from the jar garlic possibly with a garlic oil for flavor?

Teriyaki chicken felt old. The meat was hardish and each piece (even the cuts) had a film over it, like it had been cut and then sat out for a bit. Panda Express has a quicker turnover on their teriyaki chicken so it is fresher (at least where I live). I'll say their teriyaki sauce was good, but again not enough.

Teriyaki beef had sat for a bit and dried out, again not enough sauce.

Macaroni salad was freshly made, either hit for one at the table or miss/neutral since it had tuna fish in it and that swings personal opinions.

Bbq ribs were recommended by a local, but like the Kailua pork felt like it had been made on Saturday and served today. Made it incredibly tender, when we got meat, but was a piece that had way too much tendon and cartilage in it. You couldn't grab by the bones because they pulled out of the slab. The sauce was appropriate.

The pineapple slaw was just Cole slaw from Reisers with pineapple juice.

Maybe come on another day when they've had more...

Wish I could give 3.5 stars, but if I have to pick between 3 and 4, I'll go with 3, based on my experience. We were headed next door, but the smell of the bbq from this place lured me in. Prices were OK for this area. The oriental chicken salad was decent, not great. Portion size was good, chicken was a bit dry. The garlic shrimp was not quite right. Definitely garlicky, maybe a bit too much. And very greasy. The shrimp flavor was overcome by the garlic. The korean pork had great flavor, but the meat itself was poor quality...large areas of fat and lots of "string". It gave the plastic knife they provided a real workout. Overall, the food was good, but not great. It certainly didn't live up to the smell that lured me in. I would go back to try something different with my fingers crossed, maybe a burger, but I wouldn't get what we ordered today again. The one thing that really blew my mind was that we asked for waters, and they rung us up for bottled waters. I asked if they didn't just have cups for tap water...you know...for free? And they did not. I'm not a young person, and that is the first time in my life a restaurant did not have the means to provide a free glass of water to their patrons. If I ever go back, it will be with my own water...

Some of y’all may be already familiar with local favorite Ippy’s Hawaiian Barbeque down at At the Queens Marketplace. Ippy has brought his creative and fresh culinary takes on local favorites home to Waimea. Ippy’s Hawaiian Barbeque in Waimea revitalizes a long dead store front with all your favorites. We came in on Saturday night at 630ish and there was a good dinner crowd.We had prompt service at the order table and found a clean table while we waited for our made to order dinner. We had ½ Brined Rotisserie Chicken, Classic Burger and my new favorite the Katsu Loco. The Rotisserie chicken was moist and full of flavour. The sesame ginger dressing for the crisp salad was refreshing. The Classic Burger was exactly what it should be, fresh ingredients, fresh bun and piping hot fries. Loco Mocos are at litmus test for me. It’s seemingly easy fare, rice, gravy, egg and patty or in this case chicken katsu… you’d be surprised though how easy it is to get it wrong. Ippy’s Katsu Loco is Loco Moco Zen, the katsu cutlet was perfectly breaded and fried up smothered in a hearty gravy over a bed of fresh rice.

If you’re looking for local flavorites look no further. Ippy’s Hawaiian Barbeque continues to deliver here in their new...