Kanaka Kava — Restaurant in Hawaii

Despite the grungy look, the food is really good. We shared a Pork lau Lau plate with rice and squid Luau.

If you don't know, pork lau lau is pork shoulder, salted butter fish, wrapped in taro leaves then steamed. The finished product is like salted pork butt/shoulder wrapped in something akin to a young and incredibly mild spinach.

The Squid luau is squid, octopus and taro leaves steamed in coconut milk. To me, squid in coconut milk and it's not curry sounds odd to me, but we tried it and wow, it's really good! Like I wish more places offered it good.

And now the kava drink. It looks like mud water, numbs lips and mouth, and gives you a buzzy high feeling really quick. It tastes like drinking an Asian herbal drink that was made using roots and it pretty much is. Try it for fun, they serve it in coconut shells. You'll definitely feel the effects half a cup in.

The only improvements I can think of is a different way of ordering instead everyone going to the bar for any type of order. The place is tiny, so you're up in another patron's space to get an order in. You also pay + top before you get anything. None of the service was bad and even though they told us it'll be a bit for our food, it still came out quickly. Just a bit more chaotic than it needs to be.

Definitely stop by and eat, the food is great. This is the type of place Anthony Bourdain would have eaten at when...

Have no idea why this place is rated as cheap. We paid over $100 for just three dishes and two kavas, and most of us left hungry as the portions were extra small. Also, the menu is deceptive. For example, one of us ordered salmon as a side and waited for it for ages, but the fish never appeared. We inquired, and the counter girl said that "salmon" was actually a spoon-sized diced tomato salad with microscopic white crumbs of - supposedly - salmon. Other food on our plates was also hardly identifiable, and the girl didn't care to explain. Speaking of taste, I, personally, was open to something local and unusual and kind of liked my platter (though the pork was oversalted), but my companions were less happy. One of them hardly ate anything. The other was not thrilled with his veg option and still hungry. And, last but not least, the counter girl forgot to bring us our kavas, which were the main reason for us to come to this place (we never tried kava before)! We sat all that time just in front of her nose - and she didn't notice and didn't care! When we finally asked and got our drinks (no excuses given), they were made of powder, though a local guy, who was sitting next to us, got his drink fresh. I guess, tourists are not appreciated at this particular bar? Worst dinner experience so far. Two stars just because I found some of the food amusing (and didn't get...

Very unfriendly bartender.

Please consider moving the woman in the kitchen who was friendly, welcoming, accommodating, and the only one who tried to make our experience better to the front of house. My partner who is a chef was impressed by her hospitality and customer service. The bartender cannot multitask, refuses to welcome guests, neglects to understand her menu to communicate it proficiently to guests, and fails to acknowledge a guest complaint or attempt to improve the guest experience.

We went there to get some authentic Hawaiian food. We ordered 2 laulau , each comes with 2 sides. Took over 45 mins to bring out 3 sides and 1 laulau. The laulau was cold, we sent it back.

The girl from the kitchen came out apologizing and gave us free appetizer and ensured us the laulau will come out shortly. Another 30 mins passed by, 2 laulaus arrived. One was hot and great, the other one was still FROZEN. The middle of it was actually frozen. At that point I was very annoyed. We paid $60 for 2 meals, the girl from the kitchen tried her best to make our experience better. But when we got the frozen food, we both were in a bad mood , kinda filled up on the appetizers, and lost interest in the laulau. We just ate the warm laulau and left the frozen one...