Rise and Shine Cafe — Restaurant in Hawaii

Along with my Sister, my wife and I decided to try this place out for the first time, while we’re celebrating our 1st year marriage anniversary here on Oahu. Here is my honest “unbiased” opinion on the overall experience here.

Pro’s:

The food was excellent and tasty. Wife had the eggs benedict, I had the meat lovers omelet, my Sister had the corned beef hash. Wait time for a table and receiving food was excellent.

Con’s:

Let me try to be as respectful as possible on this. I was born and raised on Oahu and look local(Oahu native), my wife is white(caucasian and definitely doesn’t look like an Oahu native). Keep that in mind when reading this review. Upon entering, we were greeted “warmly and professionally” and was told to sit anywhere, as the place appeared about 50% full with seated customers and a lot of open tables.

We all immediately noticed that the majority of their staff’s facial expressions looked like a mixture of stress, tired and upset, with absolutely no smiles at all. (Initially, I felt a bit sad for them)

Our order taker took our orders quickly and we asked her a simple question, if the price of their coffee included free refills. Simple question. She answered stating yes, however no smiles, we felt rushed And she looked stressed/tired/upset, at what I had absolutely no idea!

After receiving our food in excellent/quick timing, our server was not attentive to us at all and never came back to offer us coffee refills, even when I tried politely making eye contact to a couple of waitresses posted standing “free” near the entrance, so we were forced to have to ask another nearby server who happily & thankfully came by “quickly” and provided us refills.

Here’s where it gets more upsetting. Later on during our meal, unknowingly to me, while I was “deeply” engaged in a conversation with a neighboring customer, my wife asked the waitress who originally took our order for another coffee refill and this woman had the audacity to respond to my wife in a COMPLETELY unprofessional, sarcastic, disrespectful and In My Humble Opinion, “Racist” tone and told my wife, she was busy cleaning, she needs to get a bill ready and asked if she could wait for 2 minutes. (Trust me when I say that if I heard this interaction, I would’ve immediately asked to speak with The Manager of that place and reported this individual, while more than likely providing a stern lecture on the importance of “proper etiquette” in Customer Service skills.

Look, I know we all have bad days every now and then, but no matter what, my wife didn’t deserve to be treated that way, PERIOD.

I could care less about the fact thay they weren’t smiling. The bottom line is, no matter how busy you are as a waitress, you should ALWAYS treat your customers with respect, PERIOD.

Management here needs to have better accountability with their employees. If you’re having a bad day emotionally, stay home, take a lunch break or maybe pursue another type of work/career.

We’re not looking for waitresses to kiss our behinds(a$$e$) or any freebies. Part of eating out is the enjoying the dining experience, not just the taste of the food.

I’ve decided to write this review specifically in the hopes of this place improving. We wholeheartedly support local businesses and will continue doing so. We would like to see this place improve and thrive.

With that said, in closing, Dear Mgmt: We are choosing not to single out anyone here or get anyone fired. Proper employee accountability along with good teamwork synergy and improving employee moral are all solid keys to ensuring a brighter/successful future for your business. Also, we would strongly suggest that you take all of these reviews seriously, as I’ve read similar review experiences here and on Yelp.

With Gentleness...

**Update 1/22/18: Okay, this place is good again. Still a little pricey but still pretty good. The cinnamon rolls and key lime pie was the bomb. Had the florentine eggs benny again. It was and still is, really, really good.

**Update 12/10/17: My family was pretty disappointed at an order of hollandaise sauce we received this morning. We had a baby shower for my cousin and she loves their hollandaise sauce, so we ordered 2 quarts of it to pick up. My wife picked it up this morning to use at lunch time. We put it in the fridge after she got it and pulled it out to warm it up right before lunch... it tasted like straight butter!

After a conversation with someone on the phone, she told my cousin that you're not supposed to refrigerate it. No one told my wife that but they insisted they did. We asked if we could get a replacement or a refund (it costs around $40 for 2 quarts). But apparently none was offered.

My preggo cousin was very disappointed as this is her favorite restaurant. She was so disappointed that she says she'll never go back again... I don't know if we will too... :(

I believe the restaurant is still good though.

**Original review: This place is not too bad. I had the Loco Moco with fried rice, over easy eggs. Portion was decent. Overall not too bad. My wife had the eggs Florentine Benedict which was really good! I think their specialty is eggs Benedict because it was the bomb. One kid had the kids meal with rice, eggs, and bacon and the other had pancakes with fruits. Price was 5.95 for those which seemed a little steep. If they added a juice or milk, it would have been worth it. The take home cinnamon roll was great (no pics).

It's a popular place! Parking can be crappy because its limited and the Starbucks druve thru line is ridiculous. Drive around those guys if you can. Theres a sign in sheet... line gets long and the wait can be lengthy. There's shade around the corner by the barber. You can stand there and wait for them to call your name. They also have a bathroom key (attached to a big spoon), bathrooms are around the corner by the shade. Bring some hand sanitizer to sanitize your hands after giving it back... you don't know how much people touch that and wash or don't wash their hands, and then you go eat. Just a thought. Overall...

We were a group of 13 and had to be separated into two groups being the place is small and are not made to accommodate large groups.

When it was time to order, I decided to go with Loco Moco. Unfortunately, it was not made right the 1st time. I was asked how I'd like my eggs done & I said over medium. When my order came, I had a very watery egg. I did address the eggs issue and the waitress took it back to the kitchen.

Through the dining area, some patrons depending where they are seated are able to see in the kitchen since they dont have a door. Our waitress gave the plate back to one of the cook's and he made a gesture with his hand of "why" & she said a few words. The cook's expression was "yah ok watever" & grabbed the plate from the waitress. I got my replacement, but again highly disappointed.

The hamburger patty appeared to be pink, which I was told I could eat since it was cooked over medium. I cut into the patty and took a bite; meat was tough and chewy, which seemed like I was eating beef jerky instead. Gravy was quite salty for my tastebuds to a point I drank two glasses of water to rid of the salty taste left in my mouth. Disappointed with the dish, I chose NOT to eat it. Again, I addressed it to the waitress and she offered to remove it off the tab.

Not only was I disappointed with my dish, but my cousin's husband too. He too also ordered the loco moco. The moment it was placed on their table, we heard him say "There's an eyelash on my food". Immediately the waitress that had just put it down looked at it and saw for herself the eyelash. Waitress removed the plate and asked if he wanted anything else to which he answered "no". Not only was he disappointed with his food, but a cousin at the "girls" table.

My cousin who sat next to me ordered I believe some sort of sunrise breakfast that consisted of choice meat, starch, and eggs. She ended up taking a bit of two and told the waitress she would just take it to go. When I asked my cousin why she barely ate, she said "it ain't that good; lacks taste"

Overall customer service was good with the waitress, but the cook is another matter. As for the foods, with the exception of the 3 of us, the other 10 all said "food was ok, but nothing to really rave about nor make u want...