Super No.1 BBQ & Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Hawaii

Most disappointing meal on the island. We're still here for a few nights but I'm calling it and hoping this will be the worst food we eat on the trip. This place is called Super No. 1 BBQ & Chinese Restaurant and has a photo of a roast duck on the menu. There are no Chinese bbq meats on display (liked I'm used to at authentic Chinese BBQ spots.) They also have the buffet style food warmers on display which is a big turn off for us but I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and hoped their food cooked to order would not disappoint. I could not have been more wrong.

I asked about the Roast Pork because I'm a big Lechon/Crispy Roast Pork fan and I know sometimes Roast Pork on the menu is more like Char Sui or even Kalua Pork. She immediately said it's not sold a la carte. It's only available with vegetables or bok choy. She suggested the latter so I went for it and specifically asked her if they serve CRISPY Roast pork with crispy skin first. She said yes... my BF ordered the Roast duck with veggies. We also ordered egg rolls and hot and sour soup on the side. After a grueling hike at Ho'opi'i Falls, we were starving and chose this place over Fillo's tacos next door. That was our first mistake! The second mistake was not reading the reviews. The third was eating here despite all the red flags.

After we ordered, she yelled at her husband to make our food. He was eating at the time (unbeknownst to me my BF observed this) and got upset his meal was interrupted to cook for a customer... My boyfriend's dish comes out first, pretty quickly. Immediately I notice there's no actual duck in the dish. They literally served him a handful of duck bones over mixed veggies with rice and what tasted like store bought mac salad. This made me nervous. Egg rolls came out next and were hot but nothing to write home about and I was starving so I ate them. My dish came out and saying that I was underwhelmed would be an understatement. I picked through the mountain of bok choy to search for the "crispy roast pork". Finally found the 4oz. of meat and took a bite to again, just give it a try. I just pushed it away and ended up tossing it before we left. The hot and sour soup came out last. I was so utterly disappointed and hoped at least one thing would come out right. I encouraged my bf to try it even though we were both so turned off by the whole experience. The spoonful scalded his mouth and that was that.

We try and support small businesses (not realizing this was a small island chain). It definitely has the hole in the wall aesthetic which usually goes hand in hand with good food. With tip btw, two dishes, eggrolls, soup and a couple of drinks plus tip came out to around $75. Save your money and go somewhere good. I would go to L&L and Panda Express over this any day (we don't eat fast food or from chain restaurants.)

This was not it. Don't go here.

As we were leaving a girl was looking at the menu. I honked at her and my boyfriend yelled out, "Don't do it!" while I motioned a thumbs down and a frown.

We at least saved one person from the utter disappoint that is Super No. 1 BBQ. That's the one good thing that came...

Craving some rice, but wanting something a little cheaper than the $25 pineapple fried rice at Lava Lava, I decided to try this place. I intended to get take-out but when I saw that their only containers were made from Styrofoam, I opted to eat in. The veggie fried rice ($7.50) was a huge portion, and the veggies (cabbage, broccoli, peas) looked quite fresh. But there was no caramelization of the rice at all – it seemed more like boiled rice mixed with some fat, rather than rice that was actually fried. They were getting through a lot of orders (phone, walk-in) so it seemed that they didn’t allow much time to cook each dish. As I ate more rice I noticed that the layer of oil left on the plate was semi-solid – more like grease than oil – and I started to feel queasy (and I don’t get queasy easily). I had to stop half-way through. Also, I knew the place wasn’t going to be fancy, but sitting there at the utilitarian table under fluorescent lights facing a fridge full of Pepsi and Gatorade, while the owner walked around spraying the tables and chairs with some kind of detergent (including the chairs at my table) amounted to a pretty depressing experience. The worst thing of all though was seeing that huge stack of Styrofoam containers being loaded up and packed into plastic bags and carried out onto this beautiful island.

For social and environmental responsibility, I’m giving them 1/5 “green stars.” It’s really a travesty for them to be using Styrofoam boxes for their meals. It’s non-recyclable, non-biodegradable, and being so lightweight it’s perfect for polluting the ocean and parks here. Other places have banned it completely, and Hawaii of all places (with the huge marine plastic problem) it should not be using it. To top it all, they pack this Styrofoam into plastic bags. Even eating in the restaurant, I found that I was contributing to the plastic pollution problem – both my fork and the containers for spring roll sauce were made of plastic.

These are all issues that the restaurant could easily fix: improve the décor; use healthy oil for cooking and reduce the greasiness of the food; replace the Styrofoam with biodegradable cardboard boxes; replace the plastic bags with paper, use metal utensils and dishes for dipping sauce. After that there would still be issues to look at – use of local ingredients, selection of drinks, etc. In the meantime, I would not recommend...

Don't understand the low reviews. Especially the one that mentioned "buffet style". You walk in, you see what's there, if you don't like it then leave? To each their own and everyone has their own personal experience. I went there twice during my trip. First time I got the loco moco and the coconut shrimp, then went back a second time for the loco moco. The loco moco i thought was delicious. The lady told me they source from local beef. My first experience with loco moco and it made me want more. So i went to Kenji Burger and tried their version, not the same. As for the coconut shrimp, it's not your traditional battered coconut shrimp; they use a coconut sauce. Different take on it but also delicious. It's a hole in the wall and things don't look appetizing, but surprisingly tasty. I also have never seen someone so meticulous with cleaning. The lady was constantly cleaning the food station area, and I saw her inspect and wipe down every takeout container before she handed them out. She may not seem friendly, but there are people who are just not into chit chatting. Deal with it. You're there to buy 12-15 dollars meal, not a Michelin Star sit down. Yes I am referring to the one who complained about "service". I can whole heartedly recommend folks to try...