Back Alley Cafe — Restaurant in Honolulu

Me and my fiancé are regulars at this bar. There’s certain nights we like to go because of the staff that are working. Typically I say 5 stars but we went out lastnight 9/30/25 just to grab a bite to eat and have a few drinks and it was the worst service I’ve ever had from there would rank it as 2 stars. We ordered 2 shots which were made completely wrong and since it is my go to shot I could tell just from the color that they did not make it right. We didn’t even drink them because they were not good. My fiance ordered a soda and they gave her diet. We ordered 2 things off the menu and before the 2 order even reached our table we were ready to leave. There was 3 employees last night and only 1 out of the 3 actually gave good service even though she was not the one that waited on us and had no idea what we ordered she made sure we had everything we needed while the other 2 employees stood outside and had conversation. Typically we spend $100 if not more when we come out but lastnight it was under $50. After that experience it has been decided that we are only going to attend when certain staff are working.

Pinky, Quincy and 2 others are great employees they always make sure we have everything we need and always show great service. They know how to keep it professional but still make sure everyone is enjoying themselves.

I’m still going to give a 5 star review but i also wanted to just give insight about my experience lastnight. I will stick to only going on...

I've been coming back here for over a year & a half now and they're still my favorite bar! I love the staff and the selection. The bartenders, servers, and chefs are all awesome. Everybody is easy to talk to and nobody judges. I can eat delicious sushi all by my lonesome, or inhale coma-inducing amounts of pork chops, steak, & fried chicken with all of my friends. Back Alley stocks a very wide array of liquors, including several choice whiskys, vodka, and sake. Dragon Roll, Hamachi Jalapeno, Mentaiko Pasta, Garlic Fried Rice, and Korean Fried Chicken are always at the top of my list.

They have two private rooms for karaoke. Friday and Saturday nights get busy!

If you're ever looking for suggestions on what to try next, just ask whoever happens to be sitting at the far-right of the bar for a recommendation (98% likely to be one of the owners or a BAC regular).

Stop in! Say, "Hi!" to whoever is working. Smile. You'll be well taken care of at Back Alley Cafe.

(Parking gets a little easier to find further down on...

Out of almost everything on the menu! Saturday night and that have almost nothing available on the food menu. We arrived at 6:30 PM. Street parking still available on King St. We came for karaoke and food. They were out of karaage chicken, chicken wings, rib eye, pork chop, rib eye, and kim chee. We had to settle for garlic fried rice and kalua pork nachos. The fried rice is sticky, reminds me of school cafeteria. The nachos were made with that nacho cheese, stale chips, and minimal amount of kalua pork. Since they were out of every protein except mandoo, I asked if we could bring in outside food. Girl checked to see if that was ok and now they had rib eye. Overall, food was meh. Karaoke is $1 per song. Only the Korean machine was working in our room, so we couldn't get the artist's voice to play. Made for some off pitch singing at first. Also, bring cash because the bill is higher if you want to pay by...