Da Ono Hawaiian Food — Restaurant in Honolulu

I visited this place 15 years ago with a girl I met in my hostel. I wanted to share my experience as it has stayed with ever since... I still think about what happened there.

I'll start by saying I'm a British girl with a lifelong obsession with surfing and Hawaiian culture. I had been told this was the place to try for authentic Hawaiian food. So I told my hostel roommate Hanna, I'd pay if she'd let me drag her to try it out. We walked across town and made it around early afternoon. We were greeted warmly and shown to our seats and given a confusing menu. With little idea of what to order, we signalled if we could have some help. Two elderly Hawaiian gentlemen sitting in the table next to ours then leant across and started showing us what was what and telling us what to try. So we obliged. They told us about their lives in Hawaii and we tried the dishes that came out.

I told them about my love of Hawaiian culture, the spirit of Aloha and my visit and they gave me several ideas of places to visit.

At the end of their meal, they thanked us for showing an interest and respecting their culture and sharing lunch with them. And they left.

It was a lovely meal. Then we went up to pay and the lady at the register declined our money and said, "Those gentleman paid for your meals". I couldn't believe it. I have to admit I choked up a little. They gave us their time, their stories and paid for two young ladies lunches. Showing us the real spirit of Aloha.

I still think about those gentleman in their beautiful Hawaiian shirts, enjoying their regular lunches at Ono's and I wonder if they realised how much their...

Lousy food, worst let down of the trip home.

They "used to be" THE authentic Hawaiian food restaurant we knew...NOT ANY MORE!

Parking is a challenge, to say the least. Only 4 metered spots in front of store...it's always been this way.

We parked a block away at public parking, cost us $2.30 for 2 hours?

Lau Lau was THE WORST we ever had ANYWHERE, including in North Carolina where we now live AND in Chesapeake, Virginia where we visit L & L Hawaiian BBQ once a month for tastes of home.

Lau Lau was the most tasteless hunk of "stuff" I ate ANYWHERE! Couldn't taste pork, fish, Hawaiian sea salt or taro leaves...tasted more like they boiled it instead of steaming it.

Squid luau was also mediocre with few slices of octopus placed on top?

What I remember used to be cooked IN the leaves, not on top.

Rest of MY order was "O.K".

My wife ordered fried fish, came with bowl of rice and Portuguese sausage separately.

She ate my haupia and sweet potato slice(?) She enjoyed her meal.

Helpful young man took our order...5 stars just for his service with a smile and friendliness.

For what we paid, we could've had 2 servings of Lau Lau plate combo at Rainbow drive in nearby or at most L & L Hawaiian BBQ on the Island...even on mainland US.

We DO NOT recommend this place to ANYONE now. We will never go back there again if/when we do return home again.

That was the waste of $60 +$5 tip we ever spent anywhere...

This is one of the worst places I’ve been. First when I got in there with my family, they took our menus and asked us to share because some new guests arrived. Second, After sitting there for a second the owner went to some other table and told them to move so that way they can make room for another guest. The guest said they wanted to stay socially distanced from my table and another table because it was in between. Then the owner asked if we can move our tables down to make room for a table that was already comfortable where they were sitting. Third finally ordered the food the prices were outrageous so I thought maybe It’s a big portion and I can take some to go, so I ordered the short rib plate. The meal took a while after we ordered and I got my food first and the rest of the table came about 20 minutes after mine had already arrived. The portion was small and the plate only came with 2 1/2 short ribs which isn’t much. I felt like I was being conned for my money. The pork was the saltiest thing ever and the whole table wasn’t satisfied. After we cashed out from this bad experience my uncle didn’t leave a tip on his card he was going to with cash until the owner got mad at him so we...