Dunkin' — Restaurant in Honolulu

They're back! Dunkin' Donuts has come back to Hawaii for the third time and I hope they're here to stay. This is the first location they opened since their return to Hawaii.

I remember going to the Ala Moana location as a little girl once a month with my parents. I looked forward to getting those munchkins. That's all I knew. When they came back the second time, I was happy but still young. Now that they're back and I'm a lot older, I'm even happier! I knew it would be tough but I braved the crowds and waited.

They're located on the corner of Ualena and Paiea which is a very busy and dangerous intersection by the airport. They do have a parking lot or you could Street park but that's definitely a challenge in the area.

They have a pretty basic menu with various types of donuts to choose from, munchkins (donut holes), various coffee drinks, non-coffee drinks for the coffee haters like tea and fruit flavored blended drinks, bagels, muffins, various breakfast sandwiches and hashbrowns.

The donuts are good, but not super amazing. I do love their variety and if you buy one, you can get it in a cute individual box! So why 5 stars since they just opened, it took a couple tries to get here since they're so busy, they were out of stuff when I went and it's just donuts right? Because they have good coffee, awesome customer service, the munchkins are still good, and their coffee cake muffin and hashbrowns are bomb.

The breakfast sandwiches are pretty good and made to order. You can choose a bagel, croissants or wrap for any of the sandwiches. The crossaints are fresh and my fav! They have spam and Portuguese sausage sandwiches for all us locals! Yay! The hash browns are seasoned well, crispy and very tasty!

I really liked the hazelnut latte I got, it wasn't overly sweet. And I still love their munchkins. They're so cute and satisfy my craving when I don't want a whole donut. The munchkins come in various flavors: powdered, blueberry, glaze, glazed chocolate, jelly filled. I'm not sure if that's what was available when I went or that's going to be their flavors for this location.

As busy as they are, their staff was positive and friendly. I hope they are able to keep this momentum and aloha going. This definitely helped make this chaotic experience positive and making me willing to brace the crowds and go back.

Some notes:

Wait a bit if you hate waiting and crowds since they're still crazy busy unless you're ok waiting for awhile or you do a mobile order.

They have a drive thru option but that still may take some time.

Make sure you let them know if you want specific donuts or munchkins if you get a variety box or you'll get randoms.

Make sure you download their app for coupons, promos, points and free stuff.

Yay, munchkins are back. You def must try the hash browns! Happy that...

Overall not very impressed. Only reason they get two stars is that the staff I encountered were nice and friendly.

Location: It is super packed here as it is brand new. You can only enter the lot from Ualena street coming from Honolulu direction (no left turn when busy and they have had some officers out directing traffic). The drive through line I waited in was about 35 minutes (not quite backed up to the street). The walk in line is shorter. I timed some people while I was waiting and it looked to be about 20 minutes (only about two or three people waiting out the door). My visit/line wait started at 7am. When I drove by this evening at 5:50pm the walk up line was wrapping around the building. For parking, if you don't want to wait to get into their lot, you can use the lot across the street for $1 per hour, or free for two hours if you validate it with a purchase at a business in the lot.

Food: Small black coffee is very very tiny. I would not recommend it or get it again. Flavor was so-so, about on par with 7-eleven. The donuts I ordered were just thrown in a box, no paper or arranging or anything. Of the four that I ordered, three tasted old. Only the maple donut was good, but only because they had just finished making it minutes before. When I ordered they told me they didn't have anymore maple, only to correct that statement about 30 seconds later. So the super fresh donut was sugary, melty and tasty, reminescient of Krispy Kreme. The other donuts (which shouldn't have been older than a few hours, but who knows) were worse than old Safeway donuts.

In the end, I won't be back as it is not worth the wait and too much of a gamble...

Pandemic update: No more lines!! Drive-thru only. No left turn into driveways from Paiea St. Customer service still fantastic! App gives you the best value. Up a star for being consistent thru the pandemic, keeping costs down, and staffing reliable. The lines are like it's Disney World. Except yeah, it's not. Good donuts, especially if you get them fresh. Sweet customer service. Parking lot is awkward and inconvenient. Entrance from the main street is blocked off, you'll have to make an awkward left turn and then another awkward left turn into the parking lot, if you can get in. Drive-through is always backed up, despite the very efficient and eager to please drive-through staff. Best bet is to order through the Dunkin Donuts app, check a side street to park on-street, and skip the line to go directly to pick up. You'll miss seeing what's fresh and what's just come out but if you know what you want and it's mostly the coffee, then you're golden.

Accepts credit cards, but you get the most bang for the buck through the app. Groupon & Living Social sometimes do a $5 for $10 worth e-cards. If you are a T-Mobile customer, they are giving away $2 gift e-cards every Tuesday so far. Nice if your family has several phone lines with them, because each line gets a $2 card to Dunkin Donuts. Combine/merge them through the app or keep them individually and use to offset your donut jones.

Beware the third party discount cards online. Things that might be fine on the mainland sometimes turn hinky in Hawaii, especially given that this is the only location and it is relatively new.

See...