Lava Tube — Restaurant in Honolulu

Service - Very good! The waiter and bartender were great. Attentive, and friendly. Absolutely no concerns with any of the people we interacted with, and they definitely did a great job.

Atmosphere - Interesting is the best way to describe it. I kinda liked it - it was very campy. Something different than the rest of the places we’ve been to. We knew that coming in, and it was honestly one of the draws.

Drinks - Also very good! The Pina Colada in a fresh pineapple was a hit. Many comments of it being “strong” which is a great sign for me. Not skimpy on the alcohol! The Blue Hawaiian and Lava Flow were great as well. The Blue Hawaiian can be dangerous as it goes down so smooth that you can be 4 in and not notice! We also had a Big Wave draught which was also very nice - my fav Hawaiian beer.

Food - This is where it gets rough.

Appetizer;

Spicy Garlic Shrimp & Shrimp Cocktail - The issue here was that none of the shrimps were deveined. Which is a little gross, we kinda looked past it and cleaned it ourselves. If you don’t mind that - the flavours were really good. I enjoyed the spicy/garlic sauce. Cocktail sauce was good too.

Mains;

Chicken Teriyaki Bowl - Chicken was a little dry, which is usually hard to do with the thigh meat. The sauce which was good helped add some moisture. The flavour of the sauce was good, rice was well cooked.

Chicken Wings - We got the Hawaiian BBQ, it was okay, nothing special. Between the Teriyaki Bowl and this, would be the best part of the mains.

Chicken Sandwich - The description said it would come with pickle which it didn’t. Not a big deal. The tomato was dry, kind of like it had been sitting for a while. Again, not the end of the world, but as it only had lettuce and tomato, half the toppings were not great. The chicken itself was quite dry, and unseasoned. It didn’t even taste like there was salt and pepper on it. The chicken was so dry that as is, with a dry bun, dry tomato and lettuce it would’ve been inedible. Once drenched with mayo and sriracha to give it some flavour, we were able to get through a few bites, but again it was just not great.

Spicy Ahi Poke Bowl - This coming from someone who loves poke and eats it at every opportunity, it’s sad but honest to say this has been the worst example of it. The fish wasn’t bad - it just lacked any flavour. It seemed to have some of the right things, a spicy mayo, sesame, smothered on the ahi on top of a bed of rice. They just didn’t work well together to have it stand out in any way. The best way to describe it is bland.

Price - We were talking and based on the individual pricing it seemed good for Waikiki. I remember saying “at least it’s an inexpensive mistake” - but when the bill came at ~$200 for 3 people it did catch me off guard. I know that’s not a high cost for Waikiki, but I think for the experience it felt like too much.

This is our experience and it is very possible we caught the restaurant on a tough day. As someone that works in the service industry, I know critical reviews are tough to take because the thing that gets lost is the effort it takes to open up every day and try to do your best. I don’t believe anything mentioned above is intentional, but I felt it important to share our honest perspective.

My take - definitely a cool place to come have a few drinks and laughs, take in the environment and be on your way to...

Ok look this place has its pros. The Mai Tai is really rather stiff and tasty. It'll say it's $5 at the door but it's really $10.

We queued up over an hour before close to grab a table. It was looking reasonably promising, but kind Abby suggested we have drinks by the pool while waiting for our table. With images of pool parties and bikinis in our minds, we were escorted to the adjacent dive motel pool which was what you mind find in a 1960s apartment building, with an empty beer can floating in it. It had a dimly lit, electric Blade Runner feel. There was no view to mention, save peering over the perimeter wall to catch a glimpse of PAIA Fish Market where we probably should've eaten instead. Resolving that, worst case, we'd get free (assuming a high-speed exfiltration) drinks out of this, we waited it out. Abby delivered, and not much later a table opened up too.

Everything is fried. Most is palatable. Nothing is good. We ordered appetizers only and regretted nearly all of it. The coconut shrimp was the standout item for not making me question life decisions.

My friend Gautam remarked that he was sad to learn that there was no magic with chicken wings - they get fried, and sauced after. We received dry fried wings with sauce on the side. I was sad to learn that the sauce comes from your typical squeeze jar. All in all it was a night of reckoning with inner demons. And outer demons. And a steep bill of fried food...

This establishment falls short in the area of service and food. While in Waikiki my group of 7 and I looked forward to trying as many new things as possible. We entered and placed our order. Wanting to clean my hands prior to eating we asked where the bathroom was. At that time we were told it was in the attached hotel. This is where we should have taken a hint and left. We were handed a room key attached to a large spatula. However, we stayed. The food came out and one member ordered garlic shrimp. When they got the food they noticed it was steamed instead of fried with the whole shell intact. They tried it and said it wasn't seasoned as the garlic sauce was apply to the outer shell and not the shrimp. This was told to the server immediately. The server told my feiend that they should have asked more questions before ordering. He wore glasses and seemed to be in his 20s. We thought it was going to be removed from the bill as we informed the server and only one shrimp was eaten. When the bill came we realized that was not the case. When the server was asked about it he became argumentative. When we asked for the manager he said it wouldn't change anything and never went to get them. Do not patronize this restaurant or the other one they have around the corner Cuckoo Coconut as the service is horrible and the food is a...