PESO — Restaurant in Honolulu

This has truly been one of the worst, most unprofessional and non-hygenic restaurants I have been to in Hawaii.

I had always loved Filipino food, and PESO seemed like such a fun, modernized twist on Filipino food. The food it's self had an unpleasant taste. The small plates, which were way overpriced, was completely bland, with no flavour or colour. (I would highly suggest no one ever order the "ensaladang talong" if they have the misfortune of dining with PESO. For 14 dollars there was maybe 6 pieces of eggplant and two tomatoes with bland water as dressing. The "pancit" which has been to worst food I have ever put in my mouth has an off-putting taste and blandness like it was noodles covered in musty sea water). I had also ordered the "kare kare" stew. It was almost as unpleasant as the "pancit. The "kare kare" was some how forced with flavour yet still so bland. The dish it's self tasted dull and beef was dry, and the sesame taste only made the dryness even worse.

I would also not recommend this restaurant to anyone who has any sort of dietary restriction or a huge germ phobia. I was seated at the bar so I was able to see the kitchen at work. The back of the kitchen with the actual cooking was relatively professional except for the occasional usage of their phones with gloves on. The real concern was at the front of the kitchen, right in front of the bar where there was constant cross contamination, no washing of hands or gloves, and touching the ground and trash can with gloves and not changing to new gloves. I was very lucky because the chef that touched the floor and the trash can did not handle any of my food but I feel sorry of the other customers.

The overall ambience and environment was very nice, but except for one waitress, all of the servers, waiters, busboy, and hostess were extremely unprofessional. A heads up for anyone who wishes to dine with PESO should know that it will take upwards of 15 minuets to have your order taken after you read over the menu, upwards of 30 minuets for your food to be served with your drinks forgotten, and 15 min for you to get your check after you finished you meal because your waiter forgot about you and your drink. The rest of the staff was not anymore professional. The open kitchen idea is unique and modernized but with unprofessional staff, the restuarant seems trashy. However, there is one incredibly kind and professional waitress who unfortunately was not the waitress in our section.

Overall, terrible restaurant and I would recommend finding better Filipino restaurants. If anyone has suggestions, please...

I got to try out the newest Filipino restaurant the other day with my wide and another couple. We had been to the previous establishment many times so the location and atmosphere felt similar because we sat in the outdoor seating area.

The menu looked good from the start and the service was good. We went during soft opening so of course there will be some hiccups and whatnot. Our server was flustered, but he was friendly and communicated efficiently so we understood the delays and hiccups. No knocks for that.

We had the lumpia (delicious), Filipino carpaccio (delicious), and the crispu pork leg(huge) for dinner. We had 3 desserts to finish. The layered cake thing (best), ube budino (fine), and the halohalo (unanimously not good).

All the food with the exception of the halohalo was delicious. I didn't know it was possible to mess up halohalo, but it is. The combination of the (overly) crispy rice puffs, with the guava syrup gave everyone a bile flavor in the mouth. Also, why isn't the ube purple? No knock on the flavor of the ube budino, but it didn't look like ube.

Look, they're just starting. I'm gonna go again. You...

I definitely would return for the friendly staff and charming atmosphere. Unfortunately, the food was questionable. Possibly it was just an off day. The rice was served crunchy, almost as if it had been scraped from the bottom of the pot. The beef in the Kare Kare was bland, dry and overcooked. In addition, it was served with raw eggplant, which at first I thought was a garnish. The chicken adobo again, was dried out and lacked flavor. The sisig was okay, but I wasn't sure if it was meant to be served cold. Believe me, I adore pork fat, but the fat pieces were white colored and served below room temperature. I was raised on filipino cuisine so I do know what good filipino food is. This "best new restaurant" regrettably fell short of my expectations. I wanted so much to love this place, but I was left sad and disappointed to say the least. My guest commented, "won't be rushing back here any time soon for the food." I would love to have a chat with the owner/managenent to prevent future bad...