TEX 808 BBQ + Brews Hawaii Kai — Restaurant in Honolulu

Visited Tex 808 BBQ Hawaii Kai for dinner. Restaurant is on an inland waterway so we had a table in the open air (covered) lanai. Nice view of the water and Kokohead too.

Our waiter was very upbeat and friendly, easy going. After a few questions about the menu we ordered an app of housemade chips with 4 dipping 'sauces' (guac, smoked ahi, salsa, and queso). We also ordered 2 meals, a BBQ plate with triple meat; ribs, sausage and brisket with BBQ beans and tater salad and a pulled pork sandwich with fries. Also ordered a pineapple margarita.

The margarita was good, maybe add a little more tequila for my taste. 🙂 The chips with the app were ok, needed salt. The guac was creamy and good as was the somewhat spicy queso. Salsa was ok, the smoked ahi had very little smoke flavor and was rather bland.

The triple platter ribs were kind of dry, seemed overcooked or old. There was a few good bites but... The brisket was tender and tasty with the different BBQ sauces available. Sweet, spicy and vinegary. The sausage while juicy had no smoked/bbq flavor I could detect. Tasted like kielbasa steamed in a pan. Was good but not what I had expected for bbq flavor.

The 2 scoops of 'tater' salad was mustard based as our waiter explained, typical in parts of Texas. Unfortunately, it was crying for some mayo and salt. I took home most of it leftover and added mayo and salt the next day, it was much better, for my taste anyway. The bbq beans were sweet with a few chunks of pork. I like bbq beans, these were good. There was a lot of food with the plate I had enough leftover for dinner the next night.

The pulled pork sandwich was loaded with delicious pork on a brioche bun. Fries were good, crispy...

No way we could eat dessert. Usually get an app to share or dessert. Would return in part for the upbeat atmosphere and view but stick with the brisket and pulled pork and try the coleslaw instead of...

I'm no bbq expert, but I do love good food. I ordered the $24 plate that comes with 3 meat selections. I'm told it's supposed to 1lb of meat (16oz). I'm not quite sure if that's what I got -- it did seem a little light, but I had no way of verifying that. The important thing is the food: I ordered mine with brisket, smoked sausage, BBQ ribs, and the 2 sides I chose were BBQ beans and cole slaw.

The sides were tasty. Not the best baked BBQ beans, but they worked. The slaw was fairly average. In terms of the sides, they weren't bad.

As for the meat, I had some wildly different results. The brisket was slightly dry, and I didn't see the smoke ring. The flavor was decent, and overall, it wasn't bad. Again, a bit dry, but the BBQ sauce made up for it. The smoked sausage was fairly decent -- I ate it all, just like the brisket. But it's the BBQ ribs that failed. They were over cooked by a long shot (you can see it in the picture). To add insult to injury, I also got chintzy burnt ends. Like 3 bones the size of my index finger, on top of the dried out meat. It was pretty sad. I probably would not order the BBQ ribs again.

I'm going to give them another try, but for $24 for the plate I ordered, I was pretty disappointed and wouldn't order that expensive a plate again. My next visit will probably be a sandwich.

I hope they can raise the bar. BBQ ribs shouldn't be hard, certainly less involved than brisket, so it seems odd that the BBQ ribs were a miss and the brisket was quite a notch better. I hope they can work on this and improve...

We came in the afternoon right before dinner on a Sunday and there was a good amount of patrons enjoying this venue already. Took a few minutes to get seated but when we did we were out on the back porch next to the water. The views here are absolutely beautiful. Our kids enjoyed pointing out the various boats and canoes that passed by plus the birds that came and went.

Our server was quick and really personable. He was pretty funny and very patient with the kids. Everyone we talked to from the staff was really kind and friendly. The atmosphere was very chill and casual.

Their menu was extensive. There's a lot of variety and a few menu items you can tell were some type of fusion food because they made it their own way. Everything we ordered we enjoyed from the brisket, the sausages, the ribs, the turkey and the pulled pork. Our kids ate it up quickly too. The brisket was tender and flavorful. The turkey was not dry--it was juicy and delicious. The pulled pork was so tender and well flavored. The ribs did not fall off the bone but it was still juicy. We enjoyed the side of garlic mashed potatoes with gravy, mac salad, coleslaw, and French fries.

We were so full going home. This is a nice spot for some good food and a good time. I do recommend coming here and...