Zippy's Koko Marina — Restaurant in Honolulu

My husband and I decided to dine at Zippy's Koko Marina. It's about 3 or 3:30pm. We went into the restaurant to dine as we had 2 hours to wait before our movie. We are waiting to be seated at the host station. No one was there. Then, an employee from the counter on the left comes around, walks right past us into the room on the right asking someone.. "are you the host?" And asks again. Then a giggle from more more than one person. About two minutes later, a waiter from below waves me over and seats us. I mentioned to my husband that it's nice to be seated at the window looking out into the bay.

So we sit, peruse our menu and make our decision. Then we wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. Its not even busy . 6 tables were occupied in the entire restaurant. Then the unimaginable takes place. A large family group arrives and is seated behind me. I thought to myself " oh Lord please don't serve them before me" and then it happened. The waitress started asking if they wanted something to drink like tea, water, juice, etc. I couldnt take it anymore. I stood up asking for the manager who was a few feet away. I was flabbergasted and explained what happened. His response was "Were you taken care of"? Are you kidding me??? I told him no that I didnt even get a glass of water! So he said that he was going to come help us himself in a minute. I had already waited long enough and didnt want to wait any longer. So i left and he said..."have a nice day". I observed 4 female, 2 male and the manager Sam Kojiri. It wasnt busy at all to warrant that kind...

The service is impeccable here even when they have to deal with the stereotypical affluent people. One might guess that living in Hawaii Kai might equate to nicer people. I mean if you don't worry about where rent is gonna come from or even your next meal, and the basic necessities are met, you'd figure that people could afford to be nice. But character is well defined under pressure, and the servers here are wonderful even with the periodic yet certain rude customers which appear to accustomed to pushing their money and condescending others. Otherwise, everyone here is pleasant -- I just mention this because in an open diner like this, you will indeed hear people. They're seated RIGHT NEXT TO YOU.

If you're local, then Zippy's is a guaranteed spot. The chili is unique and hits the spot, and it's always been one of the go to places at 4:30am when all the clubs shut down. So there isn't much to say about the food...the fried chicken is always salty and crispy, the Korean chicken, strawberry waffles, right? Awesome,...

This is probably the Zippy's location that I frequent the most. The first thing that I'll say is that my review is closer to a 3.5 star. But it won't let me reflect that.

Anyways, the location is super convenient if you're ever at Koko Marina. This location has been here FOREVER, and a lot of people grew up with it. However, there hasn't been much of a face lift over the years. Besides the menu, not much has been updated.

One more thing is that they no longer offer dine-in service in the main dining room. This has been the case for a while, but diners should just be aware that the current dining area is a hybrid-outdoor arrangement. You can enjoy the nice views from some of the booths, you just won't have AC.

The food is standard Zippy's fare, but the one thing I'd note is that it's definitely gotten very expensive. It's no longer a good "value." Which is definitely a shame since I used to get this after sport events as a kid since they were so affordable.

On the bright side, the orange bang is...