Haleiwa Shave Ice — Restaurant in Oʻahu

STAY AWAY!!! If I could give a zero I would!!! Stopped to get hawai’in ice. They only take cash so they had a sign hanging on their plexiglass counter (which, why do they need a plexiglass wall in a hawai’in ice place unless you are a scammer) to go to the ATM for cash. While doing this, they have a tow truck stored on the other side of the parking lot, behind a gate under a carport and they have a young guy on the lookout. Once they see you leave the ice store , they immediately tow you. It happened to an Australian couple an hour before they scammed us! They then take your car 10miles away and make you pay $185 IN CASH to get your car back. Oddly enough, our check engine light on the rental is now on after they took our car. HI state law requires towing companies to offer all forms of payment, so if you were towed and had to pay cash, contact the consumer protection agency and report the crime! They take advantage of unsuspecting tourists! DO NOT GO HERE UNLESS YOU WANT TO PAY $185 for the illegal tow! Dude behind the chain link fences watches, worker in shaved ice place directs customers to go to ATM and bam, your car is gone! To top it off, they do crappy towing service and messed up the entire rental car we had. Idk if it was during the tow or after I called the police and was yelling what awful humans they are and they did something to it intentionally…..either way, they will be held liable since it was not a legal tow nor are they a law abiding...

Oooh boy. Severely dissapointed with this place. it was either 2$or 5$ for 2 measly scoops of icecream ontop of the price of shave ice itself and 75 cents for a drizzle of condense milk?? ( both of which I didnt get). With 1$for every flavor added after the first... ontop of that. The ice was coarse, and not fine enough, so that also didnt help the flavoring.

The workers were nice, however they were chatting away and not keeping an eye out as I stood in the way to the side trying to just quickly ask for another straw. Most importantly, upon ordering a large I didn't like that they were just mashing it down onto the top bowl of the cone instead of heaping it...it did not look as nice, and the flavors were very, and I mean very weak.

Since we usually go Matsumotos, we wanted to try somewhere else different. This was a bit dissapointing. The Definitely go Matsumotos, or better yet it's awesome matching competitor Aokis, which has finer ice, stronger flavors, and a great heap. If you can't go to one of the two, Shimazus is also at the top of my list.

You can guess which is...

Mahalo iā 'oe !! Shaved ice is dope!! My first time and a must try when visiting Hawaii as it seems to be a local delicacy, I was totally impressed and tastes so much yummier than perceived and looks. We did a Build Your own, great flavors and topping options, this surf town joint is awesome, laid back no fuss, super chill and the staff are killer friendly. A super yummy refreshing treat to cool you down and enjoy with ya'll amigos in the sunshine whilst in beautiful Hawaii. I'm stoked that I saved my first Shaved Ice experience for this place, it was phenomenal. I wish they would provide the Ice's in compostable packaging or plates like other joints, there is a lot of single use plastic which is super bad for the environment. My friend also got a rushed one at first, but I politely showed the staff and they were more than generous to make a new one which tasted totally different and easily redeemed the experience. Support...