Papa Ole's Kitchen — Restaurant in Oʻahu

We tried Papa Ole’s our first day here and then had it for breakfast everyday they were open after that...😂 in total we’ve had the supreme omelet, loco moco with brown gravy once and mushroom gravy once, the peanut butter rolls, the fried chicken, the Mac nut pancake, breakfast sandwich with Portuguese sausage, and the kalbi ribs. Unlike many others, we liked the brown gravy a lot more than the mushroom gravy actually. But out of the 5+ loco mocos we’ve had on the island, Papa Ole’s is our favorite. The thing we liked the least out of everything was probably the peanut butter rolls, but it wasn’t even that we didn’t like them - they were quite good! Just not as good as everything else. Like others have said, it is melted peanut butter poured on Hawaiian rolls, yum! The Mac salad that comes as a side with most things is SUPER yummy. We did get the ‘mini’ portions of most things and still had a lot of leftovers. The Mac nut sauce (used with the pancakes and other dishes) was out one day, as was the mushroom gravy, and garlic chicken, so if you want something get it early! Their staff were so nice and I’ve been more impressed with their covid precautions than anywhere else we’ve been. My only criticism is the amount of plastic used, several sets of plastic silverware wrapped in plastic wrap with every meal, everything wrapped in a plastic bag, and to go boxes were styrofoam. We started telling them no silver(plastic)ware or plastic bag and they were happy to do this. Hopefully they can produce less waste soon by using compostable, paper, or...

Papa Ole's Kitchen is a standby if you're living or traveling on the North Shore. With a "drive by" location sitting just the 'Kam on they way to Kahuku, many coming through don't know it's there. However, it's a local staple for lunch time Hawaiian plates.

I've eaten here many times, so my review is based on total historical experience, not my most recent plate.

Very hungry, and most of the "trucks" in Kahuka closed or closing, this place is a strong choice. I opted for the garlic shrimp plate. This place is take out only, with plenty of seating just outside the restaurant/order area. Honestly, it feels like it's changed a bunch, likely since Covid. Anyway, point is it's all take out, in boxes, which fit the bill nicely as we wanted to eat at home.

Garlic Shrimp was good, but not great. I've had better here elsewhere as well as here. I think my shrimp were overcooked. The garlic flavor was strong, but the shrimp were simply tough. Too bad I was so excited. Good I've had positive experiences here before as I'd rate them much lower.

The menu offers plenty of Hawaiian plate choices, so don't worry about the shrimp, there is lots of goodness here.

The bottom-line for me, would I go back again? Yes, but based on past experience, not the most recent Shrimp Plate.

Oh well, you can't always get it right.

Keep it open Papa Ole, we still love...

Chocolate chip Mac nut pancakes were wonderful for kids. But my experience ordering a simple breakfast was anything but pleasant. Ordered my eggs to be thoroughly cooked ("Me: Not scrambled, but ... Front window: Over hard? Me: Yes please, and bacon well done if can.")... because I'm (clearly) pregnant and playing it safe. When food finally shows up, all is well except my over-easy eggs. My husband goes to the counter to ask to right the situation at which point we were told, "she (front window) repeated my order back to me and I confirmed over medium (I've never ordered this IN MY ENTIRE LIFE), and my options were:

I could sit and wait at a crowded backed up breakfast rush for them to make new eggs, even though rest of my plate l, and family, was pau They couldn't fry the over easy ones a little longer because of health risk (understood) There was no refund option.

How hard is it to... Admit you were swamped, and wrote it down wrong?Ask the customer what you can do to make it right? Not insult a pregnant ladies request for something that is quite obviously for a reason. Not doubly insult a customer, pregnant or not, special request or not, by trying to blame the mistake on them?

Sucks, we might been regulars otherwise. Good luck with business continuing to treat...