Ted's Bakery — Restaurant in Oʻahu

Ted's Bakery is an excellent, very popular MUST STOP destination on the North Shore during your journey around the island of Oahu.

This is one of their fabled, iconic stories as I heard it. Here is the collection of the unbelieveable highlights, mixed together in sequence and served up about this remarkable account.

On that day, the bakery had run out of most of their standard, standby ingredients. They were temporarily at a loss on how to fulfill a pressing order. However, they had just enough Haupia (Coconut) and Chocolate with some cream on hand to cobble together an experimental pie. They had not tested this mix of ingredients in their pies before. Nevertheless, they quickly filled the order and then, held their breath in anticipation of the customer's reaction.

What happened next stunned everybody. The customer who had ordered the pie was absolutely raving about how delicious the pie was. They were ecstatic. And, staff at Ted's Bakery were dumbfound with amazement at this unanticipated sudden turn of joyful events.

And, let's just say as the proverbial saying goes... "and the rest is history."

Ted's Bakery build upon their new-found fame and gradually expanded the variety of their pie product line. But, their Chocolate, Haupia pie became the centerpiece of their dramatic revival and new claim to wide-spread fame.

On Saturday, October 19, 2024, my latest visit to Ted's Bakery, I envisioned ordering a slice of the fabled Chocolate-Haupia Pie with a hot cup of coffee. But, when I arrived, I saw a lady walk out with the pie order, along with a tall cup of ice coffee. That clinched it for me. NOW, my order was Chocolate-Haupia with a cup of ice coffee. That was my heavenly snack before lunch. But, it was mouth-watering, savory WONDERFUL combination.

I slowly sipped my ice coffee as a carefully, deliberately savored each joyful mouthful of pie.

PLEASE best my claim for an early morning stop-off and treat along your journey around the...

We watched a few YouTube videos recommending this place, so we gave it a try. Unfortunately, we got there after the end of breakfast service, which ends at 10:30 am.

There's no big sign in front to identify it, other than the building itself, so you'll have to look for the seating area under blue canopies. There are additional picnic table seating and bathrooms on the same property, just East of the shop.

Since we arrived during the lunch hours, we enjoyed their Loco Moco, Spicy mahi, chicken katsu plate and veggie burger.

All malasadas and danishes - we got the mango danish, cinnamon and plain malasadas and Choco haupia are ordered at the counter. The pie slices are self serve in the fridge. They were all very tasty - but the mango was the winner for us.

The Loco Moco had a lot of rice, with 2 meat patties and 2 eggs, and enough gravy. The chicken katsu (it's not katsu curry) which comes with Mac salad - but we chose greens - comes with mayo and a BBQ type sauce that complements the crunchy chicken that's cut into strips. The mahi mahi came egg battered in 3 or 4 strips with a mild spicy sauce and ample rice and scoop of Mac salad. The veggie burger was in a bun that's slightly sweet, like Hawaiian bread - onions, lettuce, tomatoes. I mixed the Sriracha bottled sauce and one mayo packet for a nice sauce to spread on the bun.

There were at least 10 picnic tables by the shop, where you'll wait for your order buzzer to indicate your meal is ready. Go in to the right and they'll hand your to-go carton boxes. The individually wrapped utensils and napkin dispenser with condiments are to the left of the register. They have condiment plastic cups to fill with the bottled ketchup, Sriracha, hot sauce, and soy sauce bottles they have on the table.

The outdoor seating comes with the expected flock of birds taking advantage of messy eaters, so don't leave crumbs and use the nearby garbage bins.

The staff are friendly and professional and fast with...

Food didn’t live up to expectations from other reviews. Garlic shrimp was not flavorful but at the same time over sauced. Loco Moco was good but not special. Dessert pies didn’t taste fresh at all and were in pre-packaged containers like what you would see in the supermarket. I realize they distribute them to local grocery stores, but it feels like those sold at their shop should be freshly cut not pre-packaged!

Service was horrible. I walked in with only one other customer in front ordering from the “pickup line”…no one else was in the shop. I waited behind him because one of the ladies working the counter was taking his order and then taking payment. Another lady behind the counter was doing something else. As soon as as that customer finished his order I stepped up expecting to have my order taken, but that lady just walked away and did not come back. The other lady behind the counter ignored me and after 10 minutes looked like she was opening or logging into the other register. By now, the inside of the shop was full of people with no line, just people standing around, waiting to have their order taken. This other lady behind the counter (who I knew saw me there) ignored me and started taking the order of another customer. I had to interrupt and explain that I’ve been waiting there for 10 minutes and I was next in line. I have no idea how she did not think to check or remember that I was standing there for 10 minutes. She completely ignored me. At one point, she asked the other lady something that I could not understand except I heard the word “no”. I had to ask one of them if I was going to be able to order. I finally placed my order after both of the clueless and disinterested ladies decided they needed to do their job. The food took 20 minutes to get out despite only 1-2 groups not having food by the time we ordered.

Don’t bother with Ted’s unless you want to experience possibly the worst service and longest wait times for...