Waiahole Poi Factory — Restaurant in Oʻahu

It was my first time visiting to Oahu. I really wanted to try out some local food. After asking the locals for some recommendations, most of them recommended me the Waiahole Poi Factory. This restaurant has two spots. One is the original spot in Waiahole. The other one is in the food court at the Windward Mall, which couldn’t be found on Google map when I visited Hawaii. I went to the one in the mall for a meal and went to the original spot for the dessert. Overall, this restaurant is the place I recommend people to go for Hawain food.

I went to the mall at around 1 PM. The food court was packed and there was a short line at the restaurant. I ordered the Kanaka Nui, which allowed me to try almost all the dishes except for the dessert. The plate was huge and was enough for two people. Let me share my experience and understanding of each dish below. The Kalua Pig in the plate is soft and has a light smoky flavor. The portion was generous. The Laulau wrapped the pork and butterfish in the taro leaf. They are cooked for a long time so they are soft. The pork fell apart in my mouth right away. The Poi is the smashed taro mixed with water. It is smooth, but doesn’t have much flavor. Squid La'au tastes like a soup. It has the flavor of coconut and taro leaf, which gives it the green color. I ordered the one with squid following the clerk’s recommendation. If you like coconut, you should try out this dish. Chicken Long Rice is made of rice noodle, chicken soup and some shredded chicken. It has a light flavor. Lomi Salmon looks like pico del gallo at my first glance. However, it has a strong salmon flavor and is a little bit salty to me.

Since I saw a lot of people ordering the dessert in the mall, the next day, I went to the original spot in Waiahole at around lunch time. There were already a lot of people sitting outside, enjoying the meal. There was a line there to order food. On the side of the restaurant, there is a window for people to order dessert only. Thus, I ordered the Sweet Lady of Waiahole at the window, so I did not have to wait in line. The dessert has a scoop of coconut ice cream on top of the kulol, which is the mixture of the taro, coconut milk and water. The dessert had the right amount of sweetness and the mixture of the taro flavor and coconut flavor is so good. I knew why everyone ordered it in the shopping mall right after trying it myself.

Overall, this restaurant provides high quality Hawaiin food. I really appreciate that the restaurant server a plate (i.e. Kanaka Nui) that the tourists have the chance to try out a little bit of everything. Also, the dessert (i.e. Sweet Lady of Waiahole) should...

November 2, 2024.

This is the last time I will be going back to this establishment. Used to go here once a month, maybe more when my in-laws are in town. Grew up 15 minutes down the road from this establishment. Have never been let down so bad until today.

I ordered 4 Kanaka Nui plates, both with Beef Luau, 2 with Rice and 2 with Poi. I also ordered 2 Chili Pepper Water and a Two-Combo Plate with LauLau, Squid Luau, and Rice. I did my order online. Subtotal was $126.77, Tax $5.96, Tip $19.02, Total $151.75.

The Kanaka Nui Plates come with Laulau, Kalua Pig, Chicken Long Rice, Lomi Salmon, Haupia, Beef Luau or Squid Luau and Rice or Poi.

The Combo Plate comes with 2 choices of entrees, which I chose Laulau and Squid Luau and it comes with Lomi Salmon, Haupia and Rice or Poi.

I recieved 4 plates with the following: 3 - Laulau 2 - Kalua Pig 2 - Beef Luau 3 - Chicken Long Rice 1 - Poi 2 - Lomi Salmon 2 - Haupia 1 scoop of Rice

So I guess I got 2 and a half Kanaka Nui Plates.

I called the establishment, only for the "shift manager" to give me attitude, and tell me to come all the way back and pick up the two plates they forgot because they were so busy, which being busy shouldn't be a problem because their lines get extremely long all the time. She didn't even offer a refund, all she wanted me to do was come back and pick up the plates. I couldn't take the attitude, so I handed the phone to my husband.

He asked me what we were missing because he didn't make the order online, and as I was explaining it to him, the "shift manager" starts crying over the phone. So naturally, because of the crying, my husband tells this girl nevermind, meanwhile I'm starving and I'm ass'd...

Truly local food, souvenirs & gifts! Every time we come back to Oahu, the Waiahole Poi Factory gets better! It is a truly local gem, family and Native Hawaiian owned, and this one stop just brings together everything that you want in an authentic North Shore Oahu experience. It looks like a little roadside stop, but there's a huge, really authetic menu highlighting Native Hawaiian food. This time I got the Ho'io salad which is made from a type of wild fern, with a super citrusy, savory dressing with dried shrimp - think a Thai or Laotian green papaya salad. So good!!

New since the last time I was here is an AWESOME gift shop featuring the jewelry, stickers, hair accessories, hats, SO many cool souvenirs and gifts made by ALL LOCAL artisans, creators and makers. It is actually so rare to find a gift shop that truly features locally made items - so this place is a treasure. Shayna and her mom run the shop, and she has worked with the local community to find the most gorgeous items, all local - just anything you pick up in the shop is cool, funny, beautiful, and everything was super fairly priced. I picked out a carved turtle wooden hair accessory, my two young sons got the cutest/funniest "Musubi Monster" trucker hats, I got my best friend some locally made Lilikoi lip balm, and they have a bunch of super cool stickers with local sayings, cute pics, iconic Oahu/HI sayings so we got a few of those. My boys also found some beautiful carved fish hook necklaces, and I got a handmade gold spiral design ring. I could have gone on and on.

Anyway, this stop is the REAL DEAL for Native, Local Hawaiian food, gifts, souvenirs and the true...