I could understand why a lot of locals stir clear of Waikiki. With mobs of tourists and an endless supply of pigs in cars, on bikes and even foot ready to give hard criminal jay walking tickets at any given moment. However, where there are mobs of tourist, there are hotels and where there are hotels therein lies restaurants and they’re usually pretty damn good.

Hula Grill is located in the Outrigger Hotel and the best time to come is right before sunset.

That’s not a mural on the wall; it was actually our view.

I really appreciate places that give free all you can eat bread. These were given to us hot filled with herbs and incredibly soft. I usually have a one basket rule but sometimes rules are meant to be broken, this was one of those times. I broke down and had the waiter get me another basket.

On the table laid what tasted similar to the Thai sweet and spicy chili and olive oil. They tasted marvelous with the bread. I don’t suggest it because it’s addicting and what led me to break my one basket rule.

For starters we got Kahuku Corn Crab Cakes with pickled plum aioli, $11.00. It came with three cakes. Although these were called “corn crab cakes, I didn’t really notice any in the cakes. Maybe they’re referring to corn meal? It came with few slices of mushrooms on top along with a fresh green mixture. These were good but a little small. I like my crab cakes with big hearty chunks of crab and I didn’t get that with these. They were cooked to perfection with a nice golden skin on both sides. The best crab cakes on the island is still from the Garlic Restaurant, but these had really nice presentation, which is always a good thing.

For dinner we order the Shrimp Scampi with garlic butter udon noodles, tomatoes and capers, $20.75. The waiter split our order for us so we could each eat off our own plates. Although it was a nice gesture, I would of preferred it if he left it all on one plate, for blog purposes. I’m quite certain that no more than one package of udon noodle was used. I was really disappointed with the amount of noodles we received. The picture made it look like we got way more than what we really did. We got 2 pieces of shrimp each. Not a lot of shrimp but they made up for it in size. These had to be tiger shrimp. The flavor was really tasty  but after the first few bites Ray and I both agreed that this dish was a little too buttery. I felt like my insides were given a lube job.

I’m telling you these shrimp were large.  Besides being slightly too buttery and the small portions, I really did enjoy this dish.

Yes, come right before sunset so you can experience it all. There was also live music in the background, not from here but from down below but we could hear it loud and clear. Overall my experience here was nice. I hate the prices, and food wasn’t mind blowing. I love the shrimp, sunset, music, Ray and feeling like I was on vacation.

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Hula Grill
2335 Kalakaua Ave # 116
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 923-4852

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