One day Ray saw three Mexican’s wearing cowboy boots, hat and a pancho walk into Jose’s. The first thing that came to his mind was, “if the real Mexican’s are going there for lunch, the food must be authentic.” So the next time we were in the mood for Mexican the first thing that came to mind was Jose’s Mexican Restaurant, you know, the place where the real Mexicans go.

The chips and salsa here were free and yummy.

For starters we had three beef taquitos, $9.95. Why do taquitos always come in threes? It doesn’t seem like a practical amount to me. Anyhow, I really enjoyed my one and a half rolled taco. As you can see it really had some girth to it, which means to me more meat inside. It also came with sour cream and quacamole.

We decided to share the Chicken Fijitas, $15.95. It came with rice, beans, sour cream and totillas. Even though it wasn’t served on a sizzling skillet, I thought the fijitas had great flavor. The onions and peppers were sautted nicely and the chicken had a little kick to it from all the pepper.

By the end of our meal, we were stuffed like little pinatas. The chicken fijitas alone would of been plenty, but the taquitos were so good. I also hear they have great lunch specials to choose from, so bring the whole office gang and don’t forget to tip.

For directions click below
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Jose’s Mexican Restaurant
1134 Koko Head Ave
Honolulu, HI 96816

Get Directions(808) 732-1833

Bikini Cantina is located in the back of the Aloha Tower Plaza. I have admit this was my first visit to Aloha Tower. Before all I knew of this place was that hooters was located here. There was a point and time in my life when I thought hooters was cool, but now I know that I was a bit of a female chauvinistic pig, I mean I still am, but just not as much. But, seriously, their wings really aren’t that good. Anyhow, I didn’t see Hooters on this day but I did run into the Bikini Cantina.

All I have to say is that it’s misleading to have the word, “bikini” in the name of your business if  no one’s wearing a bikini. I don’t care what anyone says, it’s false advertisement.

The view’s not too shabby.

We ordered Far Out Fajitas, grilled chicken smothered in bell peppers, onion, tomatoes and served with warm tortillas for $15.95. As you can see they serve real fajitas here. And when I say real fajitas I mean served on a sizzling skillet, the way real fajitas should be served. After seeing the fajitas at Rosie’s Cantina I was a bit concerned with the caliber of fajitas on this island. Besides coming out on a sizzling skillet the fajitas were nicely done. The vegetables weren’t over done or under done, nothing was greasy and the chicken wasn’t too dry or didn’t taste pre-grilled and then slapped on a skillet like some places do it, and the portion wasn’t too skimpy.

Of course no fajitas would be complete without the proper condiments: salsa, sour cream, guacamole, beans, rice, tortillas, and corn? Uh, not that corn doesn’t go with fajitas, but I’m just not use to corn being served with fajitas. Whatever, I’m a fan. The corn here was from a can, but sometimes the can stuff is better and less work than the fresh stuff. Speaking or corn, every time I eat the stuff there’s always a bunch of it that manages to sneak pass the digestion process and ends up whole in my shit. I chew and chew and chew but in the end my shit still resembles a yellow poka dotted slug. I don’t get it. Back to fajitas, half way through my meal I realized that I wanted corn tortillas, $1.00. These corn tortillas were absolutely the worst corn tortillas I have every had in my life. They were super thin and tasted like a 60% paper, 20% napkin, and 20% tortilla. If they’re homemade then someone needs to tell them that grandmas recipe sucks donkey ass. They just need to cut the shit and buy some from the grocery store, plain and simple.
As for the service, it was slow and a bit dull.  We sat outside for about 8 minutes before we were acknowledge.  Also, they are open from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 a.m.  So if you got some late night munchies, there’s no better place than here.

Check out the free entertainment on the way out.   I can’t believe they don’t charge for this action packed performance.

Asians in western wear will always be amusing to me.

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Bikini Cantina
1 Aloha Tower Dr # 255
Honolulu, HI 96813

Get Directions(808) 525-7288

Did any of you guys get to check out the Haleiwa Surf Competition? I did. It was the first surf competition I’ve been to and I had a blast. We took a brake and took a drive down that famous strip on Kamehameha Hwy and embarked upon Rosie’s Cantina.

It was a good size restaurant, with a full bar. I liked the big windows that let in all that natural light.

Having a clear view of all the dust that gathered atop the green pipes right next to a fan was a little troubling but that went away when our chips and salsa arrived.

For some people the chips and salsa can be the deciding factor of the place. Shane can very well be one of these people he loves chips and salsa. Ray’s deciding factor is the rice and beans, if they can make good rice and beans then it’s very likely that they will make good on everything else. As for me, I have no deciding factor. I say equal opportunity for all my friend. But I have to say if my deciding factor was salsa, this place would be a winner. So far, this place has the best salsa as far as I’m concerned. The chips could have been better, but the salsa takes the cake.

I like my salsa chunky, fresh and spicy enough to where I have to take a break from it and find something else to put in my mouth to offset the spiciness. It wasn’t too spicy, but spicy enough and it had a natural sweetness to it from the tomatoes and onions. I liked it so much at the end of my meal I asked for them to put some in a container so I could have so later and they did, free of charge.

Chile verde has to be my all time favorite traditional Mexican dish and for some reason it’s hard find on Oahu. I know Cholos, Cha Cha Cha’s or Tacos Baja didn’t have it so when I saw it on the menu at Rosie’s I had to get it, $12.50. For those of you not really familiar with chile verde, it’s slow roasted pork in a homemade chile verde sauce or green chile sauce. Now just because it says chile doesn’t mean its hot. As a matter of fact, this dish shouldn’t be hot. Just think of kailua pork or laulau, if you like that kind of stuff as I do, you’ll love you some chili verde. Now that pathetic dish to the left side of my plate, that’s it.

I took a close up so you can properly see what I ate. It came with big chunks of onion, peppers in a chile sauce. I’ve never had chili verde like this before. It was still good, very greasy, and not very much. The pork was definitely slow roasted, very soft and tender. I wasn’t a fan of the sauce though. Usually I like to put everything into a corn tortilla and then spread some chile sauce over it for flavor but I didn’t do that with this one. I think it was the greasy sauce that killed this pork for me.

Ray got the Grilled Lightly Marinated Fresh Ahi Burrito, $1495. It came with Spanish rice and choice of refried beans or black beans. He got refried beans. Inside the burrito was refried beans, cheese, cilantro and onion mix. The burrito was covered with cheese and a special home-made sauce. As far as Mexican food on this island goes, this is not too shabby. Everything tasted authentic. Next time he’s gonna switch it up and go with steak instead of fish. Way to live on the edge babe!

This glob of mess is actually Chicken Fajitas, $13.50. Yeah, I know, it doesn’t really look like it to me either. The chicken fajitas I’m use to usually come on a sizzling platter. It came with rice, it’s under there somewhere, choice of beans, guacamole and sour cream. Even though this looks like a pile of sloppy joes, it was still really tasty. I still would of rather it came on a sizzling platter though, for a more dramatic effect and to keep the chicken warm. I liked that it came with chopped tomatoes and green onions for flavor. I didn’t like that they overlaid the rice and for $13.50 I think they could afford to throw in a side of shredded cheese.

Overall, I can see myself coming back to this place. I didn’t like that they only gave three tortillas for the fajitas and chile verde. I prefer my tortillas served in a separate covered tray so it stays fresh and hot. It wasn’t the best Mexican place ever, but as you probably already know, there’s not a whole lot to choose from around here. If your craving Mexican food this place would definitely hit the spot. However, as you can see, prices weren’t that cheap. I suggest sharing and rack up on the chips and salsa. After we were done we got back in the car and made it just in time to catch the end of the Halewia Surf Competition. Here’s some pictures I took. Enjoy.

Oh young love . . .

Obviously he won.

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Rosie’s Cantina
66-165 Kamehameha Hwy
Haleiwa, HI 96712

Get Directions(808) 637-3538