Kozo Sushi to me is equivalent to fast food but for sushi. Now I don’t mean that in a bad way. Sushi has never made me feel like a blubber butt after consuming it so fast food sushi can’t be that bad. If you’ve been on the island for some time you’ve probably seen a few Kozo’s around. Kozo Sushi’s are always hiring. A lot of times you’ll find a young buck back there rolling your sushi. Just like fast food, they’ll hire just about anyone, “experience not necessary.” I put that in quotes because I swear I read that on their sign once.

If your wondering why there’s no tables in this photo, it’s because there are none. I was standing in the corner trying to snap a photo of the whole place. See, what I mean by fast sushi, don’t plan on eating inside, Kozo is more of a take out kind of place. However, there are tables out front that paying customers from Star Bucks, Jamba Juice, and Kozo Sushi all share, first come first serve.

This is the Philly Maki, $3.99. As you can see, they were pretty skimpy with the cream cheese today, but no worries I stilled enjoyed this just as well.

The Spicy Ahi Maki, $5.25 is not so spicy but still just as tasty.

Ahh, the good o’ classic California Maki, $3.89, will never go out of style. I Prefer mine with as little mayo as possible.

What I don’t suggest is getting a Hand Roll from this place. Some retard came up with this wrap and it’s the most annoying thing. Basically the rice is separate from the wrapper so you have to unwrap it just to wrap it up again.

But at no more than a couple of bucks for one, sometimes I’ll just have to deal with it.

If your in the mood for fast, cheap, simple sushi Kozo sushi can’t be beat.

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Kozo Sushi
625 Kapahulu Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815

Get Directions(808) 739-2785

Bubba Gump was born from the major motion film Forest Gump. The movie was a huge hit earning over 677 million during its theatrical run and nominated for 13 academy awards and taking home 6 of them. The first Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. opened up two years later in 1996 in Monterey California, I’ve been to that one too by the way. Today there’s about 29 Bubba Gumps around and not just in the U.S. but they also branched out to Mexico, Japan, Bali, Philippines, Hong Kong and even Malaysia.

The inside was open so you could eat and watch shoppers stroll by.

Today was one of those days that I wanted to start off with something sweet  so I ordered Mama’s Best Strawberry Shortcake, $6.99. I was surprised because this looked just like the picture on the menu. Like all strawberry short cakes the cake part was a little dry but when it’s served with ice cream, strawberries, whipped cream and bathing in a pool of heavens sweet nectar it changes everything. I really liked this. It was big, so big that we couldn’t even finish it and there was 4 of us. I think the only thing that could of made this one better is to add a bit more whipped cream and strawberries.

For our main course Ray and I shared Shrimper’s Heaven, $18.99. It came with Coconut Shrimp, Chilly Shrimp, Fried Shrimp, Tempura Shrimp, Fries, Cole Slaw and a trio of dipping sauces. I figure you can’t go to Bubba Gumps and not get shrimp right? I know it’s not exactly cheap but it had a little caricature of a shrimp next to it on the menu as a symbol of one of the house special dishes, so I figured it was worth a shot and and a few extra bucks.

Shrimp Tempura. I’ve had better. In my opinion, if your in the mood for tempura shrimp get it from a Japanese Restaurant. It came with about 4 pieces.

The Fried Shrimp. Bor-ring. This came with about 4 pieces too.

Coconut Shrimp. This was very heavy and greasy. It too came with about 4 pieces.

Chilly Shrimp. This is just shrimp cocktail with the shell left on. I’m not a fan of shrimp cocktail but if I were I’d say they were delicious. I think I would of preferred it if it were prepealed, is that a word, but only because we were having lunch with our friends Nate and Taylor from San Francisco that we hadn’t seen in a while so I had to behave like a civilized human being, not that civilized human beings don’t peal shrimp, but you get my point; wow, talk about a run on sentence. Anyhow, usually I love getting down and dirty with my food, like picking up a nice handful and chucking it straight across the room right beside Ray’s pretty little head, knocking him out. TKO baby, I hit you, you hit the ground. One day, I promise you, one day. Back to the shrimp, I have to say they gave a good amount of these chilly shrimp. I didn’t count but if I had to guess I would say there were about 10 little critters just waiting to be consumed.

It came with cole slaw. I want to say it was about 6 oz. Not very much, but who needs a lot of this stuff?

Fries were basic. Nothing amazing but not bad.

While we were there two tables down from us someone had a birthday so if you ever come here you could pretend like it’s your kids birthday, like everybody else does and get a free dessert, while complete strangers sing to you guys.  I do it all the time.

The best time to come is at sunset which is around 6:30. They have a great view, being on the second floor and all. Overall I have to say this place just didn’t do it for me. I know it attracts tons of tourist and all I’m saying is leave this place for the tourist you deserve better.

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Bubba Gump
1450 Ala Moana Blvd # 3253
Honolulu, HI 96814

Get Directions(808) 949-4867

Located right below Irish Rose, one of the best local bars on the island Pho Minh Thu would make great drunk food if only they were open till the wee hours of the night. A bunch of my friends come here often because it’s convienent and according to them, really good. Well as always I had to see for myself.

Inside Pho Minh Thu was about eight covered tables. There was only one other table besides ours, which usually means a short wait will follow.

It’s just hard not to start off with Summer Rolls. They’re just so good and the perfect appetizer to start off with since they’re light, refreshing and so darn good. These were $3.95 for two. I liked that the shrimp were bright pink because it meant that the shrimp was cooked well, which for me is a good thing.

Listed under the Vegetarian Section of the Menu was these Garden Rolls, $3.95, aka, Tofu Rolls. If your vegetarian or a lover of tofu I highly suggest these. They were just like the summer rolls but with tofu. The tofu still had the skin around and was cut just thick enough to where you can really taste the tofu but it wasn’t overwhelming.

I ordered the Tofu & Green Papaya Salad, $5.95. I guess tofu just sounded good today. The tofu was good, and everything tasted really fresh, but the papaya was shredded a little too thin for my liking. I love basil so it was nice to see it topped with lots of it.

Ray ordered the combination shrimp and chicken fried rice, $5.95. This was a little on the boring side. It lacked flavor. They gave us the small shrimp, which would of been o.k. if more were given. These are the small shrimp, so I know they’re really inexpensive. Also, we didn’t realize there was any chicken in there until we took a closer look.

See, there it is. I took a picture of it next to my fork so you guys have an idea of how small the shrimp and chicken pieces really were.

I would come back for the tofu rolls. Those were a winner in my book. I don’t know why more places don’t offer them. I would think they would be a better investment than the traditional summer rolls. Everything else was mediocre.

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Pho Minh Thu
478 Ena Rd
Honolulu, HI 96815

Get Directions(808) 946-2299