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

I’ve always been a fan of “meals on wheels.” The ones that I have the most dining experience in has always been Mexican taco trucks. Oh how I miss them. I’ve lived all over California and there, they have taco trucks like they have Mexicans, all over. But this isn’t about Mexican food, its about Meals on Wheels. Driving through Oahu lies clutters of shrimp trucks. How is one to know which is better than the next? We parked our car and walked through, hopping from truck to truck scanning and comparing what each truck had to offer. They all looked the same, offered the same dishes, with the exception of one or two items and all cost the same. Also, it was funny because all of them claimed to have won the “Turtle Bay Shrimp Truck Award.” Wow, I never knew there was such an award. One lady wrote her award with a sharpie pen on a white erasable board. The man at this shrimp truck goes, “everybody say they win turtle bay award, not tru, we da winner, we have award,” and then points to this sign on his truck.

Wow, that’s some fancy award. It almost looks like a flier for a seafood festival and Sam Choy’s poke contest, oh, and a tasting for shrimp trucks. That’s a pretty fucking sweet award.

Notice, he also had a hand written award taped up on the truck as well. Another odd thing is that they had this ghetto looking kid in this picture greet us, take our order, and then gives the order to the Asians in the window. Hey, I support underage workers and paying under the table, but this whole situation was just odd.

Anyway, all the dishes cost $12.00, come with all you can eat rice and salad. By the way, their idea of salad is just cabbage with a light drizzle of 1000 island dressing. We got Garlic Shrimp and Lemon Butter Shrimp.

This is the Lemon Butter Shrimp. I think we got maybe 10 shrimps per plate. Though this plate was very tasty, it had more garlic than the Garlic Shrimp.

Here’s the Garlic Shrimp. I think we all agreed the Lemon Butter Plate was much better.

Overall I was underwhelmed. Any meals on wheels place should give you an amazing deal. $12.00 for 10 shrimp from a truck is a fucking joke. By the way, who’s seriously gonna go back for rice and that amazing salad. This is obviously a tourist trap. We all got back in the car and go,”let’s go get some food.”

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