Kaka'ako Kitchen

Decided to try Kaka'ako Kitchen since my bf has never eaten there.  After debating if there is something that this vegetarian can eat, we looked at the menu and thank god there were at least 2 things he can eat, besides the desserts.

He got the Portobello Mushroom sandwich and side salad.  ($12.95)

He was surprised that they used a taro bun instead of a regular one.  The sandwich came with a tomato, pickles, avocado, blue cheese, crispy onion strings, with a red pepper aioli sauce.  The side salad had a creamy lemon dressing.  Overall he enjoyed it.  It was different for him, but it was "fine".

I got the Thursday special, which was the  Pot Roast ($10.50).  According to the menu it came with mashed potatoes, green beans and a gravy.  When I got my box and opened it, they had put white rice.  Perplexed, I asked my bf to ask why I got rice.  He came back with brown rice replaced and replied, "They ran out of mash potatoes." The girl at the counter didn't say anything about running out of the potatoes which is pretty irritating.  Besides the replaced starch, it was good, though would have been better with mashed potatoes.

Since we were at this place of course it would be a bit pricey for us locals.  Though it matter to the 2 Japanese tour vans that stopped by for dinner.  So, HOW MUCH DID THIS COST?

For the food alone, it totaled $24.55.  We just got water knowing the bill would have been $30 at least.  For the price we paid, we'd feel more better if the food was on a real plate and in a nicer setting. My bf said that if the price was around $10, he'd get the sandwich more often.  Oh well.  Here's to being surrounded by Japanese tourists and being bombarded by those huge kamikaze birds.

Lunch time at The Old Spaghetti Factory

This will be a short and simple post about my favorite place to eat, The Old Spaghetti Factory.  I frequent here with my boyfriend/other half when we have the change.  Why?  Despite the reviews on Yelp!, I really like it!  The food is consistent and it tastes good.  Wished they opened up a few more places so I wouldn't have to wait 45 minutes to an hour just to eat.

I first remember coming here years ago with a good friend of mine from Kauai.  She was living on Oahu while attending HPU.  The bill was cheap (under $30) and both of us being on a budget, it worked out great.  Soon after I found myself dining here with my future boyfriend.  Same thing, bill was cheap and the food was the same, but it was still good.  I love spaghetti and I wished I could eat it all the time, but due to my health it is not possible anymore.  With that in mind, I am very happy that they offer whole wheat pasta along with a gluten free menu.  Not a lot of places like this offer that kind of option so this definitely gets double thumbs up.

On this trip, they started offering on the menu a "Lunch for Less" which includes either; the same pasta dishes at a lunch size, lunch sized salads, and panini sandwiches.  Since it was lunch time, might as well try it out.

My boyfriend got his usual Marinara Sauce pasta (sorry no pic) and I got the Reuben Panini.  I LOVE REUBENS!  You have no clue!  I am not sure what is so great about corned beef (pastrami if you got it), sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, 1000 Island dressing, and rye bread, all smooshed lovingly by a panini press.  Le Sigh!

As you can see, this is awesome!  The sandwich comes with potato chips and you can add on a salad for $1.49.  This by far is the best Reuben sandwich I have ever had and never was it panini style.  3 greater then is all I can say!

This being a review on 1 item shouldn't be too bad, right?  So, HOW MUCH DID THIS COST?

Sandwhich was at $8.99 and I added a salad for $1.49.  With just water and not adding my boyfriends' meal, with tax it came out to $10.98.  I'm pretty sure you all are thinking, I can get a cheaper lunch from McDonalds!  Yeah, ok..  Keep in mind though, just because it is cheaper, does not mean it that it is good for you.  Why do you think a burger costs a $1 and a salad costs $5.99?  And you wonder why the US is fat.

(Eaten on Dec. 4, 2012)

Happy Valley Pasta & Pizza

My first impression of Happy Valley Pasta & Pizza was, "Tourist place huh?"  Being along Monsarrat Ave, where Diamond Head Crater Park is and if you happen to be at K.C.C for the farmer's market, I wouldn't be surprised if the tour bus told them to stop by for lunch.  Regardless of the tourists, I'm glad to say that locals (not only me!) come to this quaint establishment to get their fill of Italian food with a splash of Japanese flavor.  I love that!!

My other half and I frequent this place when we are craving pizza that is NOT Boston's and the drive to Ward to The Old Spaghetti Factory wasn't ideal, especially if it's past 6:00pm.  By reading some reviews on Yelp!, not a lot of people have given it high marks due to service being awful and the food "could be better".  In my opinion, if I like the food, I will come back.  If it sucked, good try but no thanks.  If I was treated like a minority that they totally forgotten to refill my glass of water, then yes, I would complain and never go back.  But on both occasions, my other half and I have been treated well where the server actually deserved the $5 for tip.  As long as we get fed and have a half glass of water, we are all good.

Please forgive on the picture quality on this review.  I love Android, but the Gingerbread OS is pissing me off.... so again, I'M SORRY! 

My other half orders his usual, Happy's Margherita Pizza which cost $10.98.  The basic of all basic pizza; Mozzarella Cheese, Tomato Sauce and a Homemade Basil Pesto.  I remember when he first ordered it, his eyes grew large on how huge the pizza was.  The swirl of pesto gives it a unique look and you get a taste of the pesto with each slice you eat.  Simplicity at it's best.

 
I decided that time to try something different from the menu.  I asked for the Basil Pesto Cream Sauce & Sausage which cost $12.98.  I also took the advantage when the server asked if I had any questions about the menu, and asked what kind of sausage they used.  "Portuguese sausage."  I'M SOLD!  With every pasta dish you have a choice of either spaghetti or penne and I chose spaghetti.  Same simple basil pesto mixed well with an awesome cream sauce, and the Portuguese sausage just balanced everything out.  To add more texture to the dish, they added broccoli and mushrooms.  Le sigh, if The Old Spaghetti Factory would make this.  Again, please forgive me on the picture quality.

We had ordered 2 small Caesar Salads which cost $4.98 each, but I was so hungry that I had FAILED to take a picture.  But it was the usual Caesar Salad; romaine lettuce, Parmesan cheese, and croutons.  Which got me laughing was, the server brings both plates of salads and asks us if we wanted fresh ground pepper.  I hesitated but then said yes and got pepper on my salad.  After the server left, I glanced at the side of our table and saw a pepper mill and a salt mill.  Hrmm...  You have pepper and salt mills, but you still walk out of the kitchen with a bigger pepper mill?  Is there a difference?  Are the peppercorns in the bigger mill better than the smaller one?  Who knows, but I had to laugh at the situation while I added more pepper on my salad.  The server would have been there for a while turning the mill till I had a mound of pepper on my food.

Good food and good company means good price right?  So, THIS COST HOW MUCH?

We both got waters and since it was Happy Hour, my other half got a Long Board for $3.00 and I got the Iced Oolong Tea for $1.98.  With tax the bill came out to $40.73. 

It is always a pleasure to go to Happy Valley Pasta & Pizza because I know that I will get good food for a good price with leftovers to take home.  Who cares if other people don't like, so what!  And yes, the server did earn the 5 bucks, but we added another dollar according to my trusty tip card.  We may come back here so I can do a review on my favorite dish, the Karaage Chicken & Basil Pesto. 

(Eaten on Feb. 6, 2013)

Greens & Vines Vegan Gourmet

I am not a vegetarian nor a vegan.  I don't think I would want to do it "full-time", but dating a vegetarian can be a bit. . .  troublesome?  HAHA  I love my boyfriend and his family, just eating things without meat or animal products from the beginning of time doesn't go very well for me.  I am Filipino, I was raised on rice and meat.  Maybe this is why I'm Diabetic as well..  Oh well... I'll get into that in a later post.

We decided to try out Greens and Vines Vegan Gourmet that probably opened up a couple of months ago.  I never heard of it before after a good friend of mine mentioned it.  We were in the Ward area and it was lunch time (1:00pm to be exact) and agreed to give it a try.

We were a little thrown back by how the parking structure was.  Didn't know if it was ONLY for people living in the building, or if it was ONLY for the businesses stationed there.  With a "little" sigh of relief, we saw a "little" sign that read "Greens and Vines parking".  Mmkay, I guess we park in here.

We walked down to the restaurant and it seemed a bit empty, maybe with 2 tables that were occupied.  We asked to see a menu and was a bit confused about it.  My boyfriend uttered "Wow, what a pretty extent wine list you have!"  The menu was 4 pages long I believe.  1 page of food and 3 pages of wine!  What a way to get healthy and get drunk along the way, huh?  It was a typical menu of raw/vegan items so we asked to be seated.  Got a table next to a couple where the lady was just talking and the guy was just there listening.  (Poor guy!) 

I ordered the Living Lasagna and it came with a side salad.  My boyfriend ordered the Kaffir Miso Pad Thai and the Sampler Dips n Chips as an app.  It didn't take too long... everything wasn't cooked, drr! 

The Sampler Dips n Chips.  Look at it.  Just look at it.  I don't know if is worth the $9.50 for a tablespoon each of a Tri-Layer bean-less dip, Mac Nut Spread, and a Spicy Coconut Dip along with with 6 Flax Thins and 2 Kale chips.  Overall, just wished they gave us more than a tablespoon full and more chips to eat.  The supposedly spicy coconut dip wasn't as spicy as the mac nut spread.  Not sure if they got the mixes mixed up.. HAHA get it? 

The Kaffir Miso Pad Thai.  Looks good.  According the boyfriend it was good, but crunchy and weird because it wasn't the usual pad thai you get at a Thai resturant.  He ate it though.  It has Sea Kelp Noodles (which was weird enough),  Red Cabbage, Red and Yellow Bell Peppers, Red Onions, Bean Sprouts, Cilantro and salted cashews with Kaffir miso sauce.  Still yet, for a little over 2 cups, not sure if $9.25 was worth it.

My Living Lasagna, with Zucchini, Tomatoes, Spinach, Pesto, Sun-Dried Tomato Marinara and a Mac Nut "Ricotta".  I think the smear behind the lasagna is the marinara sauce.  Combined with the side salad, this was $12.95. I had first ate it while at the Grandparent's house for Thanksgiving due to 2 of my Aunts are vegan/vegetarian.  It was good, and this time around it was still good.  Not sure about the side salad.  The first fork full was very "gingery".  I looked at it and noticed little hairs all over the greens.  My boyfriend looked at his plate with the same look of "WTF IS THIS!?"

He called over the waitress and asked what was this "like hair" stuff in the food.  I thought to myself, did they just pulverized the ginger and mixed it in as is?  The waitress replied, "Oh that's ginger.  It is our Ginger salad dressing.  It's very fibrous."  Yeah, like I don't know what ginger is.  Oh well.  I couldn't eat the salad anymore because like I said, it was very GINGERY!

Towards the ending of our meal, the dining area got a bit busy.  2 more couples came in for lunch, 1 of them being 2 men.  1 of them actually said out loud to the waitress, "1 page of food and 3 pages of wine!?"  My thoughts exactly.  For the 30mins we spent there with our food, while making fun of the random people that were there, and how gingery the salad was, it was time for the bill. 

So, This Cost HOW MUCH?

With no drinks and including tax/tip, it came out to about $37.00.  Sad thing was, WE WERE STILL HUNGRY!  If we were spending that much on food, we might as well went to The Old Spaghetti Factory.  That way the price would be the same but we will be full and happy with yummy food.

Oh well.  Good try Greens & Vines.  Going to stick to Down to Earth and Simple Joy.  At least we get our monies worth there.  PS, I know that ginger is good for stomach problems and inflammation, but could I have some salad with that ginger?