Pino Cafe

I have eaten at a lot of Filipino restaurants and this place is ehhh ok. i mean the food wasn’t the greatest and the portions where kinda small. and the service was kinda slow. I mean damn.
I orderded the Bangus and usually i like it vingery but they put way way way too much. i felt like i was drinking it. And the rice then served with it was a little hard (like it was scooped from the edge of the pot hard) idk maybe this was just a one time thing but that was enough for me to not want to go back and just head of to waipahu to elena’s.

This is a mixed review. Have been here 3 – 4 times and the first few times were great but my last visit was pretty bad. It has alot to do with what you order. They make great Lechon Kawali and Sisig. Everything else my family can make better at home inlcuding the Adobo & Pancit.
The service is ok as expected with the small size of the restaurant. The portions are good and the price average for Hawaii Filipino food.
I would rate the Kawali and Spicy Sisig 5 stars and everything else 2 stars.
Try it and compare to your other filipino places. I am partial to Elenas but want to like this place as its closer to me. I’ll be in the Philippines in December and can’t wait to get the real stuff for a ¼ of the cost.
Wish they got the Filipino stations at Pino but maybe in time.

Pino café was a welcome find. I had never heard of this place before stumbling on it today. Not in the easiest of places to find in Aiea. Went there with my family. The place was clean. The waiter tried hard to please and offered the TV remote to us. Our kids enjoyed cartoons and we could eat with them happy. We wanted Dinuguan but they were out. I did order
Sizzling Sisig. OMG. So good. Got it spicey and I’m hooked. We also got the Gisantes which was good and par with others I’ve had here in Hawaii and elsewhere. The sisig was the best I’ve had outside the Philippines to include Vegas, OKC, Denver and Hawaii. Far better than elenas n max’s. (cant say much good about max’s).
The price was more expensive than most places in Vegas for Filipino food. That being said it was on par with Hawaii prices in general. Our bill was $ 32.00 and worth every penny. I was so hoping we would like this place as its the closest Filipino restaurant to our house. Will make this a once or more weekly stop. The vook even came out to thank us for coming ans was glad we enjoyed the food.
Only suggestions: make more Dinuguan and add Filipino TV to their channel selection.
A plus is they have Karaōke available from 6 – 8 pm.

I enjoyed the food, I odered the pork sinigang and lechon kawale. The sinigang was nice, hot and tasty. The lechon was perfectly made. Wished they had better hours on the weekend and they close on Tuesdays. But all in all I enjoyed.

A hole in the wall in Aiea area, Makai of the shell station. Because the food was very tasty, I would go here again, but I’ll make sure I’ll check the prices on the menu before paying. The food was tasty and fresh, and decent size. 2 scoops of rice comes with each ala carte order, but after that, it’s 99 cents for each additional 2 scoops of rice:
Dinaguan — 3 ½ stars — it was very tasty. Not too vinegary, and not dry, so my kids even liked it. However, it was a little cold, so it seems as though they got it from the fridge, and didn’t warm it up as well.
Shrimp Saciardo — 4 stars — they made it more of a soupy type of dish. The soup was tasty, and the shrimp was big and fresh. They also put strips of fresh ginger in their soup.
Pork Sarisari — 4 stars — the waiter had mentioned that they make their own broth, which was indeed tasty. It was a little salty, which tasted like they put a lot of the patis in their broth. There were a lot of pork, which was fresh in it too.
Rice — I have to mention the rice because the first batch we got was a little hard, so I think we got the old batch. And they charge 99 cents for additional rice, which was soft and fresh.
Service — 3 stars — the waiter was trying to be funny. He was nice, and even gave us the controller to change the channel on tv. However, I thought our dinner was a little high at $ 32, when most of their dishes were around $ 9, and sure enough, when I got home, he charged us $ 2 extra, even if he said that he gave us one scoop of complimentary rice. It would have been a 4 star because the food is tasty and it’s kid friendly, but because he over charged me (which I wouldn’t have noticed if they didn’t charge for additional servings of rice — so I actualy paid for 2 additional servings of rice which I didn’t receive), I have to take one star off. I knew when I was there, my pake side should have came out and questioned him about the price, but my kids were already out the door, and I thought maybe the saciardo was higher without rechecking the menu.
They also have a lunch wagon, but they park in the airport area.

The flavors were warm and inviting…
The pancit was very light — should have known as soon as I saw it. It tasted better the next day after reheating.
The chicken adobe was very flavorful and prepared nicely.
The chicken/​veggie lumpia was more veggie and lacked chicken. Maybe I misunderstood the menu and expected real chicken when in reality it was supposed to be chicken flavored? There was a strong taste of banana’s. I’m assuming it was cooked in oil that was used for banana’s…
The good: Customer service was a delight. The lady I ordered from was very helpful in explaining menu items and giving advice.
The bad: Running out of food! Big no no to not have items on the menu available to the customers.
The ugly: The flavors are a hit or miss and ordering ala carte is expensive (my items totaled over $ 20). It would have been more advantageous to order the mix plate. Too bad the dishes I chose from the menu for the mix plate were UNAVAILABLE and had to be cooked ala carte…
One more thing I have to mention is that the adobe to-​go was put in a styrofoam box. Usually not a problem except they included the juices that came with it. The to-​go bag didn’t make it through the parking lot to the car before had spilled all over the place. Very messy.
Bottom Line: This place requires patience.

It really bums me out that I have to give Pino’s café 3 stars. As a fellow Filipino American, it makes me proud to see young, aspiring Filipino Americans succeed in their endeavors. And that is what I hope this café will achieve at some point… success.
I grew up in a family that cooked filipino food for each meal. So I can’t help comparing filipino food to my mother’s cooking. When I dug into my pork adobo and pork with squash, I was really disappointed. It didn’t taste like «true» filipino cooking. The pork adobo lacked flavor like it had not marinated long enough and the pork with squash was porkFAT with squash. The soup in the pork with squash had potential to illicit four stars but it just didn’t quite make the grade. Not during this visit anyway.
I will definitely give Pino’s another try but will order something other than their pork adobo and pork with squash.

Service is SLOW here. Food not worth the wait. Better off going next door to Golden Wheel.

Pretty decent Filipino food, friendly service, convenient spot for folks who are taking classes in the same complex.

STRAIGHT TO THE POINT!!! SUCKS!!! Me and my friend went there today. We ordered SPAGGETI AND ADOBO friend rice. I love spaggeti but sadly to say, their Spaggeti is one of the worst spaggeti ever. It wasnt even filipino style. Oh and no cheese… Whats up with that.
DO NOT ORDER YOUR PARTY FOOD THERE!!! We ordered 4 trays and when we were eating my guest said one of the food was spoiled and I was so embarrassed. I called them in the morning and the only thing they said was sorry. Did not offer me any refund.
I give them 1 star because they had Filipino Channel.
NO PINO CAFE FOR ME!!!

It’s a cute lil place. Predominantly take out. We only ordered the lechon for take out, but the portion was huge & the price was decent. Needless to say, it was yummy.
There’s 3 – 4 tables, & a large flat screen tv (for sports, i guess…)
Will visit again to try pinakbet, adobo, pancit, longaniza fried rice…& eveyrthing else!