Onomea

This place made me want to take a foodventure to Hawaii!
I came in last night with a group of four. Because the weather has been so bad lately, it was like we rented the place out for ourselves:
FOOD:
— Spam Musubi ($ 5): this comes with four small pieces to an order. In total, it’s about one slice of spam. For those who have a low spice tolerance, be aware that there’s some sort of wasabi on it. Good for 2 to share.
— Coconut Shrimp ($ 9): this also comes with four pieces to an order. It also comes with a sweet chili sauce and a mango sauce. The shrimp was nice and crispy, but it’s a pretty small appetizer. Also good for two to share.
— Kalbi: different from Korean BBQ– style Kalbi, the Kalbi here is sweet. Two pieces to an order and served with rice, Mac salad and a small salad. This entrée is suitable for one person.
— Loco Moco: best dish of the night! This signature dish is a stack of rice, a burger patty, fried egg and sauce all over it. It is also served with Mac salad. They give you an option to swap out the regular white rice for spam fried rice, and you should definitely do it! It made such a big difference in the overall quality of the meal. And the sauce? I’m gunna need that recipe!
Service:
We were the only ones in there, so it’s no surprise that they had good service. They were attentive and helped us with whatever we needed. The only downside was that they didn’t have ahi tuna (goodbye, ahi tuna rolls and poke) available.
Décor:
From what I could see, it was cute and clean. It was pretty dark in there (so I need to use a phone light for photos) so there wasn’t much that I could see. I did notice that they had photos of hawaii all around the restaurant.

I’ve been on a Hawaiian poke streak so I decided to come through here and try their version of it!
Unfortunately, because of Blizzard Jonas, there was an issue with their tuna and they weren’t able to serve anything with tuna today :(
Nevertheless, the review goes on!
Décor is rustic; photos of the beautiful landscapes in Hawaii, including a volcano, cool light fixtures, and antiques. The space is big and has a really smooth flow to it! A little too dim for my liking, though.
As for the food, we got the Loco Moco, Kalbi, Spam Masubi, and the Coconut Shrimp! Spam Masubi and Coconut shrimp were good, but not things that wowed me. Same goes for the kalbi.
But if I were to choose something to come back for, it would definitely be the Loco Moco! It’s super simple; a burger patty on spam fried rice topped with an egg and a delicious gravy/​sauce.
Overall, great service, friendly staff! Really only lost a star because we weren’t able to try their poke… or any tuna dishes.

I love this place. It’s delicious comfort food and you feel like you’re in a tropical place. Perfect when you don’t feel like cooking but want home cooking. Highly recommend!

Big update is that they have a liquor license now so you can get your mai tai if your heart desires. I did not try as I prefer lilikoi juice with my dinner. Had the obligatory poke which is still good but the quantity seemed a tad less than it used to be. Liked the katsu which was ample for me. We also ordered the new addition, saimin with chicken sticks. It had good flavor but the noodles were a little overdone. The two teri chicken sticks were good but hope to have beef next time if can do? (Hint, hint) The portion was small so we had to order the kalua pork which was as usual really moist and satisfying. They still do the best kalua pork which is something you should not pass up if you want authentic Hawaiian flavor. Everything else may remind you of Hawaii but they have their roots in other Asian cultures. We know their kalua pork was not made in an imu (underground pit) but the flavor is still there and it’s even more succulent. Was too full to try their haupia but that too is a must try for Hawaiian taste. Still hoping to see laulau, chicken long rice and lomi lomi salmon some day or at least as a limited menu item. If so, the luau table would be complete. This would be an awesome place to book a Hawaiian themed party. Take note, no pineapples anywhere so you know they’re authentic!

Pros: The service was very friendly and timely, and the place itself felt clean and inviting. Beautiful photographs of Hawaii line the space. The Hawaiian theme is novel and I applaud them for trying something new.
Cons: The poke was good but for crying out loud not as fantastic as people make it out to be. The Spam Musubi was also just OK. Kalbi was disappointing, and Loco Moco was basically meatloaf doused with sauce on about 3 servings of white rice. I do like meatloaf, but I was expecting something more refined.
Caveat: Both of us had to book it to a restroom about 10 minutes after leaving the restaurant.

I hit up Hawaii once a year.
I eat a ton of spam musubi and loco mocos while I’m there. Local grindz, braddah.
Since L&L Hawaiian BBQ closed down in all the NYC locations, I’ve been a monk-​on-​the-​hunt for Hawaiian funk in order to satisfy my Kama’aina taste buds.
Found it. In Brooklyn. No joke.
This place is way ornate and doesn’t feel like it would have the traditional/​local Hawaiian fare (yo, I don’t want no chinese fusion like other restos try to say is Hawaiian… cut that shit out)…but the plates here are authentic Hawaiian.
The spam, Portuguese sausage breakfast and spam musubi brings me back to the beautiful Aina in the Pacific. (Please use white rice, though, that’s what’s Ono in the islands)
Mahalo, Brooklyn.

I don’t know if you’re ready for some onolicious Hawaiian food.
Ordered the following but of course I was sharing this with another person. I was hungry though. LOL.
Loco moco: teriyaki patty with gravy and egg on top?! Yasss!
Kalua pig benedict: this is on a Hawaiian roll!!! Yasss again!!!
Portuguese sausage and eggs: delish. Yasss!!!
I grew eating Hawaiian food so there’s the usual basic loco moco, kalua pic and Portuguese sausage plates. But Onomea took a good twist on these plates made it their own. Your trip to Brooklyn will be worth it.
Bottom line: two thumbs up. 5*

Can a Hawaiian restaurant try too hard to be Hawaiian?
It’s nearly impossible to screw up the Spam musubi, a Hawaiian treat consisting of grilled Spam, rice, and a strip of nori. As a case in point, musubi replaces hot dogs in the warming cabinets of most Oahu 7 – 11’s, and they’re terrific. In comparison, it’s difficult to identify Onomea’s fully-​wrapped spam-​rice handrolls as musubi, particularly as the rice and nori hit the tongue in the wrong order. As weird as it sounds, you have to work for the Spam!
Similarly, Spam fried rice, which is amazing when done well (Side Street Inn, Honolulu), is served cold and dry. Seems they substituted out the sticky rice and assorted pork products to make this dish as pedestrian as possible. No, a kimchee-​and-​Spam option is not offered.
Overall, just good enough to evoke a Hawaiian vacation, but certainly poor enough to remember that you’re firmly in Brooklyn.

My expectations were too high. The food was good but nothing wow. I’m not entirely sure how authentic the food was but according to the BF only the macaroni salad was. I ate most of my plate. My son on the other hand LOVED their Spam Fried Rice :) he made those «Mmm» sounds lol. Service was A+. The two guys were super nice & sweet. Took my dessert to go; haven’t tried it yet but it does look amazing.
Just had my dessert coconut something. It was OMG DELICIOUS. I wish I bought 3!

I really enjoyed the whole laid back atmosphere of this establishment. The server was really friendly and the wait for food was very short.
Started off with the poke and spam musubi, both was very delicious. I could’ve just ordered double of these apps.
For entrée we ordered the Kahlua pig and the loco moco. Great portions and very tasty. My first time here and I do plan on coming back when I’m in the area.

Was ecstatic to find out about this restaurant because I’ve been wanting to try some authentic or even close to authentic Haiwaiian food. The reviews and pictures seemed solid so I came with high expectations. Good service, friendly staff but surprisingly not many people for Saturday dinner. Limited menu options.
Starters: Poke and Spam Musubi
Entrees: Loco Moco and the Kahlua Pig and cabbage
Didn’t try the poke but the Spam Musubi was good especially with the dipping sauce. The Kahlua Pig barely had any flavor. I liked how there’s a small portion of everything (rice, salad, Mac, and meats) laid out, but that was about it. The Loco Moco was much better, enjoyed the teriyaki flavor.
Overall it wasn’t as great as I expected and we ordered items that people raved about. Not sure if I will come back, but it was good to try at least.

Pretty good Hawaiian food. Small portions but worth to try out. We ended up ordering the whole menu with my group of friends. The drinks were also very good and came in mason jars. I want to def come back.
P. s. the Hawaiian food doesn’t compare to the DMV area but this still works.

#Pretty good Hawaiian Food.
#There was a guy eating there that had a #Poke festival T-​shirt. He loves #Poke. I assume he ordered the #Poke.

Had high hopes, but found the food very average.
I had the bulgogi or korean bbq beef, I don’t quite remember the name of the beef plate. Prices were alright for NYC. The rice was average, the macaroni salad was actually quite good, but the beef was really basic. A friend said I should have ordered a more ‘typically Hawaiian’ dish, but I don’t think I’ll venture out to Brooklyn for this.
Staff is attentive though.

Hawaiian food far from Hawaii (10 hrs flight) but closest to us. This place has some amazing art work inside!
We ordered the following:
Mai Tais — They ran out of Amaretto but we loved it regardless
Poke — Delicious just get it!
Spam Mitsubi — A must order, repeat!
Spam fried rice — Pretty good
Kailua Pork Entrée — OMFG it’s the best I’ve ever had
Loco Moco — Delicious too
Overall, the food and drinks were great quality and it reflected in the dishes.
The prices are a bit pricy for Hawaiian plates but we wouldn’t mind coming back again.

Small, cozy Hawaiian restaurant in Brooklyn.
Lucky for us we came on a rainy Saturday night so there was no line ups — we got seated right away for a table for 5 at 6:45pm (which we were amazed!)
We started off with two apps:
— poke (tuna tartar)
— musabi (spam roll)
Both were really good. Great sharing options.
For entrees we had tried:
— loco moco
— pulled pork with spam fried rice
— kalbi
The loco moco came with the beef patty with a fried egg covered in gravy and a side of macaroni salad. It was really good.
The pulled pork came with a side green salad and a side of macaroni salad and we had switched the white rice to a spam fried rice which was a good choice and really good. The pork was tasty and it was even better with a bit of hot sauce.
For dessert we ended with the coconut custard, which was amazing and perfect to end the meal with. It wasn’t too sweet and was nice and light.

This place is pretty AND pretty tasty. We stumbled upon this place on a rainy weekday. No one was in there and Hawaiian food (mainly Mai Tais) sounded like the best thing to get our minds off of the crappy weather.
The place is dimly lit, with photos of lava all about making it a very warm atmosphere. We started off with mai tais (of course) as well as spam musubi (YUM!) and poke (double yum!).
We shared the kalua pig and cabbage. It was a decent portion. I’m sure for one person it would be more than enough. But for 3 starving girls, it left us wanting more. The meat was juicy and the macaroni salad had just the right amount of seasoning. I highly recommend this dish if you go. We also tried the loco moco which was pretty good. I am not particularly a fan of gravy but this gravy did not overwhelm the dish. Also a good option.
The service was excellent. The background music was nice. You really feel like you’re somewhere else but the city when you go here.

I mean, it’s my first time trying Hawaiian food, so I may not know any better.
I was originally going to order the poke salad with a side of spam fried rice, but they were out of ahi for the night. The spam musubi seemed to be the most popular dish, so we all ordered that with a drink.
My drink was less than impressive. I ended up getting a mild headache after it. It was called the Honi Honi, I believe.
I felt the spam musubi was such a ripoff for $ 5. It’s basically fried spam sandwiched between rice and seaweed and it wasn’t even that good. I could make that myself!

Great interior and picture hanging around the place.
Awesome service, very attentive and polite.
Sadly the food was overly salty to a point where it was almost a heart attack. I could feel my blood arteries filling with a high dosage of sodium.
Ordered the Kahlua pig, Korean ribs, and Poke.
Poke was drowning in soy sauce and salt. I guess the fish was not too fresh and it was masked with a pool of soy sauce and oil. I took a bite where part of the poke was sticking out and not soaking with soy… could definitely tell it was not fresh.
Kahlua pig came with a side of salad, mac salad and rice. Looked awesome, kind of like pulled pork. But it was way overly salted. Even when I mixed it with the side of white rice, it was still too salty. The mac salad was eh, pasta was undercooked.
Korean ribs looked great when it came… but sadly again it was overly salted and drowning in sauce. If they left the salt out and kept it drowning in sauce, it would have tasted fine.
Really wanted this place to fill my family’s craving for some Hawaiian food without traveling half way around the world, but sadly our craving will probably be fulfilled by actually visiting Hawaii again.
Props to the two guy waiters who were so attentive and kept filling my table’s water, we definitely needed lots of water after downing such a salty meal. We were never asked how everything else, but I would have been dead honest and said everything was super salty. I noticed they didn’t ask the other tables around us either. maybe they already knew everyone was going to say their sodium levels shot through the roof.

3.5
The waiters were friendly and chill. I loved the ambience of the whole place, very cutesy for date night. The Longboard Lager was tasty, and it went really well with the tempura tuna roll. which was. So good! I got the Kailua Pork. It was perfectly roasted and I loved the cabbage, rice, and especially Mac salad. I would definitely go back, because I miss Hawaii so much.