Hilo Lunch Shop

Hilo Lunch Shop is one of the only two Okazuya shops in town. I personally feel that it’s the better of the two, if you don’t know the other Okazuya joint I’m referring to, chances are you aren’t from here, so be sure to ask a local what’s up.
Hilo Lunch Shop serves up quite the variety of Okazuya fare so be sure to try it all. I was raised here and this shop is part of my blood so I do have my favorites and or regulars. I’d say that everything they offer is good but my top items consist of the warabi and pipanola salad, fried ono, hot dog musubi, tofu patty, spam and eggplant tempura, teri hamburger, nori chicken and the Hawaiian plate options along with some Maki and ume musubi.
The service could be better. A lot of the workers come off as rude and their facial expressions validate that fact that they’d rather be somewhere else lol. The workers change all the time and I’m guessing that it has something to do with management. Anyway, other than the issue of poor customer service, this is definitely a must try place in Hilo. It gets mega busy in the morning so if you’re going for breakfast I suggest you go early! Oh and don’t be afraid to ask others in line what they’re waiting to get because that’s how you get the dets on the good stuff.

First off I waited almost 1 hour in line. Then the lady I got stuck with in helping me with my order was so rude! Instead of her waiting till I finished telling her my order she walks away! Then when I go to ask her to add a drink to my order she has the nerve to tell me I need to order my drink the same time I place my food order. I’m sorry but I did try to order it but you walked away before I could. Don’t think I’ll be going there again. I paid for my things and told the lady if she smiled more her day will be better. This place gets a big fat F! Will be going to kawamoto from now on at least their much more friendlier. The food is good.

There’s was really nothing left I got cone sushi and chicken. So go early and the workers don’t smile or welcome you really slow service and even worse customer service. Management should change the line direction also and tell his workers smile number one rule

Food… Ono! Service… hit and miss. Management needs to focus on customer service. Some of these counter clerks are RUDE! They act like you bothering them. If their customer service was better, I would give them 5 stars. I dare you to stand in line and watch the facial expressions of the counter clerks.

Came off the plane at 7am and my husband took me here for the first time he’s been here many times. Must say awesome Okazu there so many things to choose from loved every bit of it. wish they had brown hot dogs instead of red and GoBo but other then that must eat when your here

Located in the quiet town of Hilo, Hilo Lunch Shop is one of my favorite okazuyas. They offer delicious entrees that you can choose from to include in your personal bento.
I’m a simple (or picky, depending on who you ask) eater. I went with the nori chicken, hot dog musubi, vegetable tempura, cone sushi, and hash patty. The hash patty was good — it was fluffy and the standard okazuya fare. The same goes for the cone sushi — standard item in an okazuya shop (not to take away from the fact that it is delicious; I was always a sucker for sushi rice). The hot dog musubi was more unique to this shop and was tasty — I love the combo of hot dog, takuan, and furikake. The nori chicken was great because it wasn’t oily and seasoned well (definitely not the bland piece of chicken I was expecting). It was a perfect portion size too. However, my favorite item was the vegetable tempura. I was lucky enough to get a fresh piece, so it was perfectly crisp and not oily and/​or soggy. I loved it. It reminded me of my favorite okazuya when I was growing up (they closed, unfortunately). I have to admit that I wish it had a bit more seasoning, but the texture was spot on.
What really makes me give them the 5 stars is the customer service. There was a line when I got there, but I was expecting that. However, while I was waiting in line, I kept looking and I couldn’t see any vegetable tempura available (I was really looking forward to the tempura). When I got to order, I asked about it and the employee said that they were currently out… then she said she’ll go in the back to check for me. Mid rush. For some, this may be expected as customer service, but for me, it was a big deal because I really was looking forward to trying their tempura. Lo and behold… she comes back out with one piece of freshly fried tempura. I was estactic. And the tempura certainly exceeded expectations. Totally. Worth. The. Wait.

You haven’t visited Hawaii or Hilo without coming here for some great local food.

Overall impression:
Outstanding taste and great value for what you get.
Avg price: depending on how much you eat, $ 6 – 10 for lunch, ~$ 1/​piece of food
Tips:
–come early! food runs out by 11/​12ish
Positives:
–the food is just outstanding
–cheap
Negatives:
–only open for breakfast or lunch
–food runs out
–long line (which shows how good it is)
–probably not the healthiest (but seriously, who cares?)
There have been more than enough reviews on here to convince you of how great this place is. Let me just say that I ordered about 12 different things and they were all excellent. In fact, many were better than I’ve had at other okazuyas. And very cheap for what you get. I try to come here whenever I come to Hilo. Just bee sure to get there early.

Absolutely amazing food. BUT YOU GOTTA GO EARLY. They often run out of things because they are so popular. The line moves rather slowly but that gives you a good amount of time to figure out what you want. I highly recommend this place. It also has the hole-​in-​the-​wall feel, which is something that u always desire. If you are looking for local, Japanese-​Hawaiian food that’s from «grandma’s kitchen» go ahead and stop by Hilo Lunch Shop.

This place is one of my favorite okazuya joints. If you can get there early, then that’s great for you because the line gets long real quick real fast. Regardless if there’s a lot of people, don’t get discouraged, the food is worth waiting in line for. Customer service is awesome. About 5 – 6 associates helping multiple customers at once to alleviate the line.
When my wife and I get the chance to hit that spot, we get the box lunch. We usually get the Spam musubis, hot dog musubis, Nori Chicken, Shrimp Tempura, Hash patties, and Yakitori Chicken. There are so much good choices! All that food goes a long way.
I highly recommend Hilo Lunch Shop! Good local food with great customer service!

The ladies at hilo lunch shop are amazing, always so happy to help me and the food is so ono!!! I especially I’ve the laulau…

Few restaurants get five stars from me, but there’s something so nostalgic and enjoyable about Hilo Lunch Shop that I must extend a hand of generosity. From order-​by-​the-​piece shrimp and fish tempura to spam musubi, warabi salad, and fried chicken, Hilo Lunch Shop boasts bento-​style foods put into a box for enjoyment with family and friends or just by yourself. Checkout a great review by Corey Masao Johnson:
.

Our flight got in at a crazy early time – think 6am, and the first thing on my mind was food! I was on the hunt to get my hands on some warabi salad, but it was a little too early in the morning, and the warabi wasn’t out yet. All good though, since we were already there, how could I say no to all the other okazuya goodies to choose from?!
Talk about goodies – there are so many delectable looking items out on the okazuya line that it’s easy to go overboard while ordering. My parents picked up a bento to share between the two of them for $ 5. Me and the BF however, went a little nuts and got a ton of food for $ 15!
My favorites include the nori chicken, nishime, corn beef hash patties, and the spam musubi! Nori chicken is now easily one of my favorite foods! Super easy to eat, simple and tasty. Easily one of my new favorites! I loved the light texture of the corn beef hash patties too, even though I’m not typically a huge fan of corned beef! I loved how light it was, and easy it was to eat in patty form. The spam musubis are absolutely heavenly, and I loved how fluffy and light the rice was. Pass on the cucumber kimchi though, this was just OK compared to the amazingness of everything else.
Even at a super early hour, the line here was real! I always get nervous at okazuya joints, and this was no exception. With so many hungry people behind me, and so many goodies laid out before me, oh mannnnnn. The ladies here are super efficient though, and get through with orders quick! Definitely a must visit if in Hilo!

This place is great for picking up a quick to-​go lunch. So many choices to choose from. If you’re the indecisive type then just do what I do, while waiting in line listen to what other people are ordering and get the same thing. I did that and ended up with an ume musubi ($ 0.85), nori chicken ($ 1), vegetable tempura ($ 0.95), sweet potato tempura ($ 0.90), and long rice ($ 1.45). Total with tax, $ 5.36. Not bad for the amount of food (see picture).
As you can see, you order everything a la cart. If you’re not careful you can end up with a feast suitable for a small army, so try not to get carried away. But either way, everything I’ve tried there I liked. My favorite is probably the nori chicken. The vegetable tempura was also very good. I recommend starting off with those two and then just go from there. Have fun!

Hilo Lunch Shop is one of those okazuya’s that take you to a bygone era where you purchase those tasty noshes to go with your rice and let’s just say… a lot of things are fried.
Or not…
When we asked people what to get from Hilo Lunch Shop, one thing kept coming up over and over: the Mustard Cabbage Maki Sushi. It definitely was different and something to try out, but was it that much better than a traditional maki sushi roll? No, but definitely worth trying and I have to say better than their maki sushi roll.
Eggplant is supposed to be healthy right? Well, what if you add a piece of spam, tempura batter it, and then fry it? Not so healthy anymore. It definitely was different and very filling. Flavor is definitely something acquired and on the heavier side.
The fried chicken was good, but check out their nori chicken. It was different and added a nice briny flavor to the traditional saltiness you would expect. The tempura is definitely respectable and nothing to sneer at.
Service is generally quick and the line moved pretty quickly even though there were certain people buying up a storm. Prices are very reasonable (by Honolulu standards, never really tried to compare it in Hilo though) and you can definitely get your bang for your buck here.
Word of advice: Go early, things can sell out pretty quickly and you definitely do not want to be the one to not get some tasty goodness!

I’m not gonna lie to you… hopping between islands several times a week is a grind! But one of the «bennys» about traveling, is getting to eat a different places.
This past week I had to go to the big island on Monday, & Wednesday. On Monday, after driving back from Kamuela to Hilo, I made my way to the Hilo Lunch Shop around 2 PM. Guess what??? They were closed… can you say «Loser!» Lol!!!
Well, I hate to lose and be turned away, so on Wednesday I made my way back again! And guess what??? WINNAS bruddah!!!
I been to this place several times… but haven’t been here recently. I remembered this place was run by a nice local family, and that the food served here (okazuya style) was all so ono!!!
Well, nothing has changed… in fact, I think the food was even better than I remembered it to be!
Only problem with ordering okazuya style food… well, at least for me… is that my eyes are BIGGER, than my stomach! When I walked in, I just started ordering up, and to be truthful, I was trying to hold myself back, cuz there were so many onolishes stuff over there.
I ordered the following that day…
1. Ume Musubi
2. Fried Chicken (2 piece)
3. Nori Fried Chicken (1 piece)
4. Shrimp Tempura
5. Egg Omlet or Egg Foo Young
6. Veggie Temura
7. And to wash all of this down… a bottled water.
All of this for $ 11.57, not bad for okazuya.
I must say, what I really liked about Hilo Lunch Shop’s food, was that most of the items I picked up like the — fried chicken, nori fried chicken, & shimp tempura, was that the food was still kinda warm/​hot.
I found that kinda cool, as if you know about okazuya… most times the food is served cold, as they usually cook the food early in the morning, then sell it through out the day… when they sell out the items, then that’s it.
The fried chicken I ate was all so crispy, and warm. When I bit into it, it squirted out it’s delicious juices, and the skin was all so crunchy! The fried chicken was not oily at all. Ummmmmm nom, nom, nom, nom!!! Whoa, feel like I gotta go back again! Lol!!!
Lots of parking in the private parking lot. There is no seating inside, as this is a grab & go kinda place. Very popular with the locals, and it was quite busy on Wednesday (the day I was there). Check ‘em out gang… no can go wrong!

One of my favorite places in Hilo. We made a stop here right before our road trip south. Luckily, there was only one person ahead of us in line. By the time we were done with our order, the line was literally out the door.
The vegetable tempura was a delicious huge mound of fried veggies… Nori chicken and Korean chicken were both good. We also enjoyed the cone sushi and fish cake. For a medium sized box full of goodies, we spent around $ 17. For the variety and amount of food we got, I think I got my money’s worth.
Any of the fried food is definitely best when consumed right away. Otherwise, don’t be surprised if it’s a little soggy after a little while. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my food and I will definitely make another stop here on my next vacation. The only downside is they close pretty early.

Hilo Lunch Shop was our first stop when we got to Hilo from our hotel in Waikoloa. It is kind of hidden about a block away from the main highway, but it was easy to find with GPS. We got there a little before lunch time, but the line was 8 or 9 deep already. Luckily, all of the food is prepared already, and they have 3 or 4 people helping you at the same time. Our wait time was only about 5 minutes in line. We ordered:
2 Shrimp tempura: not bad, but by the time we got to our picnic area, it was a little cold and soggy
2 Spam musubi: good, and pretty large-​sized
2 Fishcakes: not bad (a little too much cake part: wish it had more fish)
4 chicken nori: this was really good. Although the pieces of chicken (thigh meat?) were small, I liked the addition of the nori wrap around it.
1 beansprout salad: good (got to have some veggies, right?)
All this food was boxed up for only $ 13, which is a pretty good deal. We were going to stop by before heading to the airport the next day, but we thought we were running a little late and decided to head straight to the airport (bad decision: we didn’t realize how easy it would be to refurn the car and go through security at Hilo Airport).
If you are in Hilo, definitely stop by here for breakfast (I believe that they open at 5 AM) or lunch for some good and cheap food.

Good okazuya food. Order ahead so you don’t have to wait in line.
My daughter and I love the ogo salad. My friend from Oahu loves the warabi salad and fish cake. My son always gets the spam musubi and nori chicken. They have a wide variety of food to please all kinds of people.
Great place to get a picnic meal. Go early! The food sells out quickly.

One of the many delicious okazuya in Hilo is Hilo Lunch Shop. They’ve got a pretty big selection of items, and everything I’ve tasted was delish! I especially enjoyed the sweet potato tempura, and the nori chicken. They also have some hot and spicy boiled peanuts that are a great buy.
The person helping me was pretty courteous and helpful, but some of my other friends who had other people helping them said that they got some pretty grumpy people.
The Good: Tasty food, low prices, big selection, Hot and Spicy boiled peanuts!
The Bad: Not in Honolulu, some workers are kinda grumpy