Back Alley Café

This place is dope both for locals and tourists. Tons of drink options at competitive prices. Friendly servers and solid service. I guess it’s been around a little over a year, bummed I only found out abt it now, but better late than never. I’ll be back nxt time I’m home w/​friends…

A friend and I came to check this place out before heading to a concert. This place is a little difficult to find if you’re unfamiliar with the area, but thanks to the magic of Google, we were able to locate it. As soon as we arrived we went straight for the cheap beer and menu sets. We saw on the other help reviews on the spicy chicken, so that was of course on our to eat list! We also got the tofu salad-​yum– and soy beans. Let me just say, best bar food ever! The spicy chicken was SO SPICY, I was considering changing my drink from
Beer to Milk! Don’t get me wrong, it was a painful delicious spicy, it was too addicting to stop! The food here is a Major Plus!
The bar itself is pretty small, has about 8 tables, seats 4 – 6 per table. The whole wall of the bar has flat screen tvs playing kpop music videos and songs in the background. If anyone is familiar with café duck butt, this is a slightly more chill place than there! Service was on point, food definitely on point, and prices were very decent! Definitely a place worth checking out!

Some friends and I decided to try back alley café since we have not been there before. I called ahead of time and found out that they have 2 private karaōke rooms. They do not charge for the use of the room but you have to pay $ 1 per song and there’s no outside food allowed but they have food and drinks that can be purchased there. Sounded good so I made reservations for a private room. The parking was a bit difficult since there’s only a small parking area and if it is full, you have to find parking on the road. None the less, we found parking and went inside. Our server showed us to our room, she explained how to use the karaōke machine and turned on the disco light. She explained that the room came with dimming lights, an AC that you can control, and a call button if we needed any help. We ordered a whole bunch of food from loaded nachos to mandoo to sushi and more! Everything that we ordered was really good!!! This little places sure pushes out some good grinds! Prices are reasonable too. We also ordered some drinks which was on point also! I must say that I was pretty impressed with this little place. Not one dish that we ordered (and we ordered somewhere around 12 dishes) was junk! We will definitely be back to try some of the other dishes! If you haven’t tried back alley café, give it a try.

This place is the best karaōke/​restaurant thus far! Since there have been so many of these popping up ever since café duck butt, I would like to share the differences on what makes this place stand out. First of all the:
FOOD is probably the biggest difference. The other places are pretty much mostly korean bar food but this place is a mix of local favorites with their own personal twist. Foods like their Kumamoto Oysters which is so fresh and prepared with the standard ponzu and ikura. Their Hamachi Jalapeño roll is also fresh. I believe they get their fish from top tier sushi restaurants like Morio’s and Mitch’s. If sea food isn’t your thing then don’t worry, they have the typical bar food as well like their Kalua Pig Nachos which was also very good. Well plated and generous with the Jalapenos. For all you Mentaiko Pasta fans, they got it here too and it’s delicious! So far, I have been here twice and I have never ordered a dish that I wasn’t completely satisfied with. The PRICE for their food is very reasonable for their quality and quantity.
Their Alcoholic beverages are above average except for the beer. They have the typical sojus and a fine selection of hard liquor. The beer is mostly domestic but they have pitchers and towers available for Coors Light and Stella Artois.
The second thing that really separates this place from their competition is the KARAOKE! Like their competitor, they have rooms that you can reserve free of charge as long as you’re ordering food and drinks. Songs are 1 dollar per song but their selection of ENGLISH songs is the best I have seen for these types of establishments. They have TWO books of English songs. YES TWO BOOKS OF ENGLISH SONGS which are separated in letters of A — M & N — Z. They have three rooms. The smallest room can fit about 5 – 6 and the medium room about 10 and the Large room about 15. The sound system in the small room needs tuning but the sound system in their large room was the best.
The ENVIRONMENT on the inside is totally not what you’d expect from the outside. The outside totally gives a grungy dark back alley type feel but on the inside they are very modern and well lit; kinda like myself. PARKING is mostly street but there are lots of street parking around this area. You just have to walk a little and bring mace or a baseball bat or something.
Their SERVICE has been very friendly on both occasions and no mistakes on our orders. I will warn that the food sometimes takes a little longer to come out but to me, I am okay with that based on the quality. Overall, after coming to a place like this, I can’t go back to the others (Their Competition) unless they get so busy that it makes it impossible to dine here. Solid 5 stars for me!

Awesome hole in the wall, great for drinks and gourmet foods! Back Alley doesn’t serve the typical bar foods and that’s what sets it apart. We met the owner and learned that he is a graduate of Gros Bonnet Culinary School. He’s a really nice guy. Must try items are: Kumamoto oysters, uni, sashimi deluxe, steak and pretty much everything else. You can really tell that they take pride in the food they serve.
The atmosphere is also great! Not the type of bar with little kids itching to make trouble. It’s actually really chill and upscale, but you couldn’t tell from the outside.
Customer service was also exceptional as the servers would check in to see if we needed anything, and also brought ordered items right away. My boyfriend and I will definitely be back!

Hole in the wall! Food was really good! Been there a few times. Every time seems like food taste better. I highly recommend chicken Karage. Mentaiko is amazing too. Different and better than many I’ve tried. Compliments to the chef!

From the outside, Back Alley Café looks like a little random hole in the wall restaurant, however, once you enter it’s a much different atmosphere. It is a really nice restaurant, with plenty of tables and really good music playing. A big bonus was that the music wasn’t too loud where I couldn’t hear the conversation on my table. They also have private karaōke rooms that are $ 1 a song and there is no charge to use the room. There’s a small parking lot and plenty of street parking nearby. It’s located right behind McDonald’s on Keeaumoku and right next to Meadow Gold.
They also have one of the better happy hours I’ve seen in a long time with a variety of food and beer on special. Happy hour is daily from 530 – 745. We ordered a items off the happy hour menu and their regular menu such as spicy chicken wings, agedashi tofu, chicken karaage, and a dragon roll. All the food was really flavorful, but the spicy chicken wings really stood out. The chicken is covered in a sweet glaze sauce which had so much flavor. The chicken was cooked perfectly and had a nice crisp skin on each wing.
Back Alley Café is one of my new favorite happy hour spots. The next time I go I’ll just get two orders of the chicken and some beer and call it a night haha.

I’ve graced the doors of this establishment twice so far. Both with friends who are regulars of the Back Alley.
I have read various post, and I can only assume that the individuals who gave low reviews believed they were in a family establishment or some sophicated lounge. For disclosure, this is a man’s bar. Raw and fun. This place is awesome because of its unique atmosphere.
The staff, in particular Nicole and Alex took good care of me and my friends at the bar. Not to forget, Clark the sushi chef was extremely personable and told great tales, reminiscent of a man’s bar.
I would strongly recommend this bar to my comrades.

I’ve always appreciated how immaculate and well-​maintained Back Alley is. The overall temperature is set just right and A/​C well-​balanced. The lighting and décor are nice. Wait and bar staff are always pleasant; newbies and regulars alike are greeted upon entering. At the bar, the counter is always spotless and neatly set up. Same goes for the bathroom. These first impressions still hold true today.
Parking: Approx. 8 – 10 oblique stalls available. If the lot is maxed out, either double-​park or find street parking. Best bets are the adjoining street by Meadow Gold, or further makai along Sheridan.
Food: The sushi bar selections are quite popular, as are the mentaiko pastas and various Korean menu items. The garlic fried rice and pork chops are good too. One time, Tony made me an omelette by request. Call it a late-​night craving.
Drink: Domestic, green bottle, and Japanese beer selections. There’s a Stella dispenser too. I usually drink whatever cabernet is available. Standard well and premium lineup of gin, vodka, tequila, etc. Lots of whiskies. Sake, shochu, and yogurt soju selections as well.
Karaōke rooms are available, although typically they are reserved in advance. There are two machine setups, at least in the largest room — one machine is geared more towards Korean/​Japanese songs. A single cash depository serves both of them. $ 1/​song. Be sure to flip the switch/​button should you alternate machines between songs. Just ring the buzzer in the room, should you need assistance.
Generally, is the music loud? Yes. Are there endless streams of K-​Pop music videos? You betcha. Then again, it’s not intended to be a sit-​down restaurant with Vivaldi music playing in the background.

I don’t quite understand the stellar reviews! You’ve got to be kidding me! The sashimi and sushi here is not fresh at all! How could you serve slightly brownish sushi? Such a waste… Unilocal you have failed me again!

–For those of you who are unfamiliar with Back Alley, it is pretty much a Korean sports bar with a great atmosphere. I’ll admit, it is a hidden gem. Back Alley is one of the best late night sushi spots. I LOVE THEIR HAMACHI AND OYSTERS. The quality is GREAT and the pricing is even better! *Warning, their oysters are limited, so come in early for those guys!
–Not only is Back Alley a great sushi joint, it’s a place where you can sing your heart out. That’s right, they have a Karaōke room packed with the latest hits. Heads up, it is a dollar a song.
–I think one of the things that I like the best about Back Alley is their melon soju… mmmmm, it is definitely a creeper.
–Of course, the service here is great. The owners seems very down to earth and the ladies are very attentive and friendly. They did a great job of making sure that I was having a good time. I think their fast service comes from having a bell system in their private room. It makes it easy to call them when the music is loud.
–The only thing I have to complain about is parking. Their lot is small but I guess street parking makes up for it.
Bottom line: 10/​10, would recommend!

Although the parking lot on the right side of BAC is small we didn’t have any trouble parking.
We were warmly greeted when we walked in and the great service continued through our meal.
The daily special was Kailua pork sliders, which came with a side of golden fries. The sliders were my husband’s favorite. The bbq sauce with onion rings and soft bread made one yummy sammich.
My favorite was the mentaiko pasta. I think it’s hard to find perfectly cooked al dente pasta in Honolulu but the chef definitely nailed it. My husband who hates fish roe actually really enjoyed it. I will be coming back just for this dish.
The spicy chicken wings were delicious. Based on previous Unilocalers I was expecting spicy but it was actually pretty mild but still enjoyable.
I can’t quite put my finger on it but the back alley roll was not very good… It was a California roll with ahi inside, topped with salmon and the black roe. I think the salty roe made the salmon taste like smoked salmon and the textures just didn’t do it for me. But I’ll still try a different sushi next time.
Great food, great service, comfy booths, and decent prices. Five stars all around.

Back Alley Café is now my favorite place for happy hour! I first heard about it when I read last week’s Weekly Unilocal and saw Back Alley Café listed under «The Happiest Hours of the Day.» After checking out the pictures and reviews, I couldn’t wait to come here!
Back Alley Café is located near Meadow Gold, across from McDonald’s. It is easy to miss because the entrance isn’t flashy and there aren’t a lot of other food places nearby. They have a parking lot with 8 – 10 spots. There is also a lot of street parking nearby.
The interior is clean and swanky with multiple TVs mounted on the walls playing K-​pop music videos. I enjoyed watching them even though I am not too familiar with the K-​pop scene. The service was excellent. We got menus and water as soon as we sat down. Our water glasses were constantly refilled. Our food came out relatively quickly.
Oh yes, let me tell you about the food because it’s fantabulous!!! Back Alley Café has happy hour every day from 5:30 to 7:45 PM. We ordered the agedashi tofu ($ 7), spicy chicken wings ($ 11), and Back Alley roll ($ 10) off the happy hour menu and the spicy tuna lovers roll ($ 10) off the regular menu. Everything was so delicious! The agedashi tofu was one of my favorites of the night. There were four tall, plump servings of perfectly fried tofu topped with bonito flakes, nori, negi, and mentaiko. The hot tentsuyu broth was very tasty and I was impressed by how delicately crispy the tofu was. The spicy chicken wings were juicy on the inside and perfectly fried on the outside. The special Back Alley sauce was sweet with just a bit of kick. The Back Alley roll is a chef’s special so it changes from day to day. Ours came with salmon, maguro, and black tobiko. I love spicy tuna so I quite enjoyed the spicy tuna lovers roll.
Our friends ordered the salmon skin salad ($ 7), mentaiko pasta ($ 9), and chef’s special hand rolls (2 for $ 7) off the happy hour menu and the sunset roll ($ 14) off the regular menu. I got to try bites of the salmon skin salad and mentaiko pasta. Both were very good.
Overall, everyone in the group was impressed by Back Alley Café. The food here is incredible for the price and I am surprised more people don’t seem to know about this place. One of the best-​kept secrets in Honolulu? I think yes.

Back Alley Café is… a karaōke bar that serves sushi with pretty girls dressed in night club attire all while loud Korean & English songs blare through the speakers. Well, at least that’s what I took away from my experience last Friday night.
Back Alley Café is located right behind Walmart/​McDonalds and next to a mechanic garage. There weren’t any assigned stalls for the bar that I saw, so we found street parking. We arrived at 6PM, and quickly got seated at a nice booth in the corner.
What drew me to visit BAC was their EARLY HAPPY HOUR! Happy hour is from 5:30PM-7:45PM, and consists of cheaper beers and a vast menu of pupu items. We ordered a wide arrangement of pupus as well as a pitcher of Stella ($ 14). Some highlights were the Mentaiko Pasta ($ 9), the Back Alley Roll, and the Kimchee Pancake. The Mentaiko Pasta was perfectly au dente with just enough saltiness from the roe. They offer a version with mayo which I’m interested to try next time. The Back Alley Roll is a surprise roll created by the chef. For ours, it was a spicy salmon roll with salmon on top… Delicious! The Kimchee Pancake is not offered on the happy hour menu, but this dish was so yummy, I’d highly recommend trying. TIP: Ask for extra dipping sauce, since this dish is huge!
Service here was alright… KUDOS to the male server for amazing service from start to finish, but it seemed a bit forced whenever the female clubber/​server would come to our table and check up on us. What really dropped the rating for BAC was that the wait time for food was a bit long (only one other party in bar the whole time) and that the music was WAYYY too loud (could barely hear over the table).
Other than that, BAC is a solid bar if you’re looking for somewhere to just drink and grind. I’ll be back someday…

I usually never Unilocal,but this café/​bar is underrated and clean, and there were two karaōke rooms, it gives you something to do while you drink. I was impressed with the karaōke, it was updated with the latest songs! I ordered the kalua nachos and fish egg pasta to see what the hype was about, the nachos are a MUST! it takes a while to make, be definitely worth the wait! The pasta was featured in a magazine so I went ahead and ordered it, it was very tasty and not overwhelming. The staff was INCREDIBLE, they were super friendly and checked on us periodically, I’m usually the one having to wait around for service, but they beat me to it! Overall, I had a great experience and will go back every time we visit the island!

For a long time, I considered bars to be my husband’s thing and stayed away from anywhere new. But in the past year I’ve come to appreciate solid happy hours, drink specials, and perhaps most importantly, good food to tie it all together.
Back Alley, near Meadow Gold and the back side of Keeaumoku McDonald’s, is in an area better known for hostess bars and everybody’s favorite multinational retail corp, Walmart. It’s not a place I’d seek out, but it came highly recommended by my husband and friends.
So we ended up there on a Saturday night and I couldn’t have been happier with our experience. Clean, amazing service, cheap beer, consistent refills on water, and the food. Oh, the food. Great sushi at fair prices (made right in front of you if you sit at the bar), a huge bowl of garlic fries for less than $ 5, and delicious oysters (a little pricier but definitely quality).
I think I died and went to bar heaven.
The only thing I wouldn’t recommend is the sparkling cherry limeade soju, which sounded so promising but wasn’t complex or flavorful to us. Even so, it really was a treat to experience this place for the first time and I’m excited to come back and bring friends!

Went for a late night Drinky Session (10:30pm). Took my Niece for a belated birthday drinks n pupus… Beers was ice cold, thee Melona Soju was awesome… We ordered the Rib Eye Steak, Mentaiko Pasta, n thee KimChee Pancake… everything was Delish!!! Not bad the prices for Drinks n Food. Would definitely go again with all my nieces n sisters (15) can’t wait for our next episode

I’m very partial to certain bars that’s why I normally don’t travel outside a certain area. If the bar is good I usually always return, this happens to be one of those bars.
Parking: The parking lot is super small, so most of the time you need to find street parking. I would take a star away but it isn’t their fault.
Atmosphere: You can really tell it’s a Korean bar the second you enter. Korean pop music and videos playing and beautiful Korean girl workers around you.
Food: The food is awesome. I’ve had a bunch of different things on the menu but the fish and seafood are fresh which is a plus. I work at a sushi restaurant so the quality of my sashimi is of the utmost importance. Honestly I’m wondering if they tend to have different food specials not on the menu because the owner is also one of the chefs always creating new things. I want to try some crazy concoction he can think of (coughs if you read this) let me sample!
Drinks: Full bar, and they recently got new items a sparkling soju and another type of rice soju. I forgot the name of the other one but the sparkling soju is awesome. You can barely taste the alcohol of not at all. But, trust me from first hand experience that thing can mess you up big time.
So after drinking and eating great food you either watch the Korean pop music videos or karaōke in one of the two rooms. I rather just chat with the beautiful workers mouth open half the time drooling. Probably had too much to drink who knows? But, I always have a fun time when I come here and that’s all that matters to me.

Attended a birthday party here and we had the big karaōke room reserved. The sound system was pretty good, but song selection heavily Korean and a strong bit of a tin-​y thin treble reverb vocal effect. I messed with the settings a bit and it got better.
A couple of the seats in the big room were pretty busted (to the immediate left as you enter the room) but the lighting and screens are nice.
The spicy chicken wings were good and seafood korean pancake tasty with flavorful soju combinations. Our waitresses were so amazingly awkward which made for a really fun time every time they came by. They were super nice and sweet but man so awkward. I initially thought it was a ploy but after trying a few Jedi mind tricks it became apparent that those were the droids I was looking for and they are genuinely awkward – but oh so fun and cool. Message me if you know exactly what I’m talking about – so I know I’m not crazy here…
The one drawback was that with the door left open the smokers smoking outside the door crop dusted the place decently so it kinda felt like an old school bar experience in that regard but if you have pulmonary sensitivities just be aware. A scoped out the two other Karaōke rooms which were smaller but looked good fun.

I was here three days in the past week! Need I say more? Well, of course… This is still a Unilocal review after all! There’s street parking available if their small lot gets filled up so that’s not a huge concern… They have a pretty sweet happy hour from 5:30 — 7:45pm (the best deal is the $ 9 mentaiko pasta… yum!).
They also have amazing combo deals Sunday — Wednesday (all day). There are different combos you can choose from, but I usually go with yogurt soju, corn cheese, and the back alley roll ($ 28). There are more expensive combos as well.
Like everyone says, the sushi here is really good! The Back Alley Roll is a constant surprise as it’s the chef’s choice. The spicy tuna lovers is also amazing as there is spicy tuna in and on the top of the roll. Oh, all the rolls are delicious. Prices aren’t cheap, but they aren’t outrageous either. (~$ 12 — $ 14 per roll).
The spicy korean chicken is also delicious (caution: this dish gets spicier and spicier as you eat it!) and has corn in it! The corn provides small relief from the intense spiciness… but it’s oh-​so-​good. I believe this dish is on the happy hour menu.
The only small gripe I have is that sometimes the music is too loud… I always feel like I’m yelling at the person next to me (which isn’t a problem when I’m drinking). The music videos shown on the TVs are a mixture of American and Korean music. Never tried their karaōke room but it looks like they only have two available.
Located in sketchy surroundings but it’s a gem! They also have 151 shots for $ 6 for those crazy, crazy nights.

I was celebrating with my homie tonight, and we were originally planning on going to Gyotaku tonight, but after getting to the restaurant & seeing a lot of people waiting outside for a table, we decided to scratch that idea, as we really didn’t want to wait,
After driving around a bit, we ended up at a place called Back Alley Café. My homie told me he had gone there once, and it was a small café/​bar where it was chill and we could probably get some pupus & drinks.
Upon walking into the café, the place was packed tonight, & all the tables were taken so we ended up sitting at the bar.
For a small café, they seem to do pretty well. We got there just early enough so we were able to order some spicy tuna hand rolls which were part of the «Happy Hour» specials. We really didn’t know what else to order, so lucky for us our friendly waitress suggested the Spicy Chicken Wings, and a tofu dish. She also mentioned the nachos & a pasta dish were pretty good, but we decided to pass on it, as we had to make some room for the brews we were gonna have.
What can I say about the grindz! I must say this little café made some pretty ono grindz! I totally enjoyed every dish we had tonight!
The spicy tuna hand roll was all so fresh.
The spicy chicken wings was AWESOME! I’ve never anything like that before, as the sauce they made was so unique. The sauce for the spicy chicken was on the sweet side, yet it had a kick of spice. The most usual thing I saw on the sauce was sweet corn. At 1^st I thought it was kinda weird, but after taking a bite of the chicken… I totally fell in love with this dish!
The Tofu dish we had was very yummy! The tofu was so smooth… just like buddah! And it was topped with some kind of seaweed & dried shrimp? The sauce for the tofu was also good too…
The décor of the café was a bit trendy… clean, & well lighted. I think they have Karaōke too… but I did not see anyone singing.
I did not see any parking for this place, but I was lucky enough to find free street parking on Sheridan Street.
Overall, a pretty good place to go for a pau hana Friday… but the best thing about coming here was that I got to spend some quality time with my friend,

I have to admit I was drawn to this place by a picture of sushi with uni and quail egg, but they were apologetically out of uni the day that I visited Back Alley. Like a big girl, I perused the menu for other ‘ono looking choices and I have to say that my overall experience left me feeling as though I found a new place to just hang out, drink, and get my grind on.
«To grind» verb. «To consume with great enthusiasm». One may also colloquially say, «to mop». Hey, my students teach me new words everyday but since Back Alley is a bar I didn’t want to create any confusion with my choice of words.
We tried the salmon skin salad, agedashi tofu, karaage chicken, dukbokki, and the butter tobiko pasta. Our server also recommended the Asahi Black since I was looking for Guinness. The only dish we, my Korean boyfriend and I, would probably avoid ever getting again is the dukbokki. It just wasn’t what we were accustomed to. For me it tasted like ketchup but saltier. The butter tobiko pasta however was THE BEST PASTA dish that I have EVER had. It had just the right amount of flavor, including a little bit of spice. I definitely do not work out enough to eat that every day but it is going on my list of Top 5 flavors.
We ordered everything off of the Happy Hour menu. Ok, now here is the best thing about Back Alley. It’s not just that I love that pasta. It’s not just that they have great service. It’s that their Happy Hour menu leaves you feeling happy because you arrived at the best time to receive food at a discounted price. The serving sizes were still large enough to share. Most places I visit, Happy Hour means that I get to taste a small portion of an entrée. Back Alley knows, wassup. And I appreciate it though let this be my warning to those of you who are used to being cheated out of Happy Hour, prepare to get your grind on!
Still, much like that tingly feeling you get at the end of a first date that went well, I can’t wait to return … Hopefully next time I’ll get some. And by that I mean, uni with quail egg.