Highway Inn

This was my maiden voyage to Highway Inn… finally. Heard lots about it and made it a point to check in out. From the moment I walked in the door I felt like I was going to my grandma’s house. It just felt so comforting and felt so relaxed.
I love breakfast and have a habit of critiquing a place based on its corned beef hash, please don’t ask me why. Needless to say Highway Inn did not disappoint. They dont make their own corned beef for the patties but they are almost okazu-​ya style patties… big ones, smothered in luscious brown gravy. Absolutely delish!
I will definitely have to come back to try other things on the breakfast menu but I will definitely be coming back for lunch and I can’t wait.

Sad to say I was a little disappointed. I was very excited to try this location since it’s a little closer to our house. The hostess wasn’t that pleasant. Our server was friendly but inattentive. The food was mediocre. We ordered Hawaiian plates and a side of fried rice for my son. The only thing I’d order again would be the fried rice, which is kinda sad considering I went there for the Hawaiian food. Even the haupia tasted watered down. The only upside was it was a cleaner and newer than the Waipahu location. Guess we’ll just have to make the trip to the Highway Inn in Waipahu.

Tried the squid luau, beef stew, poi, and Shoyu poke. Squid luau is excellent, large chunks of Ika with good flavor. Beef stew had hardly any meat, no carrots, and needed more flavor. The Shoyu poke was excellent, large fresh chunks of ahi and Shoyu sauce was delicious! The only downside to this experience was how expensive everything was and how ridiculously long the wait was. Do not go here on your lunch break you will spend the entire time waiting for your food with absolutely no time to site and enjoy it. Considering how many cooks and line cooks you can visibly see from the dining room the wait time should not be this long.

Please do yourself a favor and order the salt meat watercress soup. It is an amazing dish that brings back childhood memories from tūtū’s kitchen.

Beautiful atmosphere with excellent décor. The service wasn’t that great as you will get 4 to 5 different servers. I prefer 1 dedicated server. Beware of their pancakes as they completely smother it with sweet sause and although it says it comes with it on the menu, they do not tell you it is smothered. The Loco Moco was good with the hamburger meat being cooked well and lots to offer.

First time trying Highway Inn. I had the plantation mixed plate and my date had the tofu salad with «shiitake bacon.» The mixed plate has 3 pieces of kal bi short ribs, 3 small pieces of chicken and a piece of panko-​crusted fish. Comes with rice and a side of kim chee. The chicken was tender but lacked flavor. The fish was crispy on the outside but dry on the inside. Lucky thing there was tartar sauce and shoyu. The kal bi had the most taste of the 3 meats. The kim chee was average also. The tofu salad was deemed delicious and the «bacon» was a nice touch. Also had the chocolate haupia shortbread dessert. That was ‘ono and only $ 3.75. I’ll try their Hawaiian food (lau lau, kalua pua’a, etc.) next time and see if that’s better. We sat at the bar and had pretty good service. Food: 2 stars, service 4 stars.
–
1÷17÷16 UPDATE based on the owner’s comment below that I was asked twice how my food was and said «fine»: You are right: I should have been more honest. Although I gave it a 2 («I’ve experienced better», which is true) I said I will still come back and try the other dishes.

On our last day of Hawaii on the way to the airport, we got Highway Inn to go. We were given recommendation by native Hawaiian from the Big Island who just moved to Oahu that Highway Inn was some of the best: Here are the pros and cons:
Pros:
1. Very moist and tender Lau Lau chicken
2. Ahi Tuna Poke was all that I was hoping
3. Taro potato
Cons:
1. Poi tasted very bitter. I should have gone for the rice.

Mmmm… one of my favorite foods is HAWAIIAN FOOD, AND so is my husband’s, and he hadn’t tried this place since they opened in town, and I was hesitant to take him here with all of the hawaiian food places he’d be able to compare it too.
Luckily, he loved it overall. I’d truly have to rate it a 4.5 actually because service was a little substandard. Customer service is the first impression, and honestly he wasn’t too impressed. Neither was I. Either the girl we had was really shy which I believe, or she’s never worked in restaurant service before. We tried getting as much information out of her regarding the food and what’s what, and my husband even shared with her that it was his first time there… but crickets… nothing. when it came to refilling the waters… my husband waited 5 minutes of not eating to wave down for more water. That didn’t sit well with him. He ended up asking to leave the water pitcher there, which she shyly agreed. The rating went from a 3.5 to 4.5!
We managed to get the super combos — Kalua pig and Chicken Long rice. Food came super quick. We tried 2 pokes which broke our wallets, and our mouths. We tried the sesame ahi poke and the spicy ahi. The spicy ahi poke was okay, but omg I finished up the sesame poke! It had that sesame taste and then a punch of salt that hit your taste buds midway through eating. Yummmm… my mouth is salivating just thinking of it…
Everything was up to par. Kalua pig, Lau lau, chicken long rice… my husband and I ate everuthing. And their portions were reasonable to price. Would I come here regularly for hawaiian food? Probably not because of the price, but for a night out with friends/​family to gather and to enjoy one of the best hawaiian food places, yes. What makes highway inn sifferent is that they offer a variety of other foods … sandwiches, salads, entrée plates, etc. The ambiance is much nicer than other holes in the walls, and its a lot bigger! Not to mention, its in the growings of kakaako! Our bill came out to $ 60 for two of us and my toddler. Not bad. Casual wear. Eat till you sleep.

I LOVE THIS PLACE! There are limited amounts of places on Oahu to get good Hawaiian/​local food, and this spot is one of them!
To start, their food is sooo ONO! Laulau, kalua pig, lomi salmon, haupia, poi, loco moco, etc… Everything is delicious! Almost as good as my family’s Hawaiian cooking lol I usually get either the Kalua pig or the laulau plate.
Like others have mentioned, it is way different than the Waipahu location but the food is still good. The restaurant looks nice and clean and the wait staff are really friendly, local people.
Whether you’re a local, tourist, or just in the mood for some good Hawaiian food, I would definitely say to give this spot a try!

If you are away from the beach and looking for some really traditional Hawaiian fares, this is a great little spot. I had a few of my co-​workers native to the island introduce me to this fantastic place. I had the Lau-​Lau with chicken and the poi.
Poi is clearly not my cup of tea, but the Lau Lau was perfectly cooked and delicious in it’s green, leafy wrap. The food was served on a tray reminiscent of a cafeteria lunch tray from school. It came with sweet potatoes which were fantastic and a coconut dessert which was also quite delicious.
Service isn’t fantastic, but got the job done. Pricing was reasonable. Not somewhere I’d eat for every meal, but a fun excursion while on the island!

A few months ago, the ratings of this place was pretty bad. A few days ago, I checked again to search for Hawaiian food and it went up. Improvements I see so why not go for it. I went with my friends on a Wednesday night, there was a line. My friend put down his name for 4 and we got a table in 15 minutes. This place reminds me of Arizona dining… weird.
Anyways, one of my friends recommended the combo meal. So I got the kalua pork combo that comes with brown rice, okinawan sweet potato, salad, and haupia pudding. We also ordered a kalua pork sweet potato nachos. The nachos has kalua pork, guacamole, salsa, cheese, and sweet potato chips. I think only here get this kine Hawaiian nachos. Yummy! Our food came a few minutes after. The kalua pork was a bit salty but the meat was cooked well. The salad dressing was bleh, don’t really like it. I love the purple sweet potato and the haupia pudding! I was really full eating all that carb. Argghhh!
I will be back when I want Hawaiian food. It’s a nice, local place to go to for sure!

To be honest, the first time we tried here, we weren’t very impressed with the food. In fact, we decided to not return to this place… until one day, the wife won a gift card to this place through a drawing. This was when we decided to go back and try it again. Our subsequent visits have allowed us to find food we both enjoy!
I was surprised that a restaurant with local acclaim could have mediocre Hawaiian food. The Lau Lau which I love in Hawaiian cuisine could have been less salty and a little bigger (at least for that price). The kalua pig could have been less oily and have less pieces of fat in it. It could have been that my visit there could have been an off day for that restaurant, but it turned me off of that place right away. However, upon returning to this establishment after my wife won a $ 100 gift card, I tried the more contemporary versions of Hawaiian cuisine like their version of Loco Moco which I am in love with now. I love that they served appetizers which consists of local ingredients, but are also artistic in their own way. To sum up, their food, I would give 4 stars.
The service, unfortunately for me, was not up to par. I was highly dissatisfied with my servers’ knowledge of the menu. Didn’t know a thing about the simplest parts of the menu. Yes, more than one server. The entire time, both my wife and I felt that they wanted us to leave so they can quickly turn over the table for the next customer. The only time we felt the service was better than expected was the last time we were patrons; when we used up what was left in the gift card; took four visits to use the entire amount! The last server was able to tell me accurately about the menu, describe the drink menu enough so I actually craved the coffee to the point where I had to order it. To sum up again, 2 stars for service.
We really like the fact that this place uses local ingredients to make their food.
Local dishes from loco moco to Hawaiian dishes such as Lau Lau can be found here. Although this restaurant is Hawaiian themed known supporting local farms, I believe a restaurant should have two main things: great food and/​or great service. All things considered, three stars awarded.
Keep supporting local, Happy Thanksgiving, and happy Unilocaling!

I visited this restaurant for lunch for the first time on Wednesday. I had been here for dinner multiple times before, but we always came for an early dinner and never had to wait for a table.
As soon as we walked in the door at around 12:30pm, I was so surprised to see the long line. There were about 5 parties ahead of us so we ended up waiting for about 35 minutes for a table.
By the time we were seated we already knew what we wanted to eat so we ordered right away. I ordered the hamburger with cheese and french fries ($ 12.30 plus $ 1.00 for the cheese). My grandma ordered a squid luau ($ 4.95), poi ($ 3.55) and haupia ($ 1.25). I had planned on taking pictures of all of our food but we had to wait awhile for our food so by the time it came out I was starving and dug right in. The hamburger is big island grass fed beef and it was very tasty! It comes on a taro bun with lettuce, tomato, and onion. My grandma really enjoyed her food too!
If you love Hawaiian food, this is definitely a place to check out! It’s a little pricer than other places but the food is really good! If you don’t want to wait in line, I recommend coming early.

Authentic Hawaiian Food.
This location us upscale and pretty busy most of the time. You can order all the food you don’t want to make at home. Squid Luau, Pipikaula, Poi.
I like that I can order whatever I want and not have to subject my dining partners to eat poi or raw onions. We can all choose what we want, Loco Moco, sandwiches, plate lunch. Yay. Put this place on your list if you are visiting Hawaii and leave the poi for me.

Great Hawaiian fooda can be found here. And you walk away with a full and happy belly.
The wait was worth it. We waited about 45 minutes during a busy lunch time rush. Once we were able to get seated, the service was good. The food was amazing. Our good came to our table pretty quickly. I think that we were eating at the tail end of the lunch time rush.
The LauLau hit the spot. As did the Loco Moco. The gravy was tasty on the Loco Moco.
I had been wanting to try this place for years. For some reason I never make it to the one in Waipahu. But found the time to stop by this one in town.
Parking was a little limited. We were lucky that we found a spot. There was someone in the parking lot guiding people to open stalls.
I can’t wait to come back for more Ono foods. Just writing this review made me want to go back now! LOL

Date: October 3, 2015
Where: Highway Inn Kaka’ako
Reason to go: Dinner before attending a comedy show
I arrived at Highway Inn around 7pm on Saturday night. I noticed that majority of the tables were all filled and the seats near the bar were available. The restaurant was very clean and I could hear the contemporary Hawaiian music being played from the speakers. I decided to take a seat at the bar but first I ended up using the Ladies restroom.
I walked into the ladies restroom and noticed that it is very spacious. There’s only one toilet for the ladies to use. While I was in the restroom and after I did my business I found out that the handle for the toilet wasn’t working and the water wouldn’t flush down. I had to lift the tank cover up and find the metal in order to flush the toilet.
After leaving the restroom I went back to the bar and sat at one of the available seats. I noticed that a person can view the kitchen area while seated at the bar. There’s also a flat television screen mounted an the wall facing the ocean. I was handed a menu to look over. It was a tough decision for me… should I eat heavy or should I eat light. I ordered two items from the A La Carte menu… a bowl of tripe stew and a bowl of poi.
Once I received my two items to eat I had mentioned to one of the waitresses about the toilet in the Ladies restroom not flushing. The waitress in turn informed Rob the bartender that the Ladies restroom is Out Of Order. Rob then rushed to the Ladies restroom to fix the toilet handle before one of the other female patrons went in. Mahalo Rob for fixing the toilet for the ladies.
The employees were very friendly and they made sure to check up on me as well as the customer around me.
I’d definitely go back to Highway Inn Kaka’ako if I am ever in the vicinity. I would like to taste other items from the menu for lunch or for dinner.

First time customer! My office faxed in our order around 10:30am for an 11:30am pick up. When we walked into the restaurant at 11:25am, I was pleasantly surprised with how nice the place looked. And it was packed with a lot of customers already seated at tables, with a few waiting in line. This must be a good sign that the food is great.
The only few times I had Hawaiian food was when I attended a luau years ago and I don’t recall being in love with things like kalua pig or poi. So, I honestly had a hard time deciding what to order, especially when you consider the price per entrée is about $ 12-​$ 15 on average.
I ended up getting something «safe» for my tastebuds so I went with the «Pulehu Moa — Flame Broiled Chicken,» which is served with chile reduction, sautéed local veggies and furikake rice for $ 12.85. Served in a 3-​part styrofoam box, there were three, thinly-​sliced chicken breasts sitting on top of the bed of vegetables and two scoops of rice. It was a great choice. The chicken wasn’t dry. The chile reduction sauce was flavorful, but sometimes a tad too salty IMO. But, the roasted veggies were a nice compliment to offset the sweet and saltiness. I’d oder it again.
I also ordered Haupia for $ 1.25. It was REALLY GOOD compared to what I’ve had at other places. Definitely tastes like it was made from scratch and not from a box. With a flan like texture, so creamy but firm, and with hint of coconut, it made me happy. Haupia makes me happy! Love it!
I’m looking forward to coming back because what really caught my eye was the photo of their burger in the menu. It’s called «Big Island Grass Fed Flame Broiled Burger.» I’d like to try that with their Uala Chips (sweet potato) on a weekend, so it doesn’t put me in a food coma during the work week. Eventually, I’ll try the pork sliders or a lau lau.
Customer Service was fantastic. Very friendly, especially when you walk in and leave.

We decided to try this sort of new location of Highway Inn since we were in the area and haven’t been here yet.
First off the parking is very limited. Either find parking on the road or you’ll have to wait until a parking space opens up.
The wait wasn’t that long before being seated. But it did start to pile up at the door while we waited.
The food definitely doesn’t compare to the Waipahu location. The kalua pig was ok. It was under salted but I would think that’s a good thing because you always can add more. You can never take back if they put too much. The poi was perfect and not runny. The poke was fresh and paired with the onion with hawaiian salt went hand in hand The squid luau was good but they going skoshi by cutting the tako in tiny cubes instead of slices. What was a turn off was the Okinawan sweet potatoes. They were fried chunks. Wtf? Never had it like that and didn’t care for it compared to the steamed version. The lomi salmon looked old. The tomatoes were obviously mushy and you’d think from the volume of people they serve the food would be more fresh to keep up with the demand.
The dessert on the other hand was ono. The Haupia was firm and perfect. The bread pudding was nice and moist not dry. I don’t really like the edge pieces but they were good also. It was a winnah with that coconut drizzle over the top.
Customer service was good and friendly but the waitress that took our order did it by memory. I had also ordered a small bowl of tripe stew that didn’t make it to the table because of that. But with the food we had already was more than enough to not bother with it.
I’m sure some people like this place but too bad I been to the other location first to see the difference.

Local kine! I heard the food was good here and they didn’t disappoint. Great local hawaiian foods and more!
Atmosphere: off of Nimitz Hwy, very limited parking situation. Inside there is plenty of seating at the counter and tables.
Service: Excellent service! The server at the counter was very attentive and kind. Accepts all credit cards.
Food: Sooo good! I ordered the lilikoi bbq chicken wings and a side of the fried rice! The wings were almost too flavorful if that’s possible. The rice was a perfect balance.
Intangibles: I’ll be coming back soon!

I so wanted to love the Kaka’ako Highway Inn, I used to go to the Waipahu location for Akule as a little girl, but I… just…can’t.
I have had the Hawaiian Combo Plate twice, the first time with laulau the second time with beef stew, and both times I added the pipikaula because I forgot I don’t like the beef they call pipikaula – it’s missing the marinade that makes pipikaula, pipikaula. The beef stew is nothing special, a plain tomatoey stew, neither is the laulau or potato-​mac salad, and the lomi salmon was watery.
Another time I tried the loco moco. The egg, gravy and rice were fine, but the hamburger patty had that slightly sour taste, like when meat isn’t quite as fresh.
Maybe I’m not ordering the right items, on a weekend this place was packed. I will suggest that you dine-​in if you go, the portions seem to be better than take out. Plus there’s free parking and room for large groups.