Mud Hen Water

I am certainly coming back here! Great cocktail menu. Creative drinks. I had the kitchen cocktail and my friend had the Mud Hen Cocktail. Both were flavorful and not too sweet. The selection of food was equally creative and sooo tasty. We had the grilled He’e (octopus) with lua. The octupus was grilled perfectly and not tough at all. We split the pasta dish. We loved the sauce and we finished the meal with the roasted broccoli that had a nice spicy sauce. All local food. We also liked the hip casual atmosphere. We sat outside at one of the picnic tables. We will be back to try some of the other dishes we didn’t get to. And of course more cocktails.

Ugh. I wanted to like this place. I really did.
It just failed to meet and exceed my expectations…
We had an unusually lousy experience:
Raw-​looking chicken and over-​priced, mediocre-​tasting dishes… Nothing really popped out like we had hoped, and the prices definitely did not appropriately reflect what we had. But, although they had assured us that the more-​than-​pink-​tinged chicken was thoroughly cooked, they were gracious enough to take it off our bill. #onebrowniepoint
I hate to write negatively about any place, especially about a local business… And I always strive to be fair and somewhat neutral, but I really want to express my true feelings on this restaurant. Great concept and super A for effort, but I definitely enjoy places like Livestock Tavern, etc. much better.
VERDICT
I have hope for this place and plan to return some time in the future to re-​check it out. I’m crossing my fingers for an overall better experience. Ambience is pretty cool and hipster… So that’s good… Definitely kinda close, but no cigar.

This was a fantastic place. We arrived right at opening on a Tuesday night. It has a very urban comfort vibe with a very friendly staff.
My friends and I all started with the Grapefruit Snap cocktail. I was concerned about the ginger overpowering the flavor, but it was just the right amount and worked well with the citrus. We ordered Yaki o Pa’i ‘ai, Crudité, Clams, Fried ½ Chicken, and Smoke Meat Carbonara. I had the kitchen cocktail as an after dinner drink. Everything was so delicious that we devoured it as it came out. My friends were raving about the broth on the clams and I loved the chicken presented as lettuce wraps.
Before the meal started our server brought out a plate of small bites — tiny pineapples with kimchee and cilantro. Perfect! Immediately following that we had the Crudité which was a great compliment of flavors. The Crudité included carrots and radishes that looked like the had just been plucked out of the ground.
Their timing on the presentation of dishes and service were spot on. I will definitely visit this restaurant again and highly recommend it.

I chose this place only because of the outdoor atmosphere I saw on Unilocal.There was a group of us, so I made reservations knowing I knew the menu didn’t look very appealing to me but maybe others might enjoy. The evening was fine, but the food was just as I expected. It was just stuff I would never order at any place. The only thing that looked normal was the chicken. I ended up trying to the kimchee omelet, but I didn’t think it was worth $ 12. It seemed more like a $ 7 appetizer and wasn’t tasty or memorable at all. The drinks were good. I got the special with the starfruit in it, but the second drink I had was whatever. I can’t even remember the name of the second drink I had.
Overall, I would prefer Town over this place, and I don’t even care for Town. It might be worth checking it, but it’s just not food that looks that good to me. We shared some food around, but I didn’t care for any of it. I did like the outdoor seating though. Other than that, meh. If you decide to dine outside, don’t bring your mistress here or else everyone driving by Waialae Ave will see you, and you don’t want this restaurant to be the last restaurant you dine at before your wife files for divorce. Stay inside next to the bar.

Pros:
Butter lettuce salad was amazing & well sized
All the main dishes were delicious & hearty sized
Ambiance was great
Cons:
Bar drinks took 30 min
Appetizers were microscopic
Waitress had way too many tables in her section
Terrible service
«You guys wanna order stuff?»

Came here with my family for a tapas like dinner. It’s located in Kaimuki on Waialae Ave. It’s part of a fresh, new American change in the area. The atmosphere is one of a simple, newly renovated garage like setting with an outdoor picnic patio. They have a full bar with some creative drinks (I had a complimentary holiday spice mixed drink) and a great selection of beer and wines.
Since this is a tapas restaurant, my family and I decided to split about nine different dishes ranging from the risotto to the fish to other types of creative local creations. The staff was friendly and informative and they offered great advice when ordering.
It might just be because it’s a fresh new change in restaurants in the area, but I thoroughly enjoyed my dining experience here. Can’t complain about anything!
Pro tip: there’s a small parking lot behind the restaurant, but there’s a ton of street parking if you go down into the neighborhood.

Phone reservation was easy and friendly even we were late and last order was due in 10 mins.
Interesting western mixes with eastern.
Could done better with more layers of mixture.

Great flavors! The clams and smoked meat carbonara were delicious! It is smaller plates so keep that in mind so things can add up quick but over all great place, nice atmosphere and service — will definitely be going back!

Pretty good. Small plates that you share family style. Has a park slope Brooklyn feel to it… If you readers happen to know what that means.
I forgot what drink I had but it had an anchovies taste but there’s lime that cuts into it. Pretty good but can get syrupy at the last sip. I recommend not finishing. But salty isn’t my thing.
The food was good fusion. Started with the beet salad. It has sesame oil interesting, good interesting.
Then we shared the clams and half chicken. The clams sauce is great! Had to have rice with it. The sauce is white with a nice kick to it. I do wish the clams were a bit more or bigger. But flavor was great.
The half chicken was ok. The chicken meat was a little dry. The skin done great with great hand prep to wrap the lettuce with the Sichuan salt — yum! The other dipping sauce was good on the chicken but too much on its own. So that worked out well :)

I never heard of this place before my friend chose it for dinner. I guess you could say it’s a hole-​in-​the-​wall place. The ambience is nice. The servers are really friendly. The menu comes on a clipboard, is on the healthier or uncommon side, and is generally affordable with a few outliers.
I’m a carnivore so my options were a little limited here. I was gonna order the smoke meat carbonara for $ 14 but my friend ordered that. Tasted pretty good. I ordered the pulehu pork steak (pork chops) for $ 24. The ingredients surprisingly worked really well together except the dried shrimp– there was just too much of that and it was super fishy. The meat was a little tough especially on the ends or it was just fat, but the rest tasted good. This was one of the outliers that is a kinda pricey and I wasn’t in love with it so I probably wouldn’t order it again. I’d probably order the smoke meat carbonara for myself.
My other friend ordered the multi-​grain risotto for $ 16. She didn’t care for it because it was bland but tasted good with sauce or soy sauce. It just needed salt. Then again, you kinda risk getting bland flavor when you’re trying to be healthy. She also ordered the grapefruit snap drink for $ 10 and didn’t care for it. Cocktails are getting expensive nowadays!
Overall my gut reaction is to give it 3 stars but I bumped it up for service and nice ambience.

Kaimuki was my hometown where its restaurant scene was dominated by saimin stands, okazuyas, chop suey houses and inns but its culinary face has truly changed to a foodies’ delight. Chefs and restauranteurs Ed Kenny and Dave Caldeiro started the culinary metamorphosis of Kaimuki over 10 years ago with their first restaurant, Town followed by Kaimuki Superette that was quickly followed by this restaurant Mud Hen Water.
I had booked our reservation for 6 people through Open Table over two months ago and was surely glad that I did. This restaurant was recently written up in our local magazine, Honolulu and a National culinary magazine as being one of Hawaii’s hot spots for creative cocktails and internationally-​inspired gastropub fare. So this restaurant was rocking with a lot of locals and visitors.
As soon as we entered the restaurant, we found the ambiance to be energetic and open. Near the bar counter, there was an opening to the outside for al fresco dining and a live band was playing. We were greeted immediately by a hostess and seated at our reserved table under a poster featuring Chef Kenney’s mother and famed hula dancer, Beverly Noa.
We were all throughly impressed with the food as each dish used locally-​sourced ingredients and was inspired by other cultures. Our server, Julie (?) was attentive and kept our attention as she explained some of the dishes. The menu, she stated, changes daily and is dependent upon the availability of ingredients hence you’ll not find the menu online. All of the dishes are served as «small plates» or tapas style. Being that we came in a group of six, we even double ordered on some items which worked out very well as we all enjoyed the creative uses and preparation styles of ingredients.
THE FOOD:
— Yaki o Pa’i’ai: Pa’i’ai is pounded taro root with a lower water content so it’s like an undiluted poi. It was dipped in shoyu (soy sauce) sugar, crusted with sesame seeds and sitting atop a piece of nori (seaweed) to be used as a sushi, er, wrap. Served heat hot from the grill, the inside of the Pa’i’ai soft and chewy and it was flavored salty-​sweet. $ 10
— Beets: roasted beets were cubed and mixed with avocado, gorilla ogo (a type of seaweed) and smoked macadamia nuts. Interesting and tasty, this preparation closely mimicked the flavor of poke but made with beets! $ 10
— Clams: steamed with cabbage, linguiça (Portuguese sausage) and charred chives. The broth was delicious as were the perfectly steamed plump clams. Wished that we had some bread or rice to sop up the broth like when you’re eating a great bowl of moules Marinières. We double ordered this dish and it was so good that I could’ve eaten the entire order by myself! $ 13
— Grilled He’e: He’e = octopus. A grilled and lightly charred tender tentacle was served atop lu’au (taro leaves) cooked with coconut milk and topped with inamona (kukui nut) dukkah (duqqa –Egyptian condiment). It wasn’t really pretty to look at but, the grilled octopus was grilled to perfection and was tender to the bite. This dish was a delicious take on our traditional luau food, squid lu’au and certainly worth a double order for our table. $ 16
— Cold Ginger Rabbit: locally sourced rabbit meat was formed into a terrine, wrapped in nori seaweed and garnished with ginger, green onions, pistachios and puffed rice. Some at our table seemed a bit hesitant while others were more curious about eating rabbit. It would do a disservice to say that the rabbit «tasted like chicken» because the preparation of the rabbit’s light and dark meat in this terrine and its seasonings was excellent. $ 9
— Pig Face & Kim Chee Omelette: The omelette wrap seemed more like a crêpe than egg. It was a delicate roll which held the fried pig’s skin and mild kim chee. The roll was napped with a scallion ketchup which pulled all of the flavors together very well. Ahem, maybe because I’m a porkaholic, I felt a bit more biased toward this item and enjoyed my share all the more so! $ 12
— Smoke Meat Carbonara: a very shareable bowl or hefty for a single serving of al dente bucatini, sugar snap peas, pea shoots, Parmigiano cheese and various smoked meats arrived at our table. The pasta took on a bit of the smokey flavor from the meat while the fruitiness and nutty flavor of the Parmigiano accentuated it. The granular texture of the grated cheese was still evident but continued to melt as the pasta was mixed and served. $ 14
— DESSERTS:
a. Pineapple-​Polenta Upside Down cake served with prune mui
b. Chocolate-​Kiawe Bean Brownie with coconut sorbetto, banana and macadamia nuts
c. Miso-​Butterscotch Rice Pudding was served in a small mason jar and topped with a ginger lace cookie
We all enjoyed the creativity of the chefs for their use of locally sourced ingredients and treating them with international inspirations. The ambiance was relaxing, casual-​elegance, and great for holding conversations within our group. Simply stellar!
#472

Mud Hen Water is a treat. On a nice night take advantage of their outdoor picnic tables or sit at the bar and chat with one of their friendly bartenders.
They have a nice drink menu with signature cocktails. I enjoyed the Penicillin which had a scotch base and candied ginger and the Mud Water which is dangerous because it goes down like juice.
The menu is perfect for sharing. For two people, I would order one thing from each section. The Preserved Opelu is presented in a tin with soda crackers. It’s a good example of the menu, they take a dish that is humble and familiar – canned fish and crackers – and twist and stretch it into something fun and new.
The Beets were lightly dressed and delicate. The I’a Lawalu is Opah grilled in banana leaf with green banana and veggies. The fish was over cooked, but I appreciated the presentation and the details of the dish. The Puhelu Pork Steak is huge. Flavor-​wise, it has a Chinese flair with long beans, opae and a poached egg. My least favorite dish was the Multi-​Grain Risotto, the oxtail was tough, not tender, and the rice was a bit gummy.
Mud Hen Water applies the same imaginative philosophy to their desserts. If you are looking for the familiar, you might be disappointed. The Miso-​Butterscotch Rice Pudding has a strong savory note from the miso and the Chocolate-​Kiawe Brownie and Coconut Sorbet is not rich or creamy, instead again there is a savoriness from the kiawe paired with the icy sorbet.
Grab your foodie friends and make a reservation. This is a meal for those who like to play with their food. And if you’re on a budget, the best deal is to go for happy hour where you can get a beer and a (locally caught) fish sandwich for $ 15.

After wanting to try Mud Hen Water for a while now, the stars aligned (meaning we had a babysitter and no other plans) so my husband and I made a reservation on Open Table and were able to get a table within half an hour of making the reservation. As we walked towards the restaurant, the smell of hot roasting coals hit us and we already knew we were in for a great meal.
With indoor and outdoor seating, MHW offers two different vibes, depending on your mood. The inside is more upscale and sophisticated while the outside patio is more akin to the Kaka’ako hipster vibe with café lighting and POW WOW murals. Since we were kidless for the night, we decided to sit indoors. I admit, I am easily smitten by ambiance and was instantly impressed. The question was, would the food live up to the ambiance. Fortunately, it certainly did!
The menu is only one page however there were many items that sounded so delicious that we had a hard time deciding. We ended in with the yaki pa’i’ai, roasted ulu with black bean and sour orange sauce, clams and country bread and i’a lawalu. Every dish we had was outstanding with the i’a lawalu being the favorite of the night. Opah, buried in hot coals with pastele style plantains, local veggies and topped with a coconut cream sauce — I swear this dish nearly made
me cry it was so good!
The only reason this place gets 4 stars instead of 5 is because of the cost. I certainly can appreciate quality ingredients, however, and the labor it takes to make many of the dishes is very intensive. For example, while the Opah was to die for, for $ 26 I wish there were either a bigger portion, or for the current portion that it is (which I thought was the perfect serving) I wish it cost just a tad less. Will I come back and fork out the $$ again? Definitely! But it won’t be as often as I would probably like. But nevertheless, I’m ecstatic that Mud Hen Water is a new addition to the increasingly «foodie» neighborhood that is Kaimuki!

If you like your food a bit exotic, fancy and with lots of fufu to it, this is the place for you.
I’m a simple kinda gal… so this wasn’t a place for me. I really love the paiai, but for $ 10 for 2 pieces, I think I’ll need to pass.
Oh, but they do have a deal that’s hard to beat. If you go during happy hour, you can get a fish sandwich AND a beer for $ 10! Again, not for me since I don’t drink beer, but you drink beer, this might be the place for you!

Two stars for one thing only… amazing ambience and outside seating… love love love.
Food? Boooooooo! Trying to be unique but failing on the taste and practicality scale! I believe they use alot of local ingredients which is awesome, but I don’t care how cool, hip, or unique you want to be by providing never before seen dishes and an awesome gastrique experience, you should still have a few simple, common bar style dishes that your patrons can gravitate towards if they’re not feeling as adventurous. One item… fries. Have fries for the love of God… make them your own with truffle oil, pesto, or goat fat, but put them on the menu. People go to bar for simple ((yet delicious) food and drinks, particularly if they don’t want to commit to a full meal… but Mud Hen… nope, fries are too lame for this pretentious pub. So I say again… boooo!
Service is friendly and easy going though. Like any place check it out and judge for yourself because the beer menu is limited but not bad at all. But really… go with friends to cruise under the warm glow of the outdoor stringed lights… hang out there until your name is called for Brew’d across the street.lol.

Kaimuki is my town! Through the years, a lot of businesses have come & gone, but one things for sure… Kaimuki Town has a lot of wonderful restaurants to choose from!
Tonight I took my friend to this restaurant called — Mud Hen Water to celebrate his birthday… this place recently opened a few months back, and it is located on 9^th Ave. diagonally across from the restaurant called «Town».
I believe Mud Hen Water is Ed Kenney’s (3^rd restaurant), as he already has Town, & Kaimukī Superette.
I love the idea of Town, where they have this motto of — «local first, organic whenever possible, and with aloha always»…and I believe he applies this motto to his other two restaurants…
I took great notice of this restaurant, as I drive pass it all the time, and it always seems to be packed. And tonight was not exception!
I made my reservations through open table, and got a good time slot (7:00 PM), was no problem at all. In fact we showed up a little early around 6:45 PM, and we were seated right away.
As we were seated, menu’s were dropped off, & drink orders were taken right away. Our friendly waitress Jacqueline explained to us that most of the items here were served family style, so it’s a good idea to order several items to share.
We ordered following items tonight —
1. Preserved Akule — Soda Cracker, pickles, & limu butter.
2. Fried ½ Chicken — Szechuan salt, tamarind mustard, shrimp chips, lettuce, cucumber
3. Clams — Kalua pig, cabbage, charred chives
3. Grilled He’e (Squid) — Lu’au, inamona dukkah
4. Hapa Rice
5. Dessert — Vanilla Bean Gelato & Coconut Sorbetto
6. Drinks — Iced Green Tea
Here is the breakdown of the grub —
Preserved Akule — I loved the limu butter, it was a very interesting item. I had put a little of the limu butter on my cracker, then I proceeded to put some of the Akule on top. As I ate it, I thought this dish was real fishy tasting!
The 1^st bite of this did not leave a good impression for me… as the fishiness was overpowering. But as I went for my 2^nd try of this dish again, I put some of the onions that was mixed with the Akule… and gang, THAT WAS THE WHOLE KEY! You need to do this to take the fishiness away… Ummmmmmmm Ummmmmmm good!
Fried ½ Chicken — this dish reminded me of the crispy skin chicken I would get from Happy Day’s Chinese restaurant. Same concept… the crispy chicken was juicy, and meaty! The dish came with some butter lettuce, and two seasonings — a Szechuan salt, and a Tamarid Mustard. May I suggest you use a little of this seasoning on the chicken to enhance the flavors of the chicken meat. A wonderful dish, done beautifully!
Clams — The is the highlight dish of the night! Wonderful flavors! The clam broth was heavenly… you got to make sure you order some of the Hapa Rice so that you can pour some of the clam broth on the rice. The clams were delicious, and of course you cannot go wrong with Kalua Pig & cabbage mixed with the clams! This dish was BANGIN’!
Grilled He’e (He’e = Squid) — I only ordered this because our waitress said it was good & one of her favorites. I would say this dish was just okay for me… I felt the squid was a bit overcooked at one end, as I could taste the chard part of the meat. The Lu’au part was okay though… but of the 4 dishes we ordered, this was by far the weakest dish for my palate.
For dessert we ordered the Vanilla Bean Gelato & Coconut Sorbetto… come on now, you can’t mess up scoping up ice cream! Lol! We did not indulge in the fancy desserts.
And to wash down this wonderful meal? Iced Green Tea… no booze for me tonight. But this restaurant does make some wonderful drinks (checkout the drink menu).
Overall…pretty good grub here!
I was gonna be adventurous and try the rabbit, but as I thought about it… I couldn’t bring myself to do it, as I grew up watching Bugs Bunny cartoons! With that being said… I just couldn’t bring myself to eat Bugs. Lol!
There are a few parking spaces in the back of the building… but if the lot is full, then you must do the street parking thing. For tonight, I parked on the street… no problem at all.
The restaurant was packed tonight, as every table was taken in the restaurant.
I must say the restaurant noise level was very loud, and I had the hardest time carrying on a conversation with my friend, so if you are looking for a place to talk & dine, this would not be a ideal place.

While this place opened just about a month ago, I’m interested to see how it grows as time goes by. Anyone who has experienced Town and Kaimuki Superette will easily see familiar ingredients used in their menu selections. Sharing is encouraged, but keep in mind the dishes may be on the small side so I’d say (1) entrée can probably be best shared with (2) people.
After you surpass the challenge of making reservations, hopefully you will NOT be seating where me and my ladies were placed.
Upon checking in eagerly seeking cool air from the humid monstrosity outside, we were placed in this strange side high table and chairs that felt like «it didn’t belong». My girls and I almost thought to simply request to be seated at another table, but thought «eh, nevermind.» The only highlight was that we could at least hear each other talk. I’d recommend at least putting hooks under the table so guests who have to sit there can have a place to hang their bags.
Our server kindly greeted with a welcoming tone and smile, then mentioning she hasn’t been there for two weeks so she’s not completely familiar with the menu, but we can still ask her and she’ll try to help us the best she can… She was familiar with some items, but a couple times she pointed out some items that were no longer there to her surprise.
So putting her lack of knowledge of the menu to the side, we enjoyed the food. Specifically their Beets, Clams and Carbonara. We enjoyed the fresh ingredients and the unique combinations they used. Being a fan of their sister eateries, I knew their food would have a similar feel to it.
As we received our dishes though, both our server and another server kept coming to our tables quite often to check on us, but we thought it was a bit excessive. Maybe because we were in that akward corner?
I’d return again for the food, but hope over time their staff will have better knowledge of the menu’s and be more thoughtful when seating guests who make reservations. When we left, we noticed other areas we could have possibly been placed… maybe next time I have to request NOT to be seated in that area.

I finally had a chance to try MHW for dinner last week on ⁶⁄₂₄. I am a fan of Ed Kenney’s restaurant across the street, Town, as they feature fresh local ingredients, organic when possible, where the menu changes daily but they have some regular items. MHW also has a daily menu with offerings that change nightly but has some regular items from what I’ve seen from other Unilocalers.
We had:
–Amuse bouche of cold tomato soup with ogo (³⁄₅) — we were given a little teacup of soup which made us excited about our dishes that were to arrive.
–Salted Walu Croquette (³⁄₅) — this was a good size and good flavor, crispy on the outside & moist & tender on the inside.
–Beet salad (⁴⁄₅) — very light & flavorful with avocado. My bf loved it & said it reminded him of a poke preparation.
–Baby corn on the cob (⁴⁄₅) — prepared with old bay seasoning, fun to eat.
–Cold ginger rabbit (³⁄₅) — tender & moist, delicately flavored.
–Clams with kalua pork & cabbage (⁵⁄₅) — this was our favorite dish of the evening. The clams were cooked perfectly and the kalua pork added the perfect texture, flavor and saltiness to this dish. You can order hapa rice on the side to enjoy with the awesome sauce, which I would recommend. This dish is more filling than it appears. We brought home the remaining kalua pork & rice to enjoy later.
–Smoked meat carbonara (³⁄₅) — my bf ordered this dish & I had a few bites to try. It was ok, but I was getting full after eating the other dishes.
–Multi grain risotto with oxtail (⁴⁄₅) — another dish that looks small but can fill you up. It comes with two oxtail pieces. I ate one of the oxtails with some of the rice which has nice gravy too, which had a nice flavor and was very tender but packed up the rest to save room for dessert.
–Pineapple polenta upside down cake (³⁄₅) — I really wanted to try a dessert & saved a little room in my stomach after sampling seven dishes. The flavor was good but the cake was a bit dry like cornbread. The vanilla bean gelato helped with the dryness of the cake.
For drinks, we both had the Grapefruit Snap cocktail (⁴⁄₅) — refreshing & light, perfect for a summer evening.
Service is (⁵⁄₅) — we had a great server and other staff were very helpful, delivered plates and checked up on us to see if we liked our meal. All of them were very cheerful.
Reservations are recommended as they are popular & fill up quickly. You can specify indoor or outdoor seating. Outdoor seating has large picnic tables with umbrellas and a tall table, so you can bring your furry four legged friend too.

Mud Hen Water… very interesting & unique menu. Not what I would normally eat. Pig ears? Rabbit? Umm. I was VERY hesitant on trying these dishes. Why would I order them? Well I didn’t! My friend did and pretty much egged me on to eat it. The Cold Ginger Rabbit really didn’t taste bad. In fact it tasted like chicken but had a texture of fish. I honestly couldn’t really enjoy the dish though because all I could think of was chewing a cute little bunny.
The Pig Face & Kimchee omelette was not bad but I could do without. The Shinsato Dry Chorizo was interesting. Pretty much a potato chip, dried sausage dipped with chocolate. Grilled beef stew was good minus the uncooked potato. Otherwise beef was tender and soft. The clams with kalua pork & cabbage was probably the best tasting dish there.
I do love the ambience of the place and concept but wasn’t overly thrilled about the food. Dishes are small so if you come with a big group be prepared to order a lot of dishes or walk out hungry (which we did and walked on over to Brew’d). This place is definitely worth a try and would probably go back to try the other things on their menu.
There’s a small parking lot in the back or you can park on the street.

The cocktails are delicious. (Try the Mud Hen one and the Rose one!)
The interior décor is inviting and unique. (Look for the rubber ducks!)
The food is local. (Loved the fish po’boy!)
The bartenders are hospitable and knowledgable!
Dogs are also allowed in the picnic table area outside!
What more could you want?! Check it out!