Honu’s Island Grinds and Bar

I’ve always wanted to eat here but I guess it closed before I had the chance.
Apparently the chef has moved to another venue…

Denial: No way!!! I was just here a month ago, WTF?! Did we not make sweet, sweet love over some chili cheese fries
and an Israel Kaanoi Kamakawiwoole soundtrack? This can’t be happening…
Anger: *takes off shirt, gangsta style* You ungrateful, snotty, self-​absorbed bitch! Did you not count the cray cray amount of dollahs I dropped here?! How’s about I cut your head off and shove them down your pipe hole?! I am going to BJ Penn up in this motha focka! *throws spam musubi*
Bargaining: *on knees, pleading* I swear, I’ll tell all my friends about you on facebook, Unilocal,and twitter, and spam email everybody I know about the quick service I always got here. I’ll sing praises of the local HI brew and local bands that play here! Please don’t go breakin’ my achy breaky heart!
Depression: ;_​; *wahhhhh*
Acceptance: *Puts on Soundtrack*
Fine. I understand the economy is bad and you were never very crowded to begin with. I will cherish your memory and hold it sacred, knowing that you were as close to HI as I could ever get in SF without getting on a plane.
*sings*
Cry for the gods, cry for the people
Cry for the lands that were taken away
and in it you’ll find Hawaii
I’ll miss you, Honu’s.

CLOSED!!!
What???
Soooooooooooo
Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!!!
I liked this place! :(
Thanks, Honu’s, for one wonderful evening with your food and music. You will be missed.

It’s really ok. The cheese fries was not as good as i thought.
I guess being in Hawaii made me really crave for the Loco Moco and macaroni salad, but it’s not even close. The Loco Moco was a bit too dry. The Kalua pork sandwich was way too salty.
Don’t think I will venture back.

AlooooHA!
As soon as I stepped foot into this bar/​grill I immediately felt like I was back in da islands man. Prompt service, every Hawaiian Sun drink imaginable (love the guava, it’s so delicious and pink!), and an Asian server with a mullet. Loves it :)
Ordered the gyoza (extremely fried but oh so good and crunchy), green salad with citrus dressing (refreshing), and pineapple-​guava teriyaki chicken (so so good, my friend and I couldn’t stop eating even after we were so full we felt like we could literally roll out of the joint).
Added bonus, they have mini tootsie roll pops on your way out the door (even raspberry!)… I would definitely grab a bite here again!

Although it was eerily quiet, I was ok with it because I found parking without circling around and I felt fall in the air as I walked over to Honu. It might have made me smile.
I was late so there was food on the table and I had to catch up on what I had missed. Thank goodness I did not miss out on the Kalua pig cheese fries. Kalua pig is usually too salty for me but mixed with something like cheese whiz on a plate of fries, it was somehow fantastic. Washed down with the Wailua passion fruit tasting beer and I was even more content.
I also enjoyed the poke and the mochiko chicken which were both good the next day. I probably wouldn’t order the mahi mahi again though. I finally got to try haupia (right?) and that was nice.
I haven’t been to Hawaii yet so I don’t know if this is typical or how it compares but it was homey and very clean with super friendly people. Plus, it has the perfect set up for karaōke. Just sayin’.

this place is delicious. it’s also cute, comfy, and local-​feeling.
live music sometimes– awesome.
two reasons to enjoy living –errr– i mean, enjoy eating here —
1. Kahlua Pig Fries — kahlua pig, cabbage, green onions, nacho cheese, fries. off the HOOK.
2. Chicken Adobo Saimin — shredded chicken adobo, saimin noodles, hot broth, green onions, hard boiled egg. also off the HOOK.
Honu’s is the best– much much better than Hukilau…

Thanks to Festa being closed last night! Otherwise, it probably would have been a while before I got to try Honu’s. This place is awesome!!! Pat, the owner, is the funniest owner lady ever!
For starters, this place has a very impressive list of beers, including some very exclusive Hawaiian beers like Wailua Wheat. Good wine by the glass selection, funky cocktails, shochu and sake. I went for the Fuji Apple Sake… On the rocks please… SO DAMN GOOD. I have found a new sake love. usually, I drink choya umeshu on the rocks. Not any more!!!
For food we went with a bunch of appetizers and entrees and just did it family style. My favorite was a tie between the kalua pig cheese fries and the mochiko chicken. whoa… and the teriyaki hanger steak, yum yum yum… Seriously, everything I tried here last night was awesome.
Thanks to Omar for finding this place! I think Eugy and I will be back here pretty often.

Came here last night for some appetizers and drinks.
Wing dingy… sweet and spicy
spam/​kim chee musubi… sounds weird but was really good
chili with Hawaiian hot dogs over rice… hot dogs and chili and rice??? surprisingly good
spare ribs… a little bit salty but OK
cheese fries… loved it.
You just gotta know what to order when you are here. Price is reasonable and the place feels Hawaiian. Location is in the heart of Japantown. Never knew Japantown was this dead at night. J town use to be the booming spot in the city. They need to bring that bowling alley back!!!
They also have a huge variety of Hawaiian beers. Great place to kick it when there’s live music sometimes.

Dropped in for a late lunch, early dinner. Very friendly staff.
$ 7.95 for my Loco Moco with spam :) the gravy wasn’t too salty, thank god! Lol, but it could have used a little more favor. Good deal for some rice, two thick slices of spam and two over easy eggs. It hit the spot. The cheese fries is just regular fries with liquid cheese (nacho cheese?) and a bit of pepper, a bit expensive for it’s size (see photo, $ 4.95).
Looks like they have live entertainment, neat-​o. But will come back again to try their poke, kalua pork cheese fries, and drinks.

I’m not sure about the mixed reviews this place keeps getting. i liked it quite a lot actually.
We noticed it yesterday on our way out of J-​Town. We wanted food and drinks. This place offered both and being that Hawaiian food is probably on my top 3 foods to eat, it was a must to try this place.
I totally got the feeling of being back in the islands: the menu, the drink options (black & tans — mixed drinks), the music, the owners/​staff.
They have poke~! oh sweet lord… almost impossible to find good poke in the mainland, served fresh at a sit-​down place. Honu has it and a big variety of it. Extra points for this.
Their staff was super friendly without being all up on your –ish. i sensed a ‘family’ member in the chick with honu tattoos on her forearm. she was hot. :)
They have tons of local Hawaiian artists stopping by their stage. (oh yes, they have a corner stage for musicians, potentially karaōke embarrasment).
And for this reason alone, this place reminds of that one Japanese-​Hawaiian restaurant on the bottom floor of the Kinokuniya/​Kintetsu mall building. Remember? They used to have Saturday nite Hawaiian reggae shows and really good sushi creations. I miss them much. I was so bummed when they closed, just like that corner sports bar in the outer Sunset. The only two Hawaiian joints that ever mattered and that are now long gone.
Honu brought me back to those days and for that and for their cute/​cool staff they get extra points.
i’m def. coming back and bringing friends.
and yes, i did get drunk on soju and beer over there. but i’m sober now writing this.
PS: I’d probably love anything honu-​related anyways. so yeah. honus on the floor print = cute

Its OK. For one thing, it is definitely a good deal. For 8.95, my friend got the loco moco and it was quite a bit of food,. spam, beef patty, egg, potato salad and rice.
I got the saimin, which for 7.95 was a good deal, but i didnt like the broth and the noodles was soggy.
However, I did like the Kalui Pig cheese fries… wow. that was something else… its definitely worth the heart attack.

Avoid this place at all costs. There was a good reason hardly anyone was in the restaurant and we should have heeded this universal warning.
The appetizers of coconut shrimp were ok, but the rest of the food was terrible. I never send food back — but I couldn’t even stomach the mahi mahi sandwich. The «fresh line caught fish» tasted like it had been in the fridge for 10 days… They tried to deep fry the badness out of it which didn’t fool me. The roll they served it on was stale.
My friends got the teriyaki chicken which was actually edible, but also a disappointment.
If you happen to like SPAM — go here. They have tons of dishes with SPAM in them. Is this true island food? Maybe a little too authentic for me… why would I go out to a restaurant to get low grade meat? Just for fun we ordered the SPAM sushi which was the highlight of the meal not because of taste… but novelty.

Live Hawaiian jams with spontaneous uke playin, guest singers and dancers… that can never be a bad thing!
Great cozy space in Japantown — we got there past 9:30 on a Saturday night, so we only had the appetizer menu to work with. I wasn’t even hungry but I just *had* to try the Hawaiian Salt edamame and Cheese Fries! One of my super petite gal pals admitted to practically finishing the entire serving of Kalua Pork Cheese Fries (it’s a pretty huge serving — check out the photo posted).
Menu description:
Kalua Pig Cheese Fries — a heaping portion of fries topped with kalua pig/​cabbage and smothered with cheese 6.95;
Garlic Hawaiian Salt Edamame — pan seared with sesame seed oil, hawaiian chilies and lots of garlic, or just plain hawaiian sea salt 5.95.
Television screens are strategically located throughout the place — I was thrown off a bit by the large flat panel immediately behind the mini stage area, but ultimately, I just kinda phased it out ‘cuz there was some high quality island jammin.
I’ll definitely find my way back here again to try a more substantial meal. Plus, they have a bar but it’s also kid-​friendly — it was great to see young kids enjoying the live music on a late Saturday night ‘cuz that opportunity’s pretty rare.
Musicians were from Spirit of Polynesia with guest, G. V. on bass — Honu’s was a fun, low-​key venue for family and friends to share in the spirit of aloha and I can’t wait to visit again.

food — not tasty
space — recently built out so it’s Hawaiian style comfortable.
prices — too high for what you get
service — pleasant
do not come here and expect Hawaiian fine dining, you need to go else where for that.
and I do not really like the term comfort food.
ALL good food is comfort food in my book.
whether it’s foie gras over a kobe beef burger or homemade chicken soup.
the food here was not fine dining, nor comfort food.
it was salty food.
still worth a second visit for happy hour or lunch with the guys.

My girl Lauren took me to lunch here after a grueling week.
Lauren’s aloha spirit said — I know what to do — let’s eat sistah.
We ordered the coconut shrimp and it was done very well, succulent on the the inside, a thin, crisp on the outside — no tail. We ordered the garlic edamame, and asked for it to be extra spicy and it was good AND served w a sauce similar to the dipping for the coconut shrimp, almost like thai chili sauce.
I had a very filing breakfast combo and asked for a side of gravy.
Generally it was good, there is a bar and a stage. I will come back for drinks, more food and a show sometime.

I went there on a sunday and got a poke sampler. The ahi in «Honu’s Ahi» was uniformly brown with oxidization (no, that wasn’t shoyu), I’m guessing it was prepared the previous day and was probably a couple days old.
The tuna used in the «Inamona Limu» poke was cheap maguro treated with carbon monoxide to help the fish maintain a «fresh» color. Fish treated in this manner is invariably old and usually sports an unnatural fluorescent pink hue (If you ever go to the poke counter at Foodland in Hawaii you’ll see what I’m talking about).
My friend choose the «Kim Chee Ahi» as our third option. I told him it would be a mistake. A) we won’t be able to taste the fish, B) the gochugaru will make it impossible to see what color the fish really is, and C) we just ate good kimchi made by the ajumma across the street from my house. No one ever listens to me.
We ended up not eating the majority of that $ 30 poke sampler.
I’ve been there before (when they first opened) and the poke wasn’t as bad. I’m not sure if it was because it was Sunday or if it’s because they just don’t care about anything but the bottom line anymore, but that fish was straddling the border of gross and food poisoning.
I’m sure their other dishes are fine, some of them even sound really appealing. Although… would it kill them to fry the spam a little more? The spam musubi seemed like they just took it out of the marinade and slapped it on the rice. Caramelization and Maillard Reactions are you friends, people.
I really wish they wouldn’t cut corners like that. The only reason I’ve given them two stars is because I’m desperate for good Hawaiian food (that I don’t have to slave over) and think they can do better. I’m willing to give them another chance…

No alcohol license… No Wakako.
(I was informed that Honu’s now serves alcohol. Bumped up to a neutral 3 until I try the cocktail… I mean food.)

Tried some poke and sandwiches. They were out of the spicy tuna poke, so we tried the kimchi poke instead. Good, but I was hoping the kimchi would be more spicy.
The sandwiches are huge! The Kahlua pork sandwich was very tasty. The meat was very tender and had a lot of flavor. I also tried a mahi mahi sandwich, which was also tender and perfectly crispy on the outside, but I felt like it was missing something (maybe more sauce?).
Service was very good. I’d definitely like to go back again.

With the explosion of Hawaiian plate lunch restaurants in the Bay Area, it might be easy to think that Honu’s Island Grinds & Bar in San Francisco’s Japantown is following a trend.
The Hukilaus, Kilohanas, the more than 25 L&L Hawaiian Barbeque franchises and other plate lunch restaurants in the Bay Area are making a gravy-​drenched loco moco easier to find than a Double-​Double from Inn-​N-​Out Burger.
But Honu’s is doing a much different take by offering «real Hawaiian food» and extras such as a poke bar, healthy entre salads and espressos, said co-​owner Edgar Dang.
«We don’t see ourselves as competing with L&L, Hukilau and the other places,» said Dang, whose restaurant partner is Pat Fong, one of the lead organizers of the Nihonmachi Street Fair. «We’re going to cater to an older crowd, more tourists and, of course, the Japantown crowd.»
Honu’s, which is scheduled to open in mid-​November, took over the space that once housed Kansai restaurant. Its addition right next to Aloha Warehouse (owned by Edgar and the Dang family) is creating a Little Hawai’i in the middle of Buchanan Mall.
The poke bar will feature an assortment of made-​to-​order dishes, including one from a recipe by Dang’s sister Ina that won first place in the recent Sam Choy Hukilau Poke Contest. The poke bar and other pupu will fuel late-​night patrons as Honu’s plans to stay open until two in the morning.
«We’re also offering a line of salads and our food will use rice oil with no trans fats,» said Dang. «You just can’t get a decent salad around Japantown.» Honu’s will also have vegetarian entres on the menu.
Health-​conscious food is just part of the mix. Dang said that they’ll serve selected desserts from Yasukochi’s Sweet Stop and espressos and lattes.
Take-​out will be available as well. «JCCCNC already told us they wanted to order plate lunches for their office,» said Dang.
Round all of that off with live entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights and Honu’s seems ready to bring some Hawaiian style food and fun to Japantown.
Email Edgar Dang at
to let him know what you think. The Honu’s website will be live soon.