Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Splurge at Tony Roma's

So right after our visit to Honolulu Hale to visit the Christmas City Lights, we went to Tony Roma's for dinner.  I haven't been here in forever especially because it was pricey and because they had pork ribs but I found out recently that they had beef ribs! Yay! But it's still too pricey for me to eat here regularly.

My brother got us onion rings for appetizers, but it was really small compared to what I remembered, but then again, I haven't had their onion rings for several years!  I hate onions, but I love onion rings when they do it the way I like it: I don't like to taste the sliminess or the actual crunch of the onions; I like it when it's fried to the point where I can't tell it's an onion.  Yuck... onions... *shivers*  I did eat some of this though to push myself to like it (and because I was hungry). I did get some of the onion crunch, but I tried not to puke it out... I really do hate the texture of onions but I love onion flavor!  This was $6.99 or so, but my brother and sister ate most of it because my aunt and mom liked the bread and butter more than this...

I got the beef ribs with 4 ribs covered with the Tony red hot BBQ sauce, rice, and coleslaw.  People were awe-ing at the size of it, even the couple next to us, but I know that it's more bone than meat, but it was soooo good!!!! I also got 4 ribs so that I can take half of it home to Beb.  Since it was more bone than meat, I thought I was still going to be hungry, but I was full!  I need to find a place that serves this but at a cheaper price... so sad... I don't know when I'll eat this again... the sauce was soo good too... sweet and not too spicy...  Also, this was $20.99 for 4 ribs; they have different prices for 3 ribs, and 6 (?) ribs...

Since it was a holiday, I thought, "what the hey!" I should get me a Mango Pina Colada.  It was yummy, although I did wish that it didn't have alcohol... Alcohol gives me headaches/migraines sometimes and I had a small headache after this... but it was soo good too... I hate that it didn't show the price of the drink in the drink menu though... Can someone explain why many restaurants don't show the prices of their alcoholic drinks on their drink menu?  It doesn't make sense to me...

Overall, I give Tony Roma's 5 for taste and because it satisfied my hunger and my craving for ribs that I didn't know I had! lol!  I also give them a 5 for customer service because parking was free and our waitress was pretty fast (maybe because it was Christmas Eve and there wasn't a lot of people?).  Lastly, I give them a 2 for price because it is pretty pricey... Sometimes though, it's good to splurge here once in a while just to treat yourself to something nice (you're going to need it because budgeting is stressful sometimes!) even if you're on a budget like me...

Honolulu Hale for the City Lights

So last week, my brother came from North Carolina and my mom came from Saipan for Winter break while my aunt came from Saipan because she planned to work here.  We haven't had much time for me to really take them around, so I squeezed in visiting Honolulu Hale on Christmas Even before they shut it down (even though I don't celebrate Christmas).  We walked to Honolulu Hale from Kinau, which was surprisingly not too bad of a walk since my sister was still at church and Beb took the car to church as well...

They had several large outdoor Christmas decorations like Rodolph, Santa's sleigh, and the elves (which you can't really see in this pic; my digital camera totally sucked for night pics! grrr....!).  I was glad it wasn't raining because it has been raining a lot lately (with several flash flood warnings) so it would have sucked if we went there and got drenched...

This was a cute one...  It made me wish I went to the Big Island (Hawaii) to snowboard or just to see how weird it it to see snow on an island... (Didn't know it had snow?! I know!  Hopefully, by next year I can post some pics of this... I heard it's melting already...)

It never fails to amaze me how cool this part is.  I pass by this after picking up Beb from work and I just love how huge this is and how cute they are....  I also love how the turtle is carrying a plate of Hawaiian food and some of the penguins have drinks... It's soooo cute!

This is not that clear but they had huge horses with a lighted carriage like Cinderella's pumpkin (not pictured here) and several of these regular carriages walking around the block.  I hate them because they cause traffic, but I want to try riding this at least once in my life.  Though I'm still iffy about it because I would hate to be downhill to the smell of the poop pouch right under its butt... Gross...

Besides the huge Christmas tree right outside next to the huge Santa couple (I took several pics of it, but, again, my camera sucked... I had a real problem trying to get flash and when I did get it, the pics were usually blurry... so junk!), there were several Christmas trees inside because they have some kind of Christmas tree contest. I LOVED the Hello Kitty Christmas tree that one year I saw it, but I didn't see it again... how sad.... But this was pretty interesting with its life-size Chinese person and dragon for a Chinese themed Christmas tree... Not sure how it worked, but it was pretty cool to look at!

Honolulu Hale was almost like a big toy house with huge toys: soldiers, houses, a huge but cute teddy bear, and this blue and white thing (is it big foot?  It's too cute to be big foot! lol!).. I wish I could've hugged it and taken a pic with it but a lot of the stuff had gates around it...  They did, however, had a picture-taking corner with Santa (you have to use your own camera) and some corner where kids get Christmas tattoos (fake, of course, but still weird!).

This was the smallest but most interesting Christmas tree that I saw this year... They really took it out of the box...  I wonder how much of our taxdollars are going into their electric bill this year for this... lol...

I got this at first glance... Did you?  I thought it was great that many of the wreaths that that have in the wreath contest this year were made out of a lot of recyclable products.  There were also a LOT of non-traditional wreaths... In fact, there were few traditional wreaths this year.  The wreath display is located in the back near the restrooms.

This was a really interesting wreath... It reminded me a lot of something... maybe the movie Monster's, Inc.? lol... It's missing some eye colors like black, green, and gold... tsk tsk... discriminating... lol...

Honolulu Hale is a great place to bring visitors. They can take pictures of all the Christmas lights, see all of the themed Christmas trees, and view the winning Christmas Wreaths. Although I don't celebrate Christmas, I know my family does, so this is about the only Christmasy thing I can give them.
LOCATION: Downtown Honolulu; the corner of S. King St. and Punchbowl St.
COST: Free
DURATION: 30 mins-1.5 hours depending on picture-taking and "oooh"ing and "aww"ings...
FOOD: Didn't see any food vendors but they might've had some...
BATHROOMS: available in the building; just ask someone who works there
PARKING: street/metered parking can be found across the street in front of Iolani Palace or the Post Office or in the underground parking structure by the police station
RATINGS: 5 cherries for its price value because parking and admission is free and 4 for its entertainment value because they had a lot of non-traditional and traditional (I didn't take pics of the Nativity scenes because we were hungry for dinner) Christmas stuff, there's a lot to see and do, and it's a great place to bring your family.  However, I did give it a 4 because the state didn't think about those who don't celebrate Christmas religiously or personally... Where's the seperation of church and state??
NOTE: Only occurs during December; bring cash for kiddy rides and for some glow in the dark stuff for the kids; bring camera for pictures!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Foodland Steak Plate

Whhhhhaaat? I can't rotate my pics on my iphone or on BlogPress... that sucks... I guess I have to do my best to take vertical pics instead... junk... One day I'm going to get the iphone4 because it has better picture quality, video, and it's just way cooler than my regular iphone that sometimes refuses to let me go on facebook for several days... gah!
Anyways, I decided to take my aunt and brother who both just arrived on Oahu out to drive a little.  We've been sleeping since we picked up my brother this morning and we're all just lazy.  We went to Wal-Mart (stupid traffic from all of the people doing their Christmas shopping late... hate you all... lol!), Safeway, drop some food to Beb because he had a fever, and to Foodland to buy some ingredients for dinner for when my mom comes later this night.
After buying some chicken and beef for dinner, my aunt gave me a sample of the steak they were barbecuing outside Foodland and the guy who gave her a sample also gave me a sample.  It was sooooooo YUMMY! I was craving for something good like this to eat and now I found it! lol! (I didn't eat much today except for some pandesal (Filipino bread) for breakfast and for lunch, so I could tell that my tummy wanted some real food.)



We both got the steak plate (they also have a steak and shrimp plate) for $6.50.  You have to go pay at the cashier first and then show the receipt to the guy serving the steak.  It had steak, rice, salad, and a drink (they only had coke or diet coke at the time).  I poured some ranch on my steak and soy sauce on my rice and it was one of the best steak plates I've had on Oahu!  It was tender, smoky, and soooo good!  It was warm and it was tender for something that was well done (I think it was originally medium, but it became well done after sitting for a while).  This is why I sooo want a grill! I want to try to do this on my stove at home since it'll be too much of a hassle to take it to the beach just for BBQ and I can't just BBQ on my lanai. That's a meal I hope to attempt for this blog in the near near future...

After savoring ever bite, I give this steak plate 7 cherries for taste for being so tender and smoky.  I also give it 4 cherries for being reasonably priced even though its price is comparable to other steak plates in Oahu.  However, I give the guy 3 cherries for customer service because it was so-so... Sometimes, I don't care how bad the customer service is as long as the food is good and they didn't spit in my food (hopefully!) because their actions will be reflected in the tip I give them in the end, right? lol... yeah... I can be mean sometimes...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Snow Factory and Some Kind of Realization

So I realized that when I try and write more than one blog at a time, especially late a night, that I become less witty and less descriptive than I normally am and I should be... Sorry! We went out to eat a lot this weekend since N was only here for a short while and J was leaving for Winter Break and that meant a lot of pics and things to talk. I was also very lazy to cook lately because I've been so busy with church and all so I didn't have much time to show you all my cooking skillz... lol! But now that that's all behind us, I'll attempt to put up more recipes and be more descriptive so that y'all will read my blog more! Yay!





The last place I took N before she left for Texas was Snow Factory.  Despite the rain, I wanted to bring her to Shimazu to try their shaved ice, but it was closed so I brought her here.  I thought that this pic above best explains the texture of what this place had to offer because it's really hard to explain...




Business hours again... it's not as clear as it should be because they decided to put this with white font on a clear glass window... go figure... oh and this place is located in McCully Shopping Center on the first floor... parking is a bit hard to find as well (they do have parking in the basement though), but at least it's free....




These are some of the flavors that they have... I saw on the white board (forgot to take a pic of it) that they also have daily specials as well...



When you get your snow ice, you can top it off with all kinds of toppings (free!). They have kitkat, almonds, mochi crunch, and so forth that looks like they threw it in a blender and crushed it for a few seconds... it's pretty fine except for some of them like the Kitkat... Be careful because it can get really messy...



Grr for sideways picture that I have no idea how to rotate pics on BlogPress as of yet... sorry about that... just turn your head sideways and you'll get the picture...

Anyway, we got the regular size so we get two choices: N chose pineapple and I chose mango.  We topped it off with crushed almonds and Nilla Wafers... it was an odd combo but it worked!  It tasted a bit creamy almost like mango and pineapple flavored Melona Popsicle.  There was only forks for use to eat with, which is reasonable because the shape is like long icicles (?).  It also melts in your mouth pretty fast like cotton candy.  It's a very interesting experience and I hope N liked it.

Overall, I give this place 5 cherries for taste, price, and cleanliness. Customer service is ehh... so 3 cherries... It's a great place to bring friends who are looking for something different that you wouldn't find in Hawai'i.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Milano Freezer



After Kuru Kuru, we wanted some dessert.  I wanted pie from Anna Miller's after talking about it at Kuru Kuru, but we ended up at Milano Freezer which is nearby.

I took pictures of their hours at Pearlridge. I hope it's clear enough for you.  They also have one in Manoa Marketplace but I don't know if they have the same hours.



They have a freeze full of different pints of ice cream, ice cream cakes and pies, and other miscellaneous goodies... My face was so close to the glass that I could taste the flavors! lol!



Here are the prices for the items that they sell...



This is the gelato bar... Some of the flavors here are chocolate, guava, kiwi, green tea, pear, blueberry cheesecake, and lemon ice.  I tried to take pics of the flavor names written on the glass (you can see it a little on the top of the pic), but it was hard to see.



N treated all of us and got green tea and melon, Beb and I were supposed to share a green tea and tiramisu (which tasted exactly like Kahlua and was very strong) but he was full, and J got guava and blueberry cheesecake.  It was a great end to our night (although I kept eating most of J's gelato because my tiramisu was too strong!)

I give Milano Freezer 4 cherries for flavor especially because their flavors are refreshing, light, and ever changing.  I give them a 4 for their customer service especially because we kept asking to sample the flavors.  So overall, they get a 4 rating for my first Hawaii dessert blog.

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Kuru-Kuru Sushi

So it was J's last night before she went to Colorado for Winter break so we forced her to decide where to eat for dinner and she chose Kuru Kuru Sushi.


I love Kuru Kuru Sushi. It is way better than Genki because of the price and because there are a lot of my favorite items here that I can't find on Genki.  While there are several Genki restaurants on island, there is only one Kuru Kuru Sushi and it's all the way by Pearlridge!  However, J said that there's another one opening up in Kahala, so that makes me excited!



I will do my best to post up the hours of all of the places I go from now on because I think it's useful to know, but don't trust this too much because you never know when it's going to change on you!



So when you do find Kuru Kuru Sushi and eventually find parking (free but difficult to find), you have to sign in your name, the number of people in your party, what time you came, and there's a section to indicate if you want a booth.  It takes way longer to get a booth because there's few of them and this place is generally small.



When you first visit Kuru Kuru, you would've probably noticed the line of people sitting inside and the crowd of people waiting outside (it was pretty slow at 530pm when we came, surprisingly).  If you see a lots of people waiting, it's smart to bring someone with you and drop them off to sign in your name (you'll see below) so that you'll be ahead of anyone else who enters.  If you're even more smart, you'll try and find parking right in front of the restaurant so that you can wait in your car until someone comes out and calls your name so that you don't have to stand outside because there's no more seating inside to wait.  This is because Kuru Kuru is really that popular.



Like Genki, Kuru Kuru has a moving sushi bar.  The food in the black bowl is tempura mushrooms (wood colored plate: $1.40). I just saw this recently and it is so awesome! I never knew you could tempura mushrooms!  I give it 7 cherries as well (grr.. I should just change my ratings from 5 to 10!).  It is so yummy and crispy (making me drool now!).



This is the tuna mayo with corn.  It's on the wood colored plate so it's also $1.40.  It's just regular canned tuna with mayo and corn on rice with nori. I don't know why I love it so much but gah! I do!  I want some right now!  I can't make this on my own... it's just better at Kuru Kuru!!  This is totally 10 cherries and many of you might now agree with me, but gah, this is what I dream about.... usually without the corn... lol... leave me alone...


This is the sushi dyamite. It's spicy on top of a california roll which they torched a little so it tastes a little smoky.  It's a red plate so it's about $2.60.  It's so yummy, but I try not to get too much of this because it's a red plate and it's kinda expensive for only three pieces. I didn't get this this time, but I still give this 7 cherries as well because I crave it whenever I think of Kuru Kuru.




Ooo... on the bluish plate is the tendon shrimp with shell and head on.  This is Beb's favorite and mine too. It's yummy and you can usually just eat the shell because it's uber crispy and favorful.  I give this 5 cherries.



This is the tempura kubocha (Japanese pumpkin; $1.40). This was the first time that I tried this and I don't usually eat pumpkin! It was pretty good... I give it a 7 for making me want to try it again...



Ugh... this was the union roll with salmon, avocado, cream cheese, nori, and rice which was deep fried.  Cream cheese and rice is not a good combo especially when it's warm.. weird... It didn't even have much salmon... I give it a 2... I just tried it because of J, but never again....



I didn't eat these but I just wanted to show you how fresh the fish looks... It looks way better than Genki! Sorry!


The fish eggs were so brightly colored that I might try this one day... maybe...


These are the dishes that Beb and I racked up. We were hungry but he ate a lot!!




Our bill.. I'm kinda scared to see how it turns how.. lol...  I didn't get to show you exactly what we ate. I'm sorry! I only started taking pictures AFTER we ate so I only took pics of some of what we ate...  I'm just getting used to blogging so it's hard to remember to take pictures all the time!!



Ahhh... ~$26... We usually don't spend this much, but I guess Beb was really hungry. I usually try to stay under $10, which I can usually do and still be full from it all...



After we got the bill, we noticed that someone took the food on the blue plate which it was moving and just left the garnish!  I can't believe someone actually did it, but it was kinda funny....

In the end, Kuru Kuru Sushi has 10 cherries overall because it is my favorite sushi place in Oahu (sorry I'm biased!).  Its price is reasonable compared to Genki and other non-moving sushi places, and the customer service is pretty good.  They are always asking if we would like to order someone or if we wanted more water or green tea.  I forgot if it was Andrew Zimmern or Anthony Bourdain who said "follow the lines" to know where to find good food in a new place and Kuru Kuru is one of them!

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Saturday, December 18, 2010

Costco Food

We went to Costco to spend the $12.98 certificate that I recieved from Costo from 2% of what I spent at Costco over the year (one of its rewards programs for Executive Members who pay $100 a year). So I guess I have spent ~$649 at Costco this year. I got it because the lady at the counter when we were getting Beb's card convinced me that at the rate I was spending, I would've saved more money when I goy my 2% money back. IDK. It didn't turn out that way in the end because I was broke most of the last 6 months so I didn't go Costco as much.



Anyway, after getting lots of sample, our $12.98 cash back got us rotisserie chicken and blueberry and chocolate muffins (tip: if you have a small household like us, freeze half or 2/3 of the muffins in individual ziploc bags so that it will last longer and you are not forced to eat it all before it spoils).
It was only $12.54 so they gave us $0.44 back. Not bad for something free! But it bums me out that I didn't recover the extra $50 when I switched from regular member ($50) to executive member ($100) in the 2% cash back rewards. Next time, I'll just stick to being a regular member.



Beb was uber hungry so he got a $1.50 gelato cone with mixed berry and stratachella ice cream to tide him over while we wait for the rice to cook to eat with the chicken. Costco also has hotdogs, salad, pizza, and ice cream that's cheap and great to eat when you need a quick bite. The ice cream was ok for the price but it made me uber hungry now too!!!

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Friday, December 17, 2010

Ba-Le's Lemongrass Chicken Sandwich

I had no idea where to go for lunch today. I was so cold that I had my fur coat on top of my jacket! Gah! No soup for me because I had cup of noodles for breakfast.  I told my co-worker SM that we should go get shaved ice (lol! random!), but she told me to get our food at Ba-Le (she decided for me. love it! lol!).
There are several Ba-Le restaurants on Oahu and their specialty is Vietnamese food and baked goods.  It's reasonably priced and it's usually fresh especially the bread!


I got her a regular chicken sandwich on croissant bread for $4.00 and I had the lemongrass chicken on french bread for $4.25. Hmm... $0.25 difference just for it to be lemongrass and they both look and taste the same!



 The sandwich has parsley, mayo, shoyu, pickled carrots and radish, and lemon grass chicken.  It's a very refreshing sandwich and has a lot of different flavors. I'm picking up a little spiciness while eating and typing on this blog (lol!).  The bread is very crispy and it's best to eat it fresh.  If you're not into lemongrass chicken, they have ham, roast beef, tuna, and pate with something (I forgot!).  You also have a selection of bread for the sandwiches: french bread, croissant, wheat, 5 grain (I think), and ciabatta.  Moreover, they have other dishes like green papaya salad, pho, summer rolls, etc. which I'll take pictures of the next time I eat here.

So, even though I'm still eating, my ratings are: The sandwiches range from $4-$5 so Ba-Le gets 4 cherries for price (the sandwiches used to be $1 less than it is now, so I'm sad...),  5 cherries for flavor and for freshness.  3 cherries for customer service because it's ok... but 3 cherries for cleanliness (some would say -5 for one location, but I'm not saying where and I will still eat there despite this!).

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Shokudo $3 Menu

So I decided that we (me, T's parents, J, N, and N's dad) should go to Shokudo yesterday at 5pm for their Happy Hour/Before Dark/$3 Menu since T's parents were going back to the Marshall Islands on Saturday. Unfortunately, S couldn't go because she had a cold and had finals. Boo....
Anyway, we love Shokudo.  I love their regular menu and I've spent my last two birthdays here.  Mostly expecially, Beb, T, J, and I would go here almost every week because of their $3 honey toast dessert (which you will see later), because the food is great, and because it's only $3!!!




The Before Dark Pupu Menu is from 4-6pm (if you can't really tell from my iphone pic).  Some of my favorite items on this menu are the spicy ahi nachos (7 cherries!), cold ramen with ground chicken (it's very fulfilling!), and the chicken quesadillas with cilantro dip (ingenious!). I think the Before Dark Menu is only available Monday through Friday (call to double check); I don't usually go at this time because Beb and I work.  Also, you would have to sit at the bar area and if it's full, that sucks. They wanted us to sit on these high chairs near the actual bar area, but T's dad would've had a hard time so we tried to go to the regular seating and just buy food off the regular menu, but T's parents were soldiers and decided to sit in the high chairs anyways. They are cool like that!




The After Dark Pupu Menu is the same thing but the hours are from 1030pm to about 2am(?). You are not restricted to the bar area because they also opened the seating in the left when you enter. However, if it's full, then you would have to wait (but it gets pretty full).  Also, the late night menu is available from Sunday through Wednesday (last time I checked).




This is the junior portion $3 honey toast from both menus.  It is a scoop of vanilla ice cream, drizzled in honey, over toasted bread.  It's so simple yet so addicting!  I love celebrating my birthday at Shokudo because you get a free junior honey toast with a candle if you tell them it's your birthday. (A little sad story for you about me: for my first birthday here, they took forever to get me my honey toast, my friends and Beb who ordered it got frustrated; my second birthday here, the waiter dropped the ice cream on the table so I had to get a new one. I wonder what will happen next year!)

Unfortunately and fortunately for us, we didn't order much from the $3 menu because T's parents were too kind and wanted us to order from the regular menu AND wanted to pay for all our meals.  N, J, and I totally don't mind because the $3 menu is just as great, but they were too kind and persistent (gotta love them, but I wish T was here too... so we just took pics to make her jealous and want to come back... lol!)

 I was too hungry that I forgot to take pics so I just took the pics from their website and I'll show you what we got (I hope there's no copyright issues!):

 -T's dad got the assorted sashimi. I tried the raw scallops and it was surprisingly amazing!!  It was between lemon slices so it had a great citrus flavor.
-T's mom and I got the Balsamic Beef Tataki Sushi. OMG... this is totally 10 cherries!  I couldn't get enough of it and I HATE onions and I was eating the onion chips off of this like chips! Gah! I'm craving this again!
-N got the Sushi Pizza which was spicy, crispy, and yummy!
-N's dad got the $3 version of the Spicy Tuna Roll which is 4 pieces of this, the $3 of salmon sushi which had 4 pieces as well, and agadashi (?) eggplant from the $3 menu.  Loved the eggplant!  I never tried this on the menu before so I'll get it next time!  Unfortunately, there's no pics of this in the regular menu so you must go there and try it!  Tee-hee!
(Everything in this pic is great... I've tried most of them, but one day I'll try everything!)


-The gyoza for N's dad can be seen here but it was only four pieces in the $3 menu and it had some sauce in the bottom which I didn't get to try.
-J got the Homemade Tofu Salad which is also 10 cherries because it's soooo amazing!!! It had some kind of oriental dressing and the tofu was really soft. I kept asking J for more!  Sorry J, I should've ordered my own! lol!
(I've also tried most of the items on this menu but I recommend the homemade tofu, chicken kaarage (I love the dipping sauce!), tofu salad, calamari salad, and lobster dynamite.)

And for dessert, all of us except T's dad got a $3 junior honey toast. What a great meal!  Thank you to T's parents for a wonderful dinner.  We should do it again but we must treat them!

Overall, I give shokudo 5 cherries, which is a perfect rating.  I know I gave more than 5 cherries for some of the items above but that is because I absolutely love them!  For the $3 menu, I give them 5 cherries for price, but for the regular menu I give them 3.5 cherries because it is a bit pricey.  For customer service, I give them 5 cherries even though our waiter was a bit slow because the manager still let us purchase the $3 honey toast even though we ordered it after 6pm (sometimes I give them 3 cherries when they are slow and when I get that one waiter who never smiles; for the most part, they are great.).

As a last note, parking is free after 730pm or so, so if you come before, you would need to get it validated by the host/hostess.

All this talk about food is making me hungry now... Gr....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Jolibee on Oahu!!!!!!!!!


I love you Jolibee. I've missed you so.... and it annoyed me how the guy behind me called it Joe-li-bee not Jah-li-bee! Gah!
For those of you who don't know, Jolibee is to Filipinos as McDonald's is to Americans. Simple enough. We have been waiting forever for someone with enough money to open and it just opened on Tuesday!  Unfortunately, it is all the way in Waipahu but fortunately we had to go Waipahu anyway for church so we went there for dinner!



It was our 62nd monthsary (month anniversary? lol for those who aren't married yet), and we (mostly me) wanted a little bit of everything because we missed it so...
In this side of the  table, we have ~$3.50 halo-halo (a kind of Filipino shaved ice), $7.99 3-piece spicy chicken joy (Filipino fried chicken) with gravy and a side of fries, and 2 $1.99 peach-mango pie (the best ever!!!) which is covered by Beb's hands!



In this side of the table (lol, we were so hungry that we took up too tables!), Beb just finished his $1.09 cheeseburger (simple yet soooo good!) and his ~$6 Filipino spaghetti with 1 piece chicken drumstick.  I had some of the spicy chicken and fries and my main meal was a ~$5.50 hamburger steak with mushroom gravy and rice (it came with two hamburger patties). Ahhh... It was heaven... it tasted and felt like I was in Philippines again, and I was glad because I needed a dose of the motherland again.

So.... I give Jolibee 5 cherries for taste because it tasted exactly the same as if it came straight from the Philippines.  It fulfilled all of my cravings for sweet, spicy, salty, crunchy, and just for food (we at at 9 at night!).  Most of Jolibee's menu is American food but with Filipino flavor (more sweetness in the spaghetti and rice with your fried chicken, for example), so it wouldn't taste too different for those uneasy about trying it.

I also give it 5 cherries for customer service because, even though I waited in line (which stretched around the block) for an hour, I had no complaints because I noticed that they did their best to be as efficient as they could. They were taking orders outside, took customers' trash when it looked like they were leaving and asked if they needed take-out bags.  As soon as someone left a table, they would wipe it clean and take away the trash for another person to use.  This is exactly the customer service in Manila (even in fast food places!). I loved it! I hate it when people leave crumbs and trash at a table that I have to clean it before we can sit and eat properly.

I give it 4 cherries for price because, even though it was a bit pricy, I really thought it was going to be more expensive than it was.  Also, compared to a lot of Filipino restaurants on the island, the price is pretty good (yes, I know it's a fast food place). Overall, Beb and I spent about $30 for it all... I think it's a pretty great monthsary gift to ourselves, don't you think? ;)


Now I can't wait until they open the Red Robbin portion because they have greeaaaat cakes!


I just thought I posted this picture just so you get some random fact about me: whenever I eat halo-halo, I would mix everything together and try to find the leche flan. It's like a game to me. When I think that I've found most of the leche flan, drank most of the juice,and have had enough of the other stuff halo-haloed in (I don't really like the other stuff!), I give it to someone else to eat and my game is done. lol!

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