I recently had a business meeting in downtown and got to try Cafe Julia Hawaii for the first time. It’s a beautiful location so I was excited to try the restaurant! They were pretty busy as expected but we were able to snag a table indoors after a short wait. For those who care, it is an open air restaurant…no air conditioning! It wasn’t awful the day I went…but I could definitely feel discomfort. Let’s get to the food!

Indoor Restaurant Shot – those shelves are full of miniature alcohol bottles! The long table was set-up for a big Japanese tourist group.

Lilikoi Cooler – $6.50 (!)

While this drink was delicious, the price tag was not worth it! It’s non-alcoholic and does not come with refills.

Garlic Furikake Fries – $10

These fries were okay…definitely hit the spot since we were starving. I wouldn’t get them again.

Seafood Risotto – $22.50

Not my dish so I can’t comment to much, my dining companion seemed to enjoy it!

Garlic Ahi – $22.95

One of Cafe Julia’s well known dishes is their loco moco. I didn’t feel like a loco moco this day so I decided to give their garlic ahi a try. I don’t know about you, but for $23 I expected a lot more fish than what I got. The dish was okay, and it’s good that the fish was not overcooked but I was just disappointed by the price of the dish and what you get. As we were finishing our meal, the Japanese tour group came in and they must have ordered a pre-set menu…they all got the loco moco and I instantly regretted my choice! Luckily, I didn’t have to pay for this meal so my Chinese heart wasn’t too hurt. Would I come back to this restaurant? Probably not…but it may be worth a visit at night for dinner…it must be so pretty at night.