Chan and I were invited to a wonderful Sunday brunch with friends at Hula Grill! I have never been there before but was looking forward to it, even if it is in Waikiki (lol). Parking is pretty non-existant, we decided to park in Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. If you purchase $10 worth of goods from a Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center tenant, you get parking validation! It’s $2.00 for 3 hours with validation but hold the phone – there is a Kamaʻāina special too! Spend the $10 and you can go to their Helumoa Hale Guest Services desk and get validation for FREE parking for 3 hours! What a deal, music to my Chinese ears.

Hula Grill has an open air dining concept, it was a nice breezy and sunny day so we had a beautiful view of the beach during our meal. It was wonderful! So how was the food?

Strawberry Mochi Waffle | $19.00
maui grown strawberries, whipped mascarpone, manoa honey

One of their signature dishes! It was delicious. Nothing beats a fresh waffle out of the grill you know? It was so nice and crispy – it’s mochi but not at all chewy. We asked for a side of maple syrup and yum!

Wasabi Bloody Mary | $12.00
spicy twist with wasabi, soy sauce & our homemade bloody mary mix & vodka

Chan’s drink. He said it barely had any wasabi taste and actually…more of a horseradish taste.

Lemonade Slushie | $9.00
fresh juice from the big island of hawaii

My drink! This is a virgin drink so no worries, I liked being all fancy with my black straw. Smallish looking cup but was good and lasted me the entire meal! You know what would be good? A lihing rim…mmm…

Seafood Omelet | $23.00
lobster, shrimp & crab, spinach, fresh herbs, lemon hollandaise, jack cheese, tarragon aioli, mixed green salad

This was the most popular dish at the table. In fact, all three of them ordered this dish while I got the loco moco. I tried a bit of Chan’s, was pretty good! Okay, I know this will sound silly considering what I ordered but I thought this would be too rich for me. Rich meaning…cream/dairy heavy. I don’t do well with that!

Loco Moco | $23.00
two eggs, pork fried rice, braised short rib, kalua pork, portuguese
sausage, shiitake mushroom gravy

What constitutes the dish loco moco to you? How would you feel if it was missing the burger patty? I guess I didn’t read the menu clearly and assume a hamburger patty was included. It isn’t. Is it a good dish? Sure-ish. The fried rice was good even though it had peas. The braised short rib was good, kalua pork was average, the portuguese sausage was junk (IDK what brand they use but no good) and gravy was good. Wait, this is more of a jeer than a cheer. It wasn’t bad but I think I would get another dish next time.