The atmosphere is quite nice here for Haiku, which is why it gets any stars at all from me. It gets another star for prompt service and the amazing escargot for dinner, but other than that, the portions are small based the price, the breakfasts are not impressive and I've a bad taste in my mouth from the last interaction I had with the owner.
One morning while meeting some friends who were visiting the island, I needed to find and choose a place to eat breakfast that perhaps had a local flavor. I have a particular inkling for katsu chicken, so while I was browsing some menus online, I discovered that Hana Hou had a katsu moco on their breakfast menu!
<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hanahoucafe.com%2Fmenu.php&s=1121e7af3a4cc749860b4a517cc6f32edf40d1e7be83eb0e91951c1a442b357e" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.hanahoucafe.c…</a>
When we got there, the menu was different than the one online, which didn't bother me but I wanted to at least ask about it. The owner was our server that morning. When I asked about the online menu options, he argued that he knows what the menu has on it and it doesn't list katsu moco. So not only was I disappointed that I didn't get the katsu moco that I'd hoped for (sounded so good!), the owner didn't wish to investigate, nor acknowledge or apologize for this misinformation.
Unfortunately, I will not come here again based on the owner's less than friendly response to a seemingly reasonable request. Based on this treatment, they are lucky to receive any stars from me at all, but I'd like to give a fair review.
Hana Hou, you might want to look at your online menu and fix this mistake. I feel for anyone else for whom this is misleading to that you may also not respond well to!
Nice atmosphere, set in the jungle, with good live music and reasonably priced drinks. Â We ordered side plates, because the pupus seemed overpriced. Â Good food, and good size side orders. Â Waitress seemed a little irritated that we didn't order an entree. Â It wasn't so good that I wanted to go back.
Review Source:The food was extremely overpriced and not too tasty. Â Chicken katsu, one of the staples in Hawaii, was breaded too much and the portion was half that of most other places. New York steak for $26.95...for lunch? Wow!!! Was good, but not that good. Â Decor is nice and the service was okay. Â Waitress seemed preoccupied with her prepping or other duties, as we hardly saw her after the food was served and there was only one other table eating at the time! Â Both of us had to walk to the kitchen to get her for something. Â Overall, not entirely horrible, but I will definitely not be back. Â Sorry!
Review Source:This is a mixed bag, based upon our one visit. I ordered the Kalua pig plate lunch with poi instead of rice, husband ordered the curry chicken. My plate was really good -- a good portion of pig, steamed cabbage, good scoop of poi, mac salad, a bit of pineapple and outstanding haupia. My husband's chicken curry was very "loose" and there wasn't much to it. He called it bland, and the bowl of rice wasn't enough to accommodate the loose sauce. For the price, my plate was a bit more than a standard plate lunch dive at ~$13.00, but it was quite good. I was also pleased to have the option of poi instead of rice. I'm a big poi fan, and not so rice, so this worked well for me. Â The chicken curry was overpriced at ~$11.00, given the lack of any extras, such as I got (haupia, pineapple slice etcetera). We weren't displeased, but the variance in each of our orders was glaring.
The menu has a full selection of traditional plate lunch items, including loco-moco and tonkatsu, as well as other items I'd probably not order because I'm always down for local if I can get it.
Lastly, we ordered the lilikoi cheesecake. It was moist, dense, there was clearly lilikoi in the batter and a slick of lilikoi sauce on top, but it wasn't OMG THIS IS LILIKOI in the flavor. It was a very good cheesecake, but there wasn't enough punch from the lilikoi. Â I'd order it again as cheesecake, without expecting the tropical nuance I'd hoped for.
The space is lovely, the patio is nice, the service was pleasant, not overbearing, and I believe it was the owner (French man) who waited on us. Was it excellent? No, but overall, I'd recommend it if you're staying in Haiku and want something local, easygoing and laid back. I'd certainly stop in again for the plate lunch.
Honestly this was one of the worst meals I have ever eaten. Am giving this place a 1/4 star but only b/c the live music was good. Curry soup was a thick goop and inedible. Took one bite and left the rest. The crab cakes were one of the most disgusting things I have ever put in my mouth. Sour and rotten fish tasting. How do you screw up canned crab meat that badly I don't know. Again 1 bite and i was finished. I went with 12 people and none seemed to fair any better with there meals. Â Thats right 12/12 bad dishes.
  They have children acting as waiters so you have to give the kids a pass for the awkward service.
  In short if you go stay away from any seafood dish, soup dish, meat dish or curry dish. But do yourself a favor and just stay away.
Hate to give a bad review but my wife ordered the shrimp scampi and it was the worst either of us had every had. Â When we told the staff the it was flavorless they offered to add a shiitaki mushroom sauce. Â They took the dish, but we were tired of waiting and told them we didn't want it. Â Anyway the said it was almost done. Â They charged us full price for a crap meal and wasted our time. Â On the plus side they were friendly and the meal I had (opakapaka) was very good. Â I don't think I will be going back, I will probably stick w/ Colleen's which is nearby.
Review Source:My sister and I came here exhausted and in search of some caffeine. I got a latte, she a mocha and it was some of the best coffee we had on the island. The owner (I am assuming he was the owner) was from Paris and could make a wicked cup of coffee. The place was pretty empty so the owner was very friendly and made a lot of conversation with us.
If it was not our last day in Maui we would have definitely come back.
My husband and I have eaten here twice, and both times the food was very good. Â The first time I had the fish special, and my husband got the mixed plate with the Kalua pork and lomi lomi salmon. Â My hubby really enjoyed his dish.
Our second visit I ended up getting the eggplant burger, and it was FANTASTIC. Â I'm not super vegetarian or anything, and neither is my husband, but the burger tasted so so good. Â And they didn't charge me extra to get salad with my burger instead of fries! Â :)
The owner is very nice. Â My only complaint is keeping up with refilling waters. Â And that was only on our second visit. Â No big deal. Â :)
Oh, and I can't remember what night we were there, but they have live music, which was a very nice addition to the outdoor seating. Â Though, bring a sweater if you want to sit outside after dark, as it gets kind of cool out there in Haiku. Â :)
Hana Hou doesn't look like much, sharing the parking lot with the grocery store and all, but the food's good. Â Their fresh fish special (opakaka last night) was great and the kalua pig was good too. Â Prices were reasonable.
The outdoor patio seating is perfect and the Hula Honeys were performing while we were there, which made it that much better.
If you're in a hurry, it's probably best that you hit the take out window and skip table service. Â Or better yet, you're in Hawaii, so don't be in a hurry.
A little skeptical when I discovered it was a french owned hawaiian place, but was happy to be proven wrong. Â Lau Lau was good and everyone was happy with their choices. Â And extra points for actually serving french pressed coffee from a local roaster. Â They also had live music in the outdoor area.
Review Source:We ate here twice while we were in Haiku. Â
The place is really cute, especially the outdoor area. Â It doesn't look that inviting from the outside but, once you step in it's quite nice.
My husband had the chop steak which he liked. Â It was served with rice and mac salad. Â
I had the teriyaki chicken which was also good. Â Not like the Japanese version although, I enjoyed that it was reminiscent of some of the Filipino flavors and textures I grew up with.
The next day we shared the veggie curry. Â Enjoyed that too. Â
Our waitstaff was super helpful and nice and so was the owner.
I would have given them 4 stars but nothing was really rockin... just your basic "good"... especially for the price point.
Another twitter recommendation led us here...twice!
Lunch was delicious - wasn't too crowded, so we were able to chat with our waiter, who happened to be the owner and who also happens to be a Frenchie!
Dinner was just as good - the kalua pork was quite tasty and my husband still talks about how good it was!
With the French ownership, we were able to indulge in classic french desserts like creme brulee, tarte tatin and profiteroles - which were pretty tasty, too!
There's live music in the evenings, too!
I was looking for lau lau, kalua pig, and plate lunch accoutrements in the Paia-Haiku area. Hana Hou has all the above but in my opinion it's brutally overpriced - over $15 for a moderately sized at best combo with lau lau and pig. The food is good, though (full on fat content, yum!, dieters stay away). Was nice to find they have haupia.
I'd gladly eat there again if someone else was paying.
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