Leslie's Place

Used to think this place was a great place to hang out. We used to bring a bunch of people there to hang and drink/eat and dance. Went there recently and because the other half did not order a drink,  the other half was being kicked out. We were there for only 5 mins. I had ordered a drink and had planned on enjoying my night there but because of their "2 drink minimum" which by the way is not posted anywhere on property, he was kicked out. Needless to say... we will not be going back to this bar and will be going and spending our money elsewhere....oh did i mention?... they tell you it's cash only but they say that because they would rather you pay with cash because they have to pay a fee if they have to run debit or credit card... yah lets talk about shady... they tell you they have a atm so you can withdraw money to pay for tabs... but if you don't want to do that... one of the mama sans would gladly withdraw the money for you as long as you supply them with your pin.... IMO... go elsewhere!!! Fair warning!!! Done with this place!!!

Well....what do you expect while in Kalihi?  This place has a feeling of cool and creepy at the same time!!

As soon as you walk in, you may catch an unexpected glimpse of a young guy grinding on some old G'ma on the dance floor.  That's ok....you can invert your eyes to the bar and see the old toothless guy staring at you as you walk by with a freakish smile on his face.  At this time....sprint your way upstairs and hide!!!

This place offers karaoke in a unique sort of way.  The computer used to upload the songs had an error message on the screen which the ladies left up there while our friends where trying to sing. Some songs we had to make up words to until the bartender finally restarted the machine.  The book is in song order (which I hate) and very difficult to find the artist you want. One English book and like 3 Korean books. Besides KARA and Gangman Style....I didn't know that many other songs existed!!

Misty had her bachelorette party here and somehow I got drag along in this too. I think it was because they couldn't find a stripper and I got MOVES LIKE JAGGER!!   And when the Korean mama-san found out I was going to be stripping...her eyes got so big and opened the register exchanging for some $1 bills!! Unfortunately I take nothing less than a $5.  But anyways....

The food was lined up with kalbi, rice, fried soba, egg rolls, and some chicken wings.....breaded, Yuck!!  I was not to please at all with the food. But when you mix alcohol with karaoke, sometimes you need to grind!

Bathrooms were ok, but no lock on the males door which is a straight shot down the aisle for everyone to see when you open it. (don't get any ideas)

So in short....creepy crazy old people, terrible song selection, DJ downstairs over powers your singing upstairs, and just plain awful food!! My party will be someplace else for sure!!

You would think Leslie's on Kokea St would be this seedy little joint, but it's not so bad.

I used to come here often with my co-workers because one of the supervisors knew the owner. The place is pretty big. It has a full bar upstairs and downstairs. Downstairs has booths and a small dance floor. Usually a horrible low paying CD DJ will play some crappy tunes. There is karaoke for $1.00 but the song book is very outdated.

Upstairs has a bar and a few booths available. They can close off the upstairs portion for private parties. There is also a private room up there. If you book the room upstairs, the private room is usually used for the food as that is where they set up the buffett trays. Upstairs and downstairs has restrooms.

The bartenders are friendly enough. The food was always yummy. There is an assortment of domestic beers and some imports. No one bothered you - no thugs or rif raff. There's enough private and street parking. It's fairly clean and the biggest plus is it's probably one of the only bars in Kalihi that is open until 4am.

The only gripe is the beer and alcohol here is a little pricey considering it being a Kapalama canal bar. The rest of the bars on the strip of Kokea and Kohou St. charge a bit less.