Cafe Haleiwa

 

I was working in Haleiwa town the other day, and wanted to try something different for lunch. Usually I eat at Haleiwa Joe's because their Calamari is delicious! Light and crispy with a really great Vietnamese dipping sauce. But let's save that for another blog post, shall we?

While researching on Yelp, I found Haleiwa Eats, a Thai place that I've heard so many good things about. I wanted to try so many different things, but just wasn't in the mood for Thai. (KZ, I'll wait til you come home for Xmas to try it with you!) I also found another highly-rated Thai food place, Opal's, that recently transitioned from Thai Food Truck to Restaurant. I still wasn't feeling Thai, but the reviews were so awesome that I was just going to give it a try. Then, glanced at the hours, and realized they aren't open on Mondays! Shucks!

So what were my options now? Cafe Haleiwa. Apparently, they are known for "the best breakfast on the island." Ok, I like breakfast. Also saw a lot of reviews on their great breakfast burritos, though that's not really my thing. No matter what kind of fad breakfast they are known for, I always seem to settle on eggs, rice, and bacon. Just add some shoyu on my rice, and I'm golden.

This time, though, I settled on scrambled eggs, bacon and banana sweet bread french toast. Substituted the pancakes that would've came with my meal with french toast.....and bananas! It was a hearty breakfast and I was full after, but it was nothing spectacular. I think there are better breakfast/brunch places around.

Another thing- I thought I had read about fresh-squeezed juice, and so I ordered Pineapple Juice. Figuring it was like the one at KCC Farmer's Market, I waited anxiously. But what came was not the same freshly-squeezed juice I had at the open market; instead it was a bottle of what tasted like the juice from the canned pineapple slices. Overly sweet processed "pineapple juice." I guess tourists can't tell the difference.....but I sure can!!

Lastly, it was quite an expensive breakfast, I'd say. Check came to $13 something. With tip, $15 something. Ehh. Btw, parking is located on the side of the restaurant (maybe 4 spaces), but there's a whole dirt/gravel lot in the back to park as well.

What I did really enjoy was the decor in there! From the outside, it looks old and like this restaurant has been here forever. When you walk in, however, the walls are covered in colorful portraits on surfboard halves. All the patrons who walked in, even locals who looked like they had been there before, kept staring and taking pictures of the walls. It seemed like new ones were put up often. I've never seen it before. VERY COOL.