Look out! There might actually be somewhere good to eat in Hawaii Kai!
Chopstick and Rice is the only Vietnamese restaurant in the area (since the unfortunate incident to Bale). This place is located in the Hawaii Kai Towne Center, City Mill side. The inside already feels like your typical Vietnamese restaurant with big artwork, Vietnamese decor, and etc. The artwork of Waikīkī meeting Vietnam was interesting though.
Food-wise, it's pretty good compared to other places outside of Chinatown. Portion size, price, selections, and customer service weren't quite up to par.
Combo Pho is always a must and it's become my barometer for Vietnamese restaurants. The broth tells the story, which was pretty good! It had good, clean, simple flavors with just a hint of spices and aromatics. The amount of noodles was much less than usual. The meats had rare steak (didn't ask if I wanted it on the side), brisket, flank, tendon, tripe, and meatball). Again, small portions. Just a few slices of steak, brisket, and flank, 1.5 meatballs, and tendons had two small pieces, and ONE piece of tripe. Steak and flank were on the tough side. But congrats to Chopstick and Rice for offering the smallest and least amount of bean sprouts, basil, and jalapeño ever.
We also ordered the Lemongrass Chicken and Spring Roll Vermicelli. This was decent. The chicken was tender and light on the lemongrass flavor. The nuoc cham sauce was simple and tasty. Need more fish sauce though. We wanted to add 1 additional spring roll, so the both of us would have a piece, but somehow got duped to ordering two more as an appetizer order. The spring rolls as the appetizer alone also came with the same Vermicelli noodles and same nuoc cham sauce as the cold noodle dish, plus green leaf lettuce. This was good. Crispy rolls, tasty sauce. Wish some chili peppers were added in to the sauce.
Overall, the food wasn't too bad. It was acceptable for a Vietnamese restaurant, and may be the best restaurant in Hawaii Kai. The flavors were on the tamer side, and the portions need some adjusting. You don't want to be the place that serves the absolute least amount of vegetables for Pho. The service was pretty bad. This may be due to lack of experience, but all were not attentive, and food took a while to get to our table. Even taking our order took a while. There's this one server who always bumps into chairs and tables (one was hard enough to topple over the customer's waters), and drops down your food quite hard on your table. The table behind us finished just as we arrived, and it was never cleaned when we left. Idk. Maybe the manager was on their day off?
Anyway, I wouldn't mind eating here again, but the service was not acceptable. read more