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    Fort Ruger Market

    3.9 (406 reviews)

    Fort Ruger Market Photos

    Business Info

    FORT RUGER MARKET ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Dogs allowed
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Fort Ruger Market

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    lunch
    Angel H.

    I haven't been here in years, but it sure has gone downhill. I was at work and had ordered food on Uber Eats. I ordered the fresh two choice bowl ($25 on Uber Eats). I specifically put in the instructions that I wanted the Ruger special ahi and ginger ahi, also if it could be topped with unagi sauce. When I got my bowl I did not get any ahi. They gave me marlin and hamachi. I'm not a fan of those and it was so bland I had to douse it in soy sauce. They were out of the unagi sauce. Plus, the rice was barely warm. It was the worst poke bowl that I've ever had. I gave the bowl to my co-worker. What a waste of $25. It might be better if you go and get it in person. That way you can see what you're actually getting.

    Jenny L.

    We were all surprised how generous they were with the poke as they kept stuffing the bowl to the rim with fish. All my friends and I got the fresh mini poke bowl that comes with a side of choice. We got the limu, spicy shoyu, rugerlicious, and the tako and it was so fresh. The mini bowl is definitely enough for one person. To be honest, the mini felt like a regular sized poke bowl. I also recommend getting the fresh poke bowl where you get lechon on the side! The skin is very crispy and more on the fatty side. They also provide a complimentary vinegary sauce to with the lechon. Parking is limited with only 7 stalls at the storefront. We went on a Sunday at noon and there wasn't much poke flavor to pick from so I recommend coming before the lunch hour. Great spot to get food to picnic at Cromwell's beach!

    Spirits
    Katherine A.

    If you can smell the barbecue pork when you drive up, you are in the right place. This little local market offers a lot of variety, but the fresh Hawaiian style lunch plates are the feature. Since we were there early in the day, we grabbed a bacon and egg musubi and a breakfast bento box with adobo pork. The adobo pork was tender and delicious on top a bed of fried rice. The dish was topped with a scrambled egg. While I'm not a big bento box fan, I liked this one. The musubi is made fresh daily and was one of the best musubi that I have tasted. The ahi poke is made fresh daily as well, and the clerk was just putting out the tray as we were leaving. The poke looked delicious. I even bought a locally made birthday card (featuring Diamond Head, which we had just climbed). They have a small convenience store offering for the neighborhood. Beer, beverages, a bit of spirits, apples and cookies were on the shelves. The clerk was aloha friendly and was happy I bought a card. There are a few tables to eat outside. We parked in front of the store.

    Nate M.

    Fort Ruger Market is more like a convenience store rather than a market, that being said the food here is great and the portions are huge! I ordered the spicy ahi poke and their Ruger special poke with a base of white rice. They also offer brown rice, sushi rice, and greens as a base. Along with all of that each bowl comes with a side of your choice. Mac salad for me, it's truly one of my fave sides. Great flavor and super fresh, obviously! I wanted some of their homemade sauce on top, but they were out and the poke case was looking a little sparse when we got here, but we still got hooked up. Like I said, it's basically a convenience store that sells poke, so there's no place to sit and all drinks and snacks are grab-n-go style. Super friendly staff and very helpful to this haole, when I asked a million poke questions. Aloha!

    Poke to go and enjoy at the beach
    Stephanie Y.

    I actually really liked the poke bowl and it was a huge portion and it came to about $22 and the fish was so fresh and they have about 6-8 options to choose from. I went with the house ahi and the spicy shoyu ahi and it had a nice kick to it and the combo of both on a bed of sushi rice, was great. You are allowed to pick one side, and I went with the spicy kim chee and again, a great kick! Don't sleep on the squid lau- it's like a creamed spinach and not cheap, it was delicious. So, why not 5 stars? The actual grocery was a wee bit lacking. No fun drinks, no fun desserts or local chips, etc.. No place to eat, so take it to go, like the beach. ;) Overall, great poke.

    Poke and lechon
    Rachelle C.

    Wanted to give Fort Ruger a try after learning about their poke and lechon combo bowl! Fort Ruger Market is more of a convenience store with a hot window service. There weren't many options of food to order in the afternoon, so it may be best to go in the morning. We enjoyed sitting outside, we love the artwork! Unfortunately, the poke did not smell or taste fresh. The lechon seemed to have been sitting under a warming Iight all day. The pieces were very dry and the few pieces of pork skin were tough. The heavy oil from the lechon spilled onto the poke and rice, which was not a pleasant experience.

    Lechon Kawali plate. Comes with 2 scoops rice and a side (pictured with kim chee).
    Bonnie T.

    Haven't been to Ruger Market in awhile, as we no longer live in town. We were near Kaimuki today and decided to go back. Considering we showed up around lunch time, and there was a line of about 4 to 5 people ahead of us, service was pretty quick between the 2 people taking orders, and they were friendly. They have always had good food with good sized portions. Today, both my husband and I decided to get the lechon kawali plate, and we were a little disappointed. Both of us had a lot of tough pieces of meat that were hard to chew on. Unacceptable @ $21.95 per plate. Otherwise, the checkout was good as well. Cashier was very friendly, but not sure if it's enough for us to take a chance on going back.

    Pork Lau Lau, Lechon, Mixed Filipino Plate w/ Shoyu Chicken & Pinakbet, Local Style Ahi Poke, Sea Asparagus Ahi Poke, Pork Lau Lau Plate
    Jennifer Y.

    By the time this review gets posted, there's a high probability that Fort Ruger Market may not have much longer before they go out of business. The reason for our recent visit was because of a gift certificate given to us for Christmas. The store itself is spacious with a small parking lot in the front, but the interior looks extremely tired with merchandise shelves that are worn and practically bare. At the seafood counter, there's only a handful of poke options in the chiller. Along the steam table, there are about half dozen hot items that look as if they've been sitting around for a while. Note that we arrived at 11:45am on a Saturday. Hanging overhead, there's a modern digital menu with promising items, but mostly every item I tried to order they didn't have. I asked if it was because we were there too late in the day. The person behind the counter was nice enough to honestly disclose that the store owes too much money so they no longer carry a lot of anything at all. It's a good thing we were there to redeem the gift certificate so soon after the holidays. As for the takeout I managed to order, it was okay. I can certainly picture better days for this place. Here's what we tried.... - Ahi Poke by the pound: Fresh with good texture, not overly salty or drown in sesame oil like most poke shops. Unfortunately, like most places, it contained a hint of chili pepper which isn't our thing. Also, at $31.95 per lb., it's gotta be one of the most expensive poke on Oahu. - Lechon by the pound: Nice and crunchy, if not a bit overcooked on the meat side. The positive is that it wasn't too salty. Unfortunately, the 1 lb. container was about 1/3 pure fat and 1/3 overcooked meat which all went into the trash. - Pork Lau Lau Plate: Good portion, sizable and full of tender pork and luau leaf. The only downside is that the salt level was too high for us, but we personally are accustomed to low sodium so they're not at fault. However, the macaroni salad was a huge disappointment. It literally only tasted of Tabasco sauce and not much else. Lastly, the steamed white rice was also a let down. It was cooked with not enough water which makes for dry and hard results. Both sides went into the garbage. - Mixed Filipino Plate with Shoyu Chicken and Pinakbet: Shoyu chicken was okay if not a tad too sweet and a tad too dry. At least it wasn't too salty. Pinakbet was good. The veggies were tender and flavorful, but there was no bittermelon due to the fact that the business isn't doing well and couldn't afford the expense. Like the other plate, the macaroni salad and rice was inedible and had to be thrown away. If you're reading this review and are in possession of a gift certificate, go immediately! Yes, the staff there require a great amount of patience. It was unpleasantly stressful, but I'm glad we weren't too late.

    Kalua Pig Ocean Salad
    Steven M.

    Awesome service, got the amazing simply poke bowl with spicy togarashi, adobo, and mac salad. My girlfriend got the kalua pork, ocean salad, and kimchi cucumber. We'd definitely come back to try more things since both were so flavorful!

    Poke Special
    Larene U.

    Wowwwww I love it here. It's so terrible that I never made it a point to come here but omfg this place is insane. Super good poke and they give a ton. I got the Ruger Poke special which came with my choice of Lechon, and kimchi omg. So. Much. Food. Insane. Everything was delicious too!! They have outdoor seating. The indoor also is like a mini market so you can grab your poke and a snack/drink if you want. Will definitely be back!

    Simply Amazing poke bowl (lechon and spicy togarashi poke)
    jason n.

    Haven't been here in a while but we were in Kapahulu and wanted to eat somewhere we haven't been recently. Food looked good but the lechon was mostly fat with very little meat. I don't mind fat but it barely even rendered in most of the pieces. Ahi in the both the spicy ahi and spicy togarashi poke was below poke grade with over half of the pieces inedible due to being mostly sinew. It looks like ahi used is the type you'd scrape to make spicy ahi, not serve and hide with sauce. The best thing in our bowls were the kim chee and lomi salmon. The chicharron was the high point and I'm glad those are still ono. Service was pretty slow even though there were only a couple other people in the store. Sad to see the quality drop off so much. It'll be a while before we return and next time we'll stick to the hot food.

    Fort Ruger Market
    Rebecca C.

    Poke me! Another hidden gem I've heard of from a co-worker. It's a convenient store located on Diamond Head. They have about 4-5 parking stalls out front of the store. You can also find parking on the street. We came here to grab longanisa bento for breakfast and for lunch, we picked up 2 mixed plates with pork adobo, pork guisantes, dinuguan/pork blood meat, and spicy ahi poke. The lady is super nice and friendly. I think she scooped a little extra since I gave her a big smile as well! :) This made me extra happy since I'll be sharing my plate lunch with another person. I know it's almost pork, pork, pork. But the meat in each dishes was not only seasoned well and burst into so much good flavors but the meat was super soft! It almost melts in your mouth or should I say, it was so tender and easy to chew ;) Either way, definitely a must try!!! The spicy ahi is also well made. I love it!!! I definitely will come back to try the other pokes and the lechon kawali (roast pork). They didn't have it when I went. It's a simple store filled with so much goodness. You can either grab your breakfast, lunch, dinner and even your non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks, some snacks or simply purchase a gift card to gift to someone ;) I know they'll enjoy you! Thank you for taking the time to read my post. Have a great evening!

    Jayson D.

    Can. Not. Get. Enough. Of their chicken long rice! Been coming to Ruger forever and never been let down. These guys always serve up the best Hawaiian and Filipino local grinds. The lechon in particular is a total winner. Crispy skin with the juicy, fatty meat. Mmmmm! Order a combo plate or get it a la carte by weight. Visitors, do yourself a favor and take a break from the bougie joints on Kalākaua Avenue. Get some good local food, done right.

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    Fort Ruger Market Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Fort Ruger Market

    Are there gluten free options?

    Do they use MSG in their food such as chicken long rice?

    No MSG in the food.

    Do they serve breakfast?

    Yes I believe they do!

    How's their lau lau's?

    Excellent!

    View All 5 Questions

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