I went on Halloween Day to meet Nadine C. to exchange party favors since she was not going to be able to attend a birthday dinner for our regular group the following Thursday. She was dressed up in full LA Dodgers uniform with all of her stuffed kids in tow.
Ono Steak & Shrimp is in the old Meg's Drive Inn spot on Waiakamilo which I went to about thirty years ago and never went back to, not because of anything negative. The owners of Meg's retired after being a great greasy spoon which endured for decades. It became a couple other eateries after Megs, but they closed fairly quickly.
This location is in the heart of an industrial area so if you want to survive you need to provide reasonably price food in sufficient quantity served up quickly to satisfy the appetites of the blue-collared workers in the vicinity.
Whether Ono Steak & Shrimp will meet those attributes is the question. Hopefully, they will.
I ordered the steak and shrimp plate and Nadine C. treated me to lunch. Thanks, Nadine ... it wasn't necessary but much appreciated. When I opened the carton, it looked like a lot of food. While it was a little deceiving because of the mound of rice the entrees were fully covering, it still was a lot of food.
The entrees were a little salty for me but, very tasty. I think I will return with my regular weekly lunch pals Alan & Sean because every time I remark that the food wherever we are eating is a little salty, Sean agrees and says he likes it.
The dining room is Spartan in typical local style and the air-conditioned but fully windowed dining area creates cool and warm zones, so choose where you sit based on your preference.
I have a funny story about the building complex. Right next door to Ono Steak & Shrimp is a hostess bar called Golden Tree which we used to frequent years ago because my drinking buddy knew the then proprietor Mama Lee. My handyman friend Li drove us to the bar in his van, a beat up white Ford Econoline with scrapes and dents in every imaginable body location. The van was also packed to the max with tools, new plumbing and electrical parts, and used parts salvaged from his past repair jobs. A hostess on break smoking at a bench right outside the door watched us pull up and park right in front of the bar, jumped up and ran back in the bar and said, "Mama, some homeless guy parked in your parking space."
Anyway, Ono Steak & Shrimp is a place you may want to visit if you are in the area and looking for a tasty lunch. read more