The photos online look different then the actual plates and panadejas themselves. No meet in the honto rice, looks like they only colored it with achote oil. The pastele itself was okay but not filling. The flavors was alright. read more

Quick and easy pick up of good ol' pastele and gandule rice combo plate. Always able to depend on this place for a cheap super-filling meal, friendly service, and laid back hole in the wall vibes. read more

We're usually not Yelpers and this is our very first review, which is so, so, so warranted! WARNING!!! DO NOT EAT HERE! IT'S A FRAUD AND A RIP OFF! This place DEFINITELY DOES NOT serve Puerto Rican food! How shameful is this shop that names themselves after an ethnic delicacy and serves the public CRAP!!! What an embarrassment to the Hispanic culture! Our pastele was mushy and soggy - the banana not fully cooked. The rice is wet, pales in color with only beans and NO flavor, and the bacalao salad smelled sour. Our food was not edible, we through the entire purchase ($$) in the trash can, definitely didn't want to get food poisoning. Eat at your own RISK!!! Very ghetto and Kind of sketchy. Be careful... they told us not accepting credit card payment at that time, cash only, NO RECEIPT given. Very SHADY business operations! Poor management handling by Vicky and Norma, sisters in this business and THEY DO NOT RESPOND positively to customer dissatisfaction!!! #NOMORE!!! Let's all rise together and report this place to the BBB, boy cot the establishment and get the health department involved - who definitely needs to take a closer look at this place and SHUT IT DOWN!!! read more

The lady who works there maybe she's the owner super sweet! Ono pastele and gandule rice!! Winnahz

I haven't been here in over 10 years. I think I stopped going here because there used to be a lot of roaches visible at the restaurant. With the placarding system now in place I felt it was safer to order from the Pastele Shop now. I ordered a take out large bacalao salad and a single hot pastele. The large salad was $8.95 and it was huge! I ate this salad 3 separate times and it was delicious. When you first look at it it doesn't seem to have a lot of bacalao on it but the bacalao is mixed throughout the salad and not just on top. They gave enough dressing to last the entire serving of salad. My go to for bacalao salad is Jackie's Diner but I think I like The Pastele Shop's salad better. The pastele on the other hand was underwhelming. I know I really liked it before but I thing the flavbor got weaker and the texture is not as soft and moist as it used to be. I'll go to Jackie's for my pasteles. read more

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For me, this is the standard by which all pasteles are measured...and yes, I've been lucky enough to try homemade "grandma's recipe" pasteles from more than a few sources!! Not only are the Pastele Shop's pasteles super tasty & just the right texture, but I absolutely love that they offer a MILD-version (for spice-wussies like me). I usually get mine to-go, and smother it with shredded lettuce & sour cream at home...I'm not sure why, but that's how my mom's always done it. Another great option here is to get frozen pasteles, which are perfect for long-term storage or travel. Last but not least, if you've never tried their pastele lumpia, you really owe it to yourself to try. Seriously, all of that pastele goodness PLUS it's deep-fried & crunchy?? Yes please!! =) Okay, so maybe it's not a good idea to eat this on a daily basis...but sometimes you just need to reward yourself with one of these babies. Or two, if you've been especially good...and I know you have been, right? 0=) read more

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Alright, I live for my pasteles!!! Every time I go back, I bring back a whole lot to the mainland cause everyone needs to try. I'm glad not too many tourists know about this palace. That's okay more for me. So if you visit Hawaii, try this place if you really want good pasteles. There's another place in Wahiawa, called Da Pokeman Fish Market. Just as good. There are a few places that sell pasteles. Just gotta find them. read more

The Pastele Shop - Menu for Pastele Shop - Latin American Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

The Pastele Shop on gulick ave is awesome!! Although we can make our own pastele, pastele stew, gandules rice...... no one has time anymore to make it!! Next best thing to help cure my Puerto Rican food cravings.... go to the pastele shop!! Pasteles are a little pricier than some other places but the taste is awesome and they are always fresh!! Parking is very minimal and can be hard to get but it's worth the wait to find a parking!! Elizabeth is currently offering a pastele bowl for $5!! It comes with one pastele and gandules rice!Not sure how long this will last so get it while you can!!! read more

The Pastele Shop - Latin American Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Our first time here. Thought it would be good, no frills but authentic in a shady strip mall ;) unfortunately, we paid for a banana lumpia and never received it. We also had no utensils to eat with. (It's a carry out spot, they should be in every bag). When we finally got some to eat with, it was CrAzY salty. Kinda sad, was really looking forward to it. The flavor is there, but def can use some improvements. read more

The Pastele Shop - Latin American Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Love the pastele. Been going here for years. Always try to stop by when I'm in kalihi.

Always nice to visit there. And the food is DELICIOUS! I particularly love the pastele lumpia.

My first trip here since I heard from many friends to try this place. It's a small space that makes some very delicious "Pasteles" OMG YUMMMM!!! I ordered the #6 which is 2 Pasteles SPICY with gandule rice. I swear I cannot just eat ONE haha staff was nice read more

Pretty huge portions! If you get combo A (or #1?) it's gandule rice, pastele, pastele stew, and bacalao salad. Essentially some of everything. Or rather a lot of everything. The hot stuff is all quite tasty though the salad leaves a bit to be desired. There should be some way of mixing it up better but the container it comes it doesn't really allow for that. read more

This place is a hidden gem. And don't judge a book by its cover. Although the place doesn't look like much, their pasteles and gandule rice are to die for. For those that don't know what a pastele is, it's like the Puerto Rican version of a tamale; only 10x better. If I had to recommend only 1 place to eat on all of Oahu, this would be it. I prefer the spicy pasteles to the mild ones, but you really can't go wrong here. Whether you're a tourist or a local, grab a plate and dine at a beach park; one taste and you might make it a regular tradition like my family has! read more

The person taking our order was great! Even the customers were awesome! A regular didn't hesitate in recommending things on the menu. He sold us on trying the fried chicken. I think this shop should be called the Pastele and Fried Chicken Shop! The person at the register was so enthusiastic about explaining what everything was, that we ended up buying enough food to feed at least four. I've been craving for these pasteles for the longest time and was ecstatic when my husband's eyes ended up being bigger than his stomach. The pastele lumpia and Puerto Rican empanadas (forgot the proper name of these) were delicious, but what will always bring me back (I can only get here during my vacations--sob, sob!) are my favorite pasteles (and now the chicken)!!!! Their banana lumpia is pretty good, too! The only problem is most of what I ate was fried, so be prepared for a heavy meal or don't bring any hungry eyes! By the way . . . I read a review that said this place was expensive, but if you ever saw someone make this or read about how they make this, it is a labor of love to run a pastele shop! (BTW we had the hot pastele--not sweat inducing just mildly hot, so I would get the "hot".) read more

This place is close to home so when ever I'm craving a Patele their my go to. The patele is mild and their menu gives you options if you want it with Spanish rice or patele stew. Although their Spanish rice is not like traditional style, it does have some flavor which goes well with the patele. Parking isn't good because they share parking with other shops. read more

The Pastele Shop - Latin American Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Not only do they have the best pastele on island but they stayed opened past 5pm so we could rush down and pick up 4 plates of food and banana lumpia! Such good service, thank you Pastele Shop. Never ceases to impress us! read more

Made phone order at 12:30, told her I was picking up at 1pm. Came at 1pm and told me she gave my order to a lady who jus ordered her food... her response was "I didn't know what time you was coming so I gave it to her... very unprofessional family business.. wouldn't recommend read more

Picked up spicy pastele and was just as good as 30 years ago. It's also at the same location in Kalihi across Tasty Chop Sui. It had one olive instead of the usual two, but the pastele had good amount of meat. Price went up but it's difficult to make, so it's understandable. read more

Love the ganduli rice and Pastele stew plate. Can customize if u don't want Pastele or bacalao. The taste is stew is perfect with just enough achote and olives and cumin. So ono. Parking is tight and inside is very grimy so luckily cannot sit down anymore bc that might turn you off. Might see some stuff you don't want. Make sure they wear their masks when ordering and when they are cooking to ensure ur safety. I'm grateful we are required to wear them bc less cooties get in ur food. read more

Haven't been here in years and the shop is still an old "hole in the wall". However, pastele, bacalao salad, ganduri stew and rice all still taste like it did when they first opened years ago. In heaven right now. My only regret is I ate too fast but we bought extra so having another meal if it later today. Yum! read more

Oh my gosh.....this place is so good! A friend of mine purchased Pasteles's and Gandules and Rice for friends gathering. I'm going to keep this short and sweet. The pastele and gandules and rice was on point. The food was authentic and it reminded me of my Puerto Rican friends cooking. I was sad when my meal ended. That's how good it was. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures. I ate it all lol. read more

DO NOT EAT HERE!!! Today 3/29/17, I stopped by and bought a #5 plate with extra pastele to eat for dinner. Half way through dinner my wife took a bite of Gandule rice and there was a fricken ear ring inside the rice! How the heck do you drop a fricken ear ring inside the food?! Luckily the sharp part of the ear ring didn't poke the inside of my wife's mouth. So disgusting! I have eaten here plenty of times before when I lived in Kalihi with no problems, but I will never go back here again. I would give this place a negative if Yelp had that feature. I will be in contact with the shop and try to get in contact with the owner. read more

The Pastele Shop - STUD EAR RING INSIDE MY GANDULE RICE!! - Latin American Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

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Our fave pastele restaurant! I don't think there is another restaurant out there that serve yummy delicious pastele. Their fried chicken, pastele stew and the pastele rolls are so good! read more

Very bad service! There was one person before me. He got part of his order ,he was waiting for his fried chicken . The workers looked irritated! They told him the chicken is not cooked yet "would u like to wait " he said yes! While they were trying to figure out this chicken situation they ignored me. All I wanted was to buy 5 pasteles! This is my second time there and second time of bad service! Thought I give them a second chance! Good luck read more

It's been a little more than half a year since I first visited The Pastele Shop and this tiny hole in the wall has turned into my go-to stop for a quick, affordable, delicious lunch before work on the weekends. While the parking lot is a tight squeeze that is hard to enter and even harder to exit, the trouble is 100% worth it. Anything on their menu is delicious but my order always consists of the pastele stew bowl with white rice and, if I'm feeling a bit fancy, a banana lumpia. The pastele stew is just what you'd expect. Fresh out of the pot, piping hot, savory, meaty, salty, oily goodness. Mix it with the white rice at the bottom of the bowl and you've got yourself a winner. Their lumpia is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. They even have a new lumpia consisting of fried chicken I believe? I haven't gotten around to trying that one yet, but then again I'm not really one to deviate from my go-to order. A filling meal for under $7? Count me the freak in! If you're in Kalihi, you need to visit The Pastele Shop -- you will not be disappointed. read more

The pastelli Shop was so authentic. I thought we were back in Puerto Rico. Thanks for a lovely meal that tasted just like my mother in law used to make. Mahla. read more

The Pastele Shop - The BEST pastelles we had in years - Latin American Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Amazing tasting pasteles! I got two plates and it fed my family of four. But then again in my family we always share food! But I promise you it's one of the best tasting pastele I have had! Also their pastele lumpia's are a must try! I promise you you won't be disappointed! read more

I love this place. The food is so Ono that they always sell out. They are just the bomb

Kudos fell rapidly for my once favorite Pastele Shop. Yesterday, I was jonesing badlly for those salty, spicy rectangles of porky yumminess so I tripped on down for my favorite, "2 pastele, (hot), gandule rice and I'm out the door" goodness. First off I noticed my beloved fav lunch was now almost 10 freaking dolla! What the woof? Cost of shipping, my sagging tail! Every single one of those products is produced here, except the canned olives and cooking oil. The price per plate has gone up by dead reckoning about a dolla a year for the past few years. C'mon that's way too much and way too fast! No doubt others think so too. The place was so empty and quiet, you could hear the fies buzzing. Settle down there, take a breath. (Pant, pant!) While waiting for my plate, I trotted next door to the little shop that sells fresh, red, hot chili peppers in a little bag for a dolla. It cost a dolla and 50 pennies now. What the arf? Cost of shipping? Pshhh. Well, after saddling up with my fresh, fire-y chili peppers and plate I gallop on home for a peaceful lunch. It ended up being a dog day afternoon, if ya know wut I mean! When I opened up my foam box, there sat 2 soggy, wet pasteles, not firmly straddling eachother high on a layer of ti leaves, no... They were sitting there smashed together in a heap like a wet pile of dog sha. Lose one star. The rice was a scant 2 scoops (if that!) and flattened. I'm used to having this plate piled high with gandule rice so high, the foam box cover smashed it flat! Not to be. Loose, barely reaching side to side in that enormously empty foam box. Lose another star Sadly, I spooned the corner edge of pastele into my mouth and lo and behold, not the chewy, spicy almost leathery mouthful that only a pastele edge can posses but soft, brown cud. It didn't melt, it foamed in my mouth. Not exaggerating. Gaaaaa! Bye bye third star! The 2 whole black olives were soft as well, disintegrated into wrinkly strings of black mush in my mouth. That is, I could only find 2 olives in the junk pile. I understand the need to cook and freeze and reheat and sell. Trust me, this was not the case. These pasteles were cooked and frozen and defrosted and reheated and maybe again twice more and sold as a hot plate lunch. The pasteles were rancid. (Or since the two pastele were somewhat smashed together, maybe pastel-i?) The whole plate was a sorry excuse for a lunch. Adios star 4! (Whine!) Since the quality of food at this place went waaay down, the portions got waaaay smaller and the price went waaaaaaay up, I'll have to start sniffing out another pastele joint in town to scarf at. Cuz I'm not planning on going back for a long arse time. So sad too cuz I've had a long history of visiting them! Open to suggestions. read more

My coworkers turned me on to this, otherwise I don't think I would ever known something like this existed. Puerto Rican style tamales in rice. Soooo good. This is comfort food for sure. Get the Pastele with the stew. I tried the sausage once but the stew is much better. It doesn't look very appealing I admit, but you will devour it. Makes 2 meals too so for the price is worth it. read more

My best friend since the 1st grade is the 1st person who introduced me to pasteles. She also lived right across the street for me so I would go over to her house often and mostly because there was always something good at her house. Always! She has always been a picky eater but pastel was something she liked and so was gandule rice. So my recent visit to California, I stood with my friend who is also Puerto Rican, speaks fluent Spanish and comes from a long line of INCREDIBLE cooks (I can vouch) recently had come back from visiting family in Puerto Rico and brought back homemade pasteles made by his grandmother. So when I walked downstairs to his mother asking me if I liked pasteles, I immediately said yes because I haven't had one in so long. Not really thinking about how great this pastele might be because it's homemade and it's from his family I took my first bite and fell in LOVE! A few people say food is to a man's heart but no one says anything about food being to a woman's heart! Coming back to O'ahu I craved pasteles and knew that the best ones had to come homemade but again, I'm wrong. I was on Yelp, wandering around and found that someone reviewed the Pastele Shop and I'm thinking to myself, aw man.. But she reviewed it with 4 stars and sure enough, the business had 4 stars. So I'm thinking to myself that I should just try it out because I've spoken to a few people who talked about getting really good pasteles and one was in Waipahu and the other one in Kalihi and this must be the one! I don't know much about the origination of this restaurant but it is a gem. Everyone should stop judging places by it's location and the looks of it from the outside because what they serve is pure delight. I ate my food during traffic because I couldn't wait anymore. Once I took tat first bite, I had to stop and savor every second. It's packed with pork and i love the black olives. You can also get them spicy! If you're ever in town and craving pasteles, stop at the Pastele Shop! read more

I've been coming here for a few years now. I get the #2 combo plate = 1 pastele + gandule (pigeon pea) rice + bacalao (dried, salted cod) salad. Had that for lunch today. Now $9.95. As I recall, it is not too long ago that this place was more. More meat in the pastele, more taste, more quantity, and more inexpensive. OK. But now, for me, once in a while is soon enough. read more

What is a pastele? I still have no idea, really. If you've tried Chinese food, it's similar to "jung zi" (mochi rice with various types of beans and meat). I ordered a spicy pastele with gandule rice and salad (one of the combos). GET THE SPICY PASTELE. It's not too spicy (for those that cannot spicy - try this anyway!) and the flavors dance a happy dance on your tongue. The gandule rice (Spanish rice, same thing) is super good as well! The flavors really stand out and combined with the spicy pastele, this combo makes my tummy go whoooo hooo! If I could, I would pass the salad though. It's interesting, but the pastele and gandule rice are the stars of this small hole-in-the-wall. The decor is severely lacking here, but you come here for the food, not the atmosphere. Service is super friendly; don't be afraid to ask if you don't know what an item on the menu is! Other pluses: lots of free parking, funny sign about free calling to jails outside. :) read more

Oh how I have missed you Puerto Rican food! Haven't had it in a while and I was craving it so I decided to swing by after heading home in traffic. I think I just wanted to look forward to something after getting through the hellish traffic. I ordered a pint of Gandule Rice and two Hot pasteles. I was so excited as my truck now smelled of pasteles and rice. I kind of wanted to rip the bags open and eat it while in traffic but I didn't. Got home heated it up and oh my gosh the pastele was huge! I ate the pastele and about a cup of rice all to myself. Ono! The Pastele Shop is a hole in the wall type of place but sometimes those are the best places! I went right before they were closing and the cashier helped me pretty quickly. Delicioso! read more

I had the #6 . It's was good , enjoy it. The shop is small and parking , you might go around the block , it cool. Check it out.

Best pastele on the island!! Arguably the best fried chicken on the island too! Aunties always taking care and can certainly taste the love and attention in each bite of Pastele! read more

Don't ask me how to say it or whats in it but I love me some PASTELEs and I love me some PASTELE SHOP. I first discovered this gem at the Made of Hawaii festival when I tried a sample of their gandule rice. One bite and I was hooked and then I tried their pastele and I'm in love. Now for those of you not familiar of pastele or gandule rice....umm my response is its made of good stuff. Okay okay I heard pastele is made of smashed green banana, onions, peppers and pork wrapped in banana leaves. I know it doesn't sound appealing but you just have to trust me. Eat that with gandule rice a exotic rice with beans and pork. This Puerto Rican delicacy will have you coming back for more. Now I will be honest, everyone has their own recipe and a bad pastele will make you dislike it. So do me a favor if your are a virgin to pastele try it at THE PASTELE SHOP. I also just discovered for the first time, PASTELE Stew. The only way to describe it is beef stew on steriods. About a block from Kamehameha Shopping Center you will find this gold mind. I'm already convinced everything is good when its wrapped in banana leaves. Maybe I should wrap my wife's cooking in banana leaves. I'm joking! :) read more

Omg no way not the real anything. The Pasteles are bland, the Gandule Rice bland, the cod fish salad omg bland... Drive to Wainiae side and go to Mailii Pastele Shop then you post and tell me... It's worth the drive read more

I'm BIG on reviews when it comes to customer service. Stopped by the shop today, not more than 5 mins to buy some take out pasteles and the young female person who wore "little black apron" who assisted me had the most SUCKIest attitude of "no greeting nor smiling or even a thank you" to myself or that customer that was next. PRIME example of this type of person who should NOT be in the front assisting as a cashier. Regardless if you're having a bad day or don't like your job - you should always SMILE, otherwise, stay behind the scenes so no one sees that "habut" face Honestly, I've been in here years ago and loved your food, your employees was A LOT friendlier, and with this experience today, it just determines of not returning anytime soon or ever. PASTELE - 4 ATTITUDE - dropped 2 stars. Good luck! read more