Helena's Hawaiian Food

As a first-time visitor to Hawaii and someone trying Hawaiian food for the very first time, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience at Helena’s Hawaiian Food. The food was absolutely amazing and gave me such a great introduction to local Hawaiian cuisine. We ordered the short ribs and the pork, and both were incredible. The short ribs were tender, flavorful, and cooked perfectly, while the pork was just as delicious and full of flavor. Every bite made it clear why this place is so highly recommended. The service was also outstanding. Everything came out incredibly fast, and the staff was efficient, friendly, and welcoming. Everyone we interacted with had such a positive attitude, which made the experience even more enjoyable. If you’re visiting Hawaii for the first time or looking to try authentic Hawaiian food, I highly recommend Helena’s. It was one of the highlights of my trip, and I can’t wait to come back! 🌺🤙🏻

My family is from the islands, and I grew up with Japanese aunties who could cook a luau for 50 people without blinking. It’s rare to find Hawaiian food that tastes as good as home, but this restaurant nailed it! The mac salad was on point, the lau lau was packed with meat and flavor, and I can still taste the kalua pig. I probably wouldn’t order the ribs again, but I’m spoiled with a traeger. Anyone complaining about the portions or prices probably doesn’t understand true Hawaiian flavors or the amount of work and love that goes into making these dishes. There’s an L&L somewhere on the island for complainers. Thank you for sharing your family’s love of cooking Hawaiian food. You really know how to make a girl feel at home. Highly recommend. If you LOVE Hawaiian food, not just like it, this is your place! 🌺

Today I got to try their set D menu, Kalua Pork & Lomi Salmon & Short Ribs Pipikaula Style & Luau Squid and found it very tasty. Also, the service was very friendly and helpful.

As part of our recent vacation to Hawai’i, we stopped by Helena’s Hawaiian Food to get a taste of traditional, authentic Hawaiian cuisine. Parking was scarce, but we managed to find a spot nearby in the neighborhood. It was a Saturday around lunchtime, and we were able to be seated immediately. 

We didn’t really know what we were doing with the menu, so our server ordered whatever she thought we would like. She did a great job. We got the Pipikaula short ribs, kalua pig, lomi lomi salmon, poi, mac salad, and fried butterfish collar. Everything was so good! My favorite two items were the short ribs and the butterfish collar. The short ribs were so meaty with a nice firm texture and had a yummy sweet marinade. The fried butterfish collar was crispy and dripping with buttery goodness. Trying poi for the first time was such an interesting experience as well. I had always wondered what it tasted like. I had always thought it was going to be like a sweet taro paste dessert, but it’s actually more like a starch and serves the same role as rice! Its neutral flavor allows you to pair it with your proteins. It adds a bit of texture and helps you feel full. I was really grateful for finally getting to try it and loved learning something new! I had a great time at Helena’s. The food was delicious, and I got to learn more about traditional Hawaiian cuisine. I totally recommend it.

I saw this place was highly recommended for the local food, so I wanted to come and try it out. You can add your name to the waitlist on Yelp. Didn’t take long to get a table, less than 5 minutes and your whole party needs to be there. The place has a lot of space and tables and the service is quick, after ordering the food came out within minutes. Not sure what the hype is about, food tasted mediocre to me, and the portion seemed small. I mean the food wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good for me to rave it to people to come try. I’m glad I tried it to say that I’ve gave it a shot. Most likely won’t be back, there are a lot of other great tasting restaurants around.

Stopped by Helena's Hawaiian food for our first real taste of local authentic cuisine and it was a memorable experience. We tried the lau lau, poi, Kailua pork, and poke. Everything was fresh and clearly prepared with care. The flavor profiles were new territory for us and honestly not everything landed with our palates, but that is on us and not the food. The poi in particular was an experience, slightly sweet, tangy, and intentionally mild, exactly what it is supposed to be. We came to try something genuine and that is exactly what we got. The service was fantastic and everyone was incredibly friendly and welcoming. Parking lot is small so just plan ahead. If you want an authentic taste of Hawaiian food this is the place to go.

I read and watched a lot of reviews about Helena's Hawaiian Food, and I really wanted to try local fare. Since we had a rental car, we stopped by one evening for dinner. Parking was easy and we walked into a location that reminded me of a small diner. We were seated right away and given menus. The two things I really wanted to try were the pork ribs and the fish collars, as both were prominently featured in reviews. We also ordered some Kalua Pork for good measure. After a few minutes, everything came out except the fish collars. Those were about 10 minutes later than the rest of the food. The food itself was good. The pork ribs had a great flavor and while I had a dry part once in a while, it didn't detract from the flavor. The Kalua Pork was good and the fish collars were amazing. They were tender and fatty, just as I expected. The macaroni side was also good, as well as the free desserts they give out. I was happy not only to have tried the local food but also to have loved eating it.

Perfect spot for home cooked food arriving from the airport, or leaving, and even to call and order take out and eat when you get to your accommodation. Parking is pretty difficult, the lot is small on a busy street, there’s some street parking but can get busy. This was our first stop arriving on a Wednesday afternoon. They’re closed Saturday-Monday so weekdays are the best. You can sign up on waitlist on Yelp and make sure you wait outside after signing in, we made that mistake and walked in not knowing. They have QR codes for the menu. We didn’t know that the Menu sets A-C are recommended for one person. For a group of 4 the server understood what we meant and made our orders family style. We for sure wanted to try their short ribs, kalua pig, limo salmon, luau chicken, Mac salad, rice, and had to have my friends try poi. They also gave us a coconut dessert since it was our first time. There were onions and salt to go with the kalua pork. Their short ribs pipikaula style were so good, they were like the perfect crispiness of a short rib that I didn’t expect! Service and hospitality were great. Drooling while writing this review.

Helena's came highly recommended during our visit to Hawai'i, and we finally had the opportunity to check them out. Upon arrival, we were able to order immediately. While there was seating available, we opted to order our food to go. We ordered the long rice chicken, a small order of Pipikaula-style short ribs, macaroni salad, and fried butter fish. It didn't take long to receive our food. For the prices, the portion sizes seemed a bit small. When we finally ate, we felt that the food didn't meet our expectations. The short ribs were a bit tough, the butter fish was excessively salty but the vinegar helped balance it out, and the macaroni salad was probably our favorite, but not the best one we had in Hawai'i. After trying Waiahole Poi Factory's chicken long rice, which was incredibly flavorful, we felt this one was lacking in taste. Overall, Helena's was okay, but it didn't quite live up to the hype!

We went for an early lunch on a Wednesday because we had read that it could get crowded. On the way, our Lyft driver gave us tips on what to order and how to eat it (don't eat everything separately - get a little bit of multiple things in each bite), which made the experience even more fun. We ordered Lomi Salmon, Short Ribs Pipikaula Style, Luau Squid, Kalua Pig & Cabbage and it came with haupia (a coconut dessert). Everything was delicious, but the ribs (oooh, the ribs!) are magical! I still think about them and it has been 7 months since we were there. If I ever have the chance to go back to Hawaii, I will definitely go back.