Highway Inn Kaka'ako

Update December 2025: this is our go-to place where we always bring our visiting friends and family to for Hawaiian food. The location is close to us and the food in general is better than Helena’s. We tried a few things new this time around. The smoke meat was a bit greasy but tasted good. The Mochiko chicken doesn’t have mochi batter than other places, and the pieces appeared to be grilled instead of deep fried. It was different but still tasted good. Original review: We haven’t eaten here for 3 or 4 years and it would appear that it has kept up with its quality. I ordered the butter fish combo that came with rice or poi, Mac or green salad, ube slices and haupia. It even had beef stew gravy for the rice that was really good. We also ordered the Kaula pig sliders. Both tasted quite good and quite fulfilling. Nothing fancy here except good comfort food. The prices were reasonable and the parking is free for the first hour.

One of the first places I tried local food. Pork Lau Lau plate hit the spot! Loved the Malihini Guide on the back of the menu to educate visitors on the foods being served. Helped tremendously when making meal decisions. Most definitely will be back to try more!

Always a pleasure to eat here. The family & I loved it as per usual. Coming back to Hawaii from Tokyo, very convenient with nice people & great Hawaiian food. 😎🤙🏽

Super happy I ended up having time to go here at the end of my trip. Got the mochiko chicken—deliciously crispy, flavorful, and with sides of rice and potato Mac salad. Parking may be tough to find depending on when you go as the strip mall this place is in can get busy. They use a ticketless system that honestly worked pretty well. Free for up to an hour and a half

This is the best Place on the Island if you want Authentic Hawaiian Handmade Food! Best budget prices and AMAZING SERVICE! You can feel the Aloha from servers and the place!! Food is so ono delicious that you will bring all your friends and Ohana back here! Maika'i!!

Our party of 3 had delicious local Hawaiian food at Highway Inn. The dining room is casual, looking close to a diner or cafeteria. We found the service friendly but slow and forgetful. A pineapple beer was brought to us instead of the pineapple margarita we had ordered. It took a reminder and 30 minutes for the right drink to be delivered. Halfway through the dinner I ordered a glass of red wine and it took another reminder to the waiter after 20 minutes for the wine to be delivered to our table. One of the 5 dishes we ordered was never delivered. Since we already felt pretty full from the 4 dishes, we asked the waiter to cancel the 5th dish. We still recommend this place for the food. But one needs to be patient with the service.

We stopped in at the end of a tour after hearing about this place through Southwest Dining and Fetch. We arrived mid afternoon and it wasn't busy at that time, so we were seated right away. Being from the Midwest, I greatly appreciate the menu and cards on the tables explaining what everything was. I knew that I wanted authentic Hawaiian food so I ordered the combo plate while my mom ordered the fish sandwich (huge filet and delicious bun), my husband ordered the Highway Inn Fried Rice (SPAM!!!), and my step-dad ordered the Hawaiian Moco. We come from a BBQ city and I ordered BBQ pulled pork a lot but I have never had pork as juicy as the Kalua Pig. We hadn't eaten since breakfast and were quite ravenous when we came in yet none of us could finish our meals. Had we been staying somewhere local, we would have taken the rest to go but we were on a cruise ship so we had to leave it behind. What an amazing place, walkable from the cruise port!

Great spot for trying some authentic Hawaiian food, more of the working class variety with some unique flavors. The pork combo plate was pretty pricey but adding a side made it eye wateringly expensive, nearly $30. Not enough food to justify that price. Happy to have an easy entry into the local flavors but that was a gut punch.