Gina’s Huli Chicken

My sister always likes to rub me at what i’m missing living in Ohio and just related her lunchtime grind at Gina’s which she took me to while i was home last. So i thought to review this place ’cause she just reminded me at how it has to be some of the best wood smokey good chicken she or I have ever had! One scoop mac, two scoops rice and a ¼ chicken for six dollars… Yum!

Delicious food. Definitely will eat here again. My party tried all the choices on the menu and each item was very good! Don’t pass this place up, it is worth every bit.

What a bargain! I got the ¼ Huli Huli chicken and it came with white rice & macaroni salad. It was only $ 6! I got so much chicken it seemed more like a ½ chicken. Anyways, you will not be starving. I couldn’t even finish half of the chicken I received so it will be my next meal. The chicken had a smoked flavor and it was nice & moist. I walked from my hotel, the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel. It was so close. Instead of paying for a costly meal at your hotel, pick up lunch at Gina’s. I paid more for a plain salad at Uncle Billy’s General Store. Just make sure you don’t come too late, I heard they often sell out .The only negative is if you want different sides other than the macaroni salad and rice. The guy told me it would be $ 2 extra if I wanted coleslaw instead of macaroni salad. Lesson learned, stick with what it comes with.

Best huli chicken we have ever had. Really wanted whole chicken to munch and then put in salad next day. Arrived just before closing (we found them at Naniloa Golf Course) and first thing he said was, «Sorry only whole chickens» and we said «Perfect. just what we wanted». And that was one HUGE chicken plus they threw in a boatload of excellent coleslaw. Chicken was moist with smokey flavor and I confess to scarfing down that perfectly cooked skin as well. We will return to Gina’s. it deserves 10 stars !! And I love my food.

We go here quite often for lunch. The huli chicken is incredible! Even the breast meat is juicy and everything is full of flavor. I just recently tried the kalbi… amazing! My hubby also goes back for the pork rib tips and the lamb (the lamb plate would easily cost you $ 30 at a restaurant and is delicious!!). The best part is that the prices are super reasonable. Highly recommended to anybody looking for a great lunch!

Our hoppa on, hoppa off driver mentioned this was really good food, reasonable priced. We found our way back and ordered a 3 entrée tray! O M G. It was so yummy! We wanted to take some home with us. The first bite was enough to convince me the food was made for a king! cant wait to come back and have it again!!! Love it!

In a city with plenty of mediocre plate lunch places this place stands out. Their Huli chicken is delicious and tender with just the right amount of smokey flavor from roasting over a log fire. The coleslaw was very good also. They do have kalbi and other things on the menu but it is the Huli chicken that draws me in. They are in the Naniloa golf course lot now across from the Naniloa hotel.
Try it, it’s tastier and healthier than most of the plate lunches you get in this town.

I’m just going to say it like it is, this is some of the best chicken you will ever eat. That’s it, no need for any more explanation. They get it so right every time. The Huli Huli chicken, the white rice, the Mac salad. All perfect each time we show up. And we show up EARLY. Because they sell out, like every day they sell out.
Yes it’s a trailer. Parked in a gravel/​pothole/​some asphalt lot. Run by a mom & pop team who know what their doing.
Honest, flavorful food at a more-​than-​fair price.
This place knocks it out of the park!!!

Best BBQ place in Hilo town! The bbq chicken is absolutely delicious, taste, moist, and best wooden smoke flavor. Also their now pork ribs are to die for. It’s perfect, consistently taste good every time. This is where I go to eat lunch probably 3 to 4 times a week. There’s nothing bad to say about this place. I strongly record it. Best part is, the portions are generous, chicken plate is only $ 6.00. Try their roast pork with gravy it’s delicious too. Happy eating!

I don’t know. I was expecting maybe. condiments? Or maybe some soy sauce for my rice. The chicken was ok. ribs were really good. I ordered the onion rings and only got like 3 and one super mangled one. No sauce on ribs. too simple for me, for the price I’d expect a bit more. I wanted to try it tho, so my curiosity got the best of me and my wallet :) I probably won’t go back.

To Steve: I know you don’t use the stuff I mentioned in my review of your mac salad, because it would taste much better if it did. I provided you with what I thought was the «insta-​fix» ingredients to pump up your mac salad. Just simple suggestion. Like I said in my initial review, your current mac salad was the weakest link in an otherwise great meal. But, hey, if you think its good, then so be it. Btw, I’m glad you read your Unilocal reviews. Smart man. Its a good practice to listen to the input from the people buying your food.

I was working in Hilo this past Friday, and many a times I have driven passed this little lunch wagon right next door to the KWXX radio station. What really caught my eye about this place, was the little rotisserie pit that cooks the delicious looking Huli Huli Chicken!
Aaaaah, what a beautiful thing!!! Most times these modern pits have a machine that automatically turns the chicken, like the rotisserie chicken you get from Costco.
Gone are the manual labor days… you know, when I was a little kid, I remembered a time where I had to help with a school Huli Huli Chicken fund raiser…
Yes, I remember running between the hot grills with my buddy, and having to coordinate with your buddy on which way (left/​right) we had to turn over the racks of chicken! Making sure we squeezed the rack hard enough so we don’t drop a chicken into the pit, and pumping the canister of Huli Huli sauce to shoot on the chicken. Sometimes I would fool around & shoot some of the Huli Huli sauce at my buddy like a water gun, only to get scoldings from the teacher for horsing around. Lol! Aaaah, those were da days!
Oh, anyways… the little lunch wagon was called Gina’s Huli Huli Chicken…
Friday was a very good day for me, as everything went pretty smoothly on my trip to the Big Island, and I even found some ample time to sit down & have a relaxing lunch too!
Remembering Gina’s, and having like 2 hours of idle time before catching my flight back to Oahu, I figured it was a great opportunity to check this place out.
Upon driving up to the large parking lot where this wagon sits, I park my rental car just behind the back of the lunch wagon truck area. Please be aware, there is marked signs for reserved parking for KWXX, so please read the signs… you don’t want to get anyone mad for taking their parking space.
There was a small line, so I had to wait my turn… upon getting to the front of the line, I promptly order a Huli Huli chicken plate. For $ 10.00 bucks you get ½ a Huli Huli Chicken, two scoops of white rice, & 1 scoop of mac salad. When I was ordering my Huli Huli Chicken plate, I asked the dude if they had brown rice? He told me…“the only brown rice we have is when you pour shoyu on your rice”. Lol! I just thought to myself… hummmm, that’s a pretty good excuse to tell me «no», they do not serve brown rice!
Upon getting my plate, I noticed the dude forgot to give me my mac salad… but no matter to me… I hate mayonnaise, and usually never eat my mac salad anyways, so I don’t bother to go back to ask for it.
Now for the grub… I gotta say, Gina’s Huli Huli Chicken by far serves the BIGGEST piece of Huli Huli chicken!!! I have reviewed two other Huli Huli Chicken places (Mike’s Huli Huli in Kahaluu, & Koala Moa Rotisserie Chicken on Nimitz Hwy.), and Gina’s — hands down beats them all!
The GOOD about the chicken — When I ate the chicken, it was moist & juicy… and it had a wonderful Kiawe smoked flavor to it.
The BAD — Now the down side of the chicken… as I had mentioned before, they serve the Biggest Huli Huli Chicken I’ve ever saw… and the bad thing about that, was when you serve such a large piece of chicken, sometimes they may miss marinading the chicken well enough. When I was eating my chicken, when I got to the chicken breast area… it had no taste, & was bland.
I guess sometimes it’s hard to cook in volume, and sometimes things happen… the parts that were marinaded well… it was all so very yummy!!! I would still come back here to give it another try again. They also serve other things like Kalbi Ribs, Korean Chicken, and some other yummy stuff too.
Check ‘em out gang… chance ‘em!

Best Huli chicken on planet Earth! Not happy with the constant rising prices but I can spare the $ 15 for a whole chicken. If the price goes up again though, I will have to learn how to make my own.

Street food at it’s best
We were driving to the farmer’s market last Saturday to get fixings for a picnic lunch and passed Gina’s on Kilauea. The lure of the smoke drew us in — and I’m so glad we stopped.
The chicken was spectacular — moist, flavorful, perfectly cooked. We even ate the skin which is something I never do. One plate with half a chicken was plenty for my hubby and me. I wish though that we’d ordered a few things; we actually went back to the same location the next day hoping for more. It was a great value at $ 10.50 to feed us for the day.
The rice was, well, rice and I am never a fan of the mac on a plate lunch, I guess that shows I’m not a native Hawaiian. It’s fine for what it is. But I do love a perfect rotisserie chicken and this was absolutely perfect.

first time was great! great prices for a bunch of chicken and even a side of Korean chicken.
sadly our second visit was not lacking. the Korean chicken had a freezer taste and I didn’t even finish it.
lets just say, later that night and for the rest of the week my other half and I had frequent bathroom trips. not fun!

Ok so I don’t RAVE about food options much, But this has a lot to offer!
It’s a food truck, so no great atmosphere, no bells and whistles. What this IS, is great chicken at a SUPER price! $ 5.00 bucks for a quarter of a chicken, a scoop of sticky white rice and home made Mac Salad (which for hawaii, is ok mac)
My only complaint has been finding him!!! he was at the corner near home depot forever. then forced to move. I FOUND HIM! He is across from Helco! In the old dealership parking lot!!! for 2 bucks ad some Korean wings and for $ 7.00 Im a happy fat kid! Best deal in town, flat rate. he says $ 5.00 he means $ 5.00.

you know when you have high expectations you’re only setting yourself up for disappointment. I should’ve known better when there was no huli chicken huli-​ing when I got there. I waited behind 5 or so construction workers and I decided I wanted boneless huli chicken with homemade gravy. once I opened my plate and took a bite, I could not have been more disappointed that it was icebox COLD… um are you kidding me? Is it supposed to be this way? I was expecting hot and fresh. but, I’m a forgiving person, it must’ve been a mistake, and once I microwaved it the flavors were savory throughout and the chicken was moist and tender. sorry guys, i know it probably was an oversight but if my first impression wasn’t so horrible, I’d probably go back.

My cousin woke me up at 11 in the morning after his classes, belly-​aching for huli chicken. I told him to drop this non-​sense as you can only get that stuff on Saturdays. He told me «Nah man, theres this spot by Home depot» and we were off.
Initially i was wary. I normally shy away from buying food from roadside vendors. Hilo is chock full of food quacks and unemployed or welfare recipients who buy food with food stamps then resell it non-​licensed and un-​inspected at the roadsides. Ive eaten Kalua pig with what i could swear was rocks in it. This place is a far cry from all of that ghetto-​isms. Gina’s sports a CLEAN, REGISTERED, LICENSED lunch wagon that is street legal and health inspected. The workers are legit and maintain a cleanly appearance.
The food. Its good. Excellent in fact. Ive had, on two separate occasions, the roast pork and huli chicken. Both plates were simplistic with 2 scoops of rice, a scoop of mac salad and a generous but not heaping portion of meat. The taste, texture and preparation was spot on. The chicken and pork was not dry. Very juicy and fresh. It was also not undercooked which is a huge deal breaker for me. Spot on is the term best to describe the quality of cooking. It definitely tastes as good as it smells.
The price. Its brilliant to say the absolute least. I have no idea how you could sale such a plate at $ 5.00 flat tax include. Like ive mentioned, the serving isn’t «Sam Choy» heaping but there is definitely enough for a fresh out of the water surfer to fill up on. The value to cost ratio on this buy is once again, spot on.
My only notable criticism is the logistics of the cart. its at a busy corner and almost precariously located near the edge of Railroad Avenue. I grew up on this street on an ag-​lot and know for a fact that large trucks barrel down that street at illegal speeds. As a child i had many brushes with death on bicycles. I often find my self looking behind me as i wait in line half expecting to see a huge truck slightly tittering towards the shoulder and fatally clipping a customer or myself.