Achilles Grill Thai Food

Love Thai & that’s awesome!
My taste buds was attracted to this mobile food truck on the last day of 2013. It was brunch time (9am) and I was in town area before hitting up Haleiwa for a day in the sun and surf before returning to town for the NYE Party of the Year at Kaka’ako Waterfront Park. Didn’t have breakfast yet, so I just hit this place up and see where the day would take me. While I rarely do the food truck thing, it may just be the kick in the butt that would be the best thing ever, especially with culinary delights at your neighborhood food truck instead of a brick and mortar restaurant. I do surprise myself with this kind of thing from time to time and it’s a good thing. Much like a fast food restaurant thing, major difference is that its a kitchen inside a truck. Still can’t wrap my head around that!
With that said, the Achilles Thai Grill food truck is located on the corner of Ward Avenue and Kapiolani Blvd. Its a small white non de script truck that you wouldn’t know that’s a good truck, if it weren’t for the Thai food signage next to it. The good truck sits next to the busy intersection, with Jack In the Box and the Neal Blaisedell Center as the landmarks nearby. Parking can be obtained by the Neal Blaisedell parking or any parking that you can find nearby, but it’s always tough. As always, bus routes 3 and 9 rumble though this hotbed joint, so best believe that there’s no way in hell that it would not be possible to not do this one. The prices were surprisingly cheaper than the restaurants, but yet, the portion sizes were not as generous, but I took everything in stride.
The order was Pad Thai and red curry on the side. I hadn’t drenched Pad Thai with red curry before, since I just eat them separately, but since it was the last day of 2013, I was like, why not? The taste was pretty good and I do love that fusion action going on. The service was great that I received, so that was awesome. The only thing about this place was that its cash only. I was sad when I was holding my plastic and they leveled the news on me and I had to look for an ATM nearby. Ugh so frustrating at times, but I found one at the Neal Blaisedell Center and that was great. I’m glad that some take plastic, but Achilles at the moment, does not. Wish they did though. That would’ve been awesome. The overall experience was pretty good and the people who were there made it all good.
While it wasn’t a regular restaurant and being outside with the busy traffic whizzing by, it felt as personal and intimate as it can be. I would recommend coming here, should you be a a Thai junkie and need that zest for curry that makes your day complete. While the Pad Thai wasn’t mind blowing awesome, it was clearly delicious and the curry had just enough spice to kick start my that trip to Haleiwa for sun and surf. Napkins and eating utensils were given automatically and I was off with a smile. While I thought that the portions could’ve been given more generously, the Pad Thai and the red curry was quite good. That’s my only annoyance.
3.5 stars.
But come anyway!
Support local!
B–

One of the first things I noticed at this white lunchwagon was their spice meter depicting how hot they can make their food (or their sauces, as I found out later). While Achilles serves the usual Pad Thai (like about 90 percent of other Thai food trucks), I asked what was the chef’s favorite. he mentioned the Lemongrass Short Ribs ($ 8.50), a healthy portion of about five or six marinated ribs fried up in oil for that crispy exterior (prepared like pipkaula, but with a Thai-​flavored twist). It came with some warm potato salad and Jasmine rice.
And of course, I asked for their hottest (10+) sauce. This was basically a mix of sweet chile sauce with freshly minced red Thai chiles and habanero peppers. An excellent sauce here, perfect for me. A great blend of sweet and heat!
The crispy exterior of the meat is just heavenly. While I got a nice portion of ribs, there was a lot of fat on here, which I did not like — and more of a disappointment than anything else. The potato salad contained some sliced sweet onions… delicious and nicely seasoned.
Reviewers on Unilocal apparently have had mixed feelings on the Pad Thai. I usually avoid the noodles when I can, so I’ll defer to other people on this one. On the other hand, the curries are tempting.
Extremely friendly chefs/​owners here. Kudos for a nice portion size, but they’d border on the five-​star rating with meatier, tender ribs.

Great friendly service with a smile… Ordered pad phet w/​beef & pad thai w/​beef along with some spring rolls… The waiting was a bit longer for a lunch wagon, but the tradeoff is a simply tasty and freshly prepared food!!! Definite must!!! Yummy and delicious!!!

Love the curries. Not so much the other dishes (pad thai, fried chicken, stir fried egglant).
Be warned, this is not fast food. Not even as fast as most lunch trucks. There is cooking going on in there. I’ve waited as much as half an hour for my lunch plate.

You know that Lunch time is a sacred but indecisive filled event everybody wants to go to lunch but no one knows where. haha well I at least made up my mind in the direction I wanted to go today which is toward Ward and Beretania to the Lunch Wagons I knew that there were two Lunch Wagons I haven’t tried yet and so to cross those off my list I headed that way.
Upon arriving My mind was made up for me the other truck I haven’t been to was closed so off to Achilles Grill cool…
The menu was another lunch bane what to choose okay I narrowed it down to Pad Thai, Red Curry or Thai Fried Chicken.
so I finally made my selection of Thai Fried Chicken the wait was a bit longer than if I had picked curry as others who ordered after me got their meals before I did but I was rewarded a bit later with hot Fried Chicken.
Silly me couldn’t wait and I took a bite of my Chicken as soon as I opened the plate. I had to strategically snuggle the Chicken back into the plate to take a picture (can’t see the bite mark huh?) I wanted to experience the full flavor of just the chicken (ok, I admit I didn’t know what the sauce was for)
which was hot and juciy looking like any other Chicken wing plate but that is where the similarities ended. The Chicken wings flavor had the hint of the Thai spices and was sitting on a bed of sliced Cabbage with the other two compartments filled with Jasmine long grained rice and a sauce that I didn’t use as I felt that the Chicken tasted good enough without it.
What also is good about Achilles is that they have a little tent with two long tables and chairs in which to eat at a nice touch.
I’ll need to come back to try the Curries and the Pad Thai soon…

The fact that this is my family business, you obviously know that i will be verifying the fact that we offer amazing authentic thai cooking. The chef (my mother and sister) has finally manage to pursue their dreams along side with Aladin Ramos (sisters boyfriend) and opened something simple to express their love for our cultural taste buzz. I take my hat off for the both of them because they are two hardworking gails who enables their ability to share with us the phat thai noodles that taste like it came straight from the markets of phuket, a thai tea that was freshly brewed from the streets of nonkhai, and the amazing variety of curry soup and satay that set sail from the city of bangkok. dispite the fact that they do take a bit of your time to truely take in the taste, i can assure you that in time… they will manage to offer faster service while maintaining the waterdropping taste Mimi and Kidy has to offer. Hey! its a new & first time thing, so chill out for a bit and enjoy their chicken wing!!!

So I work in the area and decided to give Achilles Grill a shot. I love Thai food and it’s a 2 minute walk from me. With lunch being an hour long, I figured I had more than enough time. I was wrong.
I went with a friend. There were three people ahead of us. My friend ordered the Pad Thai and I ordered the green curry since they were out of yellow curry. Well, I placed my order at 12:11. I did not get my food until 12:58. Seriously. What’s worse, there were two people who ordered after us and got their food before either me or my friend. In fact, the person directly behind me ordered the Pad Thai, just like my friend, but somehow got his order, not only first, but a good 15 minutes before my friends order was ready. Oh well, live and learn.
I feel my review of the food would not be accurate because of the bitter taste left in my mouth from the wait time and because I had to eat it cold, at the end of my shift since I got back from lunch late.

This truck is located right on the corner of Kapiolani/​Ward in the lot next to Mercedes Benz. They have a tent set up with 3 large tables to dine right there. On my first visit there I tried the Pad Thai ($ 7) and Thai iced tea ($ 2). There were no orders before us and it took about 15 – 20 minutes for my friend and I to get our Pad Thai plates. They were literally fresh made to order. They do phone orders so if you don’t have the luxury of an hour lunch break, then I do recommend calling ahead. I got my iced tea while I was waiting and it was very refreshing. The Pad Thai was good. Other places I had it were kinda plain, but this truck kicked it up a notch with the sauce. The ladies at the truck were friendly. They helpfully answered our questions when we ordered and even recognized we were first timers there. Also when we were finishing up our meal, the cook asked us how our meal was and explained the differences between the curries which we were planning to try on our next visit here.

I looooove Thai food, what’s more importantly is I love delicious Thai food like Achilles Grills Thai Food in the former Audi lot of Ward and Kapiolani.
The ingredients used are your typical Thai items like bean sprouts, parsley and lemon grass and I can taste the freshness after each bite. Yummy!
Achilles dishes are always served up with smiles no matter how long their lines are. They get busy and some dishes do sell out in the late afternoon, I would highly recommend you call ahead. Tables and chairs in a shade are available. Most dishes are between $ 7-​$ 9.
I’ve tried their pad thai, pad siew (thick rice noodles), of course all of the curries they carry and their food is just wonderful. Did I mention, YUMMY?!
It’s a convenience short walk from Straub, 909 Kapiolani Condos, HECO, Blaisdell, Lexus and the Mercedez Benz dealership.
I hope you enjoy your meals with Achilles Grills Thai Food as much I did.

Another Eat The Street sample.
The Good: The Spring Rolls were crisp and tasty
The Bad: The Pad Thai was not something I would try again
Picked up an order of the Pad Thai and 2 spring rolls for $ 9.50. I don’t think I have ever had Pad Thai topped with sprouts and chinese parsley, but it didn’t hurt their dish. Unfortunately, the only flavors I could distinguish was the fish sauce.
The spring rolls were hand rolled and fried to order. Dipping them in the peanut oil added a pleasant flavor without distracting you from the Spring Roll filling.
If Pad Thai were the only dish I used to rate and compare all Thai restaurants, and it is, I would not be able to recommend this place to a friend.

Stopped by this place because the dealership staff happened to be grabbing lunch from here. I was hungry and overheard their talk of fried rice and pad Thai.
This is what I ordered:
— Pad Thai Chicken– not so hot… as in not so good. Tasted a bit tart for my liking.
— Papaya Salad– this was great! They make it Laos style (per the chef).
–Kity’s Garlic Shrimp– this was good. Flavor was nice but was very saucy. Almost too much sauce tho.
–Mixed Vegetables were YUM! The best dish we ordered!
Overal, I gotta say that they are a great attempt at mobile Thai food. The family run aspect is always a good thing for me. I wish them all the best. Price was good, but they did tend to not have many of their menu items in stock. Big no-​no, but I guess its because they’re learning.