Garden Island Café

Very good, 1^st time here after our Manoa falls trek. All meat seasoned well and service was quick and friendly.

Garden Island Café provides good food and excellent customer service. The owners work very hard and are very good people. I love the beef chow fun. Other items I have purchased were good also.

Excellent food great service. Hard working family owned business. They even deliver!

Garden Island Café is a great option for those looking for local or Chinese comfort food that tastes great for a reasonable price.
I’ve tried the Loco Moco and Chicken Katsu Curry, both of which come in mini or regular sizes. For a big eater like me the mini size is enough for a lunch and they normally go for around $ 7. The taste is somewhat like C&Js down in Puck’s Alley so fans of there would definitely feel at home here.
Wait times can vary during peak lunch hours due to whay seems to be a lot of call in orders from construction workers that work in the area. I would caution a 15 min wait or so on some days, but let’s be less like the self entitled douches we’ve become these days and just wait for the goodness that will come your way when you are patient. The staff is friendly and do their best.

Haven’t eaten anything I didn’t like. Especially love their fried rice, try their breakfast Uncle Sam’s fried rice, yum! Surprising food that I like from here is their burgers and I’m not a burger fan, so that’s saying a lot. It’s a simple burger that just tastes good.

I LOVE hole in the wall/​mom and pop places. And Garden Island Café does not disappoint.
This might have been the last place in Manoa I haven’t tried yet. I run and drive by it all the time but had yet to stop in.
It’s a hybrid type of place that specializes in breakfast, local comfort food and also Chinese food. They also sell a bunch of other random things such as: trinkets, custom jewelry, dessert, local snacks (crack seed stuff) and fresh fruit.
We ordered the grilled fish and chicken broccoli (substitute for beef broccoli). Everything there is fresh and very well flavored. Lots of spices, garlic and deliciousness!
The woman in front is very nice and took great care of me. There are tables to eat at but keep in mind, it’s kind of a small place.
You can bet instead of running by, I’ll be stopping in.

You’ve got to try the crispy fried chicken! Sorry Mom, it’s better than what you cooked for us growing up. It’s perfectly seasoned and fried. For a small eatery everything I’ve tried is pretty good. The owner is also very friendly and accommodating.

Stopped here on the way back from the waterfall hike. Not a big sit down restaurant. Parking is across the street. But don’t skip it. Very good :) and quick friendly service. My sister said «Hawaiian comfort food» is now her favorite.

Drove by after the waterfalls and stopped by the next day for breakfast glad we did! I ordered the grilled fish with egg and macaroni salad! Yummmmy!!! Small intimate cute hole in the wall, the lady is super nice!!!

Stopped for breakfast, since Andy’s was closed, and was pleasantly surprised. I had a simple ham and mushroom omelette and it was very good. I plan on coming back to try lunch soon. Also, they did very well with the fried rice.

Lived in Manoa for years, and have never been to this little restaurant! Probably because parking for that place is a nightmare.
We couldn’t figure out what to eat for dinner so I suggested Garden Isle Café because we pass it every single day. So my boyfriend pulled on the side of the street and I ran in to pick up our phone order.
I ordered the salt n pepper pork chops and was not disappointed. The chops were crispy and just the right amount of salty. Perfect compliment to white rice (it’s cheat day, so don’t judge me).
My boyfriend had the hamburger steak which he enjoyed.
Good food for a good price! Will be coming again!

This place is very small but the food is pretty good. The pork chops and chicken wings are my go to items. The style of cooking is local/​Cantonese. If you got a problem with that then you probably go out to get your ass kissed instead of getting a simple meal.

had the salt n pepper pork chop; didn’t realize it was going to be deep fried. it was tasty enough but nothing really special. nice folks tho.

The salt and pepper pork chops will seriously give you dreams about it. Take out is easy and you can also park at the shopping center if there isnt anything available in the back or on the street. It’s next to Andy’s.
I swear, try the salt and pepper pork chops. Its $ 9 but its so freaking delicious!!!

Every weekend I do my laundry and I usually end up here. The Shoyu & Garlic Saba is probably my favorite. Good flavor and price is okay I guess at under $ 9 (I still can’t believe I’m paying for food at that price and think it’s normal now!). Other ones I’ve tried and liked is the big pieces of Korean chicken under $ 8. Pork chop burger is decent too for the price I think around $ 4. Overall decent prices and decent food, what more can you ask for?

They were open, so we decided to give them a try. I guess it’s tough serving breakfast in such close proximity to places like Morning Glass. I had the fried rice. The gf had the mushroom omelette. The omelette was fine. Nothing unexpected. Not very large either. The fried rice had good texture, but was pretty bland. At $ 4.25 I suppose I shouldn’t have expected much more. I just prefer to have mine with a little more… flavor. Service was friendly and fast. Location was convenient, so maybe I’ll come back and try a plate lunch sometime.

This little mom-​and-​pop gem — next door to Andy’s, just down from Starbucks — deserves some serious LUV. Probably the best plate lunch in Manoa, if not all of Honolulu. BBQ beef & chicken are marinated in a very tasty shoyu/​ginger/​green onion concoction. Fries are always fresh & crispy made to order, with some sort of seasoning (Chinese five spice?) that makes them super-​delicious. Burgers are surprisingly tasty (although it’s not exactly top-​grade beef). The Chinese dishes (such as eggplant with pork, salt & pepper shrimp) are WAY better than Asia Manoa (and cheaper!). The portions are also quite generous. The only lackluster dish I’ve had there is the salmon steak, which was a little bland and over-​cooked. For the most part, though, Garden Island Café broke da mouth!

Lovely Place
Pro: friendly staff, tasty food, very cheap!
Con: small, undecorated, little to know effort in presentation
In sum: if you want a place to bring a date, this is not it. But if you just want to grab a cheap tasty meal — this is your place!

Located in the same block as Starbucks, I’ve passed by this place countless times living in Manoa. I recently noticed there was a plate lunch place here and decided to try it out.
They have a lot of Chinese plate lunches like minute chicken with cake noodle as well as normal local kine like chicken katsu etc.
I got the Chop Steak with Cake Noodle and Medium Soda. Came out to like $ 11 something. The food was huge and they didn’t skimp on the chop steak like other places do by putting 3 whole onions in the dish. The cake noodle was good and crispy. Although I could taste all the MSG and salt, it was pretty good.
I’ll definitely come back here (before I go to Andy’s for sure) just because this place is a meal and not something I could make easily at home with bread and cold cuts… (I’m sure people will hate me for that comment)
Overall this place is good, can be pricey but if you don’t eat much, you can get two meals out of it. Small place I think there were 3 tables and maybe 1 outside. If you tried everything in Manoa Marketplace like I have, you should try here too.
Review ³⁄₃₁

Haven’t been here for awhile, owners changed. Food also changed. Seem like they expanded their menu too. Ordered the ham and egg sammich, dissappointed. Also tried one of their specials «choy sum with chicken & rice», tasty but greesy. Service was quick and friendly. Never had any problems finding parking.

I’ve been here once or twice and always get the salt and pepper pork chops. So ono. Tiny place, but good food. Decent price.

Small place located two doors down from Andy’s Sandwiches and Smoothies. At first it looks like your run-​of-​the-​mill plate lunch/​Chinese food take-​out place. After a few times the lady remembered me and always had a smile on her face. That was the cherry on top for me because I love their fried rice! For under $ 8 I can make two meals out of it. My favorite is the beef fried rice but it’s also available in char siu, chicken or shrimp.
I’ll definitely be back to try their chicken cake noodle soon.
Update: tried their veggie omelette (because of course uncle’s breakfast fried rice and eggs were sold out at 10 am on a saturday) and it was SUCH a bummer! It seemed like they were made from 2 small eggs and the huge veggies weren’t tucked nicely into the non-​browned eggs. No joke, the bell peppers and onions were the size of half dollars, and of course the mushrooms were few and far between. Guess I’ll just stick to their lunches.

Rating: ⁴⁄₅
Date Visited: 7÷31÷2011
Food: ³⁄₅
Service: ³⁄₅
Atmosphere: ³⁄₅
Price: ⁴⁄₅
Parking: ³⁄₅
Very, very convenient.
Food:
Great local grinds at a great local price.
Service:
Friendly.
Atmosphere:
Great location.
Price:
Very reasonable.
Parking:
They share a parking lot with Starbucks and the other venders in the same building. It can be challenging, but if you bring an extra person, you can pull over in front of the shop and have someone pick up.

This mom and pop take-​out shop is more than it appears to be. From the outside, the restaurant appears to be a simple place for a quick and cheap eat. However, the food was unexpectedly delicious.
We ordered the Korean chicken, garlic shrimp, and the Loco Moco. The Korean chicken was not exactly what I expected, but was good. Not too heavy, unlike other places. The garlic shrimp was tasty — nicely sauteed to give it a good garlic essence without overpowering the shrimp. And of course the Loco Moco. The meat patty was excellent, thick and juicy, not bland and overcooked (and too much gravy like L & L). And the mac salad was… not bad. Just enough mayo to hold it together and give it some flavor without the whole thing having to taste like merely pure fat. I wish they would add some other things in the salad to really make it stand out more, like more potatoes, shredded carrots, and celery.
While I was waiting for my order, I chatted with one of the steady stream of customers coming to in pick up a quick meal. She mentioned that the Uncle Sam’s fried rice was a must-​try if I could make it in for breakfast before they run out. Next on my list of Garden Island: Uncle Sam’s fried rice.