Kam Bowl

Came here for lunch wanting to the try the famous oxtail soup.
When the oxtail soup came, it smelled and tasted like the soup had a Phở broth and not the traditional oxtail soup taste I am used to. It was good, but I will most likely try something else the next time I am here.
When we put in the order for desert, they only had 1 flavor left of the ice cream pie flavors.

this was my time here and probably my last. I had the garlic chicken and fried rice my boyfriend had the of tail soup. He liked his meal me not so much. The garlic chicken didn’t even taste like there was garlic in it and the fried rice was okay. I also found two pieces of hair in my food.
The staff was not so friendly either. They close at 10 and we walked in around 9:20 which I understand but you could at least put a smile on. I felt like all the employees are older women who have a permanent grouchy look on their face.
Lastly they were out of the ice cream pies! The slices of cake are over priced as well! $ 4.50 a slice! The price of two slices can buy you a whole pie at Times next door.

First off, I would rate the food a 4… it was good enough to make us full. But as far as the service, I give it a ZERO for the waitress that helped us. I myself work with customers and customer service is everything to me.
The waitress that helped us was a skinny, blondish hair Filipino girl. From the very start, I could tell she was a bit rude. We got our food, not once has she checked up on us to see if everything was ok… not even I fill up our EMPTY glass of water. I’ll understand if it was busy, but it wasn’t. Then she made us feel like she wanted us out because she just slid our bill on the table and walked away. She didn’t even bother to ask if we wanted anything else… which my daughter wanted dessert but I told her I need to get out of here because she got my blood boiling!!! She gladly took my credit card and brought back the receipt to sign, again she just slid it to us… NOT even saying THANK YOU… SERIOUSLY!!! She has NO customer service skills what so ever!!! She lucky that we even gave her a tip!!!
On another hand, I must acknowledge another waitress Naomi… she left a lasting impression. She wasn’t even our waitress but she took the time to ask us if everything was ok. She had a welcoming smile. She even made the time to talk to us on a personal level… Naomi gave us the ULTIMATE Customer Service Experience!!! Now, I know who to ask for next time.

Growing up I love oxtail soups from original Kapiolani Coffee Shop, which later became Kam Bowl then they closed eventually. I was excited they (original owners) reopened at Kam Shopping Center taking over Kennys place.
Having read some negative reviews of slow customer services of typical newly opened restaurant and running out of soups, we waited few months before coming here. Well finally here and were still disappointed. Gone were the big hot tasty bowl of oxtail soups. The new bowls are much smaller, soups even watery, while price higher. All bad combo, enough said. Rent probably higher, and has to pay for renovation cost, but if they don’t improve on quality of food (mainly signature dish oxtail soups), don’t know if they can make it. I hope they do but they’ve got work to do.

To say I was disappointed would be an Understatement. Basically, 4 out of 5 meals was a bust and the 5^th one was just «ok».
Being an oxtail soup eater since the days of toppling bowling pins I was looking forward to a repeat of those good old days… I was sadly mistaken…
First of all, was the look of the restaurant. Just brown. Brown like everything was almost the same color and it didn’t feel like a place to eat. A comment was «It didn’t feel inviting», sums it up.
Second, the wait help gave this place the one star. She came back to ask several times if we needed anything and tried her best to try and help us even if visually she looked frustrated assumingly due to her dealings with the cooks.
Third, food should not come to the table with the temperature of food that was sitting out on the counter for a while. Oxtail soup was actually cool, which is defiantly a huge problem. I sent mine back and it came back Luke warm at best. Another table sent theirs back 3 times to get it «hot» which to me is terrible. We could hear the cook say «it’s boiling hot», it definately was NOT. Something is wrong with the temperature control cause the beef stew came out warm room temperature too. The gravy came out «warm». All around not a good temperature of the food. At least the flavor of the soup was good but there wasn’t any rave reviews of the other meals.
Lastly, small portions. The Regular oxtail soup was like a small saimin bowl with about 5 – 6 oxtail that was mostly bones for 15 bucks. I wonder what the small was like? Less than that would be strange. The beef in the stew was fatty so mostly inedible with one hard carrot and one potato. Not enough food for sure.
Overall a «not good» experience. Very disappointing. I will not be going back there again.

Kam Bowl was a 5-​star memory for me. The oxtail soup, french fries, and hamburger steak were lunchtime favorites. Wondering if the food tasted better with the noise of the ball hitting pins and with the AC-​chilled smell of a bowling alley…
Happy that they kept the memory alive with the name. Disappointed that there are no memorabilia or decorations from the bowling alley. (Still looks like Kenny’s.)
Service is friendly, although kinks still need to be worked out.
The oxtail soup is still good. Expensive, but comforting. You don’t get any of the peanuts or star anise anymore, but the flavor is there. The ginger sauce (with a little soy) truly kicks it up a notch. One of Hawai’i’s iconic local dishes…

«Middle of da Road»
We came here on Mother’s Day on the spur of the moment after going to an open casting call. After driving past Pancake House on Dillingham Blvd (they looked packed with quite a few people waiting outside for tables), we set our sights on Kam Bowl since we were in the area. We were surprised that at about 10am we were able to waltz right in. They were maybe, 60% full– we thought perhaps we found that sweet spot between breakfast and lunch or…
The Good–
Coffee was tasty and hot, no fancy offering but just right for a coffee shop.
The servers were prompt, friendly and efficient. Our table and seats were clean and tidy.
Have had their banana pancakes on a prior occasion and they do a real nice job. The bananas are pureed and mixed into the batter for a nice, even banana taste. Delicious– one of my top three banana pancake places now for me.
Have also tried their mini lup Cheung fried rice which was really good. Not too greasy (hard to believe, yeah?), enough balance between the rice and animal proteins to make this a tasty dish. This is another «go to» dish for me.
The Bad–
Da boss had the Japanese breakfast, which she thought was on the bland side. She took salmon with the white rice, scrambled egg, tsukimono and miso soup and at $ 10.95, seemed on the high side for what you received. Not close to what Victoria Inn Kaimuki used to offer.
The Kam Bowl Eggs Benedict. The poached egg was done nicely, good consistency. The English muffin was kind of rubbery, no crispness to it at all, the Hollandaise sauce was totally tasteless. A sauce devoid of it’s personality– if this is homemade sauce, they’re going to have to step it up. If it’s from a bottle, recommend they find another brand. The hash browns are little more than the pre-​shaped ones similar to what you get at McDonalds, but not as tasty.
The Ugly–
Unfortunately as I took my third bite of the eggs Benedict I crunched into a pretty big piece of egg shell, further examination disclosed a piece about ½″ X ½″ in size. I wasn’t about to poke around my dish any further to find out if there were more shell pieces so I sent it back.
Instead went with a more conservative Portuguese Sausage (5 pieces) scrambled eggs and rice. At $ 8.95 this was a fair price in a coffee shop for a Port. Sausage platter but the sausage was pretty greasy. The scrambled eggs were pretty good, not overcooked. Quite honestly the McD platter tasted better than what is offered here.
So the bottom line:
Three out of five breakfast offerings are not recommended. Egg platter (even sans egg shell), Japanese breakfast and Eggs Benedict are probably a better bet elsewhere. But those banana pancakes and lup cheong fried rice were good and worthy of checking out.
Have never had a chance to try the oxtail soup which seems to be considered quite good by others. Perhaps after trying that the rating might be bumped up. A welcome addition to Kamehameha shopping center since the demise of the previous family restaurant. For now, a middle of the road 3.

Kam bowl is where the former Kenny’s Restaurant used to be in the Kam shopping center. The ambience is the same no real renovations done but the menu has both kam bowl specialities as well as some Kenny’s dishes as well. The portions of food were generous and good standard local fare. We left pretty satisfied.

Need a place to eat when your starving? This is the place to go! The reason I say this is that during the «dinner rush», this place was not busy at all. Got parking right in front of the restaurant (used to be Kenny’s) and our party of three got seated right away.
Everything happened so quickly that I wasn’t ready to order when the waitress came over. The menu was pretty extensive and being as hungry as I was, it was hard to choose what I wanted to eat. I wanted to try everything. My boyfriend ended up trying the oxtail soup (of course) because they were known for this. My mom ordered the saimin ($ 7.95) because she wanted something simple. It’s too bad that they didn’t offer breakfast all day because I was craving breakfast. I ended up choosing the chicken cutlet ($ 10.95), which came with either mac salad or tossed salad. I decided to try and go the «healthy» route and choose brown rice and tossed salad.
Oxtail soup looked pretty small for $ 12, but my boyfriend said that it was actually pretty filling. The Chicken Cutlet was over cooked a bit, but still good and the tossed salad came with a substantial amount of lettuce. The waitress asked if we wanted some desert and normally I’d say no, but wanted to try the slice of apple pie she mentioned. Didn’t realize that a slice of apple pie was going to cost about $ 8.00! WOWZA! Next time I know to ask how much the deserts are before ordering.
Service was good and very quick. I would suggest this place if you want a sit down restaurant that is quick and easy.

Alright, I expected way too much out of this place way before it even opened but it wasn’t bad at all. I do need to agree with the bad service some have mentioned. When we were seated, the table wasn’t even wiped down. The funny part is the lady who sat us down saw that it wasn’t clean but she put the menus down and left it as it is. It was annoying… At least give us some napkins to wipe it ourselves. We waited a bit until someone finally took our order. Our waitress was friendly and attentive.
I ordered the oxtail, of course. And boyfriend ordered the Hawaiian special that included the long rice, kalua pork, laulau with a side of lomi salmon and mac salad w/​rice! I have to admit I was a little disappointed with the portion for the oxtail. The Hawaiian plate on the other hand had a generous amount. I wish I had ordered the kimchee fried rice! That never fails.

Third time is a charm…
There was a sign on the door: «Closed»,
but they were open!
The previous two tries were disappointments because they were closed. Once with no sign on the door. Just emptiness… Confusing…
Inside — more confusion. We put our name on the list and waited in front of an unmanned reception table. After a while, someone came to apologize for the short staffing. There were many empty tables, but no one to wait on them. Sad. I had heard that the rough start of this «new» business at the former location of «Kenny’s in the Kam Shopping Center in Kalihi» was due to insufficient personnel.
However, once seated, we had excellent service and great local comfort food! I had the oxtail ramen and small Lup cheong fried rice. YUM! The oxtail meat was tender and tasty! The noodles were firm and filling! The fried rice had an egg on top which made it complete! I was so happy!!! (Note: My friends questioned my ordering 2 dishes. To be polite, I didn’t finish everything and took some home! Then we had dessert later! LOL!)
I kept looking at Angel’s bacon and wanted it MORE since she said it was CRISPY and she didn’t even have to ask for it to be made that way! Traci R. and Anthony were sure quiet — that’s a sign of contentment, right? No complaints! Just concentration! Haha!
I’m quite sure that I will return soon — maybe for the CRISPY hash browns that Anthony had! And maybe more oxtail soup that Traci enjoyed! The FREE parking and spacious interior are added positive incentives!

The food here is so good. It was exactly how I remembered it at the bowling alley back in the day. I had breakfast here Sunday morning with Anthony, Nadine, and Traci. They had staffing problems and the seating process wasn’t good. A few customers actually left the restaurant after standing around for a while.
People walked in the front door and didn’t know what was going on. There was a woman working the cash register in the front. She did not acknowledge any of us that walked in. About 12 people were crowding the waiting area not knowing what was going on. We looked in and there were empty tables. There was a sign in sheet by the register and people just started putting their names down. Finally, one of the guys waiting called one of the servers and asked what the problem was. She explained that whoever did the scheduling didn’t schedule enough servers and that they were swamped. They needed to clear the tables and serve the customers that were already seated. Then, they would be ready for us. We were finally seated 15 minutes later.
Besides the mishap that happened in the beginning, everything went smoothly after that. We had put in our orders and the food arrived in a timely manner. We didn’t have to wait too long for all the food, about 10 minutes.
I ordered their famous oxtail soup in a small for $ 12.95. It was a small but I couldn’t even finish it. There was about six pieces of oxtail in the soup, which was a generous amount. It also came with two scoops of rice. The oxtail was tender and the soup was yummy! I dipped the oxtail in my grated ginger and shoyu mix, and it was sheer splendor. It definitely hit the spot.
My hubby got the cheese omelette, with the choice meat on the side. He doesn’t eat pork, so luckily the bacon was all for me. His omelette also came with hash browns. The bacon and hash browns were both crispy. I was so delighted. I love everything crispy, lol. He also got a short stack of hotcakes. They were light and fluffy.
I’ll be back, sooner rather than later. They need to step it up on the customer service. They just opened, so hopefully they’re making adjustments.

Kam Bowl… Oxtail soup comes to mind. You hear a lot about how everyone loves theirs, and to be honest, I tried it a long time ago (back at the bowling alley) and thought it was alright. But to be fair, back then I didn’t really care for the fairly bland broth, and the effort it took to take the meat off the bone scraps.
Fast forward years later, funny how your taste changes, I actually like more subtle broths and soups. So now that My palette is better suited to like Oxtail Soup, and I heard that Kam Bowl reopened as a restaurant, I decided to try it. I gotta say, it was better as I remember it. It wasn’t terrible, just not quite the same. The soup was pretty bland, and the meat was also. It had all the components of a good Oxtail soup, but just not what I was expecting.
I’d like to say I’ll give it one more shot, but we’ll see. And there’s also the California Hotel and Casino’s one to try again… hope it’s good!

Okay, I grew up eating at the REAL Kamehameha Bowling Alley. Since it closed, I’ve been attempting to satisfy my Ox Tail cravings at Asahi, and the Kapiolani Coffee Shop in Pearl City. They’re all supposed to be the same owner right!!!
Before I talk food, I’ll start with the beginning, the front door. We entered Kam Bowl with great excitement, thinking it would be like the original across the street. There was about five people standing in the front and I thought they were paying. So we stood to the side where the sign tells you to wait to be seated. A women comes to the front and starts cashing out the people who were there and at the same time looks at us. Eating? she says. We said yes. She said, «Did you sign in??» We didn’t know we had to sign in because the sign in board was at the register in front all the people waiting. We said no and she hands the board to us. Okay… WE’RE THE ONLY ONES STANDING THERE NOT PAYING! Anyway another women walks to the front and ask how many of us in our party. We say two and she grabs some menu’s and starts walking. We follow figuring it’s our cue but then again, we can’t be sure because she didn’t look at the sign in board!
We sit and yes, I understand she’s Chinese, hey I’m part Chinese too… but I didn’t tthink I was in a Chinatown restaurant. She starts talking to us, sounded like she was yelling but I figured, that’s just because she was Chinese. But she sounds mad, her face looks mad, her walk away after we ordered looked mad. I almost blurted out to her «you mad??»
Finally my ox tail soup arrives. I ordered large and swimming in a big bowl is about six little pieces of oxtail. wait let me correct that, six big bones and very little meat on them. Some old chinese parsley is on top and it visually looked like a bad home attempt at the fabled EXCELLENT Kam Bowl Ox Tail Soup. It was so sad looking I had to ask the angry waitress…“Is this large? I ordered a large” Shouldn’t have asked, I think it made her more angry or sound more because all she said was «YES» :(Sorry oxtail soup lady.
I take a sip of the soup and it’s rather tasteless and luke warm. I scoop up some of my shoyu/​grated ginger sauce and put it in the soup to liven up the luke warm dishwater. I then pick out a ox tail BONE and dip it in my shoyu/​ginger and take a bite. It was cold. Like they made the soup and boiled the oxtail separately and stuck them together in the bowl to serve. I then scoop up some rice to eat with the ox bone and yikes… it’s like it was sitting out for awhile. It’s not hot at all.
I sit there sad. Years of memories of eating some of the best ox tail soup in Hawaii at THE Kam Bowl with the rumble and echo of bowling pins falling in the background were crushed by angry oxtail soup lady, a luke warm tasteless bowl of oxtail and some lousy rice.
I wasn’t alone either in my poor meal. My dinner mate had the chop steak. She said her’s wasn’t hot either. We couldn’t understand if something is stir fried, how did it end up cold.
Needless to say, we won’t be back. There are better oxtail soups at Zippys, Likelike Drive Inn and even New Eagle Café. I’ll attempt to keep my memory of great oxtail and the original Kam Bowl and forever trust my fellow Unilocalers when I read a bad review on a place, there’s probably a really good reason it so bad.

Stopped in this morning at 8a for breakfast no wait it wasn’t crowded for a Saturday morning. Interior is exactly the same as when this was Kennys.
Ordered the Eggs Benedict –English muffin, Canadian bacon, poached egg and hollandaise (10.95 $) and a side of bacon (4.50 $/​4 pieces) and coffee. They only have 2 choices for juice pineapple and orange.
The Eggs Benedict was okay, the eggs were poached correctly and Canadian bacon was pretty thick and tasty. The hollandaise sauce was pretty bland though. The hash brown that came with it was probably pre frozen and fried and it was very greasy so I just had 1 bite.
The side order of bacon had 4 pieces, it didn’t taste that good and was overcooked.
The service was friendly and efficient.
Overall it was okay… if I were to go back I’d try the pancakes. This is such a great location and could have great potential I’m hoping they can step it up on quality.

I think if you have high expectations for a place, you’ll be disappointed easily. So I did the opposite and expected the worst service and food EVER but actually, my family and enjoyed every second of our dinner together here at Kam Bowl!
I’ve never been to Kenny’s Restaurant prior to this visit and so this is my first time being at this part of Kam Shopping center. Lol. When we entered, you get this sort of old diner feel. Kinda like a Zippy’s meets Liliha Bakery…
We were seated quickly but note that there is a sign in sheet by the cashier, no sign to sign in, but there is.
Here’s where the fun begins:
THE MENU: It’s heavy & has multiple sheets inside like a book, BUT the menu is only the front cover? Go figure?! I was like uhhhh okay?
FOOD:
The FAMOUS OXTAIL– SMALL: It’s almost as small as a portion or miso soup! Kidding it’s very small for $ 12 though. LARGE: It’s just a bigger bowl with one extra meat for $ 14! It’s very good! Not too heavy and right amount of taste. There’s less veggies if you are comparing to Zippy’s and there’s a big amount of grated ginger that is on each table.
KIMCHEE FRIED RICE: BROKE THE MOUTH! I wish I had ordered this instead, I really did! It was so good!
REGULAR FRIED RICE: You should get the KIMCHEE, it’s pretty much the same taste.
Overall, the service was good. We were in out of that place within an hour of being there because that’s how fast they were. I do wish they had more things on their menu and be a little cheaper, but that’s just the way it is! Will be back for more family dinner time!

Kam Bowl was running a wait of 4 tables when we showed up for lunch. No worries though because there was no wait to sit at the counter. Their portions are good sized and they have a lot of local favorites: Korean Chicken, Chicken Cutlet, Fried Rice, Teri Beef, Ramen and more.
I didn’t order the Oxtail Soup, of all the places that closed, and oxtail soups to miss, theirs wasn’t my favorite. I got the Loco Moco instead, but it wasn’t a good choice. The gravy was beige, lumpy and weak in flavor. The hamburger patty was housemade, but under seasoned. I had a bite of their Saba which was as expected, the Saba retained it’s oily, flaky quality, but there was no wow factor.
If I were going to go again, I’d go before 10 am and have breakfast instead.

I’ve never been to the old Kam Bowl. But supposedly, they had a great oxtail soup. I was glad to hear they would be making a comeback and opened this past January. They opened in Kam Shopping Center in the old Kenny’s spot. Parking can sometimes be tough at peak times in that shopping center.
My first time didn’t start out great, Unilocal and other places said they were open til 10pm on Friday. However, we came at 9pm on a Friday and they were closed.
We came back on a different Friday earlier to give them a try. They still have that old diner-​like feel. You know which one I mean, like Likelike Drive Inn. There’s counter top and booth style seating. The menu is small and has limited selections.
Of course, I got a small oxtail soup for $ 12.95. Each table is equipped with a container of finely minced ginger. People have said it’s reasonable but I thought it was a little expensive considering 4 my oxtail pieces weren’t too meaty. The soup came with 2 scoops of rice. The flavor was ok but not as great as I expected since everyone has said its the best in Hawaii. I also didn’t like biting into the star anise pieces in the soup.
The service wasn’t bad, but it didn’t feel welcoming too. I would give this place a 2.5 rating if I could. It’s a definite comfort food and place for locals but that’s about it.

The Oxtail soup is alright. I had very high expectations for this place, waited a long time too for this place to open. Kapiolani Coffee Shop in Waimalu shopping center is definitely better.

Oxtail Soup. ’nuff said.
Okay, so I didn’t get the oxtail soup, but I did get the oxtail ramen! Which is basically their soup but with ramen instead of two scoops of rice and minus all the garnishes. Still pretty good, though.
The new Kam Bowl is located in Kamehameha Shopping Center in Kalihi, where Kenny’s used to be. The interior hasn’t changed — there are tables, as well as counter seats. When you enter, you are (or should be) greeted by the hostess. At which point you should locate the clipboard and write down your name, otherwise you’ll get lost in the shuffle. They just recently opened, so they’re still working out all the kinks, as with any new establishment. They do accept credit cards, for all you cashless patrons out there.
The staff is friendly, but did seem a bit overwhelmed. Service a little slower than I’d expect. No problem, I’m sure they’ll adjust in no time. The prices are reasonable and the portions are reasonable, from what I had seen when I nosily glanced at everyone’s food.
There is ample parking in the lot, but be forewarned, it is not a dedicated parking lot for Kam Bowl, so you’ll need to fight for parking with all the customers for the shopping center. Good luck during peak times.
Enjoy!

Waipio take outside @ Zippy’s order 2 saimin and wuz very chalky like they didn’t rinse the noodles. Horrible flavor. …is it proper procedure 2 rinse the noodles first than the dashi soup…$

This was there 4^th day since opening and they ran out of oxtail soup it’s only 1pm. Took 25 mins for my order to come and another 7 mins for my other halfs order to arrive. Other than that the food was just okay.

They just opened January 27^th in the old Kenny’s in Kamehameha Shopping Center. The layout is about the same as Kenny’s. Since they only recently opened, there is a wait during lunch and I would assume during dinner as well. As busy as they are, parking wasn’t that hard to find. There is a host as you enter that takes your name and number in your party if the place is full. Wait time is not long at all which is good.
Once seated, you have brand new menus to look at. For me, I’m there for their famous World Famous Oxtail Soup. From the orders that I saw leaving the kitchen, most people ordered the Oxtail Soup or Oxtail Ramen. Oxtail in the Oxtail Soup was good but I thought the portion was less than average and it could have used some veggies/​mushroom in the dish. You can choose from brown or white rice. The brown rice I ordered was a little hard in one scoop… it was crunchy hard so that was a little disappointing.
The server was very prompt with water and utensils. Since they were so busy, she stopped by to let us know our order was coming up since it was taking a little long. This is very understandable since they are busy and new. She was quite friendly when checking up on us during the meal. After your meal, you’ll get the check from the server and you walk it up to the front cashier to pay. The accept cash and credit. I hope this place does well and stays busy. Nice addition to Kamehameha Shopping Center.

I remember when I was a kid and my parents used to take me to the original kam bowl just to eat the oxtail and not even to go bowling. And the oxtail was great.
Seeing that Kam Bowl was opening again but at kam shopping center where kennys used to be, got me looking forward to eating their famous oxtail again.
Today I went in, got seated really fast, service was nice but a bit slow, it was busy at the time, but I think the server could have been faster considering how busy it was. Ordered the oxtail soup costed me around $ 12 for a regular oxtail. And I must say, I was kind of disappointed. Soup was good, but for a regular size bowl, it looked like a small sized, there was also about 4 pieces of meat, and the meat was a little hard to chew. For the price, I personally dont think its worth it. Especially 4 pieces for $ 12. The wall by where I was sitting was pretty dirty, had to avoid it, and table was a bity dirty. Overall id like to try other dishes on the menu but I wont be ordering the oxtail soup again. And hopefully the place will be a bit cleaner.

Welcome back to Kalihi Kam Bowl Restaurant! Oxtail Soup alert!
I so Happy that Kam Bowl decided to take over the Old Kennys Restaurant. As Kenny’s was slowly declining through the years. This review is for the first weekend and I know that they’ll slowly upgrade their menu items and staff. I think it’s a smart idea to get everything operating smoothly and flowing before overwhelming the crew. The interior hasn’t change from the old Kenny’s and even saw some of the waitresses from before.
The menu was a simple delish one and I really appreciate that they kept the prices really reasonable. To tell you the truth, I had a little hard time deciding what to eat for Brekkie.
After seeing Kimchee fried rice walking pass me *drools* I thought to myself. Hey this is KB and they are known for their famous Oxtail Soup, so no brainer on my first visit to the newest location, Oxtail Soup it is!
I was slightly disappointed on the size of the regular portion, but it turned out to be perfect for my appetite and just I remembered, Happy Dance! Also Loved the jar of grated ginger they give you to keep you smiling while chowing down that bowl, sorry Mr. Ox…
The service was excellent and our coffees were always full. I know they’ll get even better as time goes on.
So overjoyed for a new breakfast, lunch and dinner place in the Kamehameha Shopping Center.

Missed eating hear back when I was young. Got to taste it again. The broth had less taste than asahi grill or kapiolani. The texture was great and easy to bite. Although, I’ve noticed less peanuts l.

This place used to be Kenny’s restaurant! Now, it’s called Kam Bowl. Today, 1÷27÷2016 is the soft opening and it looks pretty good!
Kam Bowl feels like Yum Yum Tree restaurant back in the 1990’s in Kahala or Wailana Coffee House in Waikiki. Or even Zippy’s in a better atmosphere too. It’s a restaurant café that is aesthetically pleasing and the ambiance is quite nice. The restaurant itself is clean and carpeted for your own convenience. They even have seating up against the kitchen, so sort of like a bar feeling, but in a homespun restaurant café. The air condition, or lack thereof, really isn’t working at the time, but it was warm regardless. They have two private seating for parities and special occasions. I wondered if they would open it up for the general audience to crank up more sales? The service here can be a little better, but I understand the grand opening and «getting the bugs out» feel. The overall experience was decently just okay. Could have been better.
Now that I think about it, this place does feel like an upgraded Zippy’s restaurant. While the décor was a definite change of pace, the portions of the food were decent, although expecting a larger size. I get that they are a new business, so it’s okay. The prices are kind of up there, but as aforementioned, they are a new business, so it’s all good. Their signature Ox tail soup (large) is $ 14.95, served with 2 scoops of white rice, whereas the small version is $ 12.95 served with one scoop rice. Kam Bowl restaurant is the former Kenny’s restaurant at the Kamehameha Shopping Center in the heart of Kalihi at 1620 North School Street. Kam Bowl restaurant accepts major credit cards, but not American Express, which is good enough for me. The parking situation is good, since they’re in the Kamehameha shopping center, so you’ll have plenty of options here for lunch and dessert at Starbucks and or Baskin Robbins afterwards!
For me and my co-​worker, both of us who love Phở, we opted to come here to check things out and see how this place is. We both haven’t had Ox tail soup in a long while, so this place hit the spot for taste and nostalgia purposes. My co-​worker had the large order of Ox tail soup with white rice, whereas I had the oxtail ramen, which was priced at $ 10.95. I thought that the portions was decent enough. I also ordered a Diet Coke, which was served in a red Coca Cola glass. The taste was as good as I remembered having Ox Tail back in my college days. The ramen was good and the soup was delicious. Too bad that the portion size was not as adequate as I thought it would be, but, it made it full, so that’s important. Feel free to come and experience this place — just because it’s a new restaurant and the urge to try is always there.
I’d recommend this place for those of y’all who love local flavors and local comfort food of Hawaii — especially Ox tail soup that they’re known for.
Upgraded to 4.0 stars.
Support local!
B