Meatball

Here lies Meatball. How to describe Meatball? Fries. Gravy. Meatballs. Whoa that’s three words that make my ears perk up and my stomach growl. I’m sad to say they had a short life and closed.
When I heard there was a place that just sold different meatballs… I got excited and had to try it.
This place was hard to find and there wasn’t a parking lot. You had to find street parking and everyone knows how hard that is on Kapahulu and in the neighborhood. The prices were good and the staff was friendly. There were so many combinations.
First you start with the the balls (and for some reason I think of Lori I and she must miss this place).
Balls
Beef
Spicy pork
Chicken
Vegetable
Seafood
Then choose what you want your balls in.
Sauces
marinara
kim chee marinara
fresh tomato salad
bacon alfredo
mushroom gravy
Then what do you want with your balls.
sides
spaghetti
shells
risotto
polenta
fries
rice
greens
I got beef balls with mushroom gravy over fries, crinkle fries. The balls had good flavor and weren’t dry and went well with the gravy. The balls were medium sized.
You could also get a meatball sandwich/​hoagie. We tried a marinara hoagie with spicy pork and it was pretty good too.
I hope they reopen somewhere else. No one else has quite the same set of balls.

Bacon alfredo. You heard correctly. You are not mistaken. This place has an alfredo sauce with BACON!!! But let me backup for a second. The whole reason I tried this place was for the meatballs.
Here’s how it works. You get to build your own entrée. While I’ve done it before at a different place for burgers, here you do it with meatballs. A variety of meatballs are available (see list in pic) and then you select a sauce, a cheese and whether you want everything on a hoagie roll, over spaghetti, on risotto, etc. They even have a mushroom gravy for those who aren’t meat lovers. They also have side dishes (caesar salad, calamari, fries, etc.) if you want you something smaller.
On separate visits for hoagies, I went with the spicy pork meatballs with melted provolone but varied the sauce by trying the kimchi marinara the first time and the bacon alfredo the second time. Each time the hoagie was delicious and the bread was fresh. While I can’t remember where they get their hoagie rolls, it’s good quality bread.
The lady behind the counter was nice and the dining space was cool and clean. And they even have parking. If you are driving down Kapahulu St away from the beach towards UH, take a right on to Mokihana St and the lot is on the right just past Wailoa Shave Ice (which can be your post hoagie pit stop if you really feel like stuffing yourself). :)
At $ 11+, it’s a little pricey for a sandwich. But it’s a damn good sandwich. I’ll be back!

So I had a hankering for a tasty meatball hoagie one afternoon and found this place on Unilocal!I’m so happy that it was real close to our place so hubby and I decided to go for lunch on a Monday afternoon. It’s the old Sam’s Kitchen location on Kapahulu Avenue right across the street from Safeway.
We each ordered the beef marinara hoagie with mozzarella sauce (I was famished and refused to share with hubby) and shared an order of crinkle cut fries. The hoagies were enough for two people to share! Oh well, more leftovers for me! I was in heaven with that first bite of the hoagie! Very flavorful, saucy and cheesy! The hoagie had the right amount of crunch as soon as you bite into it! I’m pretty sure that they use Ore Ida’s crinkle cut fries, but who cares? They went perfectly with my hoagie and the crinkle cut fries weren’t oily and greasy at all.
So I craved it again later on in the week and actually brought some friends after a beach day and turned them on too! They loved it and wanted to come again for lunch the next day! Next time we come back, I’m definitely trying the spicy pork meatball with the Kim Chee marinara! Simple yet delicious menu!

Unilocal Challenge #14/​100
First thing that comes to mind: AMAZE-​BALLS!
After mixed reviews about this place, I finally made the 6 minute trek from my workplace to have lunch. Boy am I glad I did. I ordered the vegetable balls (can’t really be called meatballs now can it?) with their special «spinach pesto» sauce and shells. The «veggie» balls were cooked perfectly and I was hooked after my first bite.
This restaurant is cafeteria style, so order first before you sit. There are 2 lists you must choose from and a third that’s optional. List one makes you choose your type of meatball, list two makes you choose your preferred sauce (keep an eye out for the specials) and list three gives you the option to add a carb such as shells, spaghetti, rice, etc. There are also side dishes you can order separately as well as salads. Not craving the meatball plate, well then order the meatball hoagie!
The plate comes with 3 meatballs, a good amount of sauce and two slices of garlic bread. For the amount you’re receiving, the prices are decent.
There are only about 5 tables inside as well as bar seating along the window, and then a bench outside. Not sure if Meatball has their own parking stalls, but the restaurant is conveniently located right across the street from Safeway. Plenty stalls there, so now there’s definitely no excuse not to try and have a meatball-​tastic time!
Happy EATING!

I used to intern at Apartment3 & Chef Robert McGee was the culinary genius in the kitchen. I remember having a conversation with Flash, who informed me that one day Chef Robert McGee planned to open a sandwich shop. My anticipation of this news has been 3 years in the making.
The long awaited sandwich shop Meatball Hawaii opened in March 2014 & it’s located across the street from Kapahulu Safeway.
This adorable sandwich shop has a simple concept: choose your meat, sauce, choice of carbs & a side. I adore how easy it is to order & I can’t believe how how fast my hoagie meal arrived.
Before checking out Meatball Hawaii for myself, I mentally prepared my order. But after I arrived & read about their mouth-​watering Pizza Hoagie daily special, I experienced an immediate change of heart.
Meatball Hawaii’s Pizza Hoagie consisted of beef, pork & chicken meatballs, pepperoni, peppers with onions & Mozarella all covered in marina sauce.
I fall in love with food more than men & Meatball Hawaii’s Pizza Hoagie will have you falling in love faster than Taylor Swift with a crush!
If you’re craving meatballs, please keep Meatball Hawaii in mind. This little shop will steal your heart & satisfy your biggest sandwich appetite.

The menu is quite… complex. Sometimes when you give people a little too many options, they get overwhelmed. Not that I am complaining about having a lot of options. I’m just pointing out that ordering may seem a tad chaotic.
Try: the spicy pork meatballs and the mushroom gravy. Tasty! I had these over rice and added a sunny side up egg… basically creating a loco moco.
What you can totally do without: caesar salad, fries
Completely skip: the risotto and bacon alfredo sauce. «Risotto» was definitely not that. The alfredo sauce was weak and thin and had absolutely no flavor besides the bacon bits which were sprinkled on top

In a nutshell: good food but steep prices.
The food is good (note: not GREAT) and portions are pretty fair but I thought that, for what they’re putting out, it wasn’t really cost-​efficient to eat here regularly.
The concept is interesting. Start out with the type of meat you want (beef, spicy pork, chicken, veggie, or seafood), then add a sauce (marinara, kimchi marinara, bacon alfredo, fresh tomato salad, or mushroom gravy), and a starch (spaghetti, shells, risotto, polenta, rice, fries, greens). You can also add a sunny side up egg for $ 1.50, I think.
I opted for the «meatball loco moco» which is a meatball (spicy pork for me) with mushroom gravy over rice with a sunny side up egg. It was tasty but ran about $ 13 which is a little out of my price range for this style of food. Ah well, it was worth it for the experience. My brother had a spicy pork with kimchi marinara over rice and said that it was good.
The restaurant itself is pretty small and very simple with street parking. I think they just opened a few months ago so maybe they just have to grow into their own style. Will probaly give it another shot at some point but I don’t know that this’ll become a regular spot for me.

This place was hard to find! It’s located on Kapahulu, in the same building as Maui Sporting Goods across from Safeway. There is a tiny shared parking lot in the back next to Waiola Shave Ice. Gosh, all the nearby eateries make me want to set up shop and live in Kapahulu, but then, I’d be like twice my size and then there’s the matter of traffic, but I digress.
After browsing all the awesome photos on Unilocal!I knew I wanted to try the spicy pork meatball hoagie. The $ 11.25 price tag had me a bit hesitant but it was well spent. The meatballs were really tasty and sooooo awesome smothered in marinara and mozzerella on a perfectly crisp baguette. I’m definitely a fan!

My first review from my phone because I’m still stuffed and lazy to grab my laptop. I can’t really say I’m in love with this place nor can I say it’s bad either. The reason why you really can’t take my review with much weight is because I think honestly after trying why I did, you really just have to be simple and straight up plain when you order.
When you think meatball, besides insulting someone with that name, you automatically think Italian with marinara sauce. Did I get any of that? Of course not! Because I like to live out on the edge of different. Guess I don’t think I should’ve done that here.
The portions are pretty good. Ordered what was said to be small plates but ended up feeding me & two of my other friends. Definitely recommend the eggplant which is deep fried after a bath in panko and who doesn’t love anything after it’s been deep fried said no one ever. You can either order what’s pre fixed like the hoagie or take a trail down the three step process of customizing your order.
Step 1, choose your meatball. I love spicy anything so of course I had to go with the spicy pork. Step 2, choose your sauce. Well since most tomato base things give me problems (yes, I know… This is where I went wrong) I tried the bacon alfredo. Now who doesn’t love bacon!?! Step 3, choose your side which was an extra cost of 3 dollars. Rice, shells, spaghetti, risotto, fries, & greens. I’m pretty sure I’m missing one or two but I’m lucky if I remember what I did an hour ago.
My friend also ordered the poutine which is gravy fries. They top it off with eggplant, chicken, or meatballs.
The portions weather it’s regular menu, sides or small plates, it’s a lot but to me it’s a lot but could be nothing to put away to others.
My meatball wasn’t spicy at all & it wasn’t really hot with that fresh from the oven, just cooked kind of feeling. Bacon wasn’t crisp either so it was just ehhh.
Lesson learned. When I think meatball I think hoagie with marinara so I will be back just to test out this theory.

I had the spicy port with brown gravy over fries. I was not impressed. The brown gravy was thin, added no flavor, and just made the fries soggy.
My friends had the beef meatballs on a hoagie with marina sauce. They loved it. Another friend had the seafood meatballs and was not overjoyed. Another find had half past half salad with fresh tomato «sauce» (it really is just fresh tomatoes) and loved theirs.
I guess it depends on what you get.

I love meatballs. I eat them often, I’ll eat them in marinara, I’ll eat them in BBQ sauce, I’ll eat them on pasta, I’ll eat them off a plate with nothing else. More foods should be in the shape of a ball and made of meat.
With that said, Meatball is fantastic. After weeks of seeing my friends post pictures, I stopped in last night with Alicia D. and had Spicy Pork Meatballs, with a kimchee marinara, on top of fries, and it was delicious. I never thought to put meatballs on fries… I am happy they did.
Alicia had the standard Spaghetti and Meatballs, and the beef meatballs were well seasoned and delicious. I still preferred the pork over the beef, but both were very good.
The prices aren’t bad and the serving sizes are pretty big. Combined with good service and good food, it is a guarantee that I will be back.

Brought a friend to Meat Ball after raving about the food!
I had the spicy pork meat balls, with ½ brown mushroom gravy (sooooo good!) and half alfredo bacon sauce (surprisingly good, not too heavy and how can you go wrong with bacon?!!) over polenta. Delicious!
I think I’ve determined my favorite combination:
spicy pork meat balls with brown mushroom gravy over risotto!!!
Now I have to bring my significant other here to try the food and I have to taste poutine. It sounds intriguing!

Huge tender juicy meatballs! Too bad that the spaghetti and bread were just okay though. The spaghetti was the soft thick type, and bread wasn’t anything special.
But the staff is great and friendly, and it’s BYOB!

Tasty, but a little spendy.
Beef Balls with Alfredo Bacon Sauce — It’s salty and fatty alfredo sauce with bacon with juicy meat balls. I don’t really see how this can go wrong as long as you don’t mind gaining an inch around your waist and have your cholesterol shoot up 50 points. My only gripe with this dish is the portion size and presentation on the paper plate… it looked so sparse and I felt a little ripped off with three small meatballs, two cute little slices of bread, and a single pepperoncini. With that said, it was still the best dish I tried at Meatball.
Mushroom Gravy — Good, standard mushroom gravy. Definitely better than any plate lunch gravy, but no surprises or life-​changing flavors here.
Risotto — Mushiest risotto ever. It was more like rice pudding but I thought it still tasted okay with the balls and sauce. Just don’t expect risotto texture.
Chicken Ball and Kimchi Marinara slider — I think the kimchi overpowers what seems to have started out as a decent marinara as well as a nice chicken ball. All I could taste was the kimchi. I wouldn’t rule out the Kimchi Marinara, but I think it might be better with a different ball.
I also tried some of my friend’s Seafood Balls with fresh tomato sauce, and the those were pretty good and the sauce was simply cherry tomatoes atop the balls. The seafood balls change every day, and I think it was swordfish that day, I can’t be sure.
Spicy Pork balls were sold out by the time we arrived in the early evening. Perhaps that means those are best and most popular balls.
Overall, I like the concept of being able to customize your order, but there’s also that risk that you could create something totally fcked up as well. For the most part I liked what I tried at Meatball, but for a place that specializes in meatballs, I was hoping for a little more pop.
Friendly service. Shitty parking. It’s Kapahulu. You know the drill. Park at Safeway and use the sketchy crosswalk at your own risk.

3.5 stars. They have tiny shared lot in the back or you can park at Safeway and try to make it across the street without getting hit by a car. You have lots of options here since you get to pick your meatball/​sauce/​side. Overall it wasn’t bad but like others said the portions are fairly small and it’s a bit on the pricey side. The meatballs were good but I was expecting them to be spectacular being that the restaurant is based off of meatballs. I haven’t tried everything on the menu yet so this is just based on what I had so far:
Beef Meatball with Bacon Alfredo Sauce — My favorite so far. This combination seemed to mix well for me. The Alfredo Sauce was done well and of course I don’t need to explain what Bacon does to anything that it’s a part of.
Beef Meatball with Mushroom Gravy on Risotto — The Risotto was mushy… It had the texture of mashed potatoes. The Beef Meatballs in this dish were a little dry compared to the ones with the Alfredo Sauce. I’m not sure if that had something to do with the sauce or just inconsistency in the meatballs. The gravy wasn’t anything special for me.
Chicken Meatball with Kim Chee Marinara Slider — It was pretty straightforward. The Kim Chee was a bit on the mellow side along with the Marinara. Nothing really stood out but it wasn’t bad.
Seafood Meatball — The fish they use it in changes daily. I tried a piece of my friend’s order. I can’t remember what the fish of the day was but the meatball itself wasn’t bad considering I’m not much of a seafood person to begin with.
Suggestions:
You might want to have some popular combinations/chef’s choice options to choose from. Some people are terrible at making their own combinations and I might be one of them.

I LOVE MEATBALLS!!! And I never would have thought to make the various combinations of meatballs and sides until I came here! Everything on the menu looked delicious I had a hard time choosing what I wanted.
I ended up ordering a seafood meatball with Alfredo bacon sauce and risotto for the starch. My oh my oh my! The bacon Alfredo sauce was truly amazing and combined with risotto – heavenly! The seafood meatball was fantastic! Probably my favorite type out of the 3 I had tonight.
My friend ordered beef meatballs with kimchee marinara and palenta. I’m not really a fan of palenta, it’s pretty much just grits lol. But the kimchee marinara sauce was pretty good. I just wish the kimchee taste was a little stronger.
My boyfriend got the beef meatball with the mushroom gravy sauce and rice. He said the mushroom gravy sauce was pretty good but he didn’t like the rice. It wasn’t sticky enough for him.
Overall I think this is a pretty cool joint. The outside looks a little plain but the inside is clean and simple. The meatballs are good. They also sell hoagies and a few other side dish items. Parking in kapahulu is always a pain but luckily this place is right across the street from Safeway so you can always park there and walk to Meatball.

I had no idea about this place opening up till I saw my feed on IG the other night. I quickly changed dinner plans as soon as I saw those scrumptious looking pasta dishes and made my way towards Kapahulu. Parking was fairly easy to find streetside. There are no frills about this place in terms of décor but that didn’t matter since I was there for the food.
On the menu — Pasta dishes with your choice of meatball (beef, spicy pork, chicken, veggie, seafood); sauce (marinara, marinara w/​kim chee, alfredo with bacon, mushroom gravy etc); and starch (spaghetti, shells, risotto, gnocchi, polenta, etc). I had the beef with marinara and shells. It was tasty and I liked the sauce! Definitely filling and I thought it was reasonable for $ 8.
There were also a variety of side dishes like calamari, rice balls (fried polenta with marinara sauce… delicious), crinkle cut fries, fried eggplant (yum!), poutine (crinkle cut fries with sauce), and wings with spicy sauce (also yum). Those wings were pretty humangous and definitely shareable. I’m probably forgetting some other items but these were the main ones.
Also, hoagies! Gotta try these next time…
There were a few tables and bar stools indoors. There are also stools outside which I thought was a pretty cool setup. I’m sure this place will be flocking with customers in the next few weeks so those seats will come in handy.
Look forward to coming back. And yes, glad to have Chef McGee back. I miss those burgers!

When I heard they had vegetarian balls, I was super excited. I got their veggie balls with fresh tomatoes on a bed of polenta. I thought it was ok. I think I was getting more kick from the fact they were veggie friendly rather than the actual taste. I think I needed more sauce-​sauce rather than just tomatoes.
However, they also have seafood balls! Apparently they make the seafood balls from whatever fish that comes in that day. One day it could be one fish, and another, a totally different fish. Anyways, perhaps I can try that next time.

Solid 3.5 Stars.
Good to see Bob is back at it and bringing one of the biggest trends from the mainland to Hawaii: meatballs. It started a few years ago in New York and gradually moved westwards.
This place is extremely simple. If you want a hoagie, order one with the sauce and cheese of your choice. If you want your own custom meatball creation, then you pick the type of meatball and sauce. For a few bucks extra, you can get starch. The ordering is simple, but the possibilities can be endless. Beef meatballs, mushroom gravy, rice, and add an egg sunny side up? Meatball loco moco.
My order was beef meatballs, with bacon alfredo, on top of risotto. I’m a sucker for alfredo and it having bacon was a total no brainer for me. The dish came with only 3 meatballs, but they were moist and reminds me of fried versions of those dim sum beef balls. Too bad it was just 3 of them. The alfredo sauce was a little dry but having the risotto soak in all the alfredo it could, make it a pretty good dish to me.
Portions are small and price is high. That is my one main gripe. Parking isn’t too bad and you can always park on the street if you wish. Definitely willing to go back and check out different combinations in the future.

It’s so great to have Bob McGee back in a kitchen!
You might think «meatball» is too narrow a theme for a whole business, but really, there are so many possibilities, I’ll have to make more than a dozen visits to try them all. Not only do you have a choice of protein from which your meatball can be made (includes beef, spicy pork, vegetable, seafood and chicken), but you have a choice of as many sauces and other accessories (spaghetti, polenta, fries, rice, etc.) as well. OR you can have a hoagie. Or a slider. Or poutine. The choices are endless. And they have sides. It’s really kind of crazy.
If you’ve had Bob’s burger at the original incarnation of the Whole Ox Deli, you know the man knows how to season and cook meat, so I had no doubt that his beef meatball would be excellent. And it was. But I was also very curious about the veggie ball. I knew he wouldn’t Gardenburger it, but would it be delicious?
It was.
I don’t know what the secret recipe is, but I think I tasted. .. chickpea? It’s reminiscent of a really, really good falafel, yet close enough of an approximation to meat that it can really stand on its own against the «real» meats at this place. Even my husband gave it a thumbs up, and he’s not a fake meat guy at all. I got mine on poutine with mushroom gravy, and that’s definitely a combination I’ll be going back for.
On top of the great food, Meatball has excellent service. Anyone who’s had Bob’s food before also knows his super friendly, personable wife, Erica, and it’s great to see her doing what she does best here, too.
Oh, and don’t be intimidated by the tiny lot in back of the building (which is across from Safeway Kapahulu). There’s plenty of free parking at the Kama’aina Acupuncture lot uphill from Waiola Shave Ice.
GO. Try Meatball! It won’t be your last time there. I know I’ll be back!