Nobu’s Lunch Wagon

We happened upon this lunch wagon purely by accident. Just a little pink wagon in the Napa Auto Parts parking lot, behind Taco Bell. I had the combo lunch plate ($ 8.50) with 2 items, rice, noodles and your choice of green salad or mac salad. For my 2 items I ordered Shoyu Chicken and Chicken Curry. Really tasty and great value for the price. The serving is pretty generous and could easily be split… then you have room to find a shave ice for desert:-)

Noodles — no flavor; Shoyu chicken — meat is stewed so ok.
Curry beef — very good; Beef stew — ok.
Meat ball — ok
It’s very inexpensive.

Great food! I love getting the chicken curry here it’s awesome! Make sure to tip nobu he’s a hardworking man.

Wow, I was disappointed, especially because of the rave reviews!
Let’s begin with the GOOD:
— the prices here are really good! A combo plate will run you about $ 8.50.
— very convenient location, right by Pizza Hut/​Taco Bell, in the Napa Parking lot.
— Nobu is very quick, even when he works alone!
— prices and food choices are clearly listed.
Now the BAD:
— unsure where to park. This place is congested on the road and if parking is allowed in the Napa parking lot, I didn’t see any signs indicating this.
— the food was kind of bland. No flavor on the shoyu chicken and the beef stew was under-​seasoned. The fried noodles were spaghetti noodles and also lacking on flavor and frying! The hamburger steak was just ok.
— small portions, but then again, you get what you pay for, right?
All in all, not too bad if you’re limited on funds, but honestly, I think the Taco Hut across the street would’ve been a better choice!

If you’re looking for a plate lunch that’s affordable, tasty and gives you plenty of food, look for the little pink lunch wagon with the very nice gentleman serving-​up the grinds. Unfortunately, Nobu was out of the dry mein and beef stew, but no worries as we had several other options to choose from. Nobu told us we could pick two items, so I opted for the Shoyu Chicken and Hamburger Steak, one of my son’s ordered the Shoyu Chicken and Curry Chicken, while my other son ordered the Curry Chicken and Hamburger Steak. Nobu had just run out of Curry Chicken when he served my first son, so he gave my other son a Shoyu Chicken. How’s that for service?
The food was very good. You get a scoop of mac salad and green salad with each plate lunch. Get here early, since as soon as he serves all his food, he’s gone. Quite possibly, one of the best values on Maui.

If we did the key to city kind of thing id vote for Nobu! Lets be clear here, this isnt a food truck. Dont go here expecting a freshly prepared meal made to order. But that isnt a bad thing, you dont get flavors like you get here with food that is cooked to order like that other post complained about. The man does this every week day, goes home that night and starts cooking the next days food. Prices are very reasonable and his food is remarkably consistent for such a small operation. You cannot go wrong here, never ever had a bad plate lunch experience with Nobu’s. He does also have a daily special, one special per day and im not sure of the days as i ALWAYS get the meatball (sweet/​sour style) plate. Off the top of my head his specials are a spaghetti plate, mushroom garlic chicken, chicken katsu with your choice of katsu sauce, curry sauce or brown gravy. A beef stew plate and i think ive seen a pork & peas special as well. Regular menu items are shoyu chicken, chicken curry (Japanese style curry, not the Indian kind), hamburger steak and my favorite the meatball plate lunch. Comes with noodles if available as they are pretty popular as well as your choice of mac salad or green salad with a homemade ginger dressing and your typical side of rice that is common with «plate lunch» meals. If you dont get there before 1pm odds are that he will be wiped out of food or might not have every choice available.

Love love love Nobu’s food. The shoyu chicken is the best on island. As is the salad dressing.

As usual, I am following local’s suggestions when in Maui. This was a winner. When we showed up at the truck, there were only locals. Following suggestions posted in Unilocal,I ordered the beef stew and my wife ordered the shoyu chicken. Both were excellent and delish; and for only $ 15; in Maui!!!
So the reviews also mentioned that the owner/​chef is a happy go lucky friendly guy; he was. Not only did he greeted us, took our orders in a very pleasant manner, he also apologized to my wife because we had to wait in line. No one ever did that anywhere. So without screwing up the local secret spot, I think you should try this guy at least once. I am sure he is not into Unilocal

Nobu’s is one of the best food trucks on Maui. He sell the best local lunches and sell his food at a good local $$$$ .
The meal I always get is the chicken curry. Love it. Much aloha nobu. See you soon.

Nobu has been at the Napa parking lot for like 19 or 20 years! Want local food that’s done right? Look for his pink old mail truck. Shoyu Chicken, rice and mac salad. Mmm. 4 stars Junior. I’m a fan.

Best beef stew plate lunch! It’s one of those already made, ready to go kinds of things– perfect for working people on a short lunch break or grab a plate lunch and head down to the beach! Cash only, super nice guy. A few other options like chicken Katsu– but the beef stew is so good I haven’t wanted to try the rest of the menu. Ono kine grinds for less than $ 8 a plate!

We wanted a good plate lunch and saw the decent reviews here so we tried it. The food was fast because it was all pre-​cooked. The flavors were ok but nothing special. We had the combo with shoyu chicken and chicken curry with extra mac salad. Price was good.

Can’t miss the Japanese guy in the old pink mail truck in the napa Parking lot dishing out awesome plate lunches! He’s been a staple in the diet of Lahaina folks for years. Ever since I can remember, which I might add is quite a long time, he’s been in the same parking spot of napa Lahaina every weekday in the last 2 decades. Serving up many local favorites like shoyu Chicken, hamburger steak etc. I personally love to combo his food as he lets you do by choosing two entrees with rice Mac salad and dry noodles, an added extra touch you don’t see much anywhere. Get there early before the lunch rush as he tends to get slammed with mechanics and construction workers and runs out of most things by noon. Cash only

Excellent food. My 4 man crew each had different lunch plates, and everyone was very satisfied.

Nobu makes a special everyday and the staples on the menu are awesome! If you want to try a authentic hawaiian plate lunch this is the place. He makes everything fresh daily and puts love and pride into every dish.

No, this not part of the Nobu sushi chain, but good home cooking served as a plate lunch to the workers in the area which is why I’m almost hesitant to reveal this gem.
We actually came here for the first time last year and really loved the good food at a good price so we knew we had to come back this year, not once, not twice, but three times. It would’ve been 4 for the dry mein for the plane but he wasn’t there this past Tue… wonder if he started his annual vacation.
Shoyu Chicken — nothing like the Chinese soy sauce chicken — moist, tender, fall of the bone chicken lightly marinated in the shoyu
Garlic Mushroom Chicken Special of the Day — wish this would be part of their regular menu as it is my favorite dish there… unfortunately only ran across this once and my dad got most of it
Hamburger Steak — think loco moco without the egg and the gravy over rice being so ono!
Chicken Curry — good but like the other 3 choices better
Dry Mein — some comes with your regular plate lunch but I liked it so much, I even got a single order to go for $ 4
All plate lunches except for the dry mein are over rice and comes with either choice of mac or green salad and dry mein. The one time he knew we were planning on splitting the combo, he even added extra dry mein for us to share which was so nice. Plate lunches run about $ 7 – 8 each which is a steal for what you get and dry mein $ 4.
Please note that this is not food made to order so you can drop by with realistic expectations.

Great food from an upbeat guy.
Located behind the Lahaina Pizza Hut in the pink van.
Watch for the «Bob Olé, eats here» t shirts.

Open Monday to Friday except the weeks when once a year the owner goes back home to Japan. Parked outside Napa Auto Parts you can’t miss the bright pink food cart. His menu is simple. I’ve only had the curry chicken which is delicious and the hamburger ateak which comes in large or small. The small has one piece of hamburger the large has two. He also has shoyu chicken, beef stew and meat balls. The plate lunch comes with rice, his lightly seasoned noodles, a mac salad or green salad w/​homemade dressing. He usually has a special for the day too.