Celi’s Downtown Cafe and Desserts

Celi’s may not look like much, but it does serve great food. I walked into Celi’s trying to figure out what I want. Then I asked if they could do the garlic ahi steak on toss. They told me if I don’t see something I want on the menu then I can ask the cook & he might be able to make it. While I was waiting for my food the cook, Lyle, he came out & offered me a sample of his sweet & sour spare ribs! So ono! I’m definitely going to come back for the spare ribs! When I got my order it was delicious, probably one the best ahi steaks I had in awhile. Overall, Celi’s is a great little restaurant with an amazing staff!

Walking by this place because I work next door but not seeing it on Unilocal seemed odd, because I rely on Unilocal to choose lunch places. The Celi the owner was working at counter and was very enthusiastic about my presence. She offered the Ahi bowl as a suggestion. The food was very good and had a nice flavor since it was not too spicy or with too much rice. Celi’s cashier Alejandra was charismatic and helped me find the establishment on Unilocal since even typing in the exact address did not cause it to show under ‘everything’ I was not aware that Unilocal actually suppressed listings, but since Celi’s only has three stars, perhaps that is the reason. Also had a fried desert that was mushed sweet potato balled, fried and frosted. It was good and the gelatinous filling was a little heavy for my taste.
As others have pointed out the location is noisy and somewhat un comfortable. It is also somewhat home spun with the upstairs made into storage and a refrigerator in the dining area.
Celi knew many of her customers and spoke of the plumbing challenges of adding a soda fountain. She is also in the process of adding a coffee machine. The menu is letter size paper taped to the katchen cabinets. It is definately a friendly and economical lunch place but not a fine dining destination. Will definately be back if only to here Celi talk about the adventure that is entrepreneurship on this island.

Celi’s is located right next to Ninja Sushi on Bishop Street. This is another location that has changed business owners a few times. Wanting something quick for breakfast I stopped in for the first time yesterday. This is a Filipino/​Hawaiian type of place. They have tables inside and additional tables upstairs to sit. I ordered the Meat and Things Breakfast (4.75 $) included 2 eggs, meat (Spam, Vienna, Portugese Sausage, Ham, Bacon, Pineapple sausage, Hot link sausage, longanisa, tocino, tapa marinated beed, luncheon meat) and white, brown, fried rice or toast. I got this with Longanisa since i haven’t had that in a long time. I wouldn’t recommed the Longanisa here, it was SO Fatty, I had to cut it open and try to salvage some meat in between the fat ugh! Rating: 2 stars (longanisa was bad)
I will NOT give up on this place yet though, and its because while I was waiting and looking at their goodies on the counter, I asked her if that was Cascaron (this is a filipino dessert made with sweet rice flour mixed with sugar then rolled into balls and deep fried then brown sugar drizzled on top of it) This looks like 4 big mochi balls skewered on a stick. I told her that I haven’t eaten that in a long time. And to my surprise, she reached in and gave me one, I told her «no need’ but she insisted at No Charge. WOW that was so nice of this lady and an example of great customer relations!
After my not so good breakfast I went to the office and tried the Cascaron, and it was GOOD! it was soft like mochi on the inside and sweet on the outside. I LOVE all types of dessert and will be back to try more, besides that they also had Bibingka (butter mochi), Sinuman, Banana lumpia and a whole lotta stuff this Chinese girl can’t pronounce. Rating: 4 stars Cascaron was awesome!
I’ll give it a 3 stars for now… but I’ll be back and I’ll try something else becuase I can tell its local people running this place and I really want them to make it:) I’m sure their Fillipino food is good. And now i know where to get my Filipino Dessert Fix.

Have breakfast there almost everyday. Can’t go wrong with full plate of breakfast for under $ 5.00.

Stumbled into this place because I was hungry for some good breakfast. I ordered Steak n Eggs. Took about 12 – 15 minutes for my breakfast, There were just 2 other people in the restaurant and the cashier was kinda nice but I think she could’ve use a cup of coffee because she kept yawning. A bit noisy from outside traffic from Bishop street side because they kept the door open. All in all its ok.

Had the Korean chicken plate at $ 8.95. Must say it was one of the best I ever had. Chicken was juicy and sauce super tasty. The mac salad was really good too (I gotta learn how to make mac salad like this!). The $ 1.50 free refills on soda a added bonus.

I ordered Ham, scramble and white rice. After I ordered I was told they only had fried rice so of course that’s what I got. When my food came I had luncheon meat which they told me was ham. I told them that I Meant I wanted farmer john ham like what they had a couple weeks ago. Of course they kept saying this was ham. I didn’t care for the fried rice is just tasted plain, no flavor. So I didn’t eat it and I ordered the blueberry pancakes. Thinking they can’t go wrong with pancakes. It was too thick and tasted dry. I think they just mixed the batter and while cooking the pancake they added the blueberries. It was too much blueberries in the middle of the pancake and not evenly spread. They should’ve mixed the blueberries in the pancake mix, the flavor is better when the blueberries are mixed in. I’m really disappointed in my visit here. Hopefully my next visit during lunch is better.

So I went to People’s Café Express to grab some lunch… and it was gone… well sort of. The inside of the restaurant looks the same, but the sign and the name has changed. I went around 12:30…in the middle of the lunch rush…
They were super busy and there was a line, but I had to place an order for a friend, so I stuck it out. The employees… were…a…mess. The lady at the counter was running around like a mad woman. The people in the back were steadily making food, but they were at least half a dozen orders behind.
The lady at the counter took my order for a chili plate and a avocado bacon burger. She couldn’t remember how much a chili plate was… so she charged me $ 9.00. Odd, but ok… sounds fair. A drink came with the burger and fries meal, so I asked her what size it comes with… she said any size… Ok… so I just took the largest cup.
It took… forever to get my order… I went next store to ninja sushi to pick up snacks, and I would have had plenty of time to dine in, take a nap, and still go back to Celi’s.
Anyway, I got the food, and wasn’t impressed. The bacon on the burger was very undercooked, the burger was way too overcooked, and the avocado was not avocado… but what appeared to be baby puke (or something that looked like it). The fries were good, but understand I eat burnt fries… and that’s what they were.
So at this point your wondering why I am giving it 2 stars instead of one… well it’s because of the chili plate. My friend said it was the best one she has had!!!
I will give it one more try… and I think I will be getting the chili… we will see how much she charges me next time!