Hale Aloha Cafe

I’ve eaten here a lot over the time that I’ve been a student at UH. I’m a hugh fan of premium night (on Thursdays) and their holiday themed nights.
The food is good quality for an all
You can eat buffet-​style caf for only 1 meal/​11 $. I like their burgers and their pizza.
The right side of the caf gets really hot at the end of the day. They just installed huge ACs, so that helps with the heat.
I gave this place a 3 because it’s really noisy and sometimes I just don’t like what they are serving. If the main dishes aren’t good, there are always other, smaller dishes to eat, though.

I chaperoned a 4-​day retreat on campus and stayed in the nearby dorms at Frear Hall. Everyone was provided a meal card to dine at the Hale Aloha Café.
Overall, the food was better than expected. There was a good amount of food options with two dishes guaranteed to be vegan/​vegetarian. There’s even multiple dessert options available. It’s all-​you-​can-​eat, though you aren’t allowed to carry food out without first paying an additional 50 cents for take out.
Next, the staff was friendly and accomodating when I asked for no cheese on my burger or if I didn’t want everything on my plate. The people swiping my card at the door was also very nice.
Then, the dining area itself seemed spacious enough and clean. The line for food also moved forward quickly. So, I’d say it was a good experience dining on campus.

I haven’t ever dormed at the UH Manoa before but I think the food here is not so bad actually. I have a lot of friends from UH who dorm and have dormed and talk about the food somewhat postively and somewhat negatively. Hale Aloha Café is just one of the few dining areas that is offered to students for breakfast, lunch/​brunch, and dinner. During the weekends, they only offer brunch and dinner. I came here a couple times with dorm friends. The food is all-​you-​care-​to-​eat aka buffet style. They have a lot of different food options on a given period of time. For example, during brunch they offer both breakfast and lunch entrée options. The cafeteria is pretty big and can be usually busy during the weekdays filled with students. There are take out options as well. Students use their meal plan swipe card to eat over here. If you are not a student, you can be a guest of one. The meals usually range from 9 – 12 dollars depending on what time of the meal day that you are going. It’s conveniently located right in the middle of the whole UH dorming areas around the freshman towers. You can easily get your freshman-​15 over here if you love to eat and eat often. The dining staff is ok, I haven’t heard anything good about it though.

Buffet. More variety /​selections than Gateway. Workers are friendly and elderly. Aunties and unkos everywhere. Options for vegetarians are available and a lot of seating. Best nights are Thursday nights called Premium Night. They treat out everyone to nicer meals but you are limited to only one per person. Still very filling. Young sociable atmosphere and fairly priced at around 10 $ per person depending on which meal you go for. Dinner is a few bucks more.

Buffet. Cheap.

Pretty good deal, especially considering it’s a buffet. I love going during steak (premium) nights.
But I feel sorry for the dorm students who are required to buy a meal plan. Food here can get mediocre at times and seems to all taste the same when you eat here every day.

I honestly don’t know why people don’t like eating at the caf. It’s all you can eat ($ 5 for students & $ 10 dinner for guests). Granted, they repeat some food, but I’m not complaining. They have a variety of food & options for vegetarians. The staff are generally friendly when you talk to them. I think it’s the best college caf. food. Ask any other college if they like their food; it’s probably worse. Also, they try to take into consideration suggestions so that’s nice of them. Really, nothing to complain about.

I dormed at UHM during the summer. I was allotted a meal plan. So, I visited here often. I have mixed feeling about Hale Aloha Café. It’s awesome in the sense that it’s a buffet. There’s food galore: pizza, salads, soups, fruits, burgers, fries, ice cream, cereal, pastries, etc. That’s also the downfall. There’s ALWAYS pizza, burgers, and fries. It’s kind of boring eating there everyday. After a while you don’t want pizza anymore. The food itself isn’t too bad. It’s like cafeteria food. Some things are good, others are bleh. I did find bugs in my lettuce a few times. I understand everything is done in bulk, but couldn’t they wash their lettuce a little better? I ended up just eating things like carrots or beans. During the summer they had watermelon which was aaammaaazziiinnnggg. I don’t know why, but I’ve eaten the best watermelons there. They also have an ice cream station which is nice (: