Hanks Cafe Honolulu

full of meth heads, smokers, and soon to be homeless if not already alcoholics, but then it’s a «dive bar» so maybe you don’t mind, the mentally unstable.

Definitely a dive bar, but the locals and bartender John were welcoming and awesome. Based on other Unilocal reviews we tried the pineapple upside down cake shot and it was delicious! I would totally come back to drink and watch sports but for food I would seek elsewhere.

The number uno spot to have a drink with the ohana! John John is the best and the regulars are my homies!

THIS PLACE IS AWESOME!!! Dave is the best ever, ask for a pineapple upside down cake drink! And his «shot» that doesn’t really have a name, it’s delicious!!! Very fun vibe, a cool jukebox, and people who are so nice and friendly! If you don’t go here, you’re not a fun person.

Unassuming little bar on Nuuanu. Slightly divey, but friendly crowd and great service. I used to go there Tuesday nights when BBC was playing. Great little retroband playing the Beatles and other classics.
I like the ambiance of the place, feels like Honolulu!
The beer selection is good, and the suds are cold! Should you get hungry, you may order a pizza.
And if you want more live music, easy to go up a few steps into Dragon Upstairs to enjoy some jazz. Feels like Cheers (in a good way). Great place.

It’s not a block party till we get a pineapple upside-​down cake shot. Bartender David is the best. Love that guy!

Awesome little bar Great Place to watch The game friendly bartenders The Bands rock !!!

Great customer service, great drinks and great live bands! Always a good time! It is kind of small and seating is limited but it’s a must if you’re in the area!

The best place in Chinatown, you want killer tunes then Saturday nite is the time and place to be. You want cheers, you got it. Where everyone knows and remembers your name. I love the place and the bartender don’t get me started, he is THE MAN!

I don’t think an establishment has ever been more welcoming. The bar tender was hilarious and chatted up everyone. Made it a point to learn our name. Easy guy to talk to.
Then the one of the regulars bought our first round. Then another regular brought us food.
This is the easiest bar to sit at. Like a second living room.
Even the music was smashing. Walked in to Michael Jackson. Then some Boston. A little Motown. Rounded out with the Bee Gees. If there had been a little James Brown, I might never have left.
Top notch.

Local dive bar. Not worth the effort to find parking. No seating. Ok service. Very very small.

This place was great! CHeap drinks and the pineapple upside down cake shots were AMAZING! MUST TRY :) THX.

Decided to go out with a few co workers one night for pau hana and ended up at Hanks. It smelled a little weird, wasn’t very spacious, and was very much a dive. But I looooooved it! We ran into a few very social people looking to have a good time, made some new friends, had a (couple) extremely delicious upside down pineapple cake shots and sang/​danced along to some bomb ass live music!
It’s a bit grungy in looks, but it seemed like everyone who ended up at Hanks was super chill and down for a good time. The bartender was friendly, and very hard-​working if I may add. I’ll be back again :)

Hanks Café is a great place to go and just be YOU. You don’t have to be anyone else. There’s a great variety of people that come here, just like everyone has already mentioned. Whether you’re pretentious, nerdy, drugged out, an Islander, tourist, out with your boyfriend or simply single– you just belong. This isn’t your «classy, pinkies up» bar, but rather your «come as you are, pinkies down, feet up» kinda bar.
Not to mention the drinks are heavily poured and the bartenders have great attitudes.
This is the place to unwind after a week of work.

I LOVE Hank’s! It doesn’t get the 5^th star because, well, this is Downtown Chinatown and it is not the swankiest of bars but for the price, upbeat and casual ambiance and the friendly and engaging staff, you can’t beat it. The drinks are well poured, the music is always upbeat and the variety of people, from locals to tourists, to business people, you can always find someone enjoying themselves without the snooty or uncomfortable nature you find in some places. The price is right here! While you find some downtown bars charging an arm and a leg for beers, Hank’s is a steady $ 3.50ish! They run specials and have great deals when you check in with Unilocal!I cannot wait to go back when I am on island again!

This was stop #3 on the bar hopping excursion.
My first time here even though I drive by this place quite often. I’ve always wondered what it was like inside since from the outside, it looks so dingy and divey and there seems to always be drunk old guys standing on the sidewalk in front of the place. I’m really happy we went here because this place is pure neighborhood-​bar awesomeness.
It was kind of crowded when we got there but Dave the bartender and the folks at the bar welcomed us with a friendly hello. They squeezed together to make room for us to sit at the bar which was really kind of them.
We each had a couple of beers when I noticed something on the back of the bar. It looked like an old patron bottle with something soaking in it. I was kind of inebriated by now so it was hard for me to focus on what it was… i pointed to the bottle and asked what was in there. Dave brought it over and said the words that to me were like reciting a magic spell, «it’s ghost peppers soaking in vodka, you want to try a taste?» –gasp– I’m not quite sure but I think I said «OH F**K YES!» … and damn, that ish was HOT and DELISH!
Towards the end of our stay there, a really cool live band started playing. The first 3 songs they played were Beatles tunes, we all sang along… a great way to end my first, and for sure not last, Hank’s experience.

Great Longterm Bar for Chinatown. Gots the feel for decades. Upstairs is the Dragonroom Which you should try as well

This is exactly the kind of bar that I love. It’s small, there is live music and a jukebox, a heavy mix of locals, tourists, college kids, and hipsters. Drinks are moderately priced and they carry a great selection of beverages. My favorite thing on the menu? The pineapple upside down cake shots, hollllyy crap are those things are good, and I don’t even like pineapple upside down cake! I put down 4 of these one night and then remarked that the world was spinning wildly, to which my husband replied, «Darling, that’s because you’ve put down at least 4 oz of vodka in about 10 minutes.» Yeah, that’ll do it.
I would never have come here if I hadn’t gone to the Unilocal Elite Christmas party which was help here and at the Dragon Upstairs. It is now one of my favorite spots.

I’ve recently been to the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, the City Center in the Las Vegas after their 11 BILLION dollar price tag and only gave them a few stars… but this dive bar in the middle-​of-​nowhere-​Chinatown-​Oahu gets a five-​star?
Hmmmm — curious, given the fact this bar is several things you don’t associate with a five star rating but rather a one or two star rating (meaning — bad… it sucks… never come back):
1) no parking. street or municipal lots all the way, baby
2) ambiance — in the middle of Chinatown… drug dealers, crack addicts, prostitutes and other people asking you for money.
3) small tiny bar — I counted six people at the bar, and about five in the live band :-)
4) rats the size of cats… OK i never really SAW them with my own eyes but I know the rats in Chinatown are the size of Chihuahuas.
Ok, so why the five stars when its obvious there’s no parking, the ambience is a tiny dive bar in the middle of the red-​light district, its small and there are seen (or unseen) sizes of rats the size of cats?
Here’s the pros:
1) the BEST fun I’ve ever had on a Tuesday night! My friends took me to Mei Sum for dinner earlier and we stumbled across this place for some drinks and entertainment. Live band was there to play tunes as diverse as… uh…Pink Floyd to Santana. I read other reviews and it seems the music venue changes, but the band that night was GREAT!
2) Comfy atmosphere. I was singing at the top of my lungs with the band in the small, tiny bar and didn’t get weird looks or invitations to fight… and I am a really bad singer.
3) steeeep drinks. Hold onto your hats! I could only drink one and a half drinks. I must admit, prior to this we were at a dim sum restaurant and I had a few glasses of wine and one of their cocktails… the second one was too much, so it went to a band member who was taking a break from playing. He jokingly accused me of trying to get him drunk but I wonder if there was some truth to that, especially since he seemed to feeling no pain, whatsoever.
4) relatively cheap drinks — I don’t know the actual price of the drinks since I handed my friend a $ 20 and it seemed to go a long way, including tip for the band members!
The décor is pure kitsch, with half-​mannequin legs coming out of the walls clad in skimpy fishnets and tons of beer labels affixed to a ridiculously-​high ceiling. We asked how the beer labels got up there, way up, so high but we never got an answer… we were just told it got up there «somehow».
I have heard of Hank’s for many years but never had the pleasure of coming to this historical land mark of Hawaii until we stumbled upon it somehow… So glad we did. It took me over ten years to get here and I wish I found it sooner. It’s one of Oahu’s best, most treasured hidden gems.

How do I describe Hank’s to someone who’s never been there? It’s like the really eccentric kid in school who was tall and awkward, drove a beat-​up VW van, and could invert his eyelids upon demand. He was weird, but somehow everyone liked him because he was who he was and never tried to be anything else.
Hank’s is a tiny little cubby hole of a bar which one could easily pass by and not give a second thought. But for those of you who are able to see past it’s dive bar exterior, you’ll find a special place full of not commonly found charm. Owned by a local guy, named Hank (who knew right?!), this little bar that could is who adorned with Hank’s paintings of local scenery and clowns. Yes, clowns scare me too.
I used to go into Hank’s for their Saturday night songwriters night. I’d play a couple songs for my friends, two drunks at the bar, the bartender, a meth addict, three old guys, a lost tourist and sometimes Hank himself. It was fantastic for my songwriting because I knew that if I could get the two drunk local guys to listen, then I had a really great song! I fondly remember when I ordered a pizza from Dave, the bartender at Hank’s. We laughed when it came to our table because it was a Digiorno’s pizza. Hey, it’s not delivery! It’s Digiorno’s!
Hank’s is kitchy and tacky and beautiful in the way that a mother loves her crossed eyed child. The world doesn’t think that kid is very cute, but to her, that kid is perfection!