Honolulu Gourmet Foods

Over priced, complete waste of money. DO NOT GET THE POKE BOWL! It was the worst poke I ever had. I asked if fruit was in the shakes, the guy says no it’s just powder, it’s not healthy at all. Don’t waste your time or money. Mind you I live on campus and eat here a lot, been at this school for almost 7 years now. I still get the soup and salad if I’m desperate cause paradise palms has no other healthy option.

Was looking for a bit healthier option on the UH campus come across this place in the newly renovated paradise plams. Ordered a salad and a smoothie. Was not impressed at all to say the most, everything seemed like it was purchased from Costco and it wasn’t anything i couldn’t make in my dorm room. I was expecting to taste real flavor and freshness since that is what they are priding themselves on however that wasn’t the case at all. Do yourselves a favor and pack a lunch if you are looking for a healthy choice instead of giving your money to people who just throw stuff together and call it healthy.

I had to dock down my review for the awful triple berry «smoothie» I got today.
I watched the girl make it.
— ice
— white powder base
— concentrated syrup
— milk
I guess that’s all it takes to make a smoothie. It was too liquidy, tasted like what it was made of – SYRUP. I’m not sure if it’s because the girl didn’t know how to correctly make it, but it did NOT taste like the same one I ordered a few weeks ago. She had to make it twice because the first batch she made didn’t have enough to fill the cup.
I asked her if there was frozen yogurt in it, because the sign says «Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt Smoothies» and she said no, the frozen yogurt is in the frozen yogurt bar over there.
So a smoothie just made with ice, white powder base, concentrated syrup, and milk. Never again. Completely disgusting. I took 3 sips and threw it out. Total waste of almost $ 5. Save yourself and walk to Jamba Juice.
The salads and wraps are very good, but skip the «smoothies».

Ever since they opened towards the end of summer this has quickly become one of my favorite places to grab a bite on campus. They’ve got a nice spread of salads, sandwiches, and other tasty treats, and they’ve got froyo!
My favorite item here, by far, is the CHICKEN PASTA SALAD. It’s a bed of spinach topped with pasta salad, chicken and bacon bits, and comes with a cup of Honolulu Gourmet dressing. Another item I usually pick up from here to supplement my meals is the SPAM MUSUBI. I’d have to rank it as one of the tastier ones that I’ve had on campus.
If I happen to be eating at Paradise Palms instead of at my desk in the office I like to finish my lunch hour with a cup of froyo from here. At 42 cents an ounce it’s not a bad deal. But watch out, those ounces add up really fast if you’re not careful! One of the noteworthy flavors they have here is the Dole Plantation Dole Whip. It tastes almost identical to what you can get out at the actual plantation!
If you work on campus, or take classes here I highly recommend you stop by and check out Honolulu Gourmet. You’ll be glad you did!
***31 Unilocal: 29/​31***

You really can’t go wrong with Honolulu Gourmet Foods! I mean, even the name of the place is enticing.
Everything is always so fresh here. Not to mention healthy…& organic! They also have great grab & go options. The focaccia sandwiches are great.
Their most popular item has to be the frozen yogurt, which I have yet to try. But, it’s good to know that we have that option of a nice, cool snack here on campus.
The prices might seem like much, especially for some salads and sandwiches. But, it’s actually reasonable, and after seeing how much of a good thing you get for that price it makes sense. The way I see it is, if I’m willing to spend almost $ 5 for my coffee, then I can very well give up just as much (or even more) for a hearty sandwich or a delicious organic salad!
31 Unilocal Review Challenge: #13/​31

I feel silly admitting this, but when paradise palms reopened– i was hoping that they would still have their quick food to go options of sad looking sandwiches and wraps, because I usually only have a few minutes before class to grab food, and some of them were actually good– I really liked the chicken cesar wrap.
When I heard a gourmet food place was opening, I anticipated not liking it– i tend to be a picky eater… but I was wrong.
HGF has delicious bread sandwiches, and this amazing chicken pastasalad salad… it’s sooo good. I usually get both and pretend that one will be for later… but I always eat the sandwich first! It’s best when you can get it warm!
The workers are friendly and helpful… it’s a great addition to the palms!

Let’s be honest: if I could, I’d replace the fruits & vegetables portion of the food pyramid with French macarons. However, that will likely lead me into some sort of health issue in which I’d have to spend lots of money on medication and larger clothes. Not cute.
It’s important to get a good helping of fresh fruits and vegetables in our diet in order to stay healthy and whatnot. Finding that on college campuses is pretty difficult since the best foods to pair with exams and homework are pizza and whatever cruddy food comes to us in 5 minutes.
Honolulu Gourmet Foods is a great place to receive some fresh foods into a student’s diet. They have fruits, sandwiches, salads, fro-​yo! All super fresh! The tomatoes that were in my salad still had a light sprinkling of water!
I had the «Rotisserie Chicken Pasta Salad on a bed of local salad greens served with Creamy Honey Herb Dressing.» When they say «local salad greens,» they mean baby spinach and random leaves of veggies that are unknown to me. If I had known that the greens were spinach, I wouldn’t have bought it. Well, I already spent $ 7.09 on this thing, I’ve got to eat it. Oh, man. My thoughts on spinach have changed! It’s crispy, sweet, and so fresh! Topped with mozzarella, chicken, pieces of bacon (not bacon bits!), and pasta noodles, this salad was sooo good — and so hefty too! It was a bit difficult to eat because they pack so much into the container that you can barely move anything around! It kept me full for quite a long time!
This spot has such potential for a 5-​star rating but I’m gonna continue to try more of their food items to make sure ;) I’ve got my eye on the sweet bread-​seafood salad sandwich; sounds like an experience!

The food is probably the best food on campus. They give you options of eating healthy and semi healthy lol. I tried their famous spicy poke bowl and I have to say it was really tasty and priced great for just about $ 6. On my next visit I tried several of their salads which were delicious and I found out that they actually sell their dressings at Costco so they must be famous! lol. Of course my favorite part of my now regular visits to the concession is their popular Soft Serve Frozen Yogurt Bar… ummm if I could, I’d probably replace lunch with a double serving of that yogurt not to mention the lychee and mango balls that burst happily in my mouth. I highly recommend visiting the concession at Paradise Palms if you’re on, or near the campus for that matter. And oh, the owner told me they can easily do delivery orders for offices and businesses as long as you have a minimum of 10 orders. Two thumbs up Honolulu Gourmet Foods!

Met Jacob N. for lunch here and we ended up buying the same thing for lunch — chicken pasta salad. Great minds think alike! The pasta was $ 6.50. I thought it was a reasonable price for the salad — it was delicious.
We topped our lunches off with their self-​serve yogurt. Had to see if their Dole Pineapple yogurt was the real deal — it certainly tasted like the one that the Dole Plantation is famous for. Now we can get it on campus at 42 cents an ounce. Woohoo!
I also love their edamame hummus!