Lunch Box by Pili

Had a lunch meeting here. Two is us had the beef stew burger. It was quite tasty. Not at all what we expected. The beef was mashed down to form a burger. The bun was grilled giving it that extra flavor.

Since I wrote my 1^st review I’ve eaten a few more times at Lunchbox so I thought I’d update. The value for your dollar at this place is just still among the worst I’ve seen.
Last week I got a sandwich, it was about ¹⁄₃ of a baguette with lettuce, tomato, and a bit of deli meat inside. The menu said it was supposed to be served with taro chips, but instead it came with Lays. That was it, just a sandwich and 25 cent potato chips, and the cost was $ 9.50. My co worker got the grilled cheese and added on a very tiny container of soup to her order. For two pieces of white bread with a little bit of shredded cheese in the middle and a sip of soup, the total was $ 7.50.
Overall, the quality of food here is fine, but it’s the ridiculous prices that are the major factor of why my rating remains unchanged. Why would I pay these prices, when I can spend the same amount (or a few dollars less), at any number of places all around this area and not be hungry again when 3pm rolls around?

Why even post a restaurant on Unilocal that is not accessible for the general public. Makes no sense.

It’s never a problem to forget lunch at home – or not even pack lunch at all – because there’s a Lunch Box at work. Lunch Box by Pili that is. Although prices may seem steep for the small portions, one must consider the locally sourced ingredients such as vegetables straight from the farm & the use of Kulana beef – plus the fact that Lunch Box is operational during weekday lunch hours & restricted to Hawaiian Airlines employees & their guests who must sign in at the reception desk.
A highly recommended item among my co-​workers is the Lunchbox Burger featuring a meek sized patty with lettuce & tomato smothered in a muffler sauce. If you want to build a «bigger» burger, there’re additional charges for a double patty, cheese, bacon, onions & other toppings. Unfortunately, there’re no fries to compliment this tasty burger so I always make a quick run to a nearby café to get my fry fix.
Aside from sandwiches, paninis, smoothies & daily prepared soups, Lunch Box features daily specials ranging from their own healthy take on local favorites like Ahi Poke & Loco Moco to Kajiki Piccata which takes your taste palettes on a spin. The cherry tomatoes in the Ahi Poke were bigger than the poke cubes so I really had to dig through the abundance of vegetables. The Loco Moco’s easily one of my favorites albeit the size as the Kulana beef patty hides under a «Westside» easy egg. Some menu items can be a mixture of odd ingredients, but they’re creative enough to make it work.
I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting the main chef himself, but the team working the kitchen are all friendly & boast loud voices that boom through the noisy cafeteria when they call out your name. Other times, they’ll bring your order to you. So maybe I’m just bragging about what I eat for lunch, but plan a lunch date with your nearest Hawaiian Airlines employee to see what’s cookin’ at the Lunch Box.

Lunch Box by Pili Group is the Hawaiian Airlines corporate lunchroom /​eatery in the Honolulu Airport Industrial Area. Whats really cool about it is that Chef Mark «Gooch» Noguchi runs it and works the kitchen. However, you cannot just walk in for lunch. You need to know someone who works in HA corporate to escort you in as a visitor as it is inside their offices. That being said, I was lucky enough to go twice for lunch.
They have a grab and go section or you can order up sandwiches, wraps, paninis, and various specials. On my last visit, I tried their clubhouse sandwich, a gianormus triple-​decker with generous portions of turkey and bacon. I also had the fried pa’i’ai, which is basically fried taro and quite yummy, the grilled cheese sandwich which was gouda, and their special of the day a Kajiki Salad with red rice, beans, ho farms cucumber /​tomato, kole greens, ma’o radish and ranch dressing. The Kajiki Salad was amazing and I wish I could have it again.
Hopefully I will be able to go back someday since I know a few people who work at HA. If you have the opportunity to go, its definitely worth a try!

I consider myself very fortunate to work for a company that treats their employees very well.
When we first moved into our newly renovated open office space, we we were teased for about 5 months with the kitchen space at the Lunch Box. We knew Gooch and company were coming, and we couldn’t wait. Opening day last November was filled with excitement, but I even remember my first Lunch Box meal: lū’au stew. Something I considered my comfort food I could now enjoy during a busy work day.
Each day has a specific theme, and the beauty of it all is that there’s always something that I’ll want. I may not like whatever’s on the Daily Specials board, but I know they’ll always have a soup I’ll like or at least be willing to try, or my trusty go-​to Chicken Ceasar Wrap. It’s good to know that Gooch supports local farm to table efforts. I like knowing where my food came from and that it’s good for me!
Gooch and company are a good unit. Each member’s strengths are celebrated in all the menu items. They’re young with bright ideas so it’s often you read one of the special and its ingredients and think, «I didn’t know you could mix those together!» Good to know we’ve got a bunch of young and innovative minds in the corporate kitchen.
If you know someone who works at Koapaka, ask to come by and have lunch. If you don’t — well, it’s probably time you started making some friends there. ;-)

I’ve only been there twice so far, but it’s always a nice little treat!
Can you get in?
Sadly, Lunch Box isn’t a place that you can just walk into like other restaurants because it’s in the lunch room at the Hawaiian Airlines Offices! Your only way in to this foodie spot is if you know someone who works at Hawaiian Airlines that’s willing to sign you in as their guest!
Food:
They have a bunch of Grab & Go items, but I like to order off their menu because the items just seem fresher. For example, I could buy a wrap or pre-​made sandwich that they make & leave in a fridge, OR I could order a delicious crunchy yet juicy panini from the kitchen staff! They also have smoothies that they make with fresh seasonal fruits, so that’s always refreshing.
And of course there are desserts. The first time I visited, they had stocked La Gelateria cups of gelato, but when I returned recently, they were selling Ono Pops instead. This of course, is in addition to whatever little yummy morsels the kitchen decides to make (e.g. Fruit Loop macarons)
Service:
The Pili Group staffed kitchen is full of friendly faces! I’ve had the chance to speak to a few of them outside of the kitchen at other events, and they’re really great folks! They try to be as quick as possible if you’re ordering freshly made food, and if they know you, sometimes they deliver your food to your table if they don’t think you’d hear them calling your name! SO nice, right? ^_​^
Overall:
Kinda sad that I can’t visit more often, but I’m glad that I know someone on the inside that I can join for lunch every once in a while!

The meal was awesome and the chef was supper friendly. I loved how they use kalo pa’i ‘ai and pohole in their meals. Make sure you order the fruit punch. I liked the delicious creamy grilled cheese sandwich with caramelized onions with thinly sliced apples. Very good use of local ingredients.

A friend of mine invited me to try the new Lunch Box space in the Hawaiian Airlines Corporate Office. She knows I have a man crush on Chef Mark «Gooch» Noguchi and love the food he puts together. He has a certain talent in making local Hawaii comfort food even more delicious and nostalgic.
I’ve had his food many times and he does a great job at training his people at Pili Group who is currently behind the scenes making your food. The source many of their ingredients locally and a lot of love goes into the cooking.
I like the brown bag feel of the wrappers and the branding.
I feel the love!
The cauliflower melt is to die for! Such a great combination of flavors, Gooch’s famous muffler sauce from He’eia Pier.
Chris Sy is Hawaii’s most talented baker of bread. And no one knows him! He is making the bread for the grilled cheese at Lunch Box, nice heft to the bite, cheesy.
The cheeseburger is awesome. It is small, but packs a punch! Bacon is crispy, muffler sauce is fantastic!
If you work at Hawaiian Airlines, eat here. Oh and by the way, the luau stew is second to none.

I work for a great company and get great benes. What can make my job even better? Duh, food! I was so excited when it was announced that we would were getting a cafeteria and a café in it. Sadly, food would not be free but hey, you can’t have everything.
And what made it even more exciting was to food would be prepared by the Pili Group… aka Gooch’s (Mark Noguchi) gang… yup the same folks who run Taste and ran the Hee’ia Pier store.
Lunch Box just opened on November 11 and it was busy!
First of all, many of the menu options are healthy and made from locally sourced products ranging from Ho Farm tomatoes to Kulana beef. I love buying local! This does mean that the food isn’t dirt cheap but I think the prices are reasonable considering the quality of the food.
They have grab and go sandwiches (i.e. Egg turkey) and salads.
They have granola cups and desserts (they will vary but I had the coconut ulu rice pudding and it was very tasty).
They have daily special soups/​stews and sammys.
First day, I had a cauliflower melt. I know. Sounds kind of gross and too healthy right? Well it was love at first bite. I don’t know what he put in it (well I do know actually… kraut, cheese and whatever Muffler sauce is) but he managed to make it delicious and there wasn’t even any meat in it!
Grilled cheese. Yummy.
The bread definitely contributes to the deliciousness of the sammys. The bread is baked fresh from the Breadshop by Christopher Sy.
Today I had the Kulana beef chili with hapa rice. It’s serve your own for soups and stews so of course I piled in the stew and put a little bit of rice (made how like it). The chili was good, not too spicy and meaty. It was a nice comfort food.
The staff works hard and are super friendly too!
They are still in the process of seeing what works and what doesn’t and creating new things (can’t wait til they try a ramen or bento concept).
To be fair, just like any other business they have some kinks to work out… the wait for food needs to be worked on and some items are good but not omg good.
But so far overall, awesome awesome awesome. I know my waistline and wallet probably don’t agree.
Unfortunately, this place is not open to the public. It’s in the Hawaiian Airlines corporate office. Therefore, hopefully you’re friends with an employee who you can meet for lunch! I get the feeling I will have a lot of new friends soon ;)