Paina Café

Decided to grab a poke bowl for dinner after chilling at Sandy’s. My friend decided to get the Poke Salad Bowl while I opted for the original Paina Bowl.
I’ve never had teriyaki glaze on my poke but damn is it tasty over a bed of a rice. The portions are definitely generous on the XL (~$ 11) although I could have used a little bit more rice. The fish was fresh and very flavorful. I’ll definitely be back again when the craving hits.

I always get the poke bowl and it never fails!

Food is tasty, fresh and there are healthy options available. However, as others have noted, if you order brown rice, you’ll likely receive white, if you order limu poke you’ll probably receive spicy or Shoyu poke and if you ask for «no dressing» there will certainly be dressing. With that said, the food is all good, if you go in with the expectation that they’ll screw up your order, you’ll leave happy and full. After all, I can totally understand how «limu» sounds like «spicy» and «no» can easily be confused with «no.» Common mistake. ;)

Absolutely love the ward location. This one, now disappointed twice. I don’t leave Unilocal reviews but I’m sick of being nice and saying fck it and hope for a better turn out next time.
First time I came here I got grilled ahi and it was way over cooked and dry AF. My gf also didn’t like her salad that she normally does at the ward location.
The next time I came here I hoped for a better experience. I ordered GRILLED ahi. This shit is barely even seared. Also I ordered brown rice… Look what we have here, white! Also the rice and fish is pretty cold. Wtf is going on here? The ward one is so good and have never had a bad experience there. Will not return to this location.

Any time I’m on this side of the island this place is a must. It doesn’t matter if I came from a gathering with lots of food, I will make it a point to come here for a poke bowl. Today we hiked all morning and sought necessary to replenish with some ahi poke bowls! I was looking forward to it all morning!
I asked for a spicy ahi crunch bowl small size no teriyaki glaze. I received a small poke bowl, with teri glaze, over brown rice. No one in our party ordered brown rice so I am not sure where that came from. I was too hungry to take it back, another person I went there with order the California Bowl. He received a regular spicy ahi bowl. He took it back to get what he ordered. We were the only party in there so I am not sure how our orders were wrong.
Do not get me wrong, the ahi bowls are so fresh and delicious, I jut would have enjoyed it more the way I ordered it.
A lot of parking in the area but it gets crowded so be prepared to drive around a couple of times. This location is my favorite though it was never a hit or miss til today.
My experience today will not stop me from coming back though! Hopefully I’m able to get the full experience I always expect next time.

Little pricey but still some good healthy options. I tried different options; this is my ranking from best to worst:
Ahi gyro: so good! Ask for it seared! The sauce is perfect with the ahi.
Portobello mushroom sandwich pretty good! Warm and flavorful!
Ahi Tofu sandwich: good; the tofu has a bbq taste
Berry berry salad: I did not like this. The dressing tasted like candy syrup. I don’t usually throw away food because it’s wasteful but I couldn’t eat this anymore. I ordered it because it seemed like a healthier option but the dressing really ruined it. I asked to look at the ingredients and the first two ingredients was water and sugar.
The salad itself was fine but the dressing was not necessary.

Whether it’s at Ward or Hawaii Kai, the food selection is varied and taste from better than average to quite good. This doesn’t seem to be the case with the Ward locations, but there’s sheer chaos at the Hawaii Kai branch. The food pick up area is smack dab in the middle of the line to order the food. There has to be a more efficient way of organizing that. It’s already a small shop and people are untangling themselves from the order and pick up line. And if you’re going to order the Hawaiian plate, be aware that it will take at least 10 minutes. One customer was fuming that he was waiting for a long time for his Hawaiian plate while others were collecting their poke bowls. Apparently the order taker never informed him of the wait (10 minutes per plate; that’s 20 minutes he had to wait).

Came here after the gym because it was in the area, I got the grilled ahi and my bf got the grilled salmon. overall, we thought that the food was going to taste way better. The salmon was pretty small and tasted burnt, couldnt really taste the fish. My grilled ahi was also burnt and dry. I mean, the sauce was good but i wanted my ahi to be juicy atleast. immediately we thought we shouldve got poke bowls because thats what they’re known for. our total came out to $ 22 which was NOT worth it. Hopefully it changes if i do ever go back :(

This location is terrible. Last night was the second time I ordered a salad with seared Ahi where they forgot to put the Ahi on the salad! It is so frustrating to pickup takeout, get all the way home, and not have any protein on your salad, especially when you paid for it.
A third time I ordered a Kalua Pork Caesar Salad and they didn’t include the pork! That’s the whole point of the salad!
I looks like there is no management here, and definitely no discipline. The interior is dirty and the workers all have an attitude. This is a far far cry the the Ward Warehouse location. This is a prime example of expansion without proper management oversight.
No longer buying anything from this place.

The food at Pa’ina Café is consistently good and good value. We like to pick it up and take home to our confront home in Portlock where we have a quiet, quality meal with Diamond Head in the forefront of the best sunsets on the island.

Perfect stop after morning outing. Easy and quick lunch, fresh and tasty options for the whole family. Loved the spicy poke bowl with brown rice.

After a great snorkeling adventure the girlfriend and I decided to look around Hawaii Kai for some food. We didn’t want to send too much cash so after passing up Assagios and that sushi place we decided on Pa’inas.
We have a good prior experience with their café in town so we came in knowing that there’d be delicious poke bowls and sandwiches.
This time I tried out their special of the day which was an amazing Sweet Chilli Ahi. Extra large please! The ahi tasted sooo fresh and yummy. Can’t wait to come around next time to try out another bowl.
Girlfriend also got the California bowl, which look really good too.

What a gem!
Small restaurant but good poke.
Food:
Paina Bowl-​DELICIOUS
Poke Crunch
The Paina Bowl was delicious. Fresh fish and the teri glaze is a hit.
Definitely a great place for poke.

We came here after doing the Makapuu lighthouse hike — it’s just a short drive away. Don’t be deterred by the less than stellar Unilocal reviews — this place has great food. One of my friends is an Oahu native, and says it’s one of her favorite poke places.
I got the salad bowl with spicy tuna poke (it’s automatically an XL size); my sister got the shoyu poke with the tempura flakes on top. I tried both and while I definitely liked the spicy ahi a lot better, both were good. I’m paleo so I loved the option of having the poke on salad instead of rice, though if you’re doing a normal poke bowl you can have the choice of brown or white rice.

Slow. Slow. Slow. And that was just to take my order. I have always had great service at the other locations. I will never return to this location. The young man who took my order obviously was not ready to work the register. Not only did I need to repeat my order three times to him but she rang me up for twice the amount of food. And then when he tried to avoid the order he was unable to. I took my card and I walked out and my son was highly annoyed as well. We ended up taking our business around the corner to Yummys Korean BBQ.
My advise — do not put anyone on the register if they are not ready for it.
I will continue to go to the Ward location but I will never come back to this one.

Went to hike Makapuu lighthouse today and needed a spot for some Ono but not so heavy food. Me and the BF settled on some Bubbies to cool off then some regular Food. Paina is the located in Koko Head Marina. Which by the way is such a nice shopping center that has everything you can think of.
We ordered the Hawaiian Poke Bowl and Hawaiian Plate. The only reason I gave them a four star was because my rice was dry and grainy. The poke it self was low in sodium but still tasteful, which I loved because allot of places over salt their poke. I love their focus on more fresh and healthy food. The Hawaiian poke bowl came with your choice of poke, Kalua and lomi salmon. Yum and such a big portion for just $ 9.00 you can add additional toppings for just .50 Taegu or Masago or even little crunchy balls! We also order the Hawaiian plate which came with pork Laulau, lomi salmon and your choice of Kalua or poke. The Laulau was delish! Not to salty again and you could tell it was fresh since the greens was so moist and tasted yummy.
Overall 4 stars, hopefully next time my rice isn’t dry and grainy.
We’ll definitely be back again to try different dishes.

Come for the poke bowls. They’ve got such a variety of choices of fish and sauces and always have new specials to try.

Their crunch bowl with spicy tuna poke hits the spot on so many level! It is soooo good! Everything tastes fresh and flavorful! I am vey sad that I don’t live in Hawaii, otherwise this might just be my go to place every time!
Indoor seating is limited, but there are seats outside with beautiful views!
Will definitely return the next time I’m on the island.

The Shichimi Seared Ahi Bowl is yummy. Think cut, fresh fish, and lots of toppings makes this a flavorful, light meal. Other good bowls are the Spicy Tuna, Wasabi Masago Ahi or one of the Specials.
I love the Smoked Marlin Salad Sandwich, it has a nice smoke flavor – I really wish more places served smoked fish. The fish salad is lightly sweet, but that is balanced, thankfully, by red onion, lettuce, tomato and sprouts; and I love that it’s on pita bread. So good.
Pa’ina Café is good for a healthier lunch, call in your takeout and it’ll be ready for you.

This Pa’ina café is strategically located in the Koko Marina, directly across the street of the movie theater, and perfectly situated between a shaved ice shop and teddy’s/jamba. A perfect stop after a tough hike or beach day.
I highly suggest buying their crunchy poke bowl with your choice of a certain «style» of poke and white or brown rice. Personally I like their crunchy spicy poke with brown rice. It’s really delicious and hits that spot.
To top it all off, their Teri glaze that they out on the rice compliments the poke bowl so well. My BF suggests adding more and I agree!
Trust me. It’s so much better than the poke bowls at Foodland.

If I hadn’t tried the Ward Paina Café before this one, I would’ve never returned to any Paina again. Go to the Ward Paina Café for real customer service and way better quality food.
Since we were in the area after snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, we were craving for a nice poke bowl. Everyone knows Paina has the best poke bowls on the island, but we were disappointed with what the HK Paina had to offer. We ordered a Hawaiian poke bowl (lomi lomi salmon, kalua pork, your choice of poke) and a large spicy poke crunch bowl, both with white rice.
First, the white rice was very hard, as if it were left out a little too long. Not easy to eat or swallow even after lots of chewing. The kalua pork was very dry and the poke was slightly brown, warm, and not very tasteful. The poke crunch bowl is my favourite besides the Hawaiian bowl, but the crunchies were stale! :(Nobody likes eating stale cereal or stale chips in the first place. I couldn’t finish mine because it was difficult to eat.
In contrast with the HK Paina, Ward Paina has the sauces/​dressings set out for you (tobasco, shoyu, spicy shoyu, kilauea fire hot sauce, etc), and a lot more to their menu. Well, they are bigger, so I can’t blame them. But it would be useful if they had extra napkins or their condiments set out for them. When I asked for more shoyu, they were confused if it were the teri glaze and exchanged weird looks. However, one good thing is that the HK Paina has their drink fountain set out so you don’t have to wait for yours from the drink bar like you do at the Ward Paina.
Unfortunately, I would prefer not to return to this Paina location. The tables are rarely clean and it was unnerving sitting next to the sign by the door which had a lot of dirty marks from sauces or remnants of food that was splattered on it. Customer service is a lot nicer at the Ward location too!

Since I was in the mood for eating healthy the poke bowl sounded like a great choice! I tried a sample of the Wasabi Masashi poke, and thought it wasn’t great so I went with the spicy ahi. Got the large paina bowl since it has spicy ahi with teriyaki sauce drizzled on top, mmmmmm. Also chose brown rice with the bowl. Overall it was good, wasn’t to spicy, but really enjoyed eating this!
What I thought was pretty cool is that they are one of the few places that offers Goteborg musubis (I think that’s how it’s spelled). Instead of spam there is a piece of salty meat, which is good!