The Safehouse

We went to The Safehouse for the first time after Unilocal Hawaii hooked me up with tickets to the Big Tease Burlesque show.
A lot of reviews complained about the high prices but beverages and food was average prices. While drinks did have a lot of ice, they weren’t watered down and had a good alcohol volume.
Yoozilla was the bartender tonight and she was awesome! She provided great service and was a blast to talk to.
If you’re at the Safehouse for a show at The Republik you can see the stage from the corner stools behind the register.

Love this place. Bartenders are frickin awesome… food is delicious. and good priced drinks! Good for any night! Now they have pop up shops on Fridays!

I always to try to look for new places to hang out and so far The Safehouse is my favorite place to listen to music, have a drink and eat pizza. Their pizza is amazing! They have happy hour from 6−9p with $ 2 off everything on the menu and the food is worth the price! They have kalua pig pizza! I don’t know anywhere else that serves kalua pig pizza! They have friendly staff, a trendy ambiance, good food, and good music. The Safehouse is a chill spot and I love it!

The Safehouse is a lounge located inside The Republik, and provides a chill atmosphere to grab a drink, watch a free acoustic show, or pregame before a concert.
Be sure to check out their happy hour too, it’s awesome! From 6 to 9 every night (excluding show nights), they offer $ 2 off food and signature cocktails, and $ 3 wells/​drafts/​wine. I suggest catching their happy hour, and definitely try their kalua pig pizza! Haven’t tried much of their other offerings, but they all sound delicious.
There’s ample seating if it’s not a show night at The Republik. The chairs right at the bar can seat probably 20 people, and there’s comfy couches right by the bar as well. The vibes are great and the atmosphere is chill but definitely great!

One of my favorite things about living in Hawaii is listening to my fellow mainlanders complain about not being able to get certain foods here. West Coasters whine, «There’s no good Mexican here!» East Coasters cry, «The pizza here sucks!» Not only are these dummies wrong, but they also seem unaware that we are, quite literally, in the middle of the ocean. Just enjoy living in the Kingdom.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered the Midwestern delicacies at The Safehouse: Minnesota’s Juicy Lucy, Wisconsin’s cheese curds, and even St. Louis’ toasted ravioli (disguised here under the name «fried ravioli»). And they’re pretty good too. Suck it, Coasters!
The service here is great (the bar manager is super cool), and the beer prices are good too. Check out the happy hour specials for sure. We even got treated to some free acoustic music, which included an accordion guy taking a request and playing from memory Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Uh, what?!
This place rocks.

Being that I just turned 21, I was very eager to go out and have a few drinks with my friends. I came to The Safehouse for the first time the other day and instantly fell in love! I’ve been inside many other times for concerts, but never sat down for a drink and ordered food.
Their happy hour specials are AWESOME! It goes from 6 — 9 PM (excluding show nights). They have some $ 3 drinks (wells, drafts, and wines), $ 2 off signature craft cocktails, and $ 2 off food items. All very reasonably priced and definitely very delicious! My boyfriend and I ordered the Kalua Pork Pizza and that was so good. Lee and Steven from the kitchen took care of us and did an amazing job making sure we got everything we needed. When they brought out our food and my boy friend and I dug right in! (didn’t even get a chance to take a picture). I also had the chance to try their garlic fries and those are also very good and great for sharing.
Overall I just loved the atmosphere here! They were had a rad playlist playing which set the mood just right for conversations with friends, their décor is beautiful (very sparkly chandelier right above the bar), and the lounging area is very comfy. Its really nice, chill place to just hang out for happy hour and or before concerts at Republik. I will definitely be back to try more items on their menu now that I know about this place.

The Safehouse doors open at 6 p.m. and you’re free to get a drink, order some food, sit down and have a conversation with your friend or the person next to you. I’ve been here multiple times before concerts and another for the Iron DJ event. The Safehouse is located inside of the Republik and let me tell you, best idea ever. The Republik’s doors don’t open until 7pm for the concert and if you’re already inside the Safehouse you’ve basically saved yourself for being front and center — check out my Republik review at how front and center you can be. lol.
It has a chill atmosphere and the chandelier right above the bar and the white décor give it a classy feel. I’ve never had any problems with the bouncers or the bartenders — they’re actually pretty cool. You can call ahead or email Flash to reserve some lounges, bottle service or some food.
Also, the floor is sticky… lol

Date: June 25, 2015 Thursday
Location: The Safehouse
Reason to go: Enjoy drinks before the THUNDER FROM DOWN UNDER scheduled event
It’s been a long while since I stepped foot into The Safehouse. This time I was not out of breath. Who would have guess that the same two bartenders that worked the night of December 4^th of last year would be working again.
I just so happened to see one of my female cousins with her friend and started chatting with my cousin.
The male bartender greets me and asked what I wanted to drink. My reply «I’ll have the Jackass Ginger.»
The female bartender then asked me if I wanted anything and I pointed out that the other bartender is making my drink.
I received my drink from the male bartender. My cousin and her friend received their food. Beef slider burgers and cheese bread. They both looked at the cheese bread and said «This looks like pizza.»
Since the food was a bit too much for them to eat. My cousin and her friend offered me a beef slider plus cheese bread. I opted to have some cheese bread with a little marinara sauce on top.
The male bartender comes around and asked «How is everything?»
My cousin’s friend says «The cheese bread is burnt on the bottom. Especially the end sections.»
The male bartender says «Sorry about that. We’ll take it off the tab for you.»
Cousin’s friend says «We paid cash for the transaction.»
«Your next round of drinks will be on us» says the male bartender.
While chatting with my cousin and enjoying the food I ended up having another round of Jackass Ginger plus a Lychee Hu. I paid cash for all my drinks since I didn’t want to be in the same situation like last year… getting charged for a transaction without my knowledge.
The two elderly lady attendants in the restroom were very friendly. They only work on the nights of scheduled events. They offer breath mints, candy mints, and lollipop to the ladies.
Overall the experience was a bit better from last years experience. The Safehouse gained another star out of me.

Unilocal 365 Challenge 2015 #66/​365
The reason why we made a trip to the Safehouse? Their happy hour:
Tuesday-​Thursday, 6−9pm
$ 2 off signature cocktails, $ 3 wells, $ 3 – 5 drafts (depending on beer)
$ 2 off food
If there is a show, the no happy hour :(
They also run an extra special on Tuesdays, called «$ 20 Tuesdays». For 20 dollars you get a special entrée and three drinks of your choice! What a deal! I would think that the special changes every week, but this week it was a BBQ special. It came with ribs, sausage, pork & beans, corn, and cole slaw. Pretty cool.
I heard about this place but never realized they had a happy hour, so when I saw the info retweeted by Unilocal Hawaii on Twitter, I knew we had to check it out. Parking is free up the ramp on nights without shows, so we drove right up like VIP’s. There isn’t really any distinguishing signs saying that one is the Safehouse and one is the Republik, but we figured it was the bar-​looking-​room on the left.
We were greeted by the girl bartender, and we made a lap around the bar to check out the tables. There weren’t a lot of people, being that it was a Tuesday night, so getting a table was easy. There’s 4 different tables, and then an area with two big sofas and two tables that raise up if you need them to be closer to you. That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in a bar!
I ordered the $ 20 special, and Rachel ordered the pork wonton tacos. I didn’t get to try any of those tacos because she ate them all! Those tacos must have been amazing, because that’s all she talked about the rest of the night!
The $ 20 special didn’t quite fill me up, so I ordered some of the Taijin fries, since they were part of the happy hour too. At first, they were interesting with a spicy and almost sweet tinge, but I got pretty tired of it after a while. I want to try those gorgonzola fries though!
At times it seemed like the bartender was inattentive because she had a bunch of friends at the bar, but it didn’t bother us too much. The other bar hand was pretty quick in getting our drinks, though.
In all honesty, I don’t plan on coming here unless it’s during their happy hour, because they’re a bit pricey if not for that. Luckily, their happy hour is at a pretty good time, so I could see Rachel and myself coming back here many more times for those deals!

I am in LOVE and it is with The Safehouse. I usually end up getting off work around 7pm, which is basically the time all happy hours end. It’s a bummer because unwinding after a stressful day at work with friends is ESSENTIAL. Luckily this place is able to fill the void.
HAPPY HOUR: Tues — Thurs, 6 — 9pm. $ 2 off food, $ 3 wells, $ 5 drafts, $ 2 off signature cocktails, and wine specials. Note: If there’s a show scheduled during one of those nights, there is no happy hour.
It’s located inside the Republik, so Jake and I decided to head that way one night and parked for free in the lot up the ramp. I’ve never been a fan of what the Republik looks like from the outside — it just seems dirty and run down. I was expecting the Safehouse to be similarly grunge, but to my surprise the décor is beautiful — trendy and upscale. I couldn’t get enough of the relaxed ambiance. I mean, come on – there are two chandeliers as you make your way in!
We got there at around 8pm and there were just a handful of people, which was nice. There’s a variety of seating to choose from: table tops, bar seating, and even couches for bigger groups to get together and hang out.
Now let’s get down to business. The food here is AMAZING. They’ve got all your favorite bar comfort foods, but elevated and presented beautifully. I ordered the pork wonton tacos ($ 13, $ 11 during happy hour), and let me tell you… I’m still dreaming about them. You get three crispy wonton chips filled with juicy pork, cheese, and a delicious avocado-​jalapeño sauce. You can’t go wrong.
$ 20 TUESDAYS: Since we were there on a Tuesday, Jake ordered their dinner special. For $ 20, he got three drinks of *anything* plus an entrée! Talk about a deal. They were offering a slab of ribs that night, complete with three sides and some sausage.
Guinness lovers, they’ve got it on draft! They also have 16 taps, so more than likely they’ll have your favorite. Service was decent — the only miss was the bartender forgot to bring Jake his next beer after he asked for it.
I’m seriously looking forward to trying out some of their pizzas… You can bet I’ll be back — often!

Ohhh The Safehouse… if you don’t know it’s located inside the Republik. I’m always hungry… and honestly. if you mess up on fries. you shouldn’t be in business. luckily they make some killer fries and I loveeeeee their pizza! They have a legit happy hour with $ 2 off menu items and $ 3 select cocktails… yeah. I’ll get that food please… and if you’re not into cocktails they have 16 beers on draft!!! (oh what’s up with that Goose Island!!!) The sound system is amazing with its own separate DJ booth for smaller events… It’s always nice to see great djs like Super CW, Tittahbyte, and Jem holding it down in that booth… and again… oh how I love that AC… thanks Safehouse!.. I can drop it low low and not look all hot sweaty mess stats post-​dance sesh. keep it up Safehouse!!!

My friend and I each ordered the ribeye steak skewers and I had an order of garlic fries. It came out quickly because we got there when it opened. I do not think the skewers are with $ 15 BUT they were amazing! Garlic fries are definitely worth the $ 7. It is a big serving of fries so make sure you share with someone! VERY limited seating so unless you get there right when it opens, expect to stand and eat.
Despite my minor complaints, I still give a 5 because the food was so dang good.

I love Safehouse! I first came here with a friend to try their happy hour, which has been the only times I come during lol. It’s usually not too crowded, which is always nice because we usually just walk in. Safehouse is located in The Republik, and right about Bar 7 lol. We usually just park downstairs (pretty sure we can park right outside up the ramp, but we usually never do).
Omg so the food is pretty great for idk «bar» food? I fell in love with their Fried Ravioli ($ 9) omgggg… I’m not sure if happy hour is same thing everyday but one of the days we went it was a $ 1 or $ 2 off food. The Cheese Bread is good too… and the Won Ton Spicy Ahi Tacos is so unique and amazing! We also tried their pizzas. You should try the Kalua Pork Pizza, it sounds weird, but it tastes good. Theres BBQ sauce, pinapple, mango, red onion, cilantro, and jack and mozzarella cheese. The Pepperoni was too boring lol., Oh, and one of us also got the Bacon wrapped hot dog
What I thought was kind of neat is that the servers all create their own kind of drink that’s listed on the menu as well. Most of the time the servers are good, but my recent visit, our server took the longest time to get to our table even though there was only one or two other parties. I wanted a refill on my water for at least ten minutes. She didn’t seem to pay much attention to us, which bothered me a little. But oh well, the food tasted good.

Safehouse– more than just a bar.
I’ve been to a few shows at the Republik, listening to the Broods, Foxxes, and another non-​memorable band. That is when both the Safehouse and RK is open. I think I reviewed that adequately in my other post.
Safehouse is open without having a big show night; Even though it is just the bar end open, tables and stuff is used to block off the main stage area but there is still room for staff to open 1 register and bar back and the DJ sound system booth to trouble shoot any problems.
Some of the times at the Safehouse there is just not much going on– there is no cover and a happy hour that isn’t the greatest by any means. I went in once and asked the bartender if I should come back later to hear the dj and to my surprise he said «yeah come back at least half an hour later and things should pick up some.» I can totally understand some of the negative reviews that the staff seems to be not as hyped up or on mark or jacked excited when there is not a show but only the bar– they know tips will be lower and the mood of the whole night will be lower, so I can understand that. Show nights are so much much much more electrical. No cover nights can be like you would expect any other bar.
Other bars don’t have bottle service Asian earth angels wearing burlesque outfits that are appropriate for the final act of the presentation progression performance that is left with just the last item of clothing before the reveal– they are beautiful and surprisingly still working at a bar and not on the silver screen.
One night, there was a non-​exclusive event (meaning– the night was hosted by a person but anyone 21+ could still enter the bar). Before 8 pm, they had the bar roped off at the kitchen side and the entrance to the RK– so all of the chairs and couches were roped off for bottle service and the VIP section. OK — so no where to sit except back by the entrance which has 4 couches. The rest then is standing at the bar. They planned it that way but if I was going there for the first time I can understand why someone new to the bar would be like ‘forget this’ and move on to a better bar scene.
The menu is better than bar food, you have your fries (salt-​pepper/​spicy/​garlicy), pizzas that are better than pizza hut but not as good as a NYC pie, fried ravioli {a favorite of most that I know} and gourmet hotdogs with bacon and stuff.
Bar is a normal bar– they have some high end cocktails’ and normal wells. They have some smooth shots that I don’t remember the names of {that memory has slipped through and won’t come back}but the bartenders on no cover nights have the time to answer all of your questions. Really — it can be that slow.
This wouldn’t be my real hang out bar– as the tvs play their own promo commercials instead of UH football or a Bulls game. It is though a music industry favorite, Bruno Mars was there one night when I went and he was with a girl, so no need to bug him needlessly.
Check it out for yourself and feel good enough to leave if you don’t like it– and come back for a show night– your opinion will change on different nights.
Once I got stepped on by a woman bar tender– no I didn’t say anything; a) she looked busy, b) she was carrying glass bottles, c) I have covered heavy shoes so– no the back of her high heel didn’t go through my foot. No, she didn’t stop or apologize.

I don’t think 1 star is a fair call– it is better than just average for here in HI– compare it to NYC or LA and it would get a lower star rate but a 4 star I think is fair. Still there is room for improvement but still a good place to go and hang.

I love french fries. Love them. Safehouse’s fries during happy hour might be as good as it gets. Which is why the safehouse gets my 4 stars. Each different type of fry gets a different sauce, which I can definitely appreciate. Last time I went there you could get 3 different types all at once, variety is definitely the spice of life.
Other Food: I think for happy hour all food is $ 2 off. The pizza is decent (although downstairs V lounge is open and has GREAT pizza — its hard to compare) Fried Ravioli on the other hand is probably one of their best dishes. To share, the Asian spicy tenders are good. Think a spicy/sweet&sour with lightly fried chicken. Couldn’t possibly be bad.
Drinks: The drinks are okay… Cheap enough during happy hour for me not to have any complaints.
The seating is a little odd, as the back of the lounge chairs are super far back, so it’s kind of hard to sit. There is always the bar though. And to be frank & honest… looking at a huge random bearded man on the side of the wall is kind of awkward.

Love love this place. I love their pau Hana. One time I had tons of food and the bill was did not reflect that.
We always order
— garlic fries
— garlic edamame
— spicy ahi tacos. THE BEST.
— fried raviolis
— chicken sliders
Oh so hungry.
Drinks are not watered down.
Service is the best.
I always love the music.
Seating is limited. Depending on the night, you might be standing.
It is a mixed crowd — tourist, local, young and old.
Free parking during weekdays. Usually on Friday– weekend it’s Valet. You can’t get dropped off either. So park downstairs and walk up.
Kinda of hard to find at first.

The Safehouse is located in the Republik.
I thought the Republik was only open when they have a concert. What a surprise to find out that they are actually open everyday from 6:00pm — 2:00am (except Mondays).
They also offer happy hour from 6−9pm. Unless there is a concert, then there is no happy hour for that night.
The Grub.
[[ WON TON TACO $ 11 ]]
These tacos are so cute! They offer two different tacos, you can get the spicy ahi or the other white meat. We went with the other white meat which comes with crispy camita style pork with onion, cilantro, avocado, and cotija cheese. Kind of messy to eat, but yummy.
[[ VEGGIE PIZZA $ 11 ]]
This was a good size pizza. I thought it was going to be a lot smaller. The veggie pizza comes with caramelized onion, confit tomato, grilled zucchini, mushrooms, arugula and buffalo mozzarella. This was definitely my favorite dish of the night!
[[ TOASTED RAVIOLI $ 9 ]]
The toasted ravioli is filled with cheese, breaded and fried with house red sauce on the side.
Overall I enjoyed my visit here. The food was good, the bartender was super cool. There was hardly anyone in there, but that didn’t bother me because I don’t really care for crowds anyway :)

Love the ambiance in here and the food is delicious. They do have some weekly and monthly events in here instead of at The Republik which is really cool.
They recently renovated their DJ booth and added some great sounds to the dance floor as well as an LED screen behind the booth. Kind of like a mini-​classier Republik.
I feel like this place is for everyone whether you are with your girls or just finished work and want to get drinks.
Love that this place is clean, not just the tables but even the bar. One of my favorite places to chill at!

I’m not sure why this place gets such good reviews. I was here last night for a show (Halestorm) and while waiting we had some drinks.
The «signature cocktail» menu are just normal classic cocktails that they rename. For example: The «Whiskey Classic» is basically a whiskey sour.
Now, I am OK with this as bars should be able to make the classics, but if they are going to offer them as“signature” drinks… they should be able to make them well. The bartender we had was slow, her measurements of ingredients was off and the end result was drinks that didn’t fill the glass even when filled with ice. The «Whiskey Classic» I got had the egg white as as it should, but wasn’t shaken well enough to develop the froth that it should have, they use Jack Daniels instead of Bourbon (this is a preference, and is noted in the recipe so it is expected) but were light on it, so you tasted more of everything else other than the Whiskey, and as I mentioned previously… they couldn’t be bothered to even fill the glass they served it in. The end result is a classic drink, that they call their signature cocktail, are charging a higher dollar price for, and ending up sub-​par.
I then tried a margarita, as those can be made a million ways, and most of the time are fine. For the first time in the history of me going to bars, I tossed out a drink. It was AWFUL. It was WAY too sweet, and barely tasted like anything remotely close to a margarita.
My girlfriend got a couple of Rum drinks and said they were fine, although again, very light on the liquor and cups not even close to full.
The prices are on point for a standard downtown trendy bar, but for that price, I expect a good drink, not something muddled together and served in a ¾ full plastic cup.
Next time I’ll be skipping the «signature» menu.

The Good:
— amazing food and huge portions
— cool, trendy atmosphere
— friendly staff and servers
— free parking can be found on street or in Ala Moana mall
The Bad:
— only one beer on tap the night I went (Bud Light)
— doesn’t open until 6:15−30ish on concert nights
The Ugly
— no happy hour on concert nights and drinks are expensive ($ 6 for 10 oz bud light draft, $ 9 for 10 oz margarita, $ 9 for 10 oz monster & Jaegar)
So I gave 3 stars since I went expecting happy hour and ended up getting gouged on drinks, but I would definitely go back for a confirmed happy hour. So just double-​check there isn’t a concert the night you go. Or just drink elsewhere first if you’re going to a concert.