Bravo Restaurant

A friend's birthday was about 2 weeks ago.  At that time, I invited him out to dinner, but he couldn't make it, so he asked to take a "rain check".  Well, last night he called and asked if I was free and I was.  He decided to cash in his "rain check" and asked if I wanted to go to Bravo's.  I haven't been there in over a year, so I said sure why not.

Bravo's is located at the Pearlridge Shopping Center right below Anna Miller's and across the parking lot from Starbuck's Coffee.  It specializes in Italian food and has received high marks from many local diners.  As I looked over the menu, our server brought some garlic rolls that were hot, buttery, spicy and delicious!

The rolls are so good that I could have probably eaten the entire basket by myself!

I decided to start off with a salad.  I ordered the chopped salad (half, US$6.95; full, US$8.95).

This salad is a mix of lettuce, tomatoes, olives, turkey, salami and gorgonzola cheese.  All of this is tossed with some creamy dressing.  The ingredients for the salad were very fresh.  The one thing I didn't like about this salad was the dressing.  There was simply too much of it!  I normally like my salads on the "dry" side.  This salad, however, was soaked in dressing which formed a small pool at the bottom of the plate.  This made the lettuce and other ingredients feel soggy in my mouth.  Maybe next time, I'll ask to have the dressing on the side.

For my main dish, instead of ordering pasta, which I always have when I come here, I decided to try one of the pizzas.  I order the 8" Wahiawa pizza (US$8.75).  Wahiawa is a town that one passes through on the drive to Oahu's North Shore.  It was once known for it's endless sugarcane and pineapple fields. 

On the menu, the ingredients sounded good:  SPAM®, Canadian bacon, pineapple (I guess that's where the name Wahiawa came from) and green onions.  When the pizza arrived, however, it was not what I expected at all!

Doesn' this look like something a child in the second grade would put together?  What I had expected were chunks of SPAM®, Canadian bacon and pineapple surrounded by melting mozarella cheese with a bit of green onions sprinkled on top.  What I got was a 3 pieces of each ingredient on top of a half cooked pizza with green onions sprinkled on top.  The pizza arrived at the table just slightly warm and the cheese looked barely cooked.  This was an utter disappointment.

All in all, this dinner was a let down for me.  In addition to being a bit pricey, the food was not as good as I had hoped it would be.  The only thing I found worthwhile tonight were the garlic rolls....and they were free!

Bravo Restaurant
Pearlridge Centre
98-115 Kaonohi Street
Telephone:  808.487.5544

Comments

[santos]

bravo!! i haven't eaten there since i learned how to drive in their parking lot in my high school days.

i don't know, you're probably right about the food (didn't like it then), but your photography is so nice that pizza actually looks *charming*....

have you been to anna miller's lately? how's the strawberry pie?

[Reid]

Santos,

Thanks for dropping by again! Yeah, the pizza had a certain "cute" factor about it. And you're right, the food isn't so good. There's always something that's a bit off. I don't understand how this place could have won awards for as many years as it did.

Well....to tell you the truth, after the disappointing dinner that I had, I almost made it to Anna Millers for the fresh strawberry pie (which they had that night), but unfortunately for me, my friend wouldn't let me go. He knew I would eat the whole pie by myself! LOL! =) Wonderful isn't it? I'm going to do a feature on it soon!

[Jane]

The last time I went to Bravo, it was a big disappointment. Me and my friends like to share everything, so we always get something different from each other. The pasta didn't taste "freshly made" as it said on the menu. But dessert was a big let-down. The Tiramisu wasn't all that great and the so-called "gelato" tasted just like regular ice cream. We love Italian food, so we went to Buca di Beppo a few weeks later, and we did not leave disappointed or hungry! Buccatini con pollo was good, but their chicken Marsala was excellent. You must try the cannoli and the Tiramisu, but it comes with a warning label. The "small" one is dosed with 8 shots of rum! But most of all, remember to bring lots of friends!!

[Reid]

Hi Jane,

Thanks for stopping by!

I have to agree that Bravo has been quite disappointing in recent years. Why it continues to be an Island favorite is beyond me.

On the other hand, Buca di Beppo is great. I've been there many times since it opened and have gotten to eat in the Pope room as well as the kitchen! Have you seen the size of their meatballs?

[Bravo, Bravo!]

Bravo serves Italian food with a Mediteranian flavor, which is different than what Buca serves. So to compare the two is like comparing L & L and Outback: cannot be compared to each other. The more people think that Bravo is terrible makes it easier for me to get a table and not wait so long!
Ciao!

[Reid]

Hi Bravo, Bravo!,

Welcome to the site.

Hey, I'm glad you like Bravo. I seem to think it was much better many years ago. I actually had no idea that this was Italian food with a Mediterranean flair. Doesn't that mean that the food should be Sicilian style?

Hey wait, Buca di Beppo also serves Southern Italian cuisine. Hmmm. =)

[Darin]

Ono Kine Grindz,

One of our employees told me about this website and I was very concerned regarding your review.
I have informed my Kitchen Manager of your comments and we will continue to strive to improve on our food quality.
Thank you for your suggestions and for helping to make BRAVO a better restaurant.

Darin Tomi
Manager

[Reid]

Hi Darin,

Thank you for stopping by.

I hope you don't mind the critique and I do have to let you know that long ago (when Bravo first opened), I used to frequent that place quite a bit.

With more competition popping up all over the Island, I would have hoped that Bravo would have continued to improve. Sadly it has not.

Thank you for stopping by and I do hope that our suggestions for improvement are taken seriously.

[Say what?]

What? I don't understand. I think that Bravo's is one of the best resturaunts on the Island! Maybe you didn't enjoy what you had, but maybe if you tried something different. For example, what about the chicken canneloni? It's excellent! =] that's all.

p.s: The spaghetti and the pizza and the salad at bucca di beppo isn't that good... Somewhat bland. That's just me =]

[B Rod]

I have to agree with you on the pizza. It looks as though it were a first grade art project!!! I now know what pizza not to try, lol. I also agree that the garlic rolls are to die for! I reccommend the fettecini alfredo with shrimp. The cream sauce is muy bueno. The only down side is if you cannot finish the whole plate. It is replaced by gooey noodles soaking in oil. Also, I've tried the Spumoni ice cream sundae and have enjoyed it the last 7 times that I have ordered it. The layers of pistachio, mint, and strawberry ice cream compliment the Italisn flag it represents!

Ciao!
B

[Neutral]

No offense Bravo, Bravo, but you don't know what the HELL you are talking about. Your comparison is not even appropriate, helpful, intelligent, or relevant. L&L serves local food and Outback is Australian themed. Both Bravo and Buca are Italian/Sicilian themed restaurants. L&L is fast food while Outback is dine-in. Both Bravo and Buca are dine-in. While I would never compare L&L to Outback because they operate in entirely different restaurant and food themes and markets, I do think that you can compare Buca and Bravo. IMHO, they both are excellent eateries with different pros/cons. But ultimately, it would depend on location, and since Buca is in town and Bravo is in Pearl City, I would readily dine at either if I happened to be in the area and craved some good pasta.