Big Island Steak House

UPDATE:  May 2005
Big Island Steak House has closed.

To celebrate an outstanding sales week that our office had in the beginning of December, my manager took a few of us out for lunch at Big Island Steak House.

Located at the Aloha Tower Marketplace, it was a 15 minute walk from the office.  It was nice and sunny and by the time we got here, I was hot...and hungry. This was my first time here and I was surprised at how interesting the interior of the place was.  There was a small gazebo-like structure right inside the restaurant.

And there were lots of things hanging from the ceiling, including this "whale" from the old Charley's Fishing Supply location.

Since I'm trying really hard to stay away from fried foods and because I didn't want to fall asleep at my desk after lunch, I decided to take it easy and have a salad.  The one that seemed most interesting was the Oriental chicken salad (US$9.95).

The salad consisted of a bed of lettuce that had been tossed with some honey-lime dressing and topped with some shredded carrots, some tomato wedges, strips of grilled chicken breast and some slivers of crispy fried won ton skin.  To finish, there was supposed to be some Thai peanut sauce on this somewhere.

After eating a few bites of this salad, I realized that I didn't taste peanut sauce on it at all.  I asked for some additional peanut sauce on the side as was given something that didn't look or taste like peanut sauce at all.  I'm not going to insult you by showing you a photo of what I got.  The salad dressing was sweet and there was too much of it here.  It made the salad soggy.  The tomatoes were a bit mushy, with the only saving grace being the chicken.  It was nicely grilled with lots of charred bits, which I like.

I was a bit disappointed with my lunch.  For the money, I expected a salad that would be fresh and full of flavor.  Instead, the vegetables were second rate and in my opinion, not worth the money.  My friends had the prime rib sandwich (good), the tomato and onion salad (not so good), and the crab sandwich (OK).  Judging by our combined experiences, I probably would not come here again.

As we were leaving, I managed this last shot.

What a gorgeous day it was.

Big Island Steak House
Aloha Tower Marketplace
One Aloha Tower Drive Suite 106
Telephone:  808.537.4446

Comments

[MrsT]

Yup.. wat a gorgeous day.. !! can't wait till summer comes.. too bad food wasn't great.. :(

[Reid]

Hi MrsT,

Yes, too bad the food wasn't good. Especially at those prices. I'm quite surprised. We've been having extremely good weather these days.

[AugustusGloop]

Mmm yes I often find that it's very hard to find a good salad in restaurants! Usually you can't go wrong with burgers/ribs/grills, but salads are almost always neglected.

I liked the name of the restaurant though... it sounds silly but Big Island just sounds so Hawaiian (and hence, cool!).

[Reid]

Hi AG,

Normally, when I don't have anything in mind to order, I will order a salad. If a restaurant can do a salad well, then everything else should fall into place. Sadly, the salad here was bad. I've heard that other things are good, but I don't feel like paying more than US$20 for lunch.

[Ryan]

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend Big Island Steakhouse to anyone. It's a nice enough place and the service is fine, but I've been there twice now and I was hugely disappointed by the food both times. I'm surprised that they've stayed around so long when it seems like a lot of other joints have struggled at Aloha Tower.

I like your theory about salads, though, Reid. I've only eaten at Kincaid's once, but I will fight to the death to defend its honor; that's how much I loved the romaine and Maytag salad that they served me. And not that it's the same thing, but the dinner salad at Outback Steakhouse is an absolute dream. Gigantic, cool, and crisp, with the sweetest onions I've ever tasted and the most perfect tomatoes I've ever seen. The steaks and Bloomin' Onion are fine, but it's the salad that always gives my family the biggest thrill. Weird, but true.

[O.G.]

Reid,
I just had to quickly comment that I love your blog. I read it every week, and have gone through all your archives as well. I look forward to each of your posts. I have never been to Hawaii, but have always wanted to visit. Now, seeing the food, I want to go even more. Thanks for making me hungry each week!

[Reid]

Hi Ryan,

Long time no hear!

My theory is exactly this. A salad is made up of greens, if they are fresh, then the salad should be fine. Dressings aren't that hard to make, so as long as the salad is fresh and the dressing is good, then everything is OK. One thing that I really hate is a soggy salad. I think people need to figure out that there should be a balance between dressing and greens. I've never been to Ryan's or had the salad at Outback, but I'll take your word for it.

Hi O.G.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and taking the time to leave me a comment. I'm glad you enjoy the blog and are thinking of visiting Hawaii. You do know that there are other things to enjoy here besides the food right? =P

Hope to hear from you again!

[Bea]

They have the best poke I've tasted there. Food is ok.. nothing I would go out of my way to get. My cousin, that came to visit me for 5 weeks durring last summer, and I when hunting for different places known for poke on oahu and big island had the best. We even when back to check.. 2 extra times for the poke. I say, get a drink and enjoy the poke.. then leave for dinner

[Reid]

Hi again Bea!

Anyway, my boss had the sampler appetizer which included the poke. When it arrived, it didn't look all that fresh. It was actually quite disappointing to look at.

I'm glad you enjoyed it though. We must have caught them on an off day.

[DALE]

Big Island Steak House was the best restaurant ever! If you love Hawaii, period, you would have appreciated the atmosphere. At night, on the balcony looking out unto the waters with the serenaders and hula dancer, dancing to your favorite requested song. The crab dip and Li hing mui margarita was so ono, you could literally have that as your entree. Later, the family kicking back talking story and enjoying some cake and coffee to some live music coming from the downstairs restaurant, usually Kapena playing that night. The food was the best, every dish we ordered, especially the mahi mahi with macadamia nut sauce, ho was sooooo ono. The best thing about Big Island Steak House was the old Hawaii feeling of yesteryears, nothing like the commercial mainland crazy theme that restaurant and mainlanders support and trying to produce in our once beautiful simple lifestyle.

[Reid]

Hi Dale,

Thanks for stopping by the blog.

I'm glad you liked Big Island Steakhouse, but I have to say that on my visit here, the food wasn't really that good.

I thought about going again, then discovered that the place had closed.

[Kirk]

Hi Reid - Wow didn't even know they closed. I used to work right across the street at Harbor Court for a while.

[Reid]

Hi Kirk,

They actually closed sometime ago. I didn't really enjoy the food here, but I was told that it used to be quite good.