Hula's Island Grill and Tiki Room

THE BUZZ ON HULA'S

Happy hour 7 days a week 2pm - 6pm

                      Mondays    4:30pm - 6pm

                     Tuesdays all night happy hour

$5.00 Tiki Drinks, Wine by the glass

$5.00 Pupus 

Hula's Website

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Julie's Review

When I walked into Hula's at 2:00 on Saturday afternoon and saw Josephine sitting at the bar surrounded by empty seats and  my favorite Hula's bartender,  Emma,  behind the bar, I knew it was going to be a special happy hour.   

I have to confess - I love Hula's!  It excels in every category - great hours, great service, great food, wonderful drinks, great ambience and all for a reasonable happy hour price!  Give me a painkiller and some chicken wings and I'll be humming to the 80s tunes in no time.   After two painkillers I'll be singing the Hawaii 5-0 song and doing the swim. Yes, this place makes you happy and I have had many a memorable time  here.

 But I'm getting ahead of myself. Lets start with the hours - happy hour seven days a week. Sunday - Thursday 2:00  - 6:00 pm,  Monday 4:30 - 6:00 pm and Tuesday is happy hour all night  long!  What's not to love?  Going early on Saturday afternoon was great, cuz the place was empty. Its the perfect place to go after African dance class at 418 or after seeing a matinee downtown.

Unlike many a happy hour place where one or two cocktails are on the happy hour, wine by the glass and ALL the tiki drinks are only $5 and they have great drinks at Hula's.  My favorite is the pain killer.  Give me two painkillers and a glass of water and call me in the morning!   Now, I'm a sweetie - so I like my drinks and wine sweet!   A painkiller fits the bill - it's made with Appleton's Gold rum, pineapple juice, OJ and coconut. (And something very sweet).  

Jo is very impartial to the Mai Tais.  The Hula Mai Tai is made with Appleton's rum, DuKuyper Orange Curacao, Pineapple and Lime juice , Orgeat, Goslings Black Seal Rum.  No wonder they have such a kick!

The pupus at Hula's are all $5.  They include sweet potato fries, crispy coconut shrimp rolls, spring rolls, abalone style calamari, chicken wings, spicy edamame, Hawaiian ceviche, potstickers, chicken sticks, beef sticks, seaweed salad and Mac-n-cheese.

Jo and I ordered our favorite the Tiki Torch chicken wings which comes with island hoisin sambal sauce ; the pork stuffed potstickers with peanut-soy sauce;  and then to be healthy the Vietnamese spring rolls made with tofu, peanuts, apple, lemongrass, carrots, basil and lettuce and finally the spicy seaweed salad with fresh wakame and spicy sesame dressing.  

Once the food was ordered we sat back to chat with Emma.  Originally, Hula's was going to be our first review. We had come and taken a few pictures and talked with Emma,  back in the beginning of April, but we weren't ready. Now that we have several reviews under our belt, it's good to come back and realize just how good Hula's is.

The ambiance at Hula's is relaxing and fun. Not surprising, there is a Hawaiian and tiki theme, with surfing on the tv, a stuffed swordfish and Hawaiian paintings on the wall. It has a full well stocked bar.  There are trivial pursuit cards in little spam boxes on the bar. 

For my next drink,  I had a Zombie - Don Q Cristal Rum, passion fruit, pineapple juice, lime juice, Goslings Black Seal Rum and 151. They are usually $8, but $5 during happy hour. The best part is they come in a cool looking tiki glass. It was good and strong, but not sweet enough for my taste.

Jo sampled the Hawaii 5-0, being a fan of the tv show.  It is made with Don Q Cristal and Sailor Jerry Rum and with fresh tropical juices. Jo liked the fact that it came in a large glass. Jo likes 'em big, I like 'em sweet. We made sure to take a picture of Jo with Steve McGarrit in the background. Book 'em,  Danno.

Now, the food had arrived, so we were in heaven. Everything was delicious. The chicken wings come with a hoisin sauce and scallion garnish. One thing I love about the food at Hula's is they have delicious sauces and large enough portions that I never have to ask for more, and I like my sauce!

The six potstickers were large and deep fried to perfection, they come with two sauces a peanut and a soy based sauce. Finally, the Vietnamese spring rolls - our healthy choice.  I'm not a huge tofu fan, unless it is prepared properly and spring rolls are sometimes bland. Not so with these, the combination of flavors  and textures in the rolls, combined with the yummy sauce masked the tofu flavor.  They disappeared quickly and I will order them again. 

I'm also not a big seaweed eater, but I have had this seaweed salad before, so I knew just how good it is. Spicy, crunchy, delicious! We were both satiated and Emma was quick to clear the dishes. The service is first rate here. Quick to give you water, drinks, take your order. Friendly, fast, efficient.

Emma and I talked about old friends that haven't been around in awhile. She made an interesting observation, that in the bar business, when people are doing well, you generally don't see them as often.  Very true - except for me and Josephine, of course, who enjoy a good happy hour during good times and bad!

At this point there was a drink mixup, so Emma brought us a Blue Hawaii that had been made by mistake. This is our FIRST free drink - even though our motto is "show us what you got, we'll give you a shot!". Jo tried it, but I knew it would be much too sweet for her and I was right. A Blue Hawaii is made with Don Q Cristal, Cruzan Coconut Rum,  Pineapple Juice,  Coconut, DeKuyper Blue Curaçao. It is a lovely blue color and sweet enough for me.  Delicious!

We played some more trivial pursuit, took pictures and decided to order the last drink of the afternoon.  Jo finished my Zombie and I ordered a Pink Bikini Martini - sky vodka, infused with pineapple and watermelon. It was a lovely pink color and such a pretty drink! Delicious, too!

The afternoon had turned into evening at this point, so we bid aloha 'ahiahi to Hula's. It had been all that a happy hour should be: five shot glass service, food, drinks, ambience at a reasonable price. You really can't ask for more than that!

Julie's Rating:   5 Shots!!!!!!!

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Jo's Review

 
 I must agree with Julie, I love Hula's!  I have been coming here for a while now and I ALWAYS leave happy. Hula's has a great atmosphere with it's tropical theme and all of the great little accents around the place.  They have pictures of surfers and island folks, and because I'm a big TV buff, I like the pictures of the original Steve McGarrett from the TV show Hawaii 5-0 and the cast of Gilligan's Island plus the stuffed fish and tiki statues. 

 It's a bit loud in there when it gets crowded and it's usually crowded.  We had the bar to ourselves to begin with though on that Saturday afternoon, which was fine by Julie.  I like the crowd, there's usually eye candy about and I enjoy the occasional chat from other customers around the bar. The bartenders are very friendly, I feel comfortable at Hula's.

I got there before Julie so I ordered up my usual a Hula's Mai Tai.  They have the mix made up in big batches because they make so many of them, just the right taste every time, and It comes with a decent amount of garnish and a nice float of dark rum on the top.  I was so excited to order that I realized I was there a little before 2pm, happy hour time.  Emma with a smile and a wink, said "you made it".  So I start sipping my drink. Julie arrives and immediately start flashing pictures and ordering up the yummy food to go along with our drinks.  Julie has her usual, a pain killer, yellow, sweet with a dusting of something, seems to take the pain away for Julie.

On to the eats.  We get a nice array of tasty items,  Hawaiian style chicken wings in a sweet hoisin sambal sauce, pork stuffed potstickers with a peanut sauce, spicy seaweed salad and vietnamese spring rolls.  It all shows up right away, hot and yummy.  I always get the chicken  wings so they were just as tasty as ever.  The vietnamese rolls are vegetarian which I have nothing against but I'm a carnivore.  They are very good though and love that squishy taste of the seaweed salad, feels very healthy so I think we balanced the dishes nicely, 2 meat, 2 veggie.

Well we ate and drank and had ourselves a grand old time.  To give happy hour a true tasting experience we both went outside our normal drink routine and opted for something different.  I had a Hawaii 5-0, reminiscent of the original TV show so I decided to have my picture taken with McGarrett in the background, looking like he will be swallowed by the sting ray on the wall.

Julie had a Zombie, again too sweet for my taste but Julie liked it.  Of course we had to go back to our originals the mai tai for em and the painkiller for Julie. I don't mind mixing it up every now and then but let's not get crazy.

So all in all I have to say that Hula's is by far one of my most favorite happy hours in town.  It all works for me.

Jo's rating: 5 shots!!!!!!!!!