Akoni’s Bar and Grill

Comfy little local bar with good food.

my friends & i wanted to eat something good & found this place on here & saw it was rated good so decided to try it. the bar is a small bar & grill w/​a couple table booths, dart bars, & a small bar.
not a really big menu but just the right amt & type of selection. got the akoni chicken, steak, & their happy hr calamari, crispy pork, & garlic edamame. the akoni chicken was sooo good w/​the right amt of being fried & the tenderness of the chicken & a hint of their special spice. they gave some big pieces we were starting to get full! the steak came w/​onions & supposed to have mushrooms but didn’t have at the time. but the steak was cooked perfectly to how we ordered it! we devoured that plate so fast! the calamari was served w/​a sauce similar to fry sauce w/​a hint of spice. the calamari pieces were nice & fat, very chewy. the crispy porkw/​their sauce was perfect. the sauce was perfectly made that it wasn’t took sour it ruined the flavor. & even though we were full by then, the garlic edamame came out steaming & smelled so good we had to eat it. it wasn’t too garlicy but just right w/​some furikaki on it. overall the food was so worth it & also for majority of it being on the happy hr & like half the normal price it was amazing! def had to take boxes home
only had one server but was really nice & on top of it. a small chill hidden sports bar & grill that serves great food! would def go back to try their other food choices. only rating like 4.5 only cause idk how their drinks are.

The food here is so Ono!!! The bar is so comfortable and waitress Haena was so helpful and kind. I would recommend the ribeye the calamari and poke!!! Definitely a must! Mahalo’s

Wow, the reviews weren’t kidding! The Hawaiian Style Poke was the best around, and the potato encrusted crab cakes were original and superb! I went on an early Thursday evening, so there was lots of parking and service was great. The map, however, is inaccurate. The place is on the makai side of Dillingham, whereas the map shows a mauka location. Can’t miss the strip mall on the makai side. Gotta go back to try more!

Friendly, fun atmosphere. Staff were outstanding. The downside was the only table available at the time of our arrival was literally across the restrooms :(
It was unsettling smelling the urine, that as soon as another table became available, we requested to be moved.
The food was okay. We ordered the fried calamari & fried chicken. The calamari was tasty, but really tough.
Other than that, it’s a chill place to hang out.

Got here when the kitchen was closed. But a nice little place in general. The coasters are awesome. Looking like hand made by tutu. Tvs in the booths and a little dart haven. I ordered a whiskey sour (jameson) it was mixed very well. Well come back sometime to try all this awesome food I’ve heard of.

It’s a nice place. A little small, so no limited seating. But the food is good. Average cost on food items will start you around $ 9 and up. They have a happy hour, but it only goes from Mondays — Thursdays 2pm-​6pm. They have some dart boards. Friday and Saturday they have live music. Over all the place is very chill and relax for a nice hole in the wall bar.

I’m going to give you the most honest review possible, but I’ll just tell you right up front that my mom owns this bar, which actually is why I may be a little harsher than I should be to compensate for the inherent bias.
This is a local sports, karaōke, and live music bar. It is not a buy-​me-​drinkie bar although if you still insist on buying the girls a drink they will more than happy drink one for you.
OK, so basically the food quality is why I come. It is a range of 4 – 5 star restaurant food at hole in the wall prices. Fish is always sashimi grade and I personally don’t eat fish that tastes, well, fishy. My faves are the edamame, friend noodles, all the varieties of steak, poke, and tempura fries from potatoes I swear were grown in giant-​land.
The girls here are nice, super local Miss Aloha style, you know what I mean.
When there is music, I tend not to go because I’m getting old and it’s too loud for me. But the variety of music varies from rock to pop to Hawaiian.
Dart leagues tend to play here. I don’t care for darts and I don’t know what the hype is on darts but if you are into it, may be a good place to go.
Anyway, my mom is Jaymie. Tell her her daughter sent you, and you know me through social media. I can’t guarantee a discount but she will be super nice to you.

The food here is nothing short of INCREDIBLE and the owners /​staff are more than willing to go the extra mile to make sure you’re enjoying yourself. I was delightfully surprised with everything we tried, especially with quality and freshness of the ingredients considering Akoni’s is a dive bar of sorts.
Anyways I’ll make it easy for you guys, just order everything listed below and a foodgasm will be yours. Keep in mind that it took 4 of us to polish this off so plan accordingly.
Blackened Sashimi
Garlic Chicken
Crispy Shrimp
Ribeye Steak
Crab Cakes
Edamame
And if that wasn’t enough, boiled peanuts are on the house so hurry up and get yo grub one. Just make sure you have a DD to drag you sleepy ass back home after the food coma sets in.

Awesome food! Definitely NOT your average bar food… The ribeye steaks were crazy good as was the Korean chicken. Heck, every different dish we tried was fabulously great. So much a cut above chain restaurant menu fare. Owner is cheerful & warm… she chats and works the room as she keeps the place inviting and fun. A nice neighborhood bar that the locals really seem to love and support. They say a full parking lot is a good gauge, right!!! Way to go, Jaime — your place is awesome!

Akoni’s is a chill local bar in Kapalama. Lots of regulars of many ages frequent this this place. Usually easy to find street and some lot parking. Sometimes features local musicians who play Hawaiian, R&B, Oldies but Goodies. Check their facebook page for updates. Well know for its dart tournaments. I love the owner Jaime and Shawna the waitress. Both very friendly and kind. The food is delicious.

We stopped by Underdogs on a Saturday night and it was way too busy to get a table. I then immediately go to my handy dandy Unilocal app and it points me to a few streets down. A place called «Akoni’s». I’m not going to lie, we were a little (some were a lot) apprehensive considering the area we were in… but when we walked in and the live band was singing «Sunday Morning» — Maroon5, and the waitress ushered us in, I was sold.
Pros:
Great live music!
The service was amazing.
Food was relatively good for the cost.
People there were super chill & it seemed «homey»
There are DirectTVs at each table, they weren’t on when we were there, but being able to watch your own game? awesome.
Cons:
The space is a little small for the music that was super loud.
No beer on draft
Akoni’s looks like your typical older sports bar, except when you get the food you feel like you could be at a nice tapas restaurant. For my foodie friends here is the lowdown on what we got:
Ribeye: slightly heavy handed with the salt. The cut was a bit thin, but okay for $ 15. Seared pretty well at a medium rare, especially with the cut they were working with. Maybe consider cutting your own ribeyes?
Blackened Ahi Sashimi: stellar! A great pick. SUPER fresh and flavorful. A bit sweet for what I’m used to, but maybe a little less house sauce & some shoyu and wasabi on the side would have been nice.
Crispy Shrimp: Good, well cooked shrimp. Light and crispy. Batter could have used a bit more seasoning & the sauce would have done well on the side.
Overall I was impressed. It was one of those, don’t judge a book by it’s cover (don’t judge a bar by it’s area) times, and I’m glad we found this little gem.

You want a good time with good people at a local watering hole, this is the place. Grinds galore! So good the food and the service is great. Always a good time when I go to Akonis.

Very small hole in the wall bar with good eats and good people. Karaōke is always fun. I usually go here to see friends perform. Good times with good people. It can get crowded on the weekends and there are sometimes party’s in there where theres a buffet line of food. It makes it squishy in there to get to the womens bathroom.
Overall a nice place to chill and hang out.

The first bar in Hawaii to make me really feel at home!
Since moving from Oregon, I’ve been missing my old watering holes where I could unwind with a cold one in a laid back, friendly, chill environment. I’m not really into the big and trendy nor the loud and flashy. Akoni’s is EXACTLY what I’ve been looking for.
My first visit to Akoni’s was after a company baseball game in the middle of the work week. Mick (friend/​workmate) and I weren’t quite ready to go home, and wanted to enjoy a pitcher and talk story for a bit. «I know where I’ll take you… You’d like Akoni’s! Real down-​home, local bar, you’d be comfortable there»
Aigoo Mick couldn’t have been more right. Akoni’s is a place that I’d feel comfortable wearing sweats and a t-​shirt in. A place where I’d take a friend to to escape life and relieve stresses with drinks, laughs, darts, and good conversation.
The service is great– local girls that are down to earth, genuinely warm and nice. Our waitress, Valerie, actually took the time to chat with us for a bit. In some places, small talk just feels so plastic. However, I didn’t get that shallow vibe when talking to the staff here– they truly were cool people that will treated me right. The bartenders mix a pretty good drink, and the water and beer service ran like clockwork– my hand was never left empty!
Akoni’s pupus are yummy enough, nothing bad to say about that. Their poke is something I’d eat over and over again. Now if Akoni’s food really really wowed me, I’d give them five stars. With cool people, great service, chill atmosphere, and satisfactory food and drink, I think Akoni’s is more than deserving of the four.

Walk in the front door at your own risk. Not that Akoni’s Bar and Grill is a rowdy bar full of ruffians. Totally the opposite in fact. Everyone was friendly. What I’m referring to are the dart players. The dart boards are located just inside the entry which has a blacked out door. Open slowly and peek in before entering.
Walked in yesterday to watch the UC Davis vs Hawaii football game. Akoni’s gave me a really good first impression. I walked in, the bartender greeted me and so did one of the other employees. I asked for a booth and as we were walking to the table the bartender asked me all the right questions — Do you want something to eat or drink? I haven’t even sat down yet and I’m impressed.
The bar pupus yesterday were chow mein noodles and fried chicken. I really wanted to try the ahi poke, which I hear is very good, but my buddy Jen doesn’t like raw fish. I don’t know how you can be Hawaiian and not like poke. She’s a weirdo. The fried chicken was boneless, bite sized and delicious.
Liquor prices were same as everywhere else, but the Patron Silver shocked me. I’m not a tequila drinker, but Jen is. Her precisely measured 1oz. shot was $ 8. Is that common?
Hey Akoni’s I’ll be back for another game soon. Get that ahi poke ready for me.

With a half-​off coupon in hand and a rumbly tumbly, I head to Akoni’s Bar and Grill, in hopes of satiating my hunger with pupus and drinks. Located in a strip mall next to Arirang Korean Restaurant, this divey bar was completely empty when I arrived at 7 pm, except for a small group at the bar and a couple people playing darts. I order a vodka press, the GF gets a Coors Light and as our Hawaiian Style Poke reaches our table my mind breathes life into this review.
The Service was decent, the bartender/​waitress took our drinks immediately, but didn’t bring a food menu until a while later (she seemed to be occupied with her «friends» sitting at the bar). When I presented her the coupon, she replied the owner was no longer accepting them and that I’d have to get a refund from
. (No problemo, I got the $ 25 coupon for $ 3 anyway)
After I ordered my $ 15 poke I noticed she walked up to one of the guys playing darts and told him something, in which he proceeded to finish his game of darts for another 10 minutes before disappearing to the back kitchen. He was the chef/​cook, or possibly the owner. All right, fine, I can handle the bar staff playing darts when there’s absolutely no one there but when there’s just two customers ordering food there’s no excuse for such non-​chalant aloofness.
With that out of my system, Akoni’s saving grace was it’s food and cheap beer prices ($ 2.50 domestics on Mondays, all day). The Hawaiian Style Poke
was as fresh as it gets… that deep dark red, soft as butter texture, caught 3 hours ago freshness. It was seasoned perfectly with sea salt, inamona, sesame oil, and maui onions. A little on the small side, but worth its weight in tastiness.
The menu also had other typical bar fare, with the poke being the most expensive thing… so it’s kind of a deal here, but not really (i’ll have to try the other food first before I dock or give more stars).
Adorning the wall and menu are pictures of what seemed to be regulars and bar staff on a crazy night, or days of old when the place used to be jumping. Maybe it was the early time I choose to go there or the wrong day of the week, but when I think of Akoni’s now all I see is the guy that made my poke playing darts and the girl that made my drink talking to her friends at the bar.
The service doesn’t matter, not to me… but to Akoni’s. They’re the type of bar that seems to have a regular clientele to keep a steady cash flow and they probably don’t need any «new» customers. With great poke and cheap beer can you blame them? I’ll have to make another visit to determine whether this bar remains in 3 star purgatory or gets sent to foodie heaven or hell.
#Yelp 365 — ⁰⁰⁹⁄₃₆₅

Local hidden secret, as I think this is only the 5^th review.
If you want to get away from your regular hangouts, try here. Not sure how to describe it, just low key local place. Good for happy hour with coworkers.
Actually came here during last years World Series and the overlap of college football. Pretty cool, some of the booths have a small tv screen about 15″ for the booth viewer. Larger tv screens on the walls for UH football. Good service, good pupus, reasonable beer prices. Try the garlic fries, and poke, yummy.
I also went on a Friday about 2 months ago and was surprised that they had live music, guy in the back playing guitar.

Ono food and drinks. If ever in the area of kalihi pay a visit to this place and try the lomi ahi or the sarracha chicken wings oh and let’s not forget their sizzling steak platter. Your tummy will be so happy.

Akoni’s is a true diamond in the rough. We came here after a bad day a few months ago after driving around town aimlessly. We walked in and they told us the kitchen was closed… as we walked away the bartender told us that they would open up the kitchen for us and so we sat down. They then served us the most amazing gastronomic experience. We had a blackened ahi that almost made me cry. It was unreal! We also had a poke dish that was to die for. The most amazing this is that we came back a few months later and they remembered us. I am probably doing a disservice to ourselves by Unilocaling about this since we want Akoni’s to remain a hidden gem but I had to share this experience with y’all. If you are ever in Kalihi, you gotta check out Akoni’s! Aurite!