TS says,"Just like Mom used to make."
Name: Ethel's Grill Address: 232 Kalihi Street, Honolulu, HI (Kalihi) Call: 847-6467 Plate Lunch Prices: $4.75 to $9.00 Hours: 6:00am to 2:00 pm (M-Sat) Closed Sun Macaroni Salad Alternative?- no mac salad Specialties: fresh mahimahi, takaki sashimi, ox-tail saimin, fried ahi, s/s spareribs, andagi AND I SEZ:
During the 1930's to 60's the forerunner of today's drive-in restaurants were the lunchrooms. At one time the old City Directory had separate listings for restaurants and lunchrooms. A restaurant differed from a lunchroom in that you didn't really have a waiter/waitress for a lunchroom. You placed your order at a counter, you either went to the counter or the food would be delivered to you in a bench seating area. They were opened usually for breakfast and lunch. Many lunchrooms were located in industrial areas of Honolulu. These were eating places for the blue coller workers- no fancy tablecloths, just good cooking at a cheap price.
Ethel's grill is a throwback to the lunchrooms of yesteryear. A husband and wife tagteam, Ethel handles the orders and side dishes while Papa does most of the short order cooking. There is seating for about 18 people. The walls are adorned with pictures and photos of Hawaii's sumotori. Some menu items have sumo size portions for those with a hearty appetite.
The food is great. Mahimahi is prepared the old fashioned way- egg batter coated, fried on the grill. But that is not all- for $5.75 you get two pretty good pieces of fresh Mahimahi, rice, a toss salad (with tomato slice) with a delicious homemade parsley dijon dressing, miso soup and fruit punch or ice tea.
The hamburger/sweet sour spareribs combo plate with the above mentioned side items was $5.75. The hamburger, a homemade type patty is generous in size and very tasty, not dry at all. The gravy was not too thick, just right. The spareribs were pretty good but some pieces were not as meaty as others. They had a nice taste with the sweet sour being balanced nicely.
A specialty is the Takaki Sashimi- a seared sashimi covered with shoyu, sesame seed oil, secret ingredient, and fresh garlic slices plus warabi fern shoots. Really tasty!!!
Close your eyes and you can hear mom saying," finish your meal or you won't get big and strong"
Food: 1/2 Takaki sashimi, Takaki sashimi, Takaki sashimi Service: Be patient with "mom" -it's busy Atmosphere: 1/2 Can get crowded, hey, it's popular! Value: 1/2
Fresh mahimahi with all the fixins!
Takaki Sashimi- mmmmm
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