"What! No lo-cal special?"

Name: Smiley's Lunch Box
Address: Parking Lot located at the corner of Queen and South Streets, Honolulu, HI (Kakaako)
Call: none
Plate Lunch Prices: $3.00 to $5.00
Hours: 10:00 am to 1:30 pm
Macaroni Salad Alternative?- yes (actually they give both)
Specialties: Beef stew, Corn beef cabbage, sweet/ sour pig's feet, adobo

AND I SEZ:

Plate lunch wagons are the "Gypsies" of the plate lunch world. By their very nature they are nomadic- here today, maybe gone to another location tomorrow. Die-hard plate lunch fans will always keep tab on their favorites, least they re-locate without a trace. Such was the case when I checked out a favorite wagon at the above corner- it was gone!

The Queen /South Street Corner has been the home to a least two, maybe three wagons. The current
wagon is called Smiley's Lunch Box. Interestingly, Smiley's used to be a hole-in-the-wall type operation in downtown Honolulu and has now re-surfaced in this incarnation.

Da Beef Stew Plate

How's the food? Like any other food establishment, it has its winners and losers. On this day I went to Smiley's with two friends from an office building nearby. Two of us had the beef stew plate, the other had the shoyu chicken. The verdicts?

Both CG and I agreed, the beef stew was great. Smiley's specializes in the more gravy type of beef stew that goes well with rice. Nice soft cuts of meat with just the right amounts of carrot and potato. The mac salad was average, no better or worse than others. The shredded cabbage with dressing worked well with the beef stew. The portions were nice- you should be satisfied and sleepy.

I wish the same could be said about the shoyu chicken. "Too dry- a 1 1/2 spam rating", said ES.
Typical of chicken that stays in the pot too long.

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