Chicken in a Barrel

Best bbq pork I’ve had outside of Texas/​Oklahoma. They serve plenty, as my wife and i were both full over a single plate of pork and brown rice. Im glad we came here and not some over-​priced lounge in this area. Mac salad was a downer, though. I’ll have to come back and try their ribs and chicken.

Sooo good! Ribs and chicken are amazing. Would go again in a heartbeat. Bbq sauce is great. Super quick service as well.

The service was friendly and good. The food was bland unfortunately. It was decent just no flavor so I wouldn’t run back
Location is great
Lots of outdoor seating
Good set up inside

This place is overrated and it’s like 19 bucks for a half chicken. Huli huli chicken way way better and only six bucks a half.
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Twenty minutes later, my stomach feels like sh@t. Wish I could go back in time and not eat this cr@p.

Not sure why the high rating for this place. The food was ok, but nothing great, and not very BBQ. My husband had ribs which he said were ok, I had the pork hoagie sandwich. The pork was pretty good, but it was thrown on a broken hot dog bun with half a piece of melted cheese and maybe 1 onion slice. It was really lacking. The fried were the best part. I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat here, especially for the price.

**TIP: check out the travel magazine they have inside to get a FREE chicken sandwich with the purchase of an entrée! They also have coupon magazines outside in the plaza if they run out.**
This review is just for their rib plate. My rib plate came with 5 pieces of ribs, a scoop of brown rice and some bomb chili.
The ribs were fantastic! Had tons of meat on the bone, excellent spice rub, and super moist. I’m usually not a fan of ribs but I loved these!
The chili was my faaave. Not sure why I like it so much. It is a bit sweeter than most that I’ve had. I found bits of bacon in it too!
I also claimed my free sandwich with my coupon. Unfortunately they ran out of their chicken sandwich, which is what’s offered with the coupon. But they were great and offered to give me a pulled pork sandwich instead. Score! I shared the rib entrée and was so stuffed after I didn’t get a chance to try the sandwich. I gave it to a friend so can’t really attest to how it tasted.
The bbq sauce has great flavor. BUT the ‘spicy’ sauce is not spicy at all.
All in all, I would come back! Hopefully I’ll get to try the free chicken sandwich next time :)

One of the best decisions I made on my trip, the chicken here is phenomenal, I’ve never had a chicken breast so moist, and the ribs were on point… After ordering 3 platters we decided to order half a chicken and half rack of ribs… A must eat.

I got the chicken plate for two and it was really good especially with their tasty hot BBQ sauce, so yummy! The chili was ok and comes with the plate. Friendly staff!

Relatively cheap and tasty. We ate there a few times and everything we had was quite good. I’d recommend this as a default, go to place to grab something that isn’t too pricey.

All good here!
Had baby back rib plate which was excellent.
My girl had the shredded pork plate which was very good.
Onion rings very good. Other sides (chili beans and cole slaw) were good,
Staff great and friendly.

Ribs are meaty and juicy. Barbour sauce is flavorful but not spicy. Cornbread was burnt and has no flavor. Rice and beans were tasty, but lacking that western BBQ flare. All in all an average meal. I would come back though. The owners are very nice and cordial.

One sampler is large enough for two, I love ribs & beef but would highly recommend the MOIST chicken, Hubz loved the beans, BBQ sauce was great.
My mistake, didn’t know it was a chain on the island. My vacation rule is no chain restaurants on vacae.

This place is just okay. Chicken was over cooked and bland and BBQ sauce tasted like generic store brand BBQ sauce. Fries were best part of meal.
Worst thing about this place is the pricing, $ 35 for 2 bbq entrees. Definitely not worth the price.

Chicken In A Barrel BBQ was so hyped up on Unilocal,that we felt like giving it a try why in Hawaii. We got the combo plate, to go. We went in with high expectations, so Chicken In a Barrel did not live up to them.
I know prices are expensive in Hawaii, but I felt as thought Chicken In a Barrel was still a bit too high. When I told my wife that the «to-​go» meal I got was $ 18, she didn’t believe me. Even she couldn’t believe the price vs. quantity /​quality that was provided. It is nice that they give you a few sauces to choose from and allow you to have extra sauce. They also have Tabasco for those of us that like to kick it up a notch.
Chicken in a Barrel is OK, but for the price i didn’t think that it satisfied. The Unilocal reviews have blown Chicken In a Barrel to be better than it really is. Just set your expectations correctly.

Tried the sampler plate with macaroni salad and Hawaiian slaw. It was yummy, but next time I’ll just get the ribs. All the meat (pulled pork, chicken breast, and ribs) was kind of mixed together in a pile. So you were pretty much just getting bites of everything at once. And the rib meat was my favorite. Don’t forget to slather it all up in the BBQ sauce they have! I would totally eat here again. It was really good BBQ and I thought for how much you got, it was very reasonably priced!

I had the BBQ beef hoagie, the wife had the BBQ pork burrito. Both were tasty, generous portions. Sitting at a table looking across the valley with several waterfalls coming down was amazing.
The staff is very friendly, had great suggestions and the food came out quickly. The hot and mild sauces are both quite good, don’t hesitate to load up on the hot, no one is going to get hurt by it.
Our friend had a burger with onion rings and was pleased with both.
After lunch, the wife had a scoop of ice cream and I had a shave ice, both were very tasty and welcome refreshment in a hot afternoon.
This place is in the middle of the shopping area so we were able to walk around and find a couple of items to take home, we’ll see if they get to friends or not.
You gotta try this place, the setting is truly magical and everyone there is super friendly.

We got the sampler just to try a little of everything. It was a great decision. The plate came with a quarter of BBQ chicken, a rib, some shredded BBQ pork and beef, brown rice and chili. We bought a priced of cornbread for the chili and everything was under $ 20. I would recommend sharing the plate since there is a ton of food on one plate.
The shredded beef was tender and flavorful, shredded pork was tender and delicious, the chicken was falling of the bone, and the cornbread was moist. The rib was tasty but just a little on the tough side and I am personally not a fan of brown rice however these were not enough to bring down my five star rating for this place. If you’re in Hanalei, you have to try this place!

After a solid hike, we were ready to eat. The BBQ smelled amazing and sounded like a hearty choice after our work out. I got a #1 which was a plate of chicken, rice and chili. The chicken was moist (yup I said it) but the chili was a bit spicy.
Very nice service. My plate was good to go in like 20 seconds but since we also ordered a burger and were practicing good eating etiquette, we had both come out together and it was about a 10 minute wait.

I rarely order barbecue chicken since it is usually dry even from places who can do a good job of smoking pork but I tried it here and it was great. Moist and flavorful with a good rub. Didn’t even need the sauce but used as a dip since it was so good too! The ribs (only two) on the lunch plate were also excellent. The rub they use is tasty and these were well smoked. The fish tacos were good but the barbecue is what you should order here.
Highly recommended!

holy cow I was surprised at the quality of chicken. I really wasn’t expecting such good chicken. I ordered the sampler plate after coming back from an afternoon of futzing around on the north coast. The chicken was both moist and flavorful, with a decent smoke flavor.
The side order of chili that comes with the plate is some of the best I’ve had in a restaurant. There are big chunks of beef, almost meatball sized, and flavor rich diced tomatoes. Really — get some.
For my tastes, the pulled pork and pulled beef weren’t as standout but still very good.
⁵⁄₅ would get again.
– Quick Edit –
Came back two days later with the hiking group since we had such a great dining experience the first time. Chicken still as good as it was the previous visit. However, a few additional thoughts.
I would probably pass on every protein except the chicken. The ribs are very tender but the spares are really back ribs and in my mind are good but not great. What I think is their achilles heel right now is their «BBQ sauce» which is served in a pump container next to the plastic silverware. There’s something off about it. No one in our group came away thinking they should keep it. I mean even the store bought high fructose stuff would be a step up. This is an oddity in an otherwise fantastic meat stand.
The mac salad was good and light on the mayonnaise compared with other versions found on the island. The corn bread was heavy on wheat flour and light on cornmeal, resulting in a more «cake like» consistency — still decent but not how I would prepare it myself.
The chili is still very good. Also had a friend just get a large serving of chili with rice. No complaints there.