Happy Valley Pasta & Pizza

My friend chose to have dinner here for his last meal in Honolulu, before he relocates to northern California. I was curious as I’ve enjoyed Japanese style Italian food at several other establishments in Honolulu. This was just OK.
Parking is a super small lot but we were lucky to find a spot on the street right outside the restaurant.
We shared the Happy Sampler which featured four types of fried items with marinara dipping sauce: French fries (nice & crispy), shrimp, calamari pieces & karaage chicken. It was pretty salty & I downed a cup of water to dilute my salt intake. I felt like I needed to eat a salad after eating so much fried items.
I had the seafood (shrimp, scallops & calamari) in pink sauce over pasta which I found to be a little heavy but the seafood was cooked well (tender & not overdone). I only ate half of my dish & took the rest home. I didn’t really eat lunch & my stomach was growling when I ordered this & I wish I ordered something lighter or shared this with someone. I also wanted to save room dessert since I love ending my meals with something sweet.
My friend had the calamari & cod roe in cream sauce over spaghetti & devoured his whole portion. He said that he liked his, although it was a bit heavy, as the cod roe added a good flavor to the cream sauce. He was too full to eat dessert on his own so I ordered a panna cotta to share. It was good, smooth with berry sauce & was a nice ending to our meal.
Service is OK & efficient. Décor is a little funky with pink walls, green cushioned chairs (we sat in the front dining room).

I had seen this restaurant many times and they always looked busy, so I figured it must be good. Well I was wrong. Food was extremely bland. We had 4 in our party. Pizza had little to no cheese on it, my meatballs were extremely dry and the other 2 dishes were not any better. We walked in around 8:50, they do not seat for dinner after 9. So the wait staff was more concerned in getting there work done to leave then to serve the customers. Never again… if the food was good and their service bad at least I would try again but, when both are bad well all I can say … JUST SAY NO!

This is our first time here. I was expecting it to be a tad bit slow in getting our food since it’s Christmas evening. Our reservation was for 6:45p.m., me and my significant other arrive at 6:43p.m. we were promptly seated. As we were being seated the host said that there will be a wait of at least 45 minutes since the kitchen was apparently backed up. I figured that was understandable since it was Christmas. The waiter took our order within 5 minutes of being seated.
Then the waiting begins. We wait and wait some more. Next thing I know we waited for well over an hour (65 minutes to be exact). Finally our appetizer arrives. We ordered the «Happy Sampler». After waiting this long, the only thing happy anywhere around us was the name of the appetizer. Basically it was overly battered overly salted fried calamari, chicken, shrimp, and fries. After scarfing down that heap of saltiness, about 10 minutes later our entrees arrive. I ordered chicken karaage pasta in basil sauce. It didn’t dawn on me that I ordered basically the same thing as my appetizer (but with pasta) until I saw the same looking pieces of karaage as my appetizer in my entrée. Basically the same salty taste but with spaghetti in a genovese sauce. My wife ordered seafood pasta which she said had an overpowering garlic taste to it. The one thing I was glad about was the fact that once the dishes came out the server refilled my drink (I ordered ginger ale) a few times just to wash down the salty flavor. Otherwise I probably would have died of dehydration. During the course of our dining experience we witnessed a few other patrons enduring similar trials of patience. One group of patrons seemed to lost their battle of patience as they seemed to have waited an equally long time as us, but in their case they were 4 people and only 2 entrees came out. It appeared that they just settled their bill for the 2 entrees (without actually taking a bite), and they promptly walked out. Moral of this story is, if you don’t mind waiting for your food to come out and have zen like patience, and you have a strong desire to eat really salty food then this is the place to go. For the rest of us sane people, I would recommend to stay clear of this restaurant.

We came for an early dinner before a play at Diamond Head theater. Parking was nil since every stall was taken up by the yoga class in the same building, but we were able to find street parking. Service was good but food was so so. Teriyaki meatballs with penne pasta was good at first but when you get to the pasta most of it is drowned their teriyaki soupy sauce. It just got too salty and couldn’t finish the pasta. Ordered cheese pizza for my son but most of the crust was burnt black. Pass on coming back.

Parking is limited and the food was just okay. I ordered the carbonara pasta and it was very soupy… when it shouldn’t be. Save yourself the trouble and go find Italian food someplace else.

Bland. Boring. Yuck.
I ordered the bacon carbonara because I saw a pic on Unilocal that looked real good. When my plate came, it looked the same as the picture so I was excited that I made the right choice. Took a big bite, waiting for the rich creaminess to hit my taste buds, NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. Soooo bland. Really?! Ughhhh so disappointed to spend money on food that was not good. It was so boring that j left more than half the dish and didn’t even to go it (and I ALWAYS To go food)! Never coming back.

I had been wanting to try this place forever. The convenient location on the foothills of Diamond Head and the consistent crowd when I drive by had always tempted me.
Tonight I finally took the plunge.
We walked in and, and to our delight, found ourselves standing next to Alex OLaughlin (better known as Hawaii 5−0s Steve McGarret). Apparently he comes in regularly for take out. So Happy Valley must be a winner right?!
We all ordered various pastas and shared a pizza. The carbonara was voted best at our table but we all agreed that we’ve had better. It’s hard to pinpoint what it was, the food was okay, but really just okay. With the cool factor of dining at the same place as a TV celebrity, I guess that our expectations were just much higher by this point.
There were only two people serving a packed restaurant. I felt sorry for them and worried that we might not get served promptly. To my amazement, they did an awesome job of making sure our cups never went dry and our food orders were taken and delivered promptly. kudos to the servers.
Maybe I’ve been spoiled by the many excellent pasta places I have been fortunate enough to try in Japan. I hope that I can find something similar in Hawaii someday.

Not the greatest. I live close by so I tried it. Marinara was almost sour tasting but the white Gorgonzola is good. Haven’t tried the pizza but was disappointed with the Caesar salad that isn’t even tossed. The dressing is just poured on top. Interesting… I like the overall old school, Italian feel but prob wouldn’t go again.,

Located on monsarrat ave. Dine-​In or Take Out option. Dine-​In area looks elegant. I usually do take out due to work. Luckily I work on the same street.
I tried the fried garlic shrimp with fries. It’s pretty good. Although I don’t like that they also deep fry the skin. So all the breeding is on the skin and wastes when you peel.
I also tried the garlic cream sauce pasta. It’s soooo good. Automatically comes with some broccoli and mushrooms. Wish they put more broccoli and mushrooms in the pasta though. But the taste is awesome. Large serving as well. I felt like I barely made a dent. Luckily that meant I had dinner :)
Happy Valley Pizza has stamp cards. You get a stamp for every $ 5 you spend. It will fill up pretty fast depending on how often you eat there. You can easily get 2 stamps per visit.
Also they have a lunch special. Free drink and salad (depends on what you order. they have a sign out front as well).
Although, if you are doing take out, I highly suggest going next door to south shore grill for a drink. Happy Valley Pizza charges $ 3 for a 12oz. When you can get a large drink at south shore grill for a little less than that

Bad service. Unattentive and run by kids, who at least on this night, had attitude. If the food wasn’t good I would have knocked off more stars, so they get by with three-​stars. I may not come here again, as I have no patience for complacency and bad service. But, again, the food is grindz, so it’ll be a battle with my pride, my brain, and my appetite the next time I get a craving.

Generous servings of pasta and if you get the happy hour special before 5 p.m., it comes with a nice salad and a drink. I ordered the #18, bacon with seven veggies pasta, but with red sauce, my favorite pasta sauce! Perfectly al dente, the way I like it! Woo hoo!

Food is very delicious, recommend their pizza’s and their cheese bread. As well as the Chicken Karaage Pasta. Service is a little slow.

You know when a good thing is right in front of your face and you don’t even know it? Well I’ve gone running down Monsarrat Ave more times than I know and I’ve NEVER tried this place before! Maybe it’s because I always thought this was a super expensive fancy Italian restaurant… or it could’ve been I was just too focused on running to stop and notice.
Happy Valley. The name first sounded like a chinese restaurant or something. Friends of mine recommended this place and we all got together here one evening for dinner. The size of the restaurant is intimate yet big enough to accommodate several large parties. We had reservations so we were all seated pretty quickly.
Food: This is my new favorite Italian/​pasta restaurant on Oahu hands down. After Angelo Pietro’s closed I thought I would never find a restaurant that could make their pasta taste as good as their menu was. But never say never! Happy Valley not only filled that empty hole in my pasta loving heart, their food (IMO) tastes even better than Angelo Pietro’s! The pasta, pizza, bread-​ALL DELICIOUS. Even the Japanese style pasta was to die for. I’m serious, I could probably try everything on the menu and I would love it all. The pasta i had with the basil pesto cream sauce was just how it was described in the menu; super creamy, great texture, and I ordered bacon on top and they gave me a lot! :D Does anyone know the chef who works here? I’m his newest fan.
Service/​Wait time: I can go on and on about how amazing the food is here, but the time I came for dinner on a saturday evening the service wasn’t that attentive and our food took a long time to come out to us (I’d say about 40mins and it wasn’t too busy). I’m giving them a break on this one because I know they make their pasta dough fresh and almost everything is made to order; i’ll see if turnover is quicker next time I come here. Some other things to keep in-​mind would be unlike other italian restaurants, they don’t offer complimentary bread on your table to hold you over while your food is being prepared. Ordering appetizers is a must if you’re famished and starving.
Overall I’m anticipating the next time I come back here! FYI Lunch orders come with the free side salad and a drink! And don’t forget to give them your punch card to receive $ 5 off your next meal!

I’ve been dying to try this place because I heard it was a Japanese-​style Italian restaurant. In a worst-​case scenario, it would be similar to Pietro’s and the best case scenario would be like an Italian restaurant in Japan. I think Happy Valley Pasta and Pizza is somewhere in between.
The interior is clean and quaint. There are quirky Japanese touches such as the utensils, napkins and oshiboris in a small basket on the table.
The menu is expansive and there are crazy combinations for pizzas and pastas. There were at least five or six dishes I wanted to try (carbonara, the pink sauce pasta, Gorgonzola cream sauce, Happy’s Margherita pizza, cheese pizza), but we decided on the Karaage Chicken & Basil Pesto (yummy pesto flavor but a little more oily than we’d like and the chicken karaage was someone overcooked and soggy) and the Owner’s Favorite (Bacon, Fresh Tomato, Corn & Basil Pesto) pizza, sooooo good. The pizza was definitely the better of the two. Even though the middle couldn’t sustain the weight of the ingredients, the taste combination was heavenly and the crust was nice an crispy.
The high-​ish price was to be expected at a location so near Waikiki. The service was good and the waiters were attentive. There’s a small, private parking lot that’s shared with a busy yoga studio but luckily there’s a lot of street parking.
Happy Valley Pasta and Pizza is a unique dining experience and I can’t wait to come back and try all the dishes I couldn’t get the first time.

This restaurant is a gem. They actually have a really talented Italian cuisine chef. Best pizza on Oahu hands down.
It’s also a very comfortable space (big, uncrowded dining room), with really nice servers, great location, and understated class. It has the feel of a family-​run restaurant where serving a good meal is a source of pride, not just income.
It would be a great find even in San Francisco… but on Oahu, it’s pure gold.
Homemade meatball, alfredo, and margherita are all winning. try the melted cheese focaccia starter — its amazing.

I only give them one star because their service was not good. We ordered a glass of wine and food at the same time. We waited for 15 minutes and the food came fast, so I had to ask the waiter to bring my wine. We ordered deep-​fried calamari and French fries for the appetizer but it was too greasy, so I told the waiter to take it away.
The waiters were just chatting at the counter bar and didn’t pay attention to customers.

There are few genuinely good Italian restaurants in Hawaii. There are even less that can make a good Gorgonzola Crème Penne.
When you walk in, it appears to be a lightly staffed hole on the wall bistro. You expect average tasting food with no soul. The staff was friendly, but they appeared under staffed.
If any recommendations could be made, it would be to the staff. Be more attentive. The cooks killed it. The food was excellent, and the house wine was subtle but tasty. I’ll definitely be back. And soon

I have officially decided on my favorite dish here after trying a bunch of different things. I always used to order the meatball with tomato sauce and penne but I’ve come to the conclusion that the tomato sauce aggravates my acid reflux. The tomato sauce is good but a little on the sour side. But the meatball is still so good! I kept asking myself if it would be weird to order meatball with the garlic cream because I’ve never seen anyone eat meatballs with a cream sauce before. But I decided to test run it anyway.
IT WAS AWESOME. I got the garlic cream sauce with meatballs ($ 14 ish) with penne. I still love the cream sauce here because it’s not as «heavy» as alfredo but still good enough to satisfy those alfredo cravings. I also really like the added broccoli and mushroom touches. It makes me feel a little… healthier? Hah.
I wasn’t too fond of the side salad dressing before because it was a sour vinaigrette. However, I think they’ve switched to a more common dressing… ranch? thousand island? One of those typical ones. The added parm and croutons on the salad also make for an excellent touch to a simple side salad. Lunch portions come with the salad and a drink. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me! It is a little expensive as our bill for two came out to around $ 35 without any additional appetizers.

This place gets a 4 from me all day, not as an Italian restaurant but as a eatery in general! I say that because their menu was very limited but their dishes were all excellent! It didn’t taste or seem authentic Italian bit definitely homemade. I rate a little harder on actual restaurants than chain establishments. For the Meat and potatoes of this review skip to #3
Tip! Make reservations we got very lucky getting a table bit almost didnt. Parking is also very limited.
1. Service was good. Everyone inside looked Japanese. They featured Japanese variant of Italian dishes on the menu and Japanese beer, wine, and spirits on their drink menu.
2. One thing I did not like was that everything came out almost too fast and all together (our salads and appetizer came out with our meal within 15 minutes). It ended up working out because we were starving but it still felt all very rushed, like the most rushed I ever felt.
3. That being said, their dishes were very delicious. They serve family style which is a huge plus if you are dining with a pot of kids. The portions were enormous and two plates of spaghetti and meatballs was enough for my wife and three kids (11, 6, and 4) and my 11 year old has my appetite!
My pizza, was AMAZING! Take a look at the pictures… the shrimp and calamari were big and tasted so good! Such a difference when they use fresh ingredients.
I also tried the beer in the picture and it has a great taste, similar to Yuengling.
I will honestly say that this isn’t somewhere I see us coming back and dining in, rather an excellent choice for carry out.

My girlfriend and I have started a nice tradition of seeing a show at Diamond Head Theater and having dinner somewhere on Monsarrat before hand. She found this place and asked me for my opinion which was at first glance «scary,» but my friend assured me that scary can sometimes be good, and she also said that some of the pizzas reminded her of Korea (in a good way) so I figured what the heck.
We arrived shortly after 6:00 on a Friday, and the restaurant had a decent sized crowd. We were quickly seated, however when I asked about specials, our waiter told us that there were none, however I do remember seeing something written on a chalk board when we came in.
Because it was still happy hour (which no one shared with us) we noticed on the menu that it was $ 5 off a bottle of wine and decided to share a bottle of Resisting. The waiter placed the bottle and two glasses down on our table without saying anything and since it was screw top we both kind of looked at each other not knowing what to do and so finally we opened it ourselves when of course our waiter appears with an ice bucket making us look like winos.
To the food:
1) Cheese Focaccia: The cheese focaccia seemed to be trying to be a pizza. It also was heavily seasoned with rosemary and pieces of it were almost hard to swallow the flavors were so strong.
2) Pepperoni Pizza: I didn’t order this or taste this but my friend ate hers and liked it enough to take her leftovers home.
3) Seafood Risotto: There’s really no way to describe what a mess this dish was. First and foremost risotto needs to be made with arborio rice and not plain white rice in order to achieve that divine texture that one gets from churning risotto and painstakingly adding the right amount of liquids. Moving on to the seafood, the shrimp had the shell on and I had a fork and a spoon, oh the shrimp also hasn’t been deveined properly. Mmmmm. The scallops and what can only be described as mock calamari were barely edible.
My friend ate maybe two slices of pizza and I did the uncomfortable moving of food around my plate game, but not one time did someone ask us how we were.
In all honesty had service been better I could have found a third star to spare, but I’m just very very unimpressed and not a happy camper this evening.
Of note, they do have a fusion type menu where they offer offer some loosely interpreted Italian food with an Asian twist