Mitsuba Delicatessen

This is a small, soulful, mom and pop okazuya in the neighborhood of Mexico restaurant and Helena’s in Kalihi. The couple who runs it prepares a number of delicious Japanese and American dishes in the morning and gradually sells them off. Some things are made to order too. The various types of fish, nishime, and other dishes are great and for the price, they’re a real bargain. There aren’t a lot of spots like this left in Hawai’i, so visit soon for a bit of a throwback.

I love coming here to buy their hot dog musubi. It’s the best all around as well as their garlic chicken. I like to pack the sushi and take on the plane when we travel. It’s good for at least 2days.
Coming here is like going to a candy store.

Mitsuba!
Bah was good! Lol
Tried the garlic chicken and noodles and musubi
Good stuff
Keep up the Ono grinds. places like this are slowly disappearing

You know the saying, «looks can be deceiving»? Well, I can’t really say that’s the case for this little hole-​in-​the-​wall delicatessen.
First thought: «Maybe their food tastes better than the place looks».
So I decided to get their mini bento. It came with chow fun, a rice musubi thing, hot dog and choice of chicken; I chose garlic chicken.
Their garlic chicken was wet with sauce. Very tasty. Everything else in the bento was pretty… Ok. Nothing special.
I don’t intend on returning here, unless I get curious and wanna try something else on their menu. We’ll see.

I have been coming to Mitsuba since I was a kid. My grandmother used to attend the church across the street so we used to go to Mitsuba’s all the time. While the owners have changed over the years, they are still my favorite okazu-​yas. They have a cheap bento with hot dog; noodles; musibi; chicken; takuan… LOVE. My husband likes the potato crumbles and the hot dog sushi. We also like the fact that they are open at 3 a.m. We go there early in the AM to take food on the airplane! Going there later tonight/​early morning!

As a committee member in charge of planning and coordinating some of the work events, I needed to find a place to get cheap but filling bentos for a work event. I had to be at the event location by 6 am at the latest, so I needed to pick up the bentos around 5:30 am. The normal place I turned to would just be opening around that time and they would not be able to accommodate an order of 20 mini bentos and have it ready as early as 5:30. Thus, I turned to Unilocal for a solution and found it — Mitsuba Delicatessen. They open as early at 2:30 am and would be able to prepare 20 mini bentos (each cost only $ 5). I was sold. Plus, it looked like they have pretty good food based on the Unilocal reviews and the pictures.
The mini bento comes with a choice of noodles (chow funn or chow mein), chicken (garlic, fried, or shoyu), musubi, takawan, and a hot dog). I chose chow funn and garlic chicken.
The day of the event came and I went to pick up the food. I figured that it was so early in the morning, I would not need to worry about parking. NEVER ASSUME! It looks like Mitsubas is in a residential building, so the parking lot in front of the shop was practically full because everyone was at home at that time. Luckily there was one stall open, but it looks like one would have to double park in that small lot when it is really busy.
I came at just the right time — the bentos were almost ready for me to be picked up. The employees there were nice and were putting the bentos together quickly. As a person who used to work in retail and in food service, I really do appreciate the speed of service. The man packed all the bentos in a box and carried it to my car! I love the customer service from this okazuya.
Then came the time when I ate the bento. This was the first time I ever ate at Mitsubas. I should have tried the food before ordering it for everyone, but I always heard good things about Mitsubas. It seems that the quality has gone down because the chicken was tough to eat. I remember having to really bite down on that piece of chicken to tear off a piece of it. Then, when I was chewing on the piece… I can only describe it as really tough. I could barely taste garlic in the sauce that coated the chicken. The chow funn, which I heard was really popular as well, lacked flavor and was a disappointment. While they gave plenty of food and it was a good price, the quality left me wanting.
Perhaps it was the fact that it was so early in the morning and they had to make a lot of food to fulfill my order, so the quality was not the normal. Maybe a second chance is in order?

Haven’t been here in a while. Used to like the food before. However, I just went the other day and thought the prices went a lot higher, the food was way too salty, the sushi was horrible tasting, and the crumbles don’t taste as good as before. We bought 2 Okazu plates, a sushi roll, and 4 crumbles and paid over $ 30. Yikes! The worst part is that we both didn’t finish our plates because it was just way too salty. Don’t think we will be going back.

Haven’t been here since my son was a student at Damien. We’d go thee just about every morning for breakfast. It still taste great.

Compared to Mitusken this place is top five. After a night of drinking the best place for grind four in the morning is Mitsuba super cheap breakfast plates thats way worth the price. Best place to sober up right here its better than going McDonalds or spending a lot at zippys. It opens at 230 so for you alcoholics this the best place for grind in kalihi.

Hash.
That was the first thing I remember having from Mitsuba that got me coming back for more.
No, I don’t mean the cannabis product.
Their potato hash is so good! But so is pretty much everything else that I’ve tried here! Not only that, but their prices make the Chinese in me smile! I feel like I’m stealing product from them for the price I pay at times.
Case in point: While planning for our Kalaupapa trip, I was in charge of looking for a place to purchase lunch for 25 people that they could have after hiking. Looking at previous years, lunch was 2 manapuas and 2 pork hash from some place that probably cost $ 5+ per person. Plus they had to pick it up the day before. Yuck. Talk about food borne illness. That, or they’re eating cold, hard manapuas. I was determined to find a place that opened early prior to my 4:30 AM meet time at the airport. I was also on a serious budget. Mitsuba was the perfect solution. I ordered 25 mini bentos priced at $ 5 each (I know, right?!) for pick up at 3:45 AM. Yup, they were on it. Plus those bentos weren’t as mini as I thought. They were a lot bigger than I imagined. Thank God I hadn’t ordered the regular bento because I was in charge of carrying the 6 bentos in my backpack down the hike for the people who flew the charter plane down into Kalaupapa. I would’ve been lying on the floor halfway in! The food was so good, and all the hikers were happy with their lunch.
Besides the cheap bentos I’m talking about, Mitsuba has a cheap breakfast plate too! Definitely my go to when I want a cheap, delicious, on-​the-​go breakfast. Mitsuba has great-​tasting garlic chicken. Their sweet potato crumbles are unique and will please any party. Plus they have these awesome maki sushi. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with this okazuya.
The older man working here is always so sweet too! I’m always happy to be supporting this place!

I used to love coming to mitsuba for a late meal but due to certain events i probably won’t be returning. my boyfriend and i used to always get their fried rice and garlic chicken because it was so yummy but starting a month ago or so the flavors haven’t been the same. the fried rice isn’t as flavored and sometimes the garlic chicken is over-​fried or something. their eggs have never been cooked to what we want. either ex. medium has been way too runny.
then they started getting our order wrong. one time we got bacon instead of garlic chicken which was a huge disappointment because the bacon wasn’t all that great. we didn’t want to drive back all the way to kalihi so we just ate it. the last time we came, same thing happened. we came home and saw that it was bacon (shouldve checked before we left but we didnt think the same thing would happen again).
this time we decided to drive back because we were upset that it happened again even though it was such a drag to drive back at like 430am. we were nice about it and explained that our order was wrong but their reaction was cold. no apologies. he just grabbed our plate and switched it out and gave it back to us. additionally, a side of chicken i ordered was way undercooked. it was like dark red when i bit into it near the bone. so when i brought that up as well, he didn’t even ask if i wanted something else cuz honestly i didnt feel like eating another chicken from that same batch but he just grabbed and placed another chicken in my plate and that was it… it was just so off putting. it makes me sad because i actually did enjoy mitsuba before.

Quite frankly — I come here for the brekky. Plain and simple. Mitsuba is an old school okazuya with normal okazuya options (fried noodles, musubi, inari, hot dog, hamburger, saba, etc. — you get the point). But, me, I come here for the $ 4 fried rice with egg (your way) and a choice of meat (portuguese sausage, bacon, luncheon meat, hamburger, etc.). Most of the time, if not all, you can catch me spending my $ 4.19 on fried rice, scrambled eggs, and bacon (because they make it crispy — oh yeaaaa!) And they are generous, so generous you can keep half for brekky and the other half for lunch or later. #mykindofmeal
Not much more to my visits than picking up brekky on the way to work. It’s usually not too crowded and there’s a sufficient amount of parking spots in the lot. And since Mitsu-​Ken moved, the area itself is not too congested.
Keep it simple… order brekky.

We just got done walking around Waikiki for Halloween and were hungry. My friend suggested this place. We came right at the time it opens which was around 2:30 am.
This place is like a hidden gem. I’ve eaten at different delicatessens but this one stood out the most because of the price to food quantity ratio. The food was excellent and the customer service was great. I did not know what to expect other than what my friend told me which was great good at a cheap price and that was definitely what I got.
The place is small, no chairs or tables to sit on. It’s a take out kind of place. The prices are pretty cheap for the quantity they give. I ordered a breakfast plate with the chicken and over easy eggs for about $ 4 something? And I thought they would give me a mini lunch plate like those at L&L but they gave me a regular sized lunch plate full of what I ordered. I couldn’t finish it in one sitting.
The guy who served us was very kind and friendly, even though it was 3 o’clock in the morning. That didn’t stop him from making sure we were satisfied with our food. Overall, this place is perfect if you’re looking for a quick bite to eat or some late night/​early morning munchies.

Was looking for the perfect place to grab some food for the airplane and this is my new place. It is very reasonably price and is very tasty.
It is best to grab food to go. As far as that goes this is one of my new favorite places.

I absolutely love this place. Some of it is nostalgia, some of it is delicious items. But according to my «Haole» wife, it’s mostly nostalgia! She only likes a couple of the menu items (garlic chicken or sweet potato crumbles). I, on the other hand, intend on getting just a couple of things, end up with $ 50.00 worth of a plate lunch!
Parking is horrible, service is what it is, but aaaaaaaaaaa, the history! lol

I’ve been frequenting Mitsuba Delicatessen for years now since coming back to Honolulu from Anchorage Alaska.
It’s my favorite place for Breakfast… I can get rice, 2 eggs (any style) and a choice of meats (I like the crispy bacon they serve)…all for $ 3.83! It’s a great deal, fast (although at times, there is a line out the door).
The part that I like best is their hours. I work typically from 5:30am-2:30pm…It’s on my way to work and at that time, very few people. I’ve gone it at 4am at times and they are open… awesome!
I’ve noticed nobody has put up their hours, so here it is:
They are open
Monday-​Saturday
3:00am-12:30pm
If you are up early, hungry, and

I went at a pretty slow time and they were changing out the food. That’s a great sign right there! Always hot food!
I came for one reason. The garlic chicken. I got the regular bento which I think is a very good deal which includes rice, chow fun, garlic chicken, spam, hot dog and Teri beef. For $ 8.50!
There is actually parking right in front as well.

If you find yourself hungry and near this okazuya, stop and pick up some food. This place doesn’t have seating, and they don’t stay open late, but they make good stuff!
Mitsuba has been around for a long time and they do a good job with their food. My favorite is the garlic chicken. It is arguably the best garlic chicken on the island (along with Mitsuken). It is so crispy and juicy and the sauce is wonderfully intense. I like the chow fun here and when they put it in the container, under the garlic chicken, the sauce drips onto the chow fun (money!). I like the cone sushi here as well and they have cut roll sushi that is good here as well. The shrimp tempura is a little different. It is a larger shrimp, but the batter is thick and dense, but I like it because it has a sweetness to it. The veggie tempura is good as well, but it does have a thicker batter as well (same sweetness). The only thing I am not a huge fan of is the regular bone-​in fried chicken… it’s a little salty.
The reason for the 4 stars and not 5, is the people are not really friendly… in fact they seem downright sad and depressed. It definitely doesn’t make me want to buy food. However, if I had to wake at midnight to make food to open at 3am… I would probably be a little grumpy too by 7am…
Yeah…so go here and get food, you will not be sorry. And don’t forget to buy sweet potato crumbles before they run out!!!

Sometimes it’s just better to buy a already made bento then picking and choosing different dishes. I find myself getting carried away and start to pick more than I can possibly eat. (Stomach overrules Brain again! Dammm)
Food is your typical old school okazuya.
I picked up a musubi, chicken, hotdog, chow fun, fish and a manju. All the dishes were pretty tasty, but no wow factor. Still after eating all of that I was stuffed… Oink!
Like any Okazuya your plate can get expensive really quick.
Parking lot is in front of Okazuya.

Exactly what the 2 star rating says: «Meh. I’ve experienced better.»
My BF and I go to Mitsu-​Ken pretty much every Saturday, and once in a loooong while the line will be soo long we go across the street to Mitsuba.
The inside is not so appetizing — there are flies flying around the food on display and it just looks dingy. The garlic chicken just sucks. Compared to Mitsu-​Ken, Sugoi, etc. — there’s a weird taste that I just can’t get used to. My BF raved about the chow-​fun, which I found to be lacking in flavor by a whole football field.
The people working there are nice and friendly though, one guy recognized my BF from a long time ago… so that’s nice.