Yama’s Fish Market

I really, really wanted to like this place and even came a few times hoping to find something good. But nope, nada. I tried their beef curry, shoyu chicken and kalua cabbage. The curry didn’t taste like curry and had a weird texture to it. The shoyu chicken was dry. And the kalua cabbage was bland. I’m surprised their rice was not better. I mean a local place serving rice means their rice would be extra sticky and fluffy, but nope. Their rice was crumbly and dry. They are pretty pricey too.

After purchasing from here a few times a week, and getting the same cranky worker (this worker has a really bad attitude and actually rolled her eyes at me… right in front of me!!!), I decided to take my business elsewhere… haven’t been back in over six months… no skin off my rear end… oahu has soooo many places to eat… haven’t missed it one bit

Great little spot for a plate lunch or delicious poke. Premade bentos are on the shelf facing the register. Two small tables with two seats each are out front, which means it isn’t easy to eat there, but it keeps the lot traffic moving in and out smoothly as people pick up their orders and head off to the next spot.
The lady and I couldn’t decide from the myriad of available choices, so we picked up five different types of poke, lomilomi salmon, pasteles, mochiko chicken, spam musubi, and the haupia sweet potato pie.
Poke: ¹⁰⁄₁₀. Good variety, fish is cut so you get a nice big ratio of fresh fish along with the other ingredients. Not a bad one in the bunch, and all kinds of different seafood available!
Spicy Pastele: Hearty leaf-​wrapped meat and rice, travels pretty well.
TIP: They’ll heat it up for you if you want to eat it right away.
Spam Musubi: Solid musubi; good spam to rice ratio, spam itself is cooked with a light sauce that is also brushed onto top of the rice. Wrapped up TIGHT for your convenience!
Haupia sweet potato pie: Delicate and flavorful layers are perfectly balanced for a great treat to end the meal. The coconut flavor, sweet potato creaminess, and the buttery shortbread would be great all on their own, but bring the whole thing to a new level when eaten together.
Will definitely be back again, next time with a cooler so we can buy more to try!

One word: YUM!
We had way more trouble than expected narrowing down our order at Yama’s, thanks to their fabulous display case of poke. While we struggled, the constant stream of customers in and out spoke volumes to how popular and solid this place is to locals.
THE HIGHLIGHTS.
+ Fabulous, fresh, flavorful poke of 10+ different kinds (wasabi ahi, spicy ahi, miso tako, spicy scallop, smoked salmon poke, and more)
+ #16 (their mochiko chicken, the closest I got to katsu) was a welcome treat, and came with some pretty decent mac salad
+ The dish that floored both myself and the boy for sure was the (all caps now) HAUPIA SWEET POTATO PIE! It was creamy and delicious, even to a guy who normally avoids desserts. Do yourself a favor and try this out at least once.
Yama’s Fish Market is run by the nicest people, and is well worth your time and money. Can’t wait until I can return for more delicious poke and haupia cake!

A month or two ago, me and the bf accidentally came across the market. We heard about the place but we never knew where it was. It’s a cute little shop with fresh poke, hawaiian menu and goodies. They also have those old fashion icecake… yummy! Place to go for all your local faves. :)

Yama’s is one of the best Hawaiian Food places in town. Great food, good prices.

Put me in charge of planning the menu for the office holiday party. then I’m going to order what I want to eat (and of course what my coworkers would enjoy also). We normally order traditional or local food for our holiday fare. but this time we thought why not do a holiday luau! We’re worth it right. we work hard! Unsure if it would fit in our budget as Hawaiian food tends to be pricey. I gave Brian a call at Yama’s Fish Market. Brian had a few questions, number we were feeding, were we big eaters, any particular dishes we wanted, etc. He custom crafted a menu including portion size for us and it was surprisingly very affordable. We were able to go with Laulau, Lomi Salmon, Kalua Pig, Squid Luau, and several other favorite dishes. We were extremely happy we could provide a Hawaiian food lunch for our staff as a it seems to be rare these days.
Food: Oh the food. it was wonderful. Several days after the event I still had people complimenting the catering choice, raving about their favorite dish, and just expressing their general gratitude that they were able to enjoy a great meal. We learned a couple things during this event. First thing was that a lot more. and i mean a LOT more. people like Squid Luau than we thought. We didn’t know how many people would eat it so we went with just one small pan. that pan got wiped out really quickly and someone actually took it away to lick up the goodness inside! Second thing we learned. there’s a reason for Luau plates. We used regular large party plates and let folks serve themselves. If we did this again, I think we would use luau plates as a method of portion control. While we had enough food for all. we had just about zero left overs. I was a little nervous that we’d run out before everyone had a chance to eat. lesson learned!
Service: Yama’s not only provides delivery, they’ll also provide you with warming trays, paper goods, utensils, servers, etc. Great service, the delivery guy showed up at our office, set everything up quickly, then was on his way.
Value: Great value and Brian suggested we serve the lau lau casserole style as a way to stretch it. not everyone wants an entire lau lau and serving it this way allowed people to take just want they wanted.
Overall: If I need to cater Hawaiian food for another event I am definitely calling Brian over at Yama’s Fish Market!

Before heading to this place, I literally thought it was a full out fish market. It actually is a little order out shop with lots of goodies. They were quite busy when I stopped in and there aren’t any seating area inside.
Laulau — Was a little bland.
Kalua pig — Delicious! Although this was my first time trying Kalua pig.
Mac Salad — So good! $ 1 for a little tiny side, but it’s worth it.
Beef stew — Must try
Ahi — They have a few options on fresh ahi. Five stars!

The parking here can be brutal, they’re usually so busy with takeout and walk ins that they don’t always answer the phone for a call in order. but it’s worth it anyway. Yamas is just that good.
I always get the same thing. The plate combo with the laulau, Kalua pig, white rice, Lomi salmon, haupia and wasabi masago poke. And a large side of chicken long rice. Few places have plates where everything in it is made perfectly, but somehow Yamas never lets me down.
I’ve heard good things about their pasteles, so next time I’m going to definitely try that!

Love coming here. Though parking can be a pain sometimes and the hours are somewhat limited right now (hope they are able to go back to the old hours one day). If you don’t mind that I can say the service is nice and friendly. Plus the food is really good.
Lau Lau: love that the regular version comes with chicken, plus they also have one with just chicken and also a vegetarian option (but you have to order that in advance) for when you feel in the mood for a more healthier option. Plus you can get it hot or cold which is perfect to take home for later or for a trip.

Back in 2011, I had taken a trip to Waikiki and this was by far the best poke I had. In fact during that particular trip, I had visited twice within the same vacation because the poke was that good.
However, now revisiting in 2015, the fish quality of the shoyu poke just did not match memory, and the fish had a older/​fishier quality to it. In fact, though we bought a full pound of shoyu poke for two people to share, we barely finished half before throwing it out, which is a shame.
I suppose if you arrive in the very early morning hours, perhaps the quality would be better, but in both 2011 and 2015, I had visited the location in the early afternoon.
Overall, this place is out of walking distance from most of the waikiki beach hotels, so expect to either drive, über or lyft there.

Poke. Where have you been all my life? Seriously, why has no one brought this over to the mainland? This place has an amazing selection at very reasonably prices! We preferred the tuna over the salmon, particularly with the seaweed, but the creamy spicy kind was delicious as well! I could eat poke for days, especially if it was from here.
We also tried the lau lau here which was the best of all the places I had it on the island! The meat was unbelievably soft inside the ti leaves and the flavors were so robust! We had both chicken and pork and both were delicious. I’m really glad we came here. A big thanks to Wendy F. for showing me such a great part of Hawaii!

One potato, two potato, sweet potato pie! Well sweet potato haupia pie to be exact. This was the very first thing I ate here and I fell in love! It was during one of my visits back and my friend kidnapped me and took me here. I was on a diet and didn’t want to eat more calories than necessary but he insisted that I try just one bite. Well I caved and ate that one bite. Next thing you know, I ate ½ of his sweet potato pie dish. Worth it for all the extra miles I had to run? Absolutely!
Since then, I had to always visit Yama’s when I came back to Honolulu. It was a craving I had to have filled. Not only do they have legit sweet potato pie, they have Hawaiian plate lunches, other desserts and poke. Normally when I’m in the mood for a quick Hawaiian fix, I swing by to pick up their number 6. It’s Kalua Pig, Lomi-​lomi Salmon, Poke and Haupia w/​a giant scoop of rice. It’s a lot of food at a very reasonable price. I’ve tried their Mochiko Chicken and it’s very similar to Chicken Katsu so I’m gonna stick with the number 6.
Most people come here to get take out but if you do want to eat there, there are two tables outside to dine on. Make sure to grab your utensils to the right of the cash registers before leaving. They have their own lot but it does get busy at times so you might have to look for street parking if it’s full. It’s a very clean and well kept interior with simple décor. Nothing fancy but good food and desserts (try their sweet potato pie!).

They have a kickass selection of fresh pokes and traditional Hawaiian fare. Definitely a very affordable option if poke is your endgame. Dedicated parking spots, and a few small tables outside to dine at. I was impressed with the freshness of their poke as well as the variety, but for us some of the poke was over-​seasoned and way too salty. Really impressed by the speed of checkout and convenience.

Okay, the parking isn’t the best, but this is a problem all over Honolulu. Whenever friends are in town THIS is the place I bring them to get Hawaiian food. After a subpar experience at another popular hawaiian joint, I realized just how amazing Yama’s is.
— WON’T BREAK THE BANK.
Price wise it’s definitely more affordable than other places. I can get a full lunch for under $ 15 if I’m being good! Also they have a great selection for whatever you’re in the mood for.
–EASY/​CONVENIENT
Everything is take out so you can grab and go. The Haupia and other goodies are in the sliding door fridges.
–SIMPLY ONO
I keep going to other places but I still crave Yama’s!
Their kalua pork is juicy, melt in your mouth good.
If you’re thinking about Yama’s definitely give them a try, you won’t be disappointed!

Delicious poke! The guy that was working was really patient with me and nice. This was the first place we came to grab lunch when we got off the plane. The guy helping me out let me sample a couple of the poke since I was having trouble deciding on which one to get. Loved the wasabi poke with masago. Half a pound with a scoop of rice was more than enough. Really fresh and great flavors, definitely better eating it with some rice, since the flavors were quite strong. Would have loved to try some of their other dishes, next time I guess! Still craving for more of that poke!

Yama’s is our go-​to place in town for take-​out Hawaiian food, especially when bringing family home from the airport and they have to have their «fix» as soon as their Mainland feet hit the rock :-) There are plenty of plate lunch selections to choose from, lots of fresh poke, and the desserts in the refrigerator case are ‘ono. It’s hard to pick just one. There’s also boiled peanuts, ocean salad, some crack seed & candy items, and Hawaiian Chip Company bagged chips.
The Yama’s gang are all friendly and super efficient. Poor things must be pooped at the end of the day! The parking lot can be tight, but since Yama’s is just a place to grab & go, a little patience will get you a spot pretty fast.
Favorites:
Poke (we like them all)
Kalua pig plate with poi & lomi salmon
Chicken long rice
Boiled peanuts
Haupia
«Zebra» (Haupia & chocolate pudding)
Haupia brownie
Ocean salad

Came here after high recommendations from friends and family and was satisfied (for the most part) Yama’s is a small joint serving fresh made poke and an assortment of plate lunches. I will have to say that everything was very fresh and tasted quite delicious. The staff was friendly and was patient giving recommendations. The BF and I ended up getting 3 kind to try, ahi limu poke, wasabi masago ahi poke, and onion tako poke.
Now i’ll give it to them. Everything was very fresh and the flavors complimented everything very well… but at $ 16.95/lb eep. that’s a bit steep (well compared to mainland prices, that’s actually pretty good). The tako was very tender and not chewy at all. They did their work here and it’s worth trying. The ahi limu was very nicely flavored and simple. The wasabi was a bit heavy for my taste, but a good change.
Overall, i would say if you’re a poke fan, you should give this joint a try. However, after visiting several poke establishments during my stay on Oahu, some might say i’m crazy, but I find that the foodland poke was pretty much on par with the ones here. and for $ 11.98/lb, it’s a steal. BUT supporting local mom and pop shops is good too.
Maybe i’m not a great poke connoisseur, but my tastebuds were equally as happy with foodland’s poke. But anyhow, I wish i got to try Young’s.i would say, try yourself and see how you compare.

Lau lau, kalua pig, lomi salmon, and of course their haupia desserts. It’s no wonder Yama’s is well-​known and well-​frequented.
I used to come here more often when I was attending University of Hawaii at Manoa, but lately, I haven’t really had the chance. However, the last 4 – 5 visits have been a slight disappointment.
Maybe 6 months ago, I ordered the Kalua Pig Cabbage bowl figuring it’s pretty cheap ($ 6.25) and I don’t care for macaroni salad. I remember opening my bowl and it being filled with mostly rice and cabbage. I was so disappointed! The meat to cabbage ratio was way out of proportion! I felt like I paid $ 6.25 for a bowl of cabbage and rice.
Then, maybe 3 months ago, we ordered food from Yama’s again. This time I knew not to order the Kalua Pig Cabbage bowl from the last fiasco. So, I just ordered a side of Kalua Pig ($ 3.55 for sm) and a side of rice ($ 1.10). The portion size was way better than the bowl and cheaper too! It was slightly oily, but that’s expected since it’s Kalua Pig.
And then last week… we ordered from Yama’s yet again and I couldn’t decide what I wanted. I decided to try the Kalua Chicken this time instead. So again, I ordered the side order Kalua Chicken ($ 3.55 for sm). I expected it to be a little oily… it’s Kalua Chicken what else do you expect? But when I got it, I swear the chicken was sitting in oil. Now imagine you buy a tuna can like the one from the store. You know how you drain the water? Well, that’s how this Kalua Chicken was! I could actually pour out oil from the bowl! The bowl isn’t very large either… approximately a 4″ diameter and 2″ deep. If they had drained all the oil, I would have really liked it better! The chicken had a slight oil taste (probably cause it soaked it aalllllll up!)
My co-​worker ordered the Grilled Ahi since it looked like a healthier option and the photos on Unilocal made it look like the portion size was pretty good. But he was saddened when he opened up his plate to see that the fish pieces were small and rather than having two filets, he had chunks!
Plus side, my other co-​worker ordered shoyu chicken with all rice. She got 3 scoops of rice and 2 large chicken thighs! She said she really liked it!
The taste of the food isn’t bad at all. Don’t get me wrong. They make tasty dishes, but their portion sizes and even proportion of foods are sometimes whack. In the end, it really just depends on what you’re ordering. Seems like non-​Hawaiian food gives better portion sizes.

I came here today for some poke at lunchtime. I ordered the Spicy Ahi Poke and the Wasabi Spicy Ahi Poke, both at $ 16.95/lbs. Honestly, they were both pretty spicy, and I’m the kind of person who likes to order a medium at thai restaurants. All in all, the poke was good, but not great, definitely not $ 16.95/lbs great.
The service was a bit confusing to me. Usually, the customer gives their order, pays for it, and then gets their food. But today, they received the order, prepared the food, and then paid for the order. Things were a bit disorganized though and a kinda slow.
I’m willing to try them again on their plate lunches, as I hear they’re really good. But today was a bit of a miss.

I love this place!
Nom nom poke poi nom nom !!
I have found poke nirvana!
nom nom nom nom