Carval Express

Very impressed with the pepper fried chicken. Love my fried chicken and have had great experience in the mid west (Chicken Coupe, MO) but not so much so on the islands. Light batter, not oily and perfectly seasoned with nice salt balance. Yum… Skin was light and crunchy. Looking forward to braised short ribs and adobo next time. Stay tuned…

Nom, nom, nom! My co-​worker mentioned that she had lunch here with a friend and said that it was really good. She said that they had a more «gourmet» type of plate lunch. I love that word… so of course when she said she’d be in the area and would be picking up food for us, I was super excited!
I had the furikake salmon special, and it was amazeballs. Not only do a lot of places not even offer salmon, but if they do it usually is super dry (see my review of a certain «market» in downtown) and over cooked. This salmon though, was cooked to perfection, had just the right amount of furikake, and even some sort of hollandaise sauce on top. I generally don’t like heavy, creamy sauces, but this was just right… I would put it on everything if I could. The plate comes with a choice of either brown or white rice, and potato or toss salad. I got the brown and toss, which is actually more of a spring mix. The dressing that comes with the salad is yummers too, I think it’s homemade (definitely has tons of basil in it).
I wish that Carval was closer to downtown, because I’d eat there every week. My discerning palette is hard to please, and this place makes my taste buds happy! Try it if you’re ever in the area!

Place is easy to miss if you drive too fast.
Adobo (pork) is exactly how I like it. I’ll be back. The chicken was good too, crispy like fried but not only liked baked. Menu little small but from the two plates I bought. Definitely going back.

Gotta go with the five star rating here… my dad raved about this (even talking about this for a few days after), and he’s a hard man to impress.
He had ordered the mini Slow-​Braised Short Ribs ($ 6.50), with brown rice and potato salad. You could also get white rice and/​or tossed green salad if you want to (no extra charge on substitutes). The boneless ribs came on a small bed of thinly sliced cabbage, topped with «spicy fried garlic sauce» and green onions.
My dad let me have some of his food — and I ended up eating more than my fair share. Dang, we shoulda gotten the full plate! Those boneless braised ribs were succulent and just so dang tender, exploding with sweet-​savory flavor. Eating the ribs with the cabbage cuts through that rich taste. The garlic sauce is not spicy, though; more of the sweet connotations take over (hey, it’s still delicious!). A lovely warm potato salad with perfectly cooked spuds. Just top-​notch execution overall.
Although I’m over 2600 miles away, I’ll let my dad keep going back for me (although he’s not as big into lunch wagons as I am).

Was biking in the area and I noticed this nice lunch truck with seating and I thought I wanted to give it a try.
Parking:
Actually big parking lot behind the lunch. A Plus for a lunch wagon in Kalihi
Atmosphere:
So you have two bench style tables with umbrella next to the truck although everything is in a empty lot along with the lunch truck. I think the seating is a plus for a lunch wagon but you might have to share a table.
Service:
We came lunch time on a Friday. There wasn’t a line but it did take about 15 minutes to get our mini hamburger steak & short ribs (not exactly sure why because I assume the short ribs were pre-​cooked).
Pricing:
Maybe i’m old fashioned but I still think plate lunches should cost 5 $ especially in busy lunch time areas like Kalihi/​Mapunapuna. Carval express claims themselves to be «gourmet» otherwise known as expensive. Expect to pay about 7 – 9 $ for a reg and 6 – 7 $ for a small mini. I personally didn’t think the portion sizes were very big at all for two mini. Think Zippys Mini plates
Food:
So looking at the Unilocal reviews I decided I wanted to try the Short ribs. The menu isn’t particularly big with only about 6 – 7 items on the menu. The mini short rib plate came out as 3 pieces of boneless shortrib, one smaller scoop of rice and spring mix salad. The shortribs were tender and tasty although the spicy garlic sauce was more sweet then garlic or spicy. They could think about serving the shortribs as a pot roast with gravy and veggies. The hamburger steak was pretty basic although i’m thinking they use some pork in their patty mix. The mini hamburger patty wasn’t big at all and we only found 1 half of a mushroom in the mushroom gravy.
Overall:
Since I was in the area and because I barely get to try Kalihi lunch time spots I wanted to give this place a try. Overall the short ribs are tender and tasty but the cost probably isn’t worth it. The hamburger steak was boring and not recommended.

Good freshly prepared food. Fresh fish is a difficult find but they got it.

The slow braised short ribs are AMAZING. I have also tried the bacon wrapped pork and that’s good too. They actually have decent PARKING in an empty gravel lot suprisingly (esp. in Kalihi area too). They only have two big red tables and our food came out very quick. Guy was nice and with pricing you can’t beat, did I mention it actually has PARKING?!

I’ve tried almost everything on the menu and it’s Da Bomb. The short ribs are better than almost any I’ve had anywhere. Restaurants included. Pepper Chicken, yum! If you are in the area, give it a try. You will love it. The portions aren’t huge, but you didn’t need to take a nap after lunch anyway. Right?

3.5 overall. I’ve been meaning to try this place and lucky I was in the area to finally check it out. I came around 1045 and no on was there so lucky me. They’re locked in a small fenced in parking lot with a set up tent and some tables and chairs so thats nice. Some of the specials for today was shoyu chicken, fried pork chop, and furikake salmon just to name a few. Their regular menu consisted of braised short ribs, fried chicken, and bacon wrapped pork roast. Comes with your choice of white or brown rice and potato salad or nalo greens.
I got the mini braised short ribs with spicy garlic sauce for $ 6. When I finally opened my container I felt ripped off! it only came with 2 ¼ small pieces of meat! like really now?! =-O Dont get me wrong, the meat was really good and flavorful. It was rich and tender and the spicy garlic sauce was delish, though not really spicy. Overall the food is a 4.5 but i just gotta minus a star for the quantity because $ 6 is WAY too much for that teeny tiny portion.

This recently opened lunchwagon offers gourmet plate lunches. The quality is excellent and everything tastes fresh and homemade. Portions are just right for an average eater, so if you have a monster appetite, you might need to order two ;) I love the braised boneless shortribs with white rice and tossed salad! You can check out their daily specials through their facebook page.