Joe Aloha Lunch Wagon

Wow! What a failure! This guy sets up his rolling bbq and leaves it unattended. The bbq goes up in flames. Police. Firemen. The poor people he smoked out that were having a family BBQ nearby. The wedding party that no longer had a bbq. This guy should have been arrested for leaving a fire unattended. A car was closely parked, that I was having children taking cover thinking a car was going to blow. Why on earth would anyone leave a fire unattended to. Rule 101 — have bbq, don’t leave in your car for over an hour. As a guest to that wedding party … Zippy’s is getting 5 stars and Kemo gets 1 — it should be zero but it won’t allow me to.

I contracted Kimo for a rehearsal dinner for 100 people about 7 months prior to the event. We met several times and have a train of emails spelling out the details of the event. I was to supply beer and wine and he was to show up early to set things up and to begin cooking. He showed up shortly AFTER the first guests arrived, totally unprepared. No drinks were cooled and no food was prepared. He started his smoker and then left to go grocery shopping. While he was gone, his smoker caught fire incinerating everything. The flames shot up about 6 feet into the sky and the smoke was so thick no one could cross the street. 5 police cars roared into the beach area where we were, followed shortly by a fire truck who drenched the whole mess with a fire hose. Kimo did not turn up until about 30 minutes later after being missing for more than an hour. The fireman said that the grease trap had not been cleaned in ages. After all of this, he refused to refund me the deposit of $ 700 I had given him in cash. We had to get Zippy’s chilli for 100. This guy is a total flake and fraud. Do not be fooled, as I was, by his false aloha. If he wasn’t politically connected, I am sure he would have been arrested for reckless endangerment. He is a creep and a crook and he should be shut down. I will be suing him.

Hey… how about these Hawaiians… what great grinds… and the price… whoooa…Kimo, the grand master of the rolling bbq knows what’s up… true aloha way beyond the name of the wagon… Kimo brings it home from his home in his rolling bbq… the ribs, the fish, the chicken… all the kine… and Kimo can do the massive… we have been to large Quiksilver bashes and he has it down… wooo…go!

This place deserves no stars.
I was so disappointed and frustrated with this food truck at the Great Hawaiian Lunchwagon Festival. We waited in line to get the ribs with musubi for $ 5. We get the box and open it to find no musubi. Only 2 ribs, a container of bbq sauce over a tiny bed of shredded greens.
OH NO. There MUST be some mistake. Where was the musubi? Only at that time after we had paid were we informed that they ran out of musubi. WHAT THE EF?! How are you going to tell us AFTERWARDS? It wasn’t just us. We observed other people coming up after getting their orders asking where their musubis were. Val L., I am envious of your picture with that scoop of rice as we didn’t even get that.
Don’t go here. Shady.

Joe Aloha’s lunch wagon was at the Hawaiian lunch wagon event, so I gave it a try. They were selling a sample of their food for $ 5:
BBQ ribs — 3 stars — it was very tender, but also very basic. We got 3 ribs and a scoop of rice for $ 5. The bbq sauce came in a small container on the side. It was ok, but very mild, watered down and sweet.
Seared Ahi — 3 stars — It was ok with shoyu flavor, but a little dry.

6÷30− Still a fan!

Come hungry, leave satisfied =)
Playing hookie from work is the only time I can eat here. They open from 10 – 2 Tuesday-​Friday only.
The powerful smoke oven is parked right next to the lunch truck and does it send off some ono smelling signals.
I ordered the pork rib and my husband had the top sirloin both with brown rice, green salad and the soup of the day, which contained collard green, pork, and some rice.
The BBQ sauce that came on the side was sweet, but not tangy. I guess it’ll take some time to get use to. We were just happy that it wasn’t Korean BBQ. Nothing against that, but we’ve been dying to get some good ol’ fashion BBQ. You know what I mean?
Both of the meats were succulent and the rub on the pork was seasoned to perfection. You can see the fresh herbs sitting right on top of the meat and taste the sea salt that is rubbed on.
We left satisfied, with some leftovers and all for $ 14. They serve complimentary water and have compostable take out boxes and coffee cups, which they serve their soup in.
I heart this place because they use earth friendly products!

On our first-​time visit to Joe Aloha’s recently, my coworkers and I all ordered the same thing: the BBQ Pork Spare Ribs. As mentioned by other Unilocalers, with that, for a thrifty $ 7, it includes your choice of brown or white rice, green salad and soup.
Plus, if you mention seeing them on Facebook, they’ll also throw in a FREE DRINK! What a deal! At least, that was the deal when we went.
And I must, as other Unilocalers have said, they give A LOT OF RIBS for just $ 7.
Best part is, the pork spare ribs are slow-​cooked in their portable BBQ «pit» daily to tender, moist ‘n succulent perfection. It has just the right amount of chew so as not being at the point of being considered pulled pork. Where you still have to gnaw it off the bone, yet with ease. Ya’ know?
Seasoning/​rub-​wise, it’s very mild, with no cues of Cajun this or Southern that. In fact, it wasn’t even that salty, actually requiring it to be dipped or slathered in the included BBQ sauce to help punch out the flavor of the pork. That included BBQ sauce was actually pretty basic, so I jazzed it up by mixing in Hawaiian Sun Guava Jelly, and you know what? That ROCKS! I swear, not just for Joe Aloha’s Pork Ribs, but ANY BBQ Pork Ribs, ADD GUAVA JELLY to your BBQ Sauce. I promise you, you’ll thank me for that, it’s soo, so ono! The flavor of guava, along with the sweetness in the jelly is such a fantastic compliment to the fatty, savory BBQ smoked pork flavor. Winnahz!
Speaking of smoke, that part was very subtle in taste, surprisingly. Which I’ll just assume is the characteristic intended by using Mesquite pellets vs. solid chunks of wood. Personally I’d like to taste at least a little more smoke flavor. Not too much, but at least enough that I know it’s there. In the case of Joe Aloha’s ribs, we could barely tell they were smoked.
Overall, Joe Aloha’s BBQ Pork Ribs were super generous in portion for just $ 7, and most importantly, really, really ono, making it easily worthy of a 4 stars/​3 SPAM Musubi rating!
I must also note, the included Miso Soup, while not in and of itself anything outstanding as far Miso Soup is concerned, went surprisingly very well with the pork ribs. BBQ Pork Ribs + Miso Soup = Great combo’!
Joe Aloha Lunch Wagon is located on Kamake’e Street in front of Ala Moana Storage, which is just a block up mauka of Nordstrom Rack and Office Depot, behind Ward Entertainment Center. They’re open Tuesday — Friday from 10am to 2pm.
As always, see the photo section for pics of dishes mentioned in this review.

The smoked ribs are the bomb! They are really tasty even without the sauce, but when you add the sauce, it is unbelievable. I could just pour the sauce over rice and eat that for lunch.
You get a lot of food for $ 7, with a salad with choice of dressing, and white or brown rice.
Also had the garlic shrimp on special — I liked it better than the garlic shrimp trucks out at Kahuku because the garlic wasn’t overwhelming.
My mouth is watering just thinking about the food …

Hi, hello; $ 7 for ribs, rice, salad, and soup? YES PLEASE.
The boyfriend told me about this lunch wagon; he had read all the reviews on Unilocal and we both wanted to come try it out. Sadly, he didn’t check the hours and we drove by on a Monday. The truck operates from Tuesday through the work week from 10 – 2.
Don’t tell my boy, but I came here today without him and left full and happy. And to top it all off, I had a small cup of the delicious and pricey plantation iced tea. Inhaled it before my order was even ready.
In other words, try the damn truck.

Second time was not a charm. Got the sirloin (which last time was fantastic), which I ordered as medium rare but came out as medium well, slightly chewy, not enough smoke/​flavor. What gives?!? Also, the food was kind of cold when I ate it (only sat in the car for ~5 min). Soup of the day (chicken rice) was okay. Maybe we should have phoned ahead instead of arriving and ordering smack dab in the middle of lunchhour (noon), but man, waiting over 20 minutes for food from a lunch truck is pretty lame. Also, the lady giving out the orders almost gave us the wrong order, and she only gave us 1 set of utensils for 3 plates. Overall, I would probably give this place one more chance (because it was so good the first time), but maybe not for a few months, and I would def. order ahead of time to avoid the wait.

Wow, that was delicious.
Food was amazingly good. Two friends and I got lunch and we all sampled each other’s meat. Marlin, smoked pork, pork ribs, it was all terrific. Smokey and good. The ribs came with sauce on the side, don’t even need it. Portion sizes were humungous. Joe Aloha offers brown rice as an option, and our meals came with a green salad. The bento was recyclable for what it’s worth.

Smoked ribs are incredibly tasty.
You have a choice of smoked ribs, sirloin, catch of the day, chicken or you can combine 2 selections.
All plates come with a cup of homemade soup, green salad and your choice or white or brown rice — all for $ 7. The meat portions are large.
The plantation iced tea is also very good, but it comes in a small cup for $ 2. I do keep getting it though :) Wailua sodas and can sodas are available for purchase. Complimentary water dispenser available by the utensils and salt, napkins.
Owner is super nice. Joe Aloha also caters events. Sometimes he posts the catch of the day on twitter @JoeAlohaTruck

Here are only 3 things I look for in a lunch wagon:
Its cheap
It gives large portions
The food is tasty
This place meets all 3 requirements. As a bonus it serves BBQ for cheap. I went here the other day with my co-​workers as we had heard good things. I had the ribs. They gave a lot of ribs for $ 7. I repeat. They gave a lot of ribs for $ 7. So even IF the ribs were horrible, at this point, I would be thinking «well, it was ribs for only $ 7, what did I expect…». Amazingly, the ribs are delicious, well seasoned and still moist. You can really taste the smokiness in every bite. Then the sauce they give is crazy good, you literally wish you could replace a large drink for a large cup of the sauce (I tried, to no avail sadly). My co-​works and I are considering putting the wagon in neutral and pushing it to Queens, so that we can eat here every day.

Ono food, brn rice, great soup, good price, nice people. Support local business!

Sorry, Joe Aloha, but I probably won’t be coming back.
BBQ Chicken — 2 stars since although parts of the chicken skin was tasty, the chicken meat was dry… very, very dry.
Rice — 3 stars for tasting okay.
Soup — 3 stars for the creamy chicken soup.
Salad — 2 stars since the dressing did not have much taste.

I’ve been looking for legit BBQ in town for a while now and so far no luck. You just can’t find good old school style Southern lovin’ anywhere in Honolulu. Makes me miss Carolina and Memphis BBQ… someone should open a real BBQ restaurant in Honolulu. I bet they would make a killing.
Anyway, I tried this place out after reading about it in a local article. I was shocked to hear someone was selling BBQ ribs out of truck. Joe sells ribs, steak and chicken and also does grilled fish. I definitely recommend something from the smoker. The ribs are slow smoked all morning and by lunch time they are ready to be devoured. The smoke ring on my ribs was clearly visible. That could have only been accomplished by smoking the ribs for several hours. The meat was tender and my favorite was that he only uses a dry rub and serves with BBQ sauce on the side. I like to eat my ribs dry with a little sauce so he got ten extra points for that. The plates come with rice, salad or mac and a meat of your choice for $ 7…pretty good deal. You even get a small cup of homemade soup of the day. Last time I had the beef and barley… all the soups are tasty. If you’re feeling some BBQ and you don’t feel like driving to Deb’s then check Joe out. He’s only there for lunch so make sure to get there early.
Final Verdict: Must try for BBQ lovers!

Wow, first person to review this yellow gem? Joe Aloha’s lunch wagon is located on Kamakee st. between Waimanu St. and Kawaiaho St. They have a small menu that consists of kiawe smoked plates: top sirloin, pork ribs, and chicken. Each plate comes with a choice of the soup of the day or salad and white or brown price for ONLY $ 7. In addition to these plates is a «catch of the day» plate which varies.
Even before you order, Joe’s smoker is sitting right in front of the lunch wagon, intoxicating the air with the smell of kiawe and causing you to salivate. I ended up ordering the pork ribs, and they were nothing short of exquisite. For $ 7, Joe gives you 3 huge pieces of pork rib! By far one of, if not, the best deals I have seen.
Aside from the great food, Joe and his staff are extremely friendly, they will talk to you as if they have known you for years.
Additional info:
Hours: 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Tuesdays-​Fridays