What if I told you that you can now get birria tacos, pad Thai, tom yum soup, beef pho, panang curry and hand rolls all under one roof?
Located in Waterfront Plaza, Aloha Mamacita offers a fusion of Mexican, Vietnamese and Thai cuisine — and now, Japanese hand rolls have entered the mix.
“Our restaurant is a melting pot; we want to have a little bit of everything,” says business owner Kim Nguyen. “A lot of the stuff we have now on the menu is a bunch of my favorite things, my comfort food. My husband, Kevin, loves sushi and handrolls, so I wanted to incorporate some of his favorites, too.
"We’re not a Mexican restaurant, but we’re influenced by Mexican food, as well as by our Asian heritage,” she adds. “My parents actually used to own a Japanese restaurant in Sacramento, Calif. Growing up, my siblings and I practically lived in that restaurant; my mom taught me how to make hand rolls, so this was perfect.”
The biz sources its seafood from Fresh Island Fish, according to Nguyen. The happy hour menu is for dine-in only.
The happy hour menu consists of four hand rolls for now — spicy ahi ($3), spicy California ($3), California ($3) and spicy crabby shrimp ($4). Their regular prices range from $5 to $6, and Nguyen plans to expand the menu.
“We’re starting out small right now to get a feel for how it is,” Nguyen says. “We’re also asking our customers what they would like to have. We have a lot of vegan customers; they like hand rolls as well, so I’m going to look up some recipes for that.”
In terms of other deals, customers can still take advantage of the business’s all-day Taco Tuesday discount — $1.89 for pollo asada tacos; carne asada, lechon or fish tacos are available for an additional $1. Tuesday is the only day there’s no happy hour because of the taco deals.
While happy hour just started, Nguyen encourages customers to stay tuned for more menu updates.
“We want to do brunch, too,” she says. “We’re planning to open at 8 a.m. We’re working with our staff right now, but we already have a menu for that — we’ll have specialty banana pudding pancakes and avocado toast hash browns, which are amazing, too.
"Watching my parents work so hard in the restaurant industry really influenced me," she adds. "It made me really fall in love with food. This is my chance to share my passion and joy with everyone."
CONTACT
Aloha Mamacita
Waterfront Plaza
500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu
Instagram: @aloha.mamacita
Happy hour: 2-6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
