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Yum, yum, yum. My Chicken Katsu curry and aloha ice tea hit the spot after a long day of SHOPPING. I mean, why can't they have a Curry House Coco in San Francisco? I practically grew up on the stuff (thanks to my Japanese mother) and it is so nice to have it available for take-out.
Plus, it didn't break the bank (important after spending a load of money at Chanel!), my meal and beverage was approx $7.20, not including tax and tip.
Easy meal on the run and hands down crowd pleaser for me!
Better than I remember from high school days, but much worse than home made. Why is the curry so watery? And why isn't the rice good quality like it is in Japan?
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by the mixed vegetables, which were probably from a frozen package and dumped into the curry from a bag but still good in type: they had kabocha, lotus root, corn! The potatoes tasted a bit fake, but overall I was pleased.
The cheese and corn croquettes were also freshly fried and up to my crispy standards of good fried things. I just complain that the curry is too watery. When I make it at home, I make it extra concentrated so that you don't even need to eat rice with it for maximum flavor impact.
I picked up food here under duress from my guy, who had a craving when we had no cooking apparatus available. It was really busy. Like Panda busy. And I had to wait, but it was okay because they made my order to order! About $8 per plate, each with 2 "add-ins"
Oh yeah! Curry, curry, and more curry! Coming from the mainland, we don't have places that specialize in Japanese Curry. This curry chain from Japan sells tons of different ways curry can be presented. I love the basic chicken katsu slathered in curry with their pickles all over the top.
The funny thing to me is when you take out and you get this spork (yes, a spork) to transfer all the curry from the curry compartment to where your rice and other food is. When you are doing so, it looks like your bailing water from a sinking boat. Faster! Faster! Keep bailing!
You can order various sizes or rice, different spiciness, and tons of different add-ons. At this location the actual in-house seating is small, but just order out and sit in the larger food area. it's more interesting to watch all the people anyway. I just can't go a month without my curry fix from Coco Ichibanya.
I didn't eat at this location, but pretty much lived in Coco's while I was stationed in Okinawa, JP. I don't care what anybody says, a Level 3 Chicken Katsu Curry w/ Cheese will cure any hangover! Many Okinawa drunken nights/dawns were spent at Coco's. Definitely a must go if you're ever in Japan or Hawaii..
Oh, also try their version of the naan bread.. not quite authentic but very good..make sure you dip it into your curry! =P
Their salad dressing was quite popular too, never really got into the whole salad thing though..
So if you read this review, remember me and enjoy every single bite! LOL
Good, tasty curry. Good size portions.
The chicken katsu isn't breast meat though so I'm always picking at the chicken pieces. Some veggies with the curry would be nice as well.
I was never a big fan of curry, but YUM!
this curry place is sooo good. The curry itself comes on the side and is a thick and rich complement to the crispy chicken katsu. the rice is also surprisingly good - sticky the way I like it.
I'm actually really not a fan of curry (I'm a beef stew kind of girl) so I only eat curry when I have a craving. So... come Friday night and my bf is naming all these places where we could eat, which none of them sound good to me, (he even tempted me with CPK food.. what a great guy) and then I say, "how about curry house?" He gives me a look of astonishment before agreeing.
I've never actually eaten inside because it always looks like the workers are sweating so I figured it must be hot and stuffy inside... total opposite. They make you order from the outside before being seated (in which there was always a line of people ordering take out). I got the stewed chicken and spinach ($7.05) and added a jumbo veg croquette ($1.75) and bf ordered the pork cutlet and kimchee ($7.20), both spicy. We sat down in the air conditioned room and waited for the curry, which arrived shortly after.
I loved that my stewed chicken was shredded and there was a ton of spinach which is good in my book since I love veggies. I also liked that they only poured a small amount of the curry over the rice, not the whole thing. I always like to dip my rice in the sauces so I can still have that rice taste, as opposed to my rice already being drenched in it. My croquette was still hot and crispy when it arrived, another bonus. I didn't try my bf's cutlet because I'm not a fan of it, but I did try the kimchee in the curry and I gotta tell you, that is some yummy stuff. Totally compliments one another. Only bad thing was that the curry wasn't spicy, though the cashier told us it wasn't that spicy. Also put that spicy seasoning on that they have on the side, but that didn't make it spicy either. But hey, why drown out the flavors of a perfectly good dish with hot sauce or whatever.
Whenever I have an itch to eat curry I will definitely be back.
I pretty much echo Cherryl D.'s review regarding ratings:
Quality = 5 stars
Quantity = 5 stars
Price = 5 stars
Location = 4 stars
Service = 4 stars
Speed = 5 stars
Hubby and I visited this location, which is located sort of on the outskirts of the Ala Moana food court, for lunch one day while running errands for my mom. He ordered the Chicken Katsu Curry and I ordered the Pork Katsu Curry. Both were excellent, LOTS of food. I only ate about 3/4 of mine - hubby had to eat the rest!
5 shakas, gives Hurry Curry in LA a run for its money, IMHO!
My Ratings:
Quality - 5 Stars
Quantity - 5 Stars
Price - 5 Stars
Location - 4 Stars
Service - 4 Stars
Speed - 4 Stars
My Opinion/Story:
Located in the Ala Moana Mall, of all the restaurants around the food court, this is the only place we really wanted to order from. Yes we love the other restaurants there but nothing draws us better than Curry House. We decided to pick different dishes so we can each sample their differences and there's major differences in the type of curry they use for pork, beef, seafood, and chicken. I just love them all but my all time favorite is their Shrimp Curry. I wish we have them at all the malls in Cali. They're so good and yummy!
I was craving the chix katsu curry as I have not had it for about a year .... I ordered a takeout & when I got home the sauce was oily and tasted weird - the chix was fatty and I had to scrub the grease off my spoon - GROSS !! will not be back
"mmm..........mmm......this is good sh*t"
Me luvee curry for a long long long time.
The beef shabu shabu with spinach is my favorite one. Oh yeah, the fried chicken/karaage also is good.
The portions are decent and I only wish the spiciness was a little bit more accentuated.
We ordered the crispy chicken with mild curry, and crispy chicken with cheese abd mild curry.
The first time I came to Honolulu to visit my boyfriend's family...he insisted that I eat curry house when we were at the mall. I've grown up eating japanese curry at home, b/c my mom used to make the boxed kind, but I've never had it in fast food form...and YUM! I can't get enough!! We went twice that trip, and once this past short trip.
We usually share one because I think it's a huge serving and usually we order chicken katsu b/c that's my boyfriend's favorite. He always gets cheese on top too. Weird yea? But surprisingly good. We also got Kalbi on the side last time, so we had 2 meats. I actually think that curry house is my favorite part about going to ala moana. hahaha
Last time we were in Oahu, we found this place in the mall. Ever since then the hubby has been super in love with this place and would eat here each time we're here. Not once but several times!
The curry here is pretty consistent and you can always expect to be pleasantly pleased with the curry. It's one of the very rare japanese curry places that actually has a kick in the spicy curry. Most japanese curry tend to be sweeter than spicier. (But it's still not that spicy, don't be a wimp!)
Hubby usually gets the stewed chicken curry with a side of pork katsu. I usually get the clam curry, mostly because I've never seen that offered anywhere else. Clam curry is great! I ordered it this time with seaweed and it was a tad too fishy. I would just get the clam curry next time by itself.
It's super cheap too. Curry for 2 plus drinks is $16! It's a definite must try! :)
I love curry house. Even though I can easily make my own curry + rice at home, it just tastes so much better at Curry House.
The mall extension is tucked by the door near haagen daz (towards the parking lot) in the overwhelming food court.
My staple curry at Curry House is curry w/katsu. The portion seems a bit smaller if you get to-go,, but it's still filling--and I appreciate the to-go casing. (I personally like the remodeling Kapiolani branch the best, but the parking lot @ McCully at night--is treacherous (I've been parked-hit).
Curry over udon is sooo delicious too. I just love how many options they have to top off your curry. But as many options as they have, it's not overwhelming. I also LOVE how the to-go container is separated (the rice + the sauce is separated so you can top it off as you wish and it katsu/chicken etc. won't get "soggy if you're transporting it somewhere else to eat.
The curry is just right and consistent every time. For an Asian, I don't think their spicy curry is very spicy they totally tone it down for tourists??, but I can make my curry spicy @ home.
Service is quick, there is a small smattering of seats at their bar, but you can take it to go and find a spot to sit in the open food court.
Compared to most of the choices available in the food court, Curry House is my go-to for a consistent, filling + delicious meal.
I love curry house! I wish it wasn't so bad for me.
Have stopped eating there as I'm watching what I eat, but if treating my body well wasn't a concern I would eat here every day (like I did in college).
My favorite - the chicken cutlet curry, spicy. Everything I've tried here has been really good, and their flavor is very consistent.
The location is a little small, but the food court seating area is nearby and I usually get takeout anyway.
Before departing Oahu, I stopped by the Ala Moana Center to do some last minute shopping. I started to get the munchies so I stopped by the food court. The food court there is HUGE. So many choices and varieties to choose from. I remember upon walking in was a place called Curry House. After looking around the food court with nothing really catching my eye, I walked back and checked out the Curry House.
I'm a pretty big fan of chicken cutlet curry so I went and tried that one in the spicy. I noticed that they give you a huge amount of curry with your take out order. I tried the chicken cutlet and it was pretty good. It had a little too much bread but it still tasted great nonetheless. The texture of the curry was great and tasted perfect with the "spicy" curry. The curry was really hot and had to have some cool down time. I thought that the spicy version wasn't too spicy but added that little pop and flavor to the plate.
I am for sure going to come back to the curry house next time I'm in town. I wish there were curry spots like this back in San Diego!
I miss this place so much! If you're in the mood for curry, this is the number one spot you have to hit up. The food is dee-lish and cheap considering you eat till you have to unbutton your pants. My favorite dish is the pork katsu curry and rice and kimchee, with pickled radish. If your not a rice person then you can try there curry udon. Only thing about curry udon is if you can't finish it, and you wish to take it home, you CAN'T because they don't have take out containers for curry udon (SUPAH LAME).The one in McCully Shopping Center is nicely renovated probably the nicest one in town of Honolulu. Check it out!
When in the mall, this is one of my top spots. It's a totally reasonably priced place for a large amount of yummy food. I got the katsu curry and I thought the pork was fried great and the curry sauce was awesome. I can't eat curry all the time - too heavy for me - but place does it well.
If this was a review of curry
It would be five stars. That curry was delicious. But I was not too keen on my chicken katsu being 80% breading and 20% chicken. I ended up having to peel off all the breading and piling it on my plate. So gross. I like my curry with chicken. But if you enjoy eating fried breading with curry, then this is the place for you. -___-
Tips: If the barstools are all taken, take it to go. It's right next to the food court anyway.
Great local food. A must place to eat at when I come back home. Seating is pretty hard as they only have 7 or 8 barstool seats. Cash ONLY!!
Fried Chicken and Gyzoa Hot!! Enough said. Go and get it. The hot is not that spicy though so don't choose medium. Unless you're a whimp.
Cheap Local Comfort Food =)
2 stars for the yummy Cream Corn Croquettes! Too bad they don't have Tonkatsu sauce for dipping!
The fried chicken curry gets two thumbs down from me! The chicken itself tasted old & dry! The curry is too runny!
I can not leave Honolulu without eating at the Curry House. Tonkatsu curry, mild, 200 gm of rice, and gyoza please.
I'd love to try the squid ink curry but the disclaimer on the poster indicating it will temporarily stain your teeth... that just scares me. But according to my friend, it is pretty darn good.
There's copy cat curry houses on the mainland but they can not top Curry House Coco Ichibanya in Hawaii! Period.
These guys be killin it. There still is no such restaurant that I've eaten at that can compete with these guys and t heir curry. The unlimited amounts of toppings are insane. I'll have katsu with some dumplings and spinach in curry Damn!!!!
Yeah it's that god damn good. This ain't gourmet but man it's good eats. THe best bang for your buck you can be taken care of well below the $10 mark.
There's nothing like this in Cali unfortunately and they need to open one up in Los Angeles dammit. I'd be there every week.
You get what you're paying for. It's super filling and pretty cheap compared to other places. I usually get the mabo tofu or chicken katsu curry. Delicious! I do wish they would make their spicy....spicy. I've also tried the curry udon. It's like two meals in one, first you eat the udon noodles, and then you spoon some rice into the leftover curry sauce and gobble that up too.
Word of advice: don't try Calpico and curry together. Believe me, they taste much better separately.
Been going to Curry House since it first started up in Honolulu. I used to love it cause I was a poor student and it hit the spot without inflicting too much financial damage. Now I can't exactly say I'm a poor student anymore...but I still love Curry House. I think part of it is the nostalgia factor it brings back every time I sit down to a 500gm plate of Beef Curry Rice with Croquette...The other factor is that it just tastes good!
They serve portions ranging from 300 - 1300 grams. If you choose to take the Coco Challenge and finish the 1300 gm portion...The meal is on them! So go ahead and find your inner pig and go for it...Your waistband may not like it but your wallet will say "Mahalo".
Located inside the Ala Moana food court. Lots of different curry choices. We ordered the Shabu Shabu Beef and the fried chicken with curry and both were very good. Cheap dinner @ $16 for 2 entrees and one melon drink.
After a long day of beating people off of the sale tables at the Ala Moana Center, I started thinking, "Hmmmm...sure could go for a big bowl of MSG today for lunch..." and then VOILA! The Curry House appeared right before my eyes!
Now, I'm not saying they have msg in their food...but I've never had a Japanese curry that didn't have it prominently displayed on their box, like it's a Martha Stewart "good thing."
When I eat msg, my tongue tends to swell up to the size of a small planet. In fact, the last time someone snuck some of it in my food, my whole body became a blow up raft that just had it's string pulled.
The experience taught me that msg and me just don't get along. Which is fine, since most restaurants tend to avoid the nasty stuff. So I was hesitant to pick up a plate of curry from this mall restaurant.
However, I took the plunge nonetheless, because when I'm hungry, I eat pretty much anything within reach. This time, a big ol' plate of kim-chee curry was right there, and all for $5.00.
I have to admit, it was pretty friggin' awesome. I ate the entire plate, despite the fact that I started sweating like a hooker in church. It was spicy and hot, and hit the spot on a rainy day in Hawaii.
Now, I'm just waiting for the results of my human msg test. I sincerely hope I didn't just eat a big bowl of chemicals...but I'll try to look on the bright side. If I blow up to the size of a river raft, I'll come in handy when we go to the beach tomorrow.
Another "must" while visiting Hawaii is eating at Curry House. If you like Japanese curry then this is the place to visit. Get it spicy or mild. Me - I like it spicy. I usually get the chicken katsu curry but this time around I got the mabo tofu curry. This dish totally hit the spot.
My only complaint is that if you get it to-go your dish might spill as mine did a little. They need better packaging.
Located inside Ala Moana shopping center you will find this Curry House busy but it's definitely worth the wait. You can eat it in their tiny little area or in the main food court. Cash only.
OH I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU, CURRY HOUSE!
I discovered you in 1999 and everytime I'm not back in Hawaii (and when I'm there, I eat as much of it as I can), I crave it like mad. During my last trip to hawaii, I ordered 12 servings of curry (sauce, only) to go only to freeze them in bags in the hotel fridge and fly back with them to San Francisco. My favorite is the chicken katsu with CHEESE and kimchi :)
Ate here the first day in town, ate here the last day in town.... I'm thinking about getting a job here just so I can get the secret recipe.. this stuff is like Crack.. Please Mr. Coco Ichibanya San, open a franchise in the Northern California. I promise you will make lots of money.
Dang, why did I wait until the last day of my trip to eat here? If I had gone here on the first day… Read more »
Whenever I'm visiting Hawaii, Curry House is always on my list of places that I must go before I leave. I don't stray too far away from a usual curry plate; it's in the name after all. They give you endless ways to customize the dish to your palate. I go for chicken katsu or fried gyoza, served on a heaping pile of fluffy white rice with thick, sweet curry. With this particular location, I would recommend having it to-go and taking it to the food court. The portions are rather generous and more than fill me up.
I remember this place growing up but I have never stepped a foot inside, until my boyfriend & I came back 'home' (Hawaii) and he introduced me, being the ultimate curry freak that he is. (heh heh.)
I gotta say, this place is good. I always get their shabu shabu, not spicy - cause once, he told me spicy wasn't hot and it was indeed flaming hot. I'm weak like that, though I can eat sandwiches with jalapeno but I can't seem to eat spicy curry.
Service is always great & friendly and I love how they put a pitcher of water on each table... cause for anyone who knows me, knows how much water I can drink. So when you're tired of shopping in the overly-commercialized shopping mall that pretends to be the Great Mall of America sans roller coaster, give Curry House a try.
OH MY GOSH THIS PLACE IS SO FREAKIN' GOOD!!!
After reading all these yelp reviews before my trip to Honolulu, I had to go here and I ended up going twice in less than a week!
First time I had the Chicken Katsu & Cheese curry. I've never had cheese with my curry before but I am a cheese lover and this has become one of my favorite dishes of all time. They actually put cheese on top of either the rice or the katsu and it's nice and melted when you eat it. Who knew it'd work so well?
Another delightful surprise was the kimchee/beef curry. They actually put kim chee IN the curry sauce which changes the overall flavor of the curry for the BETTER!
The second time I went I had the Corn & Cheese Croquette curry. There are different kinds of croquettes but this one was minced potatoes shaped in a circle, dipped in breadcrumbs & then fried. They sprinkled some cheese on top of the two croquettes and then more cheese on the rice. It was pretty good but I needed some meat.
Both times that I went I shared the dish with someone and it was more than enough. When ordering, you can choose mild or spicy but even the spicy was not that spicy.
The last time i came to Hawaii was 4 years ago, and I remember eating here at least 5 times last time, and i sure was craving Coco Ichibanya since, and i had to suppress my cravings. I tried going to the Coco Ichibanya on Kuhio, but it was replaced the some cheese steak shop..WTH cheese steak over Japanese curry FTMFL!.... so the only other one i knew about was the one at the A La Moana mall! I could smell it throughout the food court, it was just calling my name. Let me tell you just had a huge dim sum lunch 2 hours prior to this and i still finish the whole lunch plate of gyoza and chicken cutlet curry!
It was pure heaven. In my opinion, Japanese curry is way better than thai, indian, or any other curry. They flavors are just unexplainable. I should open one of these in the Bay Area! Haha i should bring the Hawaiian flavors to the Bay!
This place is amazing. It is actually a chain, the first time I had it was in Japan (close to Yokosuka), when I saw it in Hawaii I was so excited.
I miss this place...the chicken curry katsu is to die for.
I LOVE this place!!! Japanese-style curry any way you like it. My favorite is the mapo tofu curry with a side of chicken katsu.
This place has a very bright yellow decor, but it's clean and service is efficient. They also have yummy fukujinzuke (japanese pickled veggies) that you can also buy to take home with you.
For those with huge appetites, they had a curry challenge where if you eat something like over a pound of curry in less than an hour, your meal is free (don't remember the exact rules of the contest, but it's a lot like those mega-steak eating contests at some steak houses)
Eating here is a requirement everytime we visit Honolulu. I can't wait to go back for more mapo tofu curry with chicken katsu.
An example of just how much we find that eating here is a priority on every visit to Honolulu - the last time we were in town, we were there to be in a wedding. We landed in the early afternoon (around 1pm), needed to check-in to our hotel, go across town to get the husband fitted for the tux, go back across town and go to the wedding rehearsal by 5pm. We thought there was a Curry House by our hotel, because we remembered there being one on Kuhio. It was gone. We got back into the car, drove up town to the Kapiolani Blvd location and scarfed down our curry. We made it back just in time for the rehearsal -- and then went to an all you can eat buffet for dinner... ha ha...
My friend and I ate here a couple of weeks ago and I ordered my usual, the mild vegetable curry. The warm, smooth curry is so flavorful poured all over the hot steamed rice. The curry arrived in good portions along with a multitude of mixed veggies.
It can get pretty crowded at times because it is located in Ala Moana Center, but I feel it is worth the wait for a seat. (Usually no longer than 5 - 10 minutes.) I would much rather sit at their counter than walk back into the mall's food court area to fight for seating.
I am not the biggest curry fan, but I love this place!
Food: ****
Service: ***
Ambiance: **
Value: ****
mmMM curry. I was always amazed by the pictures of the now defunct curry challenge. Youd see the tiniest people finishing the curry challenge, where do they put all that rice? The curry challenge was to finish a massive plate of curry and rice under 60 minutes.
I usually have the kalbi and scallop combo, spicy always.
Honolulu, HI
Category: Japanese
Honolulu, HI
Category: Japanese
Aiea, HI
Category: Japanese
Wahiawa, HI
Category: Bakeries
Honolulu, HI
Category: Japanese
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