Happy Valley Pasta & Pizza

Happy Valley Pasta & Pizza! Just like how the owner chose the name, it's on the bottom of Diamond Head (valley), they offer pasta and pizza with a Japanese twist, which makes their customer's belly happy. We came here after a morning at the zoo, so the kids were ready to dive in and have some pizza. They have lunch specials from 11 am to 3pm, you get a salad and drink with all ordering of pasta and pizza. Here's what we ordered:

Meat meat meat pizza - loaded with pepperoni, sausage, and chicken karage.

Calamari and cod rod pasta - Light Japanese sauce layered the spaghetti topped with nori.


Meatball pasta - house made meatball with red sauce.
Chicken and broccoli pizza - Japanese chicken karage and broccoli with cream sauce.

Great meal at a value price! The restaurant is roomy and provides a relaxing atmosphere for the whole family.

My kids could eat pasta, bread and pizza everyday of their life if they could. After a long fun day at the zoo my family needed to refuel. We searched on Yelp and found Happy Valley Pasta was close by. We lucked out and got the Happy Lunch Special.

HAPPY LUNCH SPECIAL
Time: 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
What: When you order any PASTA, PIZZA or RISTTOS
It comes with a FREE beverage and FREE salad

SERVICE:
There were only 2 servers when we arrived. The restaurant at the time was half full. Happy Valley does not have a kids menu and does not serve small portions. Our server was quite attentive to us and we enjoyed our experience.

PARKING:
There is not much parking near the restuarant that shares it's parking lot with other establishments.

ITEMS WE TRIED:
-appetizer-
Cheese Focaccia: The bread is made from their homemade pizza dough. It's seasoned with olive oil, salt, hers, and mounds of cheese. It was nice and crisp on the edges, and the cheese was baked on just perfectly. My family and I thoroughly enjoyed it eating it.

-entrees-
Bacon, Seven Veggies & Gorgonzola Cream: My husband enjoyed his dish. It's rice porridge with bacon, fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, olives, broccoli, mushrooms, corn, and Gorgonzola cheese.

Grilled Chicken & Basil Pesto: They use grilled chicken breast, brocolli, red peppers (it didn't state that it had this in the menu). The meat was nice and tender, brocolli had a nice subtle crunch, and the pesto wasn't to overbearing. I enjoyed my dish but I got full from eating the cheese focaccia, trying my childrens slice of pizza, and eating the salad. It was nice to eat the following day.

Pepperonian (special request only pepperoni): The pizza is 12 inches. It feed my 3 boys and we had left overs. My children and I enjoyed it.

OVERALL:
My family and I had a nice experience. We enjoyed the food and the service was great. We will return to try other dishes.

My friend chose to have dinner here for his last meal in Honolulu, before he relocates to northern California. I was curious as I've enjoyed Japanese style Italian food at several other establishments in Honolulu. This was just OK.

Parking is a super small lot but we were lucky to find a spot on the street right outside the restaurant.

We shared the Happy Sampler which featured four types of fried items with marinara dipping sauce: French fries (nice & crispy), shrimp, calamari pieces & karaage chicken. It was pretty salty & I downed a cup of water to dilute my salt intake. I felt like I needed to eat a salad after eating so much fried items.

I had the seafood (shrimp, scallops & calamari) in pink sauce over pasta which I found to be a little heavy but the seafood was cooked well (tender & not overdone). I only ate half of my dish & took the rest home. I didn't really eat lunch & my stomach was growling when I ordered this & I wish I ordered something lighter or shared this with someone. I also wanted to save room dessert since I love ending my meals with something sweet.

My friend had the calamari & cod roe in cream sauce over spaghetti & devoured his whole portion. He said that he liked his, although it was a bit heavy, as the cod roe added a good flavor to the cream sauce. He was too full to eat dessert on his own so I ordered a panna cotta to share. It was good, smooth with berry sauce & was a nice ending to our meal.

Service is OK & efficient. Decor is a little funky with pink walls, green cushioned chairs (we sat in the front dining room).

I heard Cheese Cheese Cheese x Honey Pizza is good so I came down to try today.
It was really cheesy and sweet & salty at the same time.
Gorgonzola cream pasta was.... Over cocked then not good. But lunch social comes with salad and drink so I guess it is pretty good deal.

Split decision here.
The Chicken Caesar salad - Pleasant surprise with thick slices of chicken breast not the normal square little chicken cubes you normally get. The dressing was medium rich and not too much. The croutons were just enough to add some crispness and remained toasty.
Four Stars.

The Pepperoni with mixed veggies pizza - well, the taste was there and it looked better than what the crust exposed. The crust was soggy with oil - not appealing. Ended up scrapping off the top, throwing away the middle crust and eating just the crispier outer crusts. Not the way you want to eat a pizza.
Two Stars.

Six divided by two = Three stars.

Had dinner there last night. Ordered drinks and ended up having to go to the bar and get them myself because the waitress forgot. I've been there several times. The food is always good. They make a great tasting white sauce it just needs a little thickening, it's very watery in texture. Their pizzas are delicious with just the right crunchy to the crust. The decor is very simple so don't expect anything glamorous or romantic. The place could actually use a spruce up. I'm not giving more then three stars because the service needs working. Could be more welcoming, staff is rather robotic.

UPDATE!!! Just left this place and my stomach is turning. 3 ROACHES visiting our table while we dine. Brought it to the staff attention and he blamed the yoga place above them and also mentioned that it's an old building. Server never greeted us or introduced himself. Maybe heard 5 words out of him. No personality whatsoever in this place. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!

I really have to update my review from 5 years ago, now that I have dined there for the past two days. Their lunch special is an epic deal. I have loved CPK's garlic cream pasta since I was a kid. Now it seems like cooked pasta with a few table spoons of sauce to barely coat the pasta.

I have now found my love once again. Between 11a - 5p you may order any dish and get a free side salad and a choice of drink. Fortunately my garlic cream pasta is only $10, so yes this is an epic deal. Their portions are also very large so you will not leave full.

I can believe its already been 5 years since they opened. I hope are planning to stay for a lot longer.

This place was actually pretty good. My dad, the man whose diet consists primarily of red meat & cheese, recommended this place & wanted to try its risotto. I was a bit skeptical at first because of the inconsistent Yelp reviews, but he was offering + free lunch is free lunch right!!! Well of course some good old quality time with the father.... Heh heh

The parking lot is unfortunately very tiny as everyone has said, plus it is shared with the yoga place upstairs. It wasn't hard to find street parking though!

Many people have complained about the service, but I actually found our service to be very attentive. Sunday early afternoon was pretty dead, so I would hope so!! Our waiter also gave me a lot of suggestions when I asked which was nice. I went with his suggestion & got the cheese, cheese, cheese & honey pizza, which has 3 different types of cheese and honey! I LOVE BLENDING SAVORY & SWEET!! It was unique, tasty, and HUGE so it served as my lunch the next day as well. One warning though- if you don't like gorgonzola, stay away, because the flavor can get strong.

My dad got the bacon and gorgonzola risotto. It looked a bit soupy & kind of like the chef threw in whatever was in the kitchen- a mixture of veggies (broccoli, carrots, corn, olives?! lol), etc. + bacon. But, don't judge a book by its cover right? NOM. It was very flavorful (smokey bacon, mmm!) and not too rich, yet not too watery. Watery risottos are the worst!

Bonus feature that we didn't know about- free salad + drink for the lunch special! Nice deal! Dishes run about $10-17 for lunch I'd say.

I hope this place makes it... not sure how the dinner service is, but for lunch, the food is pretty reasonable. Next time I'll have to try the Japanese pastas-- they have tarako (fish roe) and chicken karaage!!

Fusion of Asian Italian food. Love their uni and pink seafood pastas, their pizzas are interesting mix of toppings like calamari, Hawaiian sausage, and vegetables.
Affordable, tasty and nice service.

Don't take this the wrong way but seeing the amount of tourists crowding this place always turned me off from trying it. It wasn't until my friend insisted we eat here that I finally gave in, and I'm so happy I did.

The karaage chicken pesto pasta is absolutely to die for. The taste isn't so heavy compared to the cream or tomato based sauces and the chicken is always cooked to perfection. The dish is a bit oilier for my taste but that's what you get with pesto. The Happy Salad is also another dish I recommend. It's loaded with lettuce, olives, chicken, tomatoes, broccoli, cheese, and smoked salmon and the dressing just ties everything together so well.

Service is a bit slower especially during lunch, but the staff is always friendly.

Other info:
Small parking lot to the side of the building
Stamp card! $5 off your next meal when you fill it up
Lunch special-free side salad and drink with entree