Pioneer Saloon at SALT Kaka’ako

Thank goodness for good friends, weekends, and beautiful weather! On Saturday, I met up with three of my friends at SALT in Kaka’ako for a late lunch. We decided to eat at Pioneer Saloon, and sat at one of their outdoor tables. We also happened to be there just in time for happy hour (2:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.). They don’t serve alcohol to their outdoor seating area, but we were able to take advantage of the food items on the happy hour menu. (note: If you do sit inside for happy hour, they’ve got Asahi Super Dry for $2.99 and red or white wine for $3 a glass.)

As a pescatarian, I was in heaven with all of the fish options. In fact, we all ordered some sort of fish. If fish isn’t your thing, they also had lots of chicken, beef, and pork options. There were also some curries on the menu that sounded delicious.

I ordered the garlic ahi steak. If you’re a fan of garlic ahi, this is definitely a place you want to try. The garlic flavor was fairly strong, which I liked, and the amount of food was filling for me.

There were 3 different rice options-white, brown, or their special shisowakame rice. I loved the shisowakame rice, but you can skip it if you’re not a shiso fan.

We all enjoyed our food, and I would definitely go back again. I am interested in trying their vegetarian Japanese curry and mahi mahi katsu.

• Pioneer Saloon in SALT Kaka’ako: 675 Auahi St., Honolulu, HI 96813
• 808-600-5612
• www.pioneer-saloon.net/
• call ahead and take out, if you don’t feel like dining in
• parking in SALT parking structure (Pioneer Saloon validates) or street parking
• Feels: casual and comfortable with food coming out fairly fast
• Service: efficient
• open: Mon-Sat 11am-9pm Sun 11am-3pm