Aloha Shrimp

Posted April 25, 2023

This shrimp truck is located on Kamehameha Highway towards the north east end of Oahu between Hauula and the Shrimp Shack. As you’re driving north on this highway, it will be on your left side. The truck seems not very mobile, and for whatever reason has very high ratings on Yelp. Because Hawaii is pretty well known for these shrimp trucks, we decided to check this out after our Kualoa excursion.

Ambiance & Service

The truck is situated in a small dirt, rocky parking area. There are a bunch of wooden tables with a canopy above it which seem like a semi-permanent fixture. The truck operator does take credit card, so no worries if you do not have cash. The food took about 5-10 minutes to come out after ordering.

Food

We got the Garlic Shrimp and Lemon Shrimp ($14.99 each) which both came with shrimp, rice, corn, and a pineapple wedge. The shrimp tasted pretty plump and juicy. Both the garlic and lemon flavored sauces were pretty good. The corn though tasted like it was canned, and the pineapple wedge was nothing special. Was it worth $15? I think it was pretty good, but it was not something that I was ecstatic in uncontrollable ways. Lucky for us, there was not much of a line nor crowd here, so the food came really quick. I supposed if you are really craving shrimp, this is a reasonable choice.

Final Verdict

The shrimp tasted pretty fresh and were decent size. For the price, it was adequate, but it did not completely satisfy my appetite. Nonetheless, it is a decent place to have an afternoon lunch if you’re on the northeast side of Oahu.

Yelp Jabs

The lemon also helps subdue the fishyness (though our shrimp smelled perfectly fine). Also loved the texture of the shrimp, as it had a slight crunch to it. I know a lot of the garlic shrimps sometimes are doused in seasoning/sauce that make them really wet and soggy.

I tasted no fishy-ness in either shrimps that we ordered. I think the lemon is more to help it accentuate the sea than to subdue the fishy-ness.

The shrimp themselves were juicy and perfect, not dried out. The sauce was so good that we ended up making sure that we soaked every last drop with the rice.

The sauce is definitely not mind-blowing. Anything with butter will taste good with rice.

Revisions

  1. Apr 25, 2023 - Initial revision.