I tried these places in on East Washington St today at lunch. This area is now done too. The area was pleasantly empty. I even found a parking space though the main area near the lake was closed off. They had a marathon earlier.
808 - The area code for Hawaii. They opened in August. I had the two item platter for $14. I chose the Kalua pork and grouper fingers with white rice and macaroni salad. Served in a cafeteria tray. Lei type flower in the middle. The pork was ok. A tad dry on the outside. Probably oldish. They topped it with a tropical barbeque sauce. Big Portion. Three grouper fingers in a bloated tempura coat. Made them look bigger. I believe the grouper was frozen. It may not have totally been defrosted inside. Bland. Needs a sauce. I finally realized (near the end) that there was soy sauce on the table. That helped. Rice was good. Mac too. I tried mixing it up. A forkful of mac and pork was the best. You can add a wide variety of menu items to a platter (ie tuna or salmon poke, chicken, spam, etc). They sell pokes, handhelds, apps, etc. They were doing brunch (eggs, macadamia nut pancakes, etc) until 2pm. Probably just a weekend thing. Some traditional things like spam masubi and loco moco (burger patty and gravy dish). It's a fair representation of island food. Not a fast casual place. Sit down. Fifteen four person high tops. Thirty seats at an end to end bar in the center. Sixteen seats in the front patio area. High ceilings. Woody. Surfboards. I think Dexter's was here before them. Half price drinks during the day. A card said. Double check. About ten people there. Not a ton of Hawaiian options in CF. Could be better. But, could be worse. Not a waste of time. Service was good.
Island Time - I think I reviewed them already. Forgot to check. Been there before. Not sure what it was called. Why I've ignored them. If I have. Open as this for nine years. They said this. Seems exaggerated. New owner for the last two years. That seems more like it. Now they serve more food. I got the Mangu for $12. Why? Craziest thing of course. They said it is Dominican. Google agrees. It was one runny egg with ground sausage and smashed green plantains. Egg (thankfully) wasn't that runny. One is not enough though. Sausage and plantain were good. Better overall than I expected. Ate it for dinner. Also had needless avocado slice and tomatoes. Small place. Most of the action is in front on the patio. Small bar inside. One waitress. One cook. One stove. They had about ten brunch items. Dinner menu was lightly bigger. I remember: a Jamaican grits and shrimp dish, deviled eggs, burger, etc. When you go past it at night, it seems like a bar. More expansive though. As you can see. Caribbean. Anglicized. Porch area was filled.
Sperry Deli & Creamery - Across the street from Island Time. Kind of grubby. Barely a creamery. Just a display container of Hershey's ice cream and sandwiches and salads (as in tuna). Small patio in front. I made my own sandwich for $8. 8" hoagie of turkey and swiss and Russian dressing. Turkey could have been Boarshead. It was in a package. They sliced it. Swiss was pre-cut. Lettuce was meh. Tomato was fresh. Too little dressing. Roll was mass produced and still under baked and over floured. Those need to go. That's the problem. It seems to want to be bougie. It's just ordinary. It wouldn't take much to fit into the neighborhood. The guy said it may close. I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Or. Do better! Clean the place up. Decorate it cutely. Get some better product. It has been open for two years.
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