The Chowder House
Honolulu, Oahu
Late night chowder cravings brought us here. Our last visit was quite awhile ago and we recalled some decent chowder. Chowder House is located in Ward Warehouse. There were about 7 other tables occupied at around 9pm.
We were promptly served some water and given our menus. Service was very friendly.
They have a bar with some beers on tap. I tried a Keoki Gold Draft brewed in Kauai ($3.25) for the first time.
This was a very refreshing, somewhat fruity, medium-bodied beer. It kept a nice head too.
We both ordered chowders: one New England Clam Chowder and one Corn Chowder ($4.75 each).
The chowders filled our chowder cravings, but they didn’t taste like what we remember them. Both of the chowders tasted a bit watery. The clam chowder, to me, tasted too starchy and not creamy enough. I think the corn chowder actually tasted better. What made it even worse was that the clam chowder was served warm, not hot!
We also halved a hamburger deluxe w/fries ($7.25) to go with our chowders.
This burger was hit and miss. The burger patty was fresh tasting, flame grilled, tender and not over cooked. The bun crumbled as eating it. Toasting the bun might’ve helped it. The fries were the worst! Many of them were chewy, soggy and oily. If you zoom in on the fries you can see what I mean. We ended up not finishing the fries, and rarely do I waste french fries.
This “Ginger Fire” sauce was sitting with the other condiments and it caught my attention.
I sampled it on the burger, and it tasted yummy. Then I sampled it in the chowder and it was… yummy but kind of weird. This sauce had a hot ginger kick, sort of like the heat that comes with eating raw ginger. The heat hits sharp and hard but did not linger too long. Interesting stuff.
Although our chowder cravings were fulfilled, I’m sure there are better places for chowder in Hawaii. Maybe we came here on a bad day?
The Chowder House
1050 Ala Moana Blvd
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 596-7944
December 1st, 2005 at 9:04 pm
… or maybe they got a different chef?? :-O How disappointing that experience was… diba! Let’s hunt for another chowder place to eat.
December 2nd, 2005 at 5:41 pm
Wow!!! When you said a $7.25 burger and fries, I had to enlarge your photo to take a good look. Looks as disappointing as Reid’s $7 something burger from “da most southern restaurant”. That’s too bad. Also, really too bad their chowders aren’t as good as before. Use to love their chowder many moons ago. Use to be a nice way to end the evening with a warm tummy. Hope you find a good chowder somewhere.
December 3rd, 2005 at 9:38 pm
Used to go to the Chowder House frequently a long time ago. Over the years, the service and quality of food has greatly diminished. I used to like the food but these days, I only stop by if the other people I’m with want to. And, the prices have risen but not the quality or quantity. A group of us was shoppping at Ward Warehouse last month and ecided to have a quick lunch there. When we entered, there were only a few people there. However, we waited over 15 minutes after being seated and no one gave us water or took our order or even gave us a menu…and we saw other tables that had been seated after us being helped. We were totally upset and left. A waiter chased after us after we had gone about a 100 yds out of the place and gave some lame excuses. I am definitely NOT going back there again and do not recommend it for any one else. For the price, you can get a decent meal anywhere else.
December 3rd, 2005 at 10:50 pm
Hi James,
I wish I knew that you were going there. I would have warned you not to. That place is terrible now. *sigh* And to think I used to eat there every couple of weeks years ago….
December 5th, 2005 at 9:46 am
James,
Too bad the food sucked! But good to see you “expanding your horizons.”
December 6th, 2005 at 11:53 am
diner, thanks for stopping by! That’s a terrible experience. It seems like the only good thing about this place is its location! And yes, the prices were way too high for the food.
Reid, yeah, I’m quite dissapointed. I just hope that this post prevents others from going there!
kyle, yeah too bad… all we wanted was some good chowder. /sigh
June 14th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I went there today, was bymyself, but wanted a window table, the waiter went to seat me, I said where I wanted to sit, he said NO, not I’m sorry that those tables are for larger parties, I counted 4 booths, and there was no one else wanting to get in. So it doesn’t make sense that they didn’t want to seat me. I asked for the manager, the guy said he was the manager. Told me that If I didn’t like it, I could leave. How rude. So I left, wish I saw your blog earlier. I’ll never go back there.