Okazuya is how a lot of us grew up eating on Oʻahu. You walk up to a glass case, point at what looks good, and someone behind the counter builds your plate as you go.
Fried chicken. Cone sushi. Nishime. A scoop of potato mac if you want it. Everything is cooked already and ready to grab.
The catch is timing. Most okazuya open before sunrise and sell out by lunch.
Show up at 11 for the good stuff and you might be looking at empty trays.
Below are eight okazuya we keep coming back to, from Nuʻuanu to Kāneʻohe. We include hours, what to order, and a few things worth knowing before you go.
Related: Best Plate Lunch on Oʻahu, Best SPAM Musubi on Oʻahu, and Best Katsu on Oʻahu.
What Okazuya Means, and Where It Came From
The word is simple. Okazu means side dishes. Ya means shop. Together they make a shop that sells the sides that fill a plate lunch or a bento.
The roots run back to the plantation days. Japanese families came to work Hawaiʻi’s sugar and pineapple fields in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and they brought the okazuya idea with them.
Field work started before dawn, so workers needed food they could carry. A counter full of ready-made okazu solved it. You grabbed rice, a few sides, and headed out.
That early rhythm never left. It is why most okazuya still open in the dark and close by early afternoon.
Over the decades the okazuya spread past its Japanese roots. Filipino, Chinese, Portuguese, and Hawaiian neighbors folded into the same counters, and the menus grew to match.
That is why a modern okazuya case can hold cone sushi next to a hot dog musubi, teriyaki beef, and a Portuguese bean dish. It all counts as local food now.
You can taste the plantation camps in a single case. Japanese sushi and nishime, a Portuguese sweet roll, kim chee from the Korean side, Filipino-style fried chicken.
Okazuya, Plate Lunch, and Bento, Explained
These three overlap, and locals mix the terms all the time. A quick sort helps.
A plate lunch is a hot, made-to-order meal: two scoop rice, mac salad, and a main like chicken katsu or kalbi. You order it and eat it fresh.
Okazuya food is already cooked and sitting in the case. You build the plate yourself, piece by piece, and it travels well cold.
A bento is just that okazuya plate boxed to go. Same food, packed neat for the beach, the office, or a flight home.
The case format is the whole appeal. You see every option, portion it your way, and skip the wait of a hot line.
How to Order at an Okazuya
The system is quick once you know it. You point, they pack.
Tell the counter how much rice you want, then call out the okazu you like. They box it, add up the pieces, and ring you up.
Rice is the base. Most spots pour white rice, and some do brown rice or a rice-bottom bento where the okazu sits right on top.
Portions are generous and the containers are simple. Do not expect table service or a dining room. You order, you pay, you take it to go.
Most plates land between about $6 and $12, depending on how much you pile on. Prices creep up with the fancier fish and shrimp.
Bring cash. Some counters still skip cards, and a few set a card minimum.
Go early. We cannot say this enough.
Chasing andagi, the Okinawan doughnut? Call ahead. The good spots fry it in small batches, and it disappears first.
8 Okazuya on Oʻahu Worth Waking Up For
We spread these across town, Kalihi, the east side, central Oʻahu, and the Windward side, so one is probably near where your morning starts.
We left plenty off this list. Oʻahu has more okazuya, and the neighbor islands keep their own favorites. These eight are the ones we send friends to first.
Nuʻuanu Okazuya (Downtown)
📍 Nuʻuanu Okazuya, 1351 Nuʻuanu Ave, Honolulu, HI 96817
This one sits at the edge of Chinatown and draws a steady line. Regulars come for the chicken katsu, the house-made fried fishcake, and cone sushi packed tight and a little sweet.
The andagi is the move if you can plan ahead. Pre-order it, since the counter batch sells out early.
Most items run about $1 to $3 each, so a loaded plate stays friendly on the wallet.
Open Monday through Saturday, 5 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Sunday 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Phone (808) 533-6169. Menu at nuuanuokazuyahi.com.
Fukuya Delicatessen (Mōʻiliʻili)
📍 Fukuya Delicatessen, 2710 S King St, Honolulu, HI 96826
Fukuya has held down its Mōʻiliʻili corner since 1939, and it still runs like a proper okazuya and catering house.
Get the nori chicken, boneless and wrapped in seaweed before it hits the fryer. The misoyaki butterfish, nishime, and furikake ahi are steady picks too.
It also caters big, so you will sometimes see party trays and funeral orders moving out the door alongside your small plate.
Open Wednesday through Sunday, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., closed Monday and Tuesday. Phone (808) 946-2073. See the spread at fukuyadeli.com.
St. Louis Delicatessen (Kaimukī)
📍 St. Louis Delicatessen, 3147 Waiʻalae Ave, Honolulu, HI 96816
A small, family-run counter on Waiʻalae Avenue that has been at it since the 1970s. The fried chicken is the reason to come.
Add cone sushi and a scoop of noodles and you have a plate. It is cash only, and the case usually empties by early afternoon.
Open Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Get there early on a Saturday. Phone (808) 732-0955.
Gulick Delicatessen (Kalihi)
📍 Gulick Delicatessen, 1512 Gulick Ave, Honolulu, HI 96819
Gulick is the kind of neighborhood counter where the trays look like a painting by 6 a.m. The teriyaki beef and garlic chicken move fast, and the musubi selection runs deep.
It keeps longer hours than most, which makes it a solid backup when the early spots have sold out. Parking on Gulick Avenue is tight, so give yourself a minute.
Open Monday through Friday, 5 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Saturday 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed Sunday. Phone (808) 847-1461.
Mitsu-Ken (Kalihi)
📍 Mitsu-Ken Okazu and Catering, 2300 N King St, Honolulu, HI 96819
People drive across town for one thing here. The garlic chicken: boneless fried chicken tossed in a sweet, sticky glaze and piled over rice.
Bring cash and come hungry. A garlic chicken bowl runs a few dollars and eats like a full meal.
Open Wednesday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to noon, closed Sunday through Tuesday. Phone (808) 848-5573.
Mitsuba Delicatessen (Kalihi)
📍 Mitsuba Delicatessen, 1218 N School St, Honolulu, HI 96817
Mitsuba is old school, and it opens while the rest of the island is still asleep. This is a before-work stop, running Wednesday through Saturday and closing by late morning.
They cook in small batches, so the early crowd eats best. Get there in the first hour or two for the full lineup of chicken, sushi, and sides.
Hours at spots like this shift, so call before you drive over. Phone (808) 841-3864.
Kabuki Restaurant and Delicatessen (ʻAiea)
📍 Kabuki Restaurant and Delicatessen, Waimalu Shopping Center, 98-020 Kamehameha Hwy, ʻAiea, HI 96701
Kabuki has fed the Waimalu side since 1961, and its deli took first place for Best Okazuya in the Star-Advertiser Hawaiʻi’s Best awards.
The selection is big, which makes it a good first okazuya while you are still learning the items. Grab a little of everything: cone sushi, nishime, a fried something, and a musubi.
Being open every day makes it the easy call on a Sunday, when half the okazuya are dark. The counter runs seven days a week, 5:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Phone (808) 487-2424.
Masa & Joyce (Kāneʻohe)
📍 Masa & Joyce, 45-582 Kamehameha Hwy, Kāneʻohe, HI 96744
The Windward pick. Masa & Joyce blends okazuya with local plate lunch and Hawaiian food, so you can build a bento or sit down to a bowl of oxtail soup.
Grab the chicken katsu and cone sushi for the okazuya staples. If the oxtail soup is on, that alone is worth the drive over the Pali.
Open Monday and Wednesday through Saturday, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Sunday 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Closed Tuesday. Phone (808) 235-6129. More at masaandjoyce.com.
What to Order if You Have Never Been
Okazuya food has its own vocabulary. A few things worth knowing before you point at the case.
Cone sushi is sweet, seasoned rice tucked into a pocket of fried tofu skin. Nishime is a plate of simmered root vegetables and konbu, soft and a touch sweet.
Namasu is a cold, tangy cucumber salad that cuts through all the fried stuff. It is the palate cleaner your plate needs.
For protein, nori chicken and garlic chicken are the crowd favorites. Shoyu chicken, teriyaki beef, and mochiko chicken show up at most counters too.
Korokke is a potato croquette, crisp outside and creamy in the middle. Shrimp and vegetable tempura are easy wins.
Maki sushi rolls, cut and ready, are a safe grab for the keiki. A hot dog musubi, rice and a split hot dog wrapped in nori, is the okazuya answer to a corn dog.
Save room for andagi. The Okinawan doughnut is crunchy outside, cakey inside, and best a little warm.
Okazuya and the Holidays
Okazuya really shine around the holidays. New Year is the big one.
Families pre-order trays of nishime, sushi, and andagi for New Year’s, and the counters run flat out for days. Boys’ Day and graduation season bring another rush.
If you want food for a holiday, order a week ahead. Walk-in odds drop hard when the whole island is buying party trays.
New Year is when many of us first learned these shops. Grandma sent us to pick up the andagi and nishime, and the habit stuck.
How We Fit Okazuya Into a Day
Okazuya food travels, which makes it perfect trip fuel. We grab a bento on the way to the beach or a hike and eat it with sand on our feet.
A cold plate of cone sushi and fried chicken holds up for hours in a cooler. It beats a gas-station musubi, and it costs about the same.
For a packed Oʻahu day, we route past an okazuya that opens early. Breakfast and lunch, sorted in one stop.
A Few Things Worth Knowing
Timing is everything. Most okazuya open early and close by early afternoon, and the best items go first. If a spot lists 1 p.m., treat noon as your real deadline.
Carry cash. Several counters are cash only or set a card minimum, and an ATM run before the line saves stress.
Some okazu is priced by the piece, some by weight. Noodles, namasu, and nishime often come by the pint or pound, so say how many you are feeding.
Call ahead for big orders and for andagi. New Year and Boys’ Day get slammed, and okazuya take pre-orders for exactly those days.
Portions are generous and the value is strong. A plate that fills you up rarely climbs past the low teens.
These are small family counters, so know roughly what you want before you reach the register. The line behind you will thank you.
Our move is simple. Pick the okazuya closest to where your morning starts, get there in the first hour, and try one new thing next to your usuals.
That is how you land on your own okazuya order. Ours took years and a lot of cone sushi.
More from Wanderlustyle
Best Manapua on Oʻahu: the pork bun that shares Chinatown roots with your okazuya run.
Best Saimin on Oʻahu: Hawaiʻi’s own noodle soup, another plantation-era classic.
Best Dim Sum on Oʻahu: point-and-pick eating, Cantonese style.
Oʻahu Bakeries Worth the Drive: for malasadas, shokupan, and more sweet-dough runs.
The Ultimate Hawaiʻi Food Guide for First-Time Visitors: the whole island on one plate.
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