There are surprisingly not a lot of food tours to choose from in Honolulu. My first choice, Hawaii Food Tours, was still closed from the pandemic. As a chef, I try to do a food tour any time I go on vacation to a new spot and booked this June 16, in plenty of time before we arrived. It got great reviews and seemed to cover everything we wanted to see and taste.
Upon landing in HNL Sunday, I got a phone message from the company that the time of our tour had been changed from 10 am to a pickup at our lobby at 1:20 pm. We texted back that we would plan on being picked up at the Hilton Grand Waikikian at 1:20 pm on Weds.
We were out there on time yesterday excited and waiting for our fun tour. No one showed at the designated time. At 1:25 pm I texted the contact to see if they were coming and got the message “Thank you. Will be there soon. Sorry.” Then another text, “Traffic.”
At 1:45 pm I texted again to ask if they were still coming? The response “I am so sorry. I am not sure what happen.” Then I got a call from the driver (and guide?) that he would be there soon that he’d gone to the wrong hotel. Waited some more. Then he called to tell us he was here! “I’m out front in the black van at valet.” Uh no. He was at the wrong hotel again.
He offered to refund our money and still do the tour. He was right around the corner and would be there quickly. That sounded OK. We waited a few more minutes. It was now after 2 pm. No black van.
We decided someone who couldn’t find our hotel probably wasn’t going to do a very good food tour either. This tour isn’t cheap at $375 for two people. We expected an organized, professional experience. Their website said we were having “A True Hawaii Culinary Experience with Emmy Award Winner Lanai Tabura.” I don’t think that was anywhere close to what we were going to get?
Hey Mr Tour Driver …Try Google Maps next time - our hotel readily pops up and is easy to find.
We did a circle tour with Hawaii Turtle Tours the day before and had lots of fun and an overall organized, professional experience.
That’s not what we got from the Aloha Plate Food Tour. This was all we had planned for the day. We were very disappointed that we didn’t get our food tour and wasted much of our day. Time is as precious as money. Think twice about booking this one.