The Ultimate Sports Bar Serving Poke Perfection

Featuring ESPN on multiple screens, vintage booths patched up with duct tape, and an array of beer memorabilia, Home Bar & Grill embodies the classic American sports bar experience. The atmosphere is decidedly blue-collar, with construction workers and off-duty chefs often unwinding during happy hour. The room buzzes with noise under harsh fluorescent lights, and a simple note in the restroom requests patrons to flush once. Like many American sports bars, Home Bar supports a football team—specifically the Seahawks, one of the few West Coast teams the locals cheer for—and decorates its space to reflect this allegiance.

Distinct from most American sports bars, Home Bar draws a primarily Asian/Pacific Islander crowd. Its menu is a showcase of what locals in Hawai‘i call 'local food': from seared ‘ahi sashimi and Parmesan truffle fries with pepperoni chips to togarashi-spiced chicken wings and crinkle fries. The ‘ahi poke, marinated in shoyu with onions, scallions, and limu (seaweed), is meant to be enjoyed as a communal snack with friends over a few beers—not as a solitary desk lunch. Embrace your poke bowls, but know they’re meant for sharing.

Hawai‘i, with its non-white majority, warmly welcomes everyone to Home Bar, though it shuns pretentious mainland attitudes. The local dialect includes a Hawai‘i accent or Hawaiian pidgin English, and the regional cuisine is embraced by all. To truly grasp Hawai‘i’s culture, one must experience it firsthand, and Home Bar offers an ideal introduction.

Guests at Home Bar Kent Nishimura

Having grown up in Hawai‘i with my family rooted there since the 1800s, I quickly realized that mainlanders often hold misconceptions about my home, and those notions are nearly always off the mark. I remember visiting a ranch in Jackson, Wyoming as a child, where other kids would ask if I lived in a grass hut or if I’d ever been to America before. Unfortunately, the Industrial Revolution didn't leave many habitable grass huts in Hawai‘i, and the U.S. has been a presence there since the 1800s (but that’s a different story).

Is Hawai‘i an island paradise? It can be, but that’s a view held by outsiders who imagine it as a perpetual, luxurious beach day. For locals, Honolulu on O‘ahu is much like any other major American city: it's crowded, has crazy traffic, and is plagued by suburban sprawl. With around 1.4 million residents in Hawai‘i, approximately a million of whom are packed onto O‘ahu—an island you can drive around in just two hours—the city deals with class divides, racial tensions, homelessness, and divisive policies. Yet, like any city, food remains the unifying factor in Honolulu.

What truly makes Hawai‘i unique—both as a state and as a culinary hub—is the rich tapestry of cultural exchanges among various immigrant groups who’ve coexisted for centuries. It's not only about the state's impressive array of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Hawaiian, and Filipino dishes, but also how these cuisines blend with traditional American fare. This fusion is vividly showcased at Home Bar.

Wafu Steak with kabayaki-braised onion and mushroom; B’s “negi toro”; Big John’s kimchee fried rice Kent Nishimura

For a top-notch pan-Asian culinary experience, start with their kimchi fried rice. It's Korean in origin but distinctly fusion with peas, Portuguese sausage (linguica), generous garlic, and a couple of over-easy eggs on top. Then, try the kalbi fried noodles, which feature marinated short ribs served on the bone over Japanese-style fried saimin noodles. Don’t miss the tater nachos, humorously named “Because Chris ‘The Situation’ Tai Wanted It,” a decadent mountain of tots smothered in nacho cheese, olives, scallions, and jalapenos that would make Guy Fieri proud. Portions are enormous; in Hawai‘i, it seems we overcompensate for our island's size with our food portions. It might not be sustainable, but it sure is enjoyable.

In Hawai‘i, Crown Royal is the drink of choice. Mai tais and tiki cocktails aren't as popular; locals prefer that 80-proof Canadian whisky, found in every bar across the islands. While craft beers are gaining traction, ordering a Blue Moon or Stella Artois is seen as sophisticated, though Heinekens remain the local favorite. The prevalence of green bottles in Honolulu's recycling bins likely mirrors the ratio of Priuses to other cars on L.A. freeways—it's just part of Honolulu’s character.

Hawai‘i doesn’t boast a bustling nightlife scene, making Home Bar a go-to spot for evening fun. Patrons typically arrive in shorts and slippers (the local term for flip-flops), a surefire sign of island roots. Regulars often reconnect with old friends and may recognize the servers from high school. Meanwhile, young adults in snapback hats engage in dart games, building up the nerve to approach crushes across the room, all set to nostalgic '90s tracks like “Return of the Mack.”

The bar Kent Nishimura

While Side Street Inn offers a similar menu and atmosphere, Home Bar stands out with its louder environment and bolder flavors—more garlic, more salt. Home Bar strips down both high and low culture to their core and serves them up without pretense. In this space, and in Hawai‘i, distinctions are secondary; it’s all about the essence of the experience.

Sundays at Home Bar are dedicated to football, with every screen tuned to the game and a breakfast menu ready for the early start at 7 a.m. Hawai‘i time. Though I rarely rise that early on weekends, catching the late afternoon games around noon while hungover and indulging in a selection of umami-packed breakfast dishes is the ultimate way to enjoy football in Hawai‘i. Home Bar embodies the quintessential sports bar experience with a local twist—gritty ambiance, imaginative dishes, and a lively crowd. For many, it truly feels like home.

Scotty Kan works as a shooter and editor at Dinogo..Kent Nishimura is a Honolulu and Los Angeles-based photographer.