The Row Bar by Tamura's

Backstory: I got out of my dentist appointment just early enough to pop by the Row Bar before heading to my shift at the Cantina. It had been over 6 months since I was there (since my last cleaning) and things looked a little different.  When I looked at the menu I saw the Tamura's name and the poke & pipikala on the menu.  Tamura's? Like the liquor stores?  OMG!  Then I saw that not only did they have nachos, but they also have loaded tots.  Earlier that day I had found out the restaurant we had our nacho party scheduled for that month was closed for remodeling.  I chatted up the bartender (Russ) and asked if he would mind us coming in.  He was stoked on the idea and we set a date for a couple weeks ahead.  I showed him some pictures of our fun blogs, especially the ones of me and my bestie (Nacho Libra) wearing matching nacho outfits.  Then I showed him a picture of my bestie with her boyfriend and all three of us wearing matching nacho shirts.  He looks at the photo and says to me, "Your bestie's boyfriend is my bestie." Say what?  Oahu is such a small place!  Turns out these guys have been friends for years!  That sealed the deal.  We were for sure coming in for nachos.

Flash forward to NACHO NIGHT: I arrived early so I could meet up with Wisconsin friends that had just enough time to have dinner with us before heading to the airport. I just had the pleasure of spending the weekend with these new Wisconsin friends and we had the best time ever. The weather did not exactly cooperate with our original plans but we made the best of it and saw plenty of rainbows on our boat ride (There might have also been some champagne). Over the weekend, they mentioned eating nachos a couple of times so I thought they might enjoy the fun of all the Nacho Friends. Charley and Wendy were such good sports as guest bloggers, even letting me photograph them in the nacho ponchos.  We also had a couple newbies join us, Rene and Qaptain Queso.  Rene has been trying for years to make it to a nacho night but she travels so much for her job she is rarely on island.  Thanks to the brief government shutdown, she was able to make it!

The Row Bar has always been a fantastic little open aired bar with snacks, but now that it is run by Tamura's, we are super excited for the deliciousness coming out of that kitchen.  It was our lucky day on nacho night because they just started a new special called "Manic Mondays" that just happened to include $6 nachos.  Does it get any better?  Our waitress, Alex, was awesome, keeping all our drinks filled and putting up with our split checks.

The nachos came out in to-go containers and looked amazing.  You could see the freshness of the ingredients from the start and smell that kalua pork.  When I took my first bite, I was super surprised at how magical the chips were.  Obviously homemade, they melted in your mouth with all the flavors of the toppings.  Although the pork was super delicious, a general consensus of those chips is that they are destined to be paired up with poke to make the most onolicious poke nachos on the island.  The creativity of the Hawaiian flair with the kalua pork and lomi lomi salmon was very much appreciated.  And then it was time for the tots.  It must be the 5 year old inside of us that always gets so excited about tater tot nachos.  What makes them so awesome?  Those little bite sized fried potato goodies were topped with melted cheese and a favorite of the Nacho Friends, fresh jalapeno slices.  We wondered why there were no jalapenos on the regular nachos?  Nachos deserve a little kick and jalapenos are one of the 3 original ingredients of the first Nachos invented by Ignacio Anaya.

We also tried the garlic fries, pipikala, and prosciutto pizza.  Everything was as amazing as you would expect from Tamura's.  They have plans to open up a small restaurant in the area as well as a little liquor store so be sure to take some time and give them a visit at Restaurant Row.  Inquire about their happy hour from 4pm to 6pm for yummy food and drink specials. Tuesdays are Taco/Tako Tuesdays where you pay $10/12 for a combination of kalua pork tacos/tako poke, beer, and tequila/sake. What a unique and delicious take on the Tuesday standard.

Overall it was a fabulous evening with fabulous friends and I am already looking forward to our next Nacho Night.  There are still over a hundred places with nachos on this island for us to try out!  See you soon Nacho Friends!

Nacho Wisconsin Friends

Hawaiian Style Nachos $9 - Kalua Pork, Lomi Salmon, Sriracha Aioli (Only $6 on Manic Mondays!)

Loaded Tater Tots $9 - Kalua Pork, Tomatoes, Jalapenos, Cheese, Wasabi Ranch

 

Justin (5) – PRESENTATION: Fresh, crispy, light, perfectly browned chips of abundant kalua pork toppings.  Good coverage and artful drizzling of a sriracha mayo topping.  RAD: When the chip hits your mouth and half crumbles, part cracker/part chip, and then melts.  Great mix of hearty meat and salted tomato, Hawaiian flavor profile. LAME: Kalua pork seemed slightly fishy.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 5, topping to chip ratio, enough for every bite.  Almost nothing left after. Excellent for price of $6 on Manic Mondays. 

 
 

Nick Nacho & Nacho Girlfriend (LOADED TOTS) (4) – PRESENTATION: Magical! RAD: SO many tots!  Great crispy tots!  Jalapenos! LAME: More sauce! TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Good.  Great service and atmosphere.  Awesome people.  Plastic containers were not awesome.

Qaptain Queso (3) – PRESENTATION: Paper "plate" nacho special. RAD: Great chips, good kalua pork, tater tots. LAME: No queso, not enough tomatoes, no jalapenos on the nachos. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 2.5.  No music when we first got there but they turned it on for us.  Good service.

Nacho Man (5) – PRESENTATION: It came out in a discrete plastic take-out container.  Very nondescript.  Inside was a delicious mound of nachos and taters in the other container.  The nachos were loaded with heaps of toppings.  Same went for the taters.  RAD: The container was loaded with awesome!  Couldn't believe how much was in there!  The home-style chips in the nachos were the best nacho chip I can recall having. LAME: The pork was amazing.  But would have been neat to have other protein options (chicken, fish, etc.) TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 5, not a naked chip.  Not a naked tater tot.  The toppings were so fresh. Everything was fresh and the servings were generous.  These chips are my new favorite.  Russ was GREAT.  BEST BARTENDER!

La Princesa de Quesa (3) – PRESENTATION: Served in a to go container?  Am I going somewhere?  Nacho cheese? RAD: Deep fried chips! YUM!  Ono kalua pork. LAME: La Princesa de Quesa es muy disgustado.  No cheese. :( :( :( TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 2.5.  Love the Row Bar!  Put cheese on yo nachos!!!!

  

Rene & Jim (3) – PRESENTATION: Dainty portion. RAD: Jim likes the deep-fried chips, but they are not for me, says Rene. LAME: No cheese! TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3.  Chips are soggy after a while.

Nacho Parents (4) – PRESENTATION: Nice first impression. RAD: Fluffy chip and tasty pork. LAME: The plastic container. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Generous amount of topping, would love more jalapenos.  There is room for improvement.  Beautiful outdoor atmosphere and friendly service. 

 

Don Frijoles (3.5) – PRESENTATION: Vista bonita. Nice nice! RAD: Fresh fried chips, kalua pork is ono fleeck. LAME: Not enough queso.  "ono more, like oh no you didn't." TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Maybe I've got a problem.  I love cheese and it is never enough.  High marks for flavor.  Great service, cool staff, and outdoors.

Brando & Julia (3) – PRESENTATION: Beautifully laid out, smelled good.  If I was a millennial I might of thought of taking a picture of it and hashbagged "purdy nachos." I think that's right…hashbag. RAD: Chips made from scratch.  They were crunchy, delicious, a strong foundation. LAME: No beans, liquid cheese, beans are essential and liquid cheese is a cop-out.  Liquid cheese on nachos is like putting A-1 on a good filet mignon.  Put some real cheese on these mafuchas. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 2, needed way more toppings.  We had a bunch of forlorn chips as we progressed to the bottom.  They reminded me of Elian Gonzalez, adrift on a lone raft between Florida and Cuba.  No supplies, no hope, listless.  Chips were rad, toppings were lacking.  Lacking like the hope of citizenship for any future Elian Gonzalez in Trump's America.  We like the bar and architecture.  It is chill, comfy, nice to be outside.  Our waitress was great, we were never waiting….like Elian Gonzalez wanting citizenship.

Shananigans (4) – PRESENTATION: Not super huge.  Probably enough to feed one hungry person or share as a pupu with a friend.  Then you can get the super delicious pipikala too!  The loaded tots look much more filling.  How come only the tots have jalapenos? RAD: Stoked that my new Wisconsin friends had time to have dinner with me before they headed to the airport. The chips melt in your mouth.  Super heavenly.  The pork is flavorful.  In fact, the entire area has smelled like bacon cooking since we arrived.  That must be the Tamura's kitchen and this yum yum yummy pork cooking.  The tots have real cheese AND fresh spicy jalapenos. LAME: I can't seem to find the cheese on the nachos and they need some spice to kick it up a notch.  The flavor combination on the tots is perfect.   TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3.5, the nachos could use more toppings for the chips and the tots are just about right.  Replacing the pork with poke on those magical melt in your mouth chips would make these some seriously epic nachos.  Alex, our server, was super awesome and took such good care of us even though we arrived at separate times and all needed our own checks.  Russ is a fabulous bartender and you all should go visit him.

Nick Nacho (2.5) – PRESENTATION: Small but nicely stacked. RAD: Crispy, fried tortilla chips. LAME: No cheese, little salsa. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Lots of kalua pork, but very little salsa.  Good service, outside bar.  Just add more tomatoes and jalapenos.

 

 Nacho Libra (5) – PRESENTATION: Nachos seemed small but lots of meat. Loaded Tots were a nice and big portion.  RAD: The fresh chips were crispy and delish!  Loved all the fresh toppings.  The stringy cheese and spicy white sauce on the tots were ono!! LAME: Lacked a variety of topping options, would have loved ahi or chicken too. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4.5, almost perfect. A super yummy steal for $6.  Alex and Russ were awesome!  Tasty drinks & excellent service.

Tango Tango: 4/5 Decent

PRESENTATION:

My excitement shows

Homemade chips are in this box

Those are my weakness

 RAD:

Holy fucking shit!

Crispiest homemade chips-Yum

Want a bag for home

 LAME:

Come on now, Row Bar

It's the year 2018

Take-away plating?

  
TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO:

Toppings are balanced

And very generous pork

I wished for more sauce

ATMOSPHERE:

Garlic fries, get them!

 

What a great group of people!

 

Nacho old school friends