Flour & Barley

We love to go to SPAM JAM every year, not just because it is such a blast of a time, but there are always a couple restaurants that come out with a spamtastic nacho dish. As we were systematically stuffing our faces, we arrived to Flour & Barley and met the manager, Tony working the booth. We told him we write a nacho blog and we wanted to come in soon to try out their Italian Nachos. He was just as excited as we were for the group to come in. When we arrived, they had a huge table set up for us in the beautiful open air restaurant. Tony and our server greeted everyone that came in and made us feel like Nacho Royalty. He even brought us out some special spiked pineapple to try.  Holy fire breath!  Delicious and dangerous at the same time!  

We love it when people get creative and play around with the traditional recipes. Flour & Barley nachos are only available during Happy Hour and are labeled as Italian Nachos, probably because the chips are made with pizza dough, but that’s really the extent of the “Italian” in them. Not to say they aren’t absolutely delicious!  They are more of a Hawaiian nacho on an Italian chip.  The ingredients and flavors were absolutely wonderful together and those pizza dough chips were a nice change from the traditional tortilla chip we usually eat. I think many of us were expecting marinara, sausage, basil, etc. on something called “Italian Nachos” but don’t let that stop you from trying them. The queso is super creamy and tasty and if you like kalua pork, you won’t be disappointed. 

If you are looking for a place to check out the football games this fall, Flour & Barley has a pretty good set up with lots of TVs for you to watch your favorite team. We also tried the meatball dish and some of their pizzas which were all super super yummy. 

Flour & Barley (International Marketplace)

2330 Kalakaua Ave, Suite 302 

Mon-Thurs: 11am-10pm

Fri-Sat: 11am-11pm

Happy Hour: 2pm-6pm EVERDAY

Sunday: Open at 7am (During NFL Season)

Congrats to the Newlyweds!

 

$12 - Italian Nachos: pizza bread chips, kalua pork, housemade white cheese sauce, fresh tomatoes, jalapenos, & cilantro

J Biebs (3) – PRESENTATION: Not too shabby, the chips are different but I like it.  RAD: Chicken is good, I think it would have been better with more or if it was shredded. LAME: Kind of bland flavor. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 2. The chips were more like wontons, not sure what made these Italian.

 

JQ Pineapple (2.5) – PRESENTATION: Nice amount of chips and toppings. RAD: Chips are AMAZING. LAME: I expected bruchetta tomatoes instead of pico. Basil would have been better. These are not my idea of Italian Nachos. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4, decent amount. Due to my desire for more Italian nacho, not my favorite.

Nacho No Name (4) – PRESENTATION: Nice presentation. RAD: Porkalicious! The kalua pig and sauce were really good.  LAME: The chips were good, a little small but crunchy.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4. Tony was awesome!  Really welcoming and fun. The Tito's infused pineapple!!! Food was really good, great atmosphere and service, we will definitely come back.

Dusty (3.9) – PRESENTATION: Good, could be better, not a big portion.  RAD: House chips (could be bigger though), pizza is really good, cream sauce.  LAME: Onion!  Chips could be bigger, hard to eat with fingers. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4, good ration if you are not too hungry. Excellent atmosphere and very good service, good happy hour prices for the location and ambiance. 

Nacho Anonymous (4) – PRESENTATION: Good, not what I was expecting. RAD: Chips. LAME: It's not Italian or nachos. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Good. Needs a better description, order it anyway and expect nothing.

 

El Hombre (3) – PRESENTATION: Needs color, small chips, not really sure how it's Italian, but looks good! RAD: Happy hour pitchersssssss! LAME: Need bigger chips!! TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Very basic toppings but the topping ratio is fine. Atmosphere is gorgeous, open air and beautiful. Service was pretty good!

Stacey (4) – PRESENTATION: Very nice presentation, however did not look like typical nachos. Thick pita-like looking chips. A white sauce looked odd to me at first.  RAD: Pork is good, nicely shredded.  LAME: Chips got soggy pretty quickly, also a little salty for my taste.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4.75. Very good service from Joyce who was very attentive. The manager was very accommodating and friendly.

Miss Stupendous (3.6) – PRESENTATION: Needed more color, looked like an alfredo.  RAD: The queso! Like a sweet alfredo sauce.  LAME: Needs more toppings, very simple, said jalapenos but I didn't see them. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 2.5, a lot in the middle but outside was missing. Love the service and the enthusiasm of the staff.

 

Princess Snarky (3) – PRESENTATION: Whoa! Tons of toppings. RAD: Tons of toppings. LAME: Not enough chips, nothing "Italian" about them. Meatballs, sausage, mozzarella, basil, that's Italian. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3, loved the generous toppings but we had to eat with a fork because there were no chips. Great service and atmosphere.

Canadian Nachos Princess (5) – PRESENTATION: Good. RAD: Nacho chips don't look like nachos.  LAME: Too much topping.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Too much toppings, no nachos at end, needs more of an Italian twist. Great taste!  Atmosphere is great, service is good.

Shananigans (4.25) – PRESENTATION: Love the atmosphere, great place to watch football, open air and beautiful. Portion looks kinda small, but it is an appetizer.  RAD: Crunchy flour chips are ono, even when they get soggy they are chewy and yummy.  LAME: Lack of spice, fresh jalapenos would be perfect.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4.5, plenty of toppings for the naked chips. Unique combo of Hawaii and Italy.  Tony treated us like Nacho Royalty. Waikiki Royal is insanely delicious drink, don't bother with a single, order a PITCHER, you can thank me later. Our server, Joyce, handled our large group like a pro!

Wammy (2) – PRESENTATION: Interesting looking "chips" and they are a bit small. Cheese is all over the place.  RAD: Chips taste great.  LAME: Seems like it is missing something.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3, enough cheese but I didn't get any meat until half way through. Chips are the only thing that stand out. Even then, they are small. Really cool looking place. Owner was fun and polite. Server was too quiet to understand.

Brando & Julia (3.5) – PRESENTATION: It looked like mac n cheese. There were tomatoes, cheese, cilantro, very simple, but sometimes less is more, just ask Keith Richards. RAD: Cheese. Real melted cheese, not cheese product. Chips have a good crunch.  LAME: No beans!!!! No Sour cream, no guac. Nachos are minimalistic, but I can respect that kind of like San Lorenzo bikinis.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4, all chips had toppings. The standard deviation on this ration is quite large. The nachos with kalua pork were great. They were uniquely basic, like The Eagles. Service was superb, Great atmosphere, open aired dining which was great cause yesterday was Cinco de Mayo and we ate a lot of Mexican food. So I have been silently farting through this ordeal, but no one knew. Thank you open windows.

Lizzy (4) – PRESENTATION: Nice size, lots of cheese sauce, I am concerned about the ratio, the outside chips need some topping love - I plan to redistribute the wealth. Chips look good! RAD: Pizza chips! Lots of yummy cheese.  LAME: Small chips, needed more chips, perhaps a garlic flavor on them? TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3, I was worried there was actually way more toppings than chips but we made it work. I liked them because they were essentially chips, meat, and cheese but I know for others who are less picky they probably felt they were boring. The place was super cute and the service was very nice and prompt. We will be back for dinner sometime.

Nacho Libra (3.5) – PRESENTATION: Lots of cheeeeeese. RAD: The cheese sauce is melty, stringy, & delicious! The chips are unique-puffy and soft in a way that works! LAME: Could use a wider variety of toppings…maybe some peppers, pineapple, and/or pesto. Couldn't taste the jalapeno.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4, lots of toppings! But they are missing something. Pretty tasty!  Pitchers of Sangria on Happy Hour are such a DEAL!  Will have to visit again, love the open air vibe.