Champs - 7 year Nacho Blog Anniversary

For our 7 year anniversary, we needed somewhere that had nachos that could fit 30 people. We settled on Champs on Waialae. Champs is a great sports bar, super fun environment, darts, pool table, and plenty of room for parties. 

We got there early and took over 3 or 4 of the large tables, not sure how many were going to come. The bartenders took great care of our party even though people trickled in and out because of different schedules. 

Champs had two kinds of nachos, both Island Style with wonton chips and no cheese, with your choice of kalua pork or poke. They were super yummy with the island style flavors, but some people just couldn't get over the fact that there was no cheese LOL. As a cheese lover myself, it was definitely missed but I enjoyed the creativity of the island style nachos and would have definitely eaten them again. 

Island Style Nachos $18 - Choice of kalua pork or fresh ahi poke, wonton chips, seaweed salad, lomi salmon, garlic aoli, unagi glaze.

Poke Nachos

Shananigans (3.5) – PRESENTATION: Island style, large mound. RAD: Brown sauce is ono, fresh ingredients, salty pork. LAME: No cheese, ordered onions on the side. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4.5. Fun environment, darts, pool table, room for parties. 

Dave O'B (Poke 4.5, Pork 4) – PRESENTATION: Big full plates with ample pork and poke contributions on top…looking sexy! RAD: Lots of yummy limu on both orders.  LAME: Layering seemed minimal so a bit dry at the bottom (but it worked out okay!) TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Poke 4.5, Pork 4. Big change for the better in this place with renovations. We overwhelmed our server. 

Nick Nacho (2) – PRESENTATION: Good Presentation. RAD: Seaweed. LAME: No cheese! Tastes like mayo. Where is the waiter? TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 5, some toppings leftover. No need for ration toppings. Good place, lots of room. 

Nacho Fan (Pork 2, Poke 3.5) – PRESENTATION: Big plates, ordered both poke and pork options. RAD: So much poke! and seaweed! Super crispy chips. LAME: No cheese on the pork nachos. Mayo sauce is lame. Pork nachos are really salty. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Great topping to chip ratio except cheese. Poke > Pork. 

Jon (4) – PRESENTATION: Looked good, really liked the amount on the plate.  RAD: I liked the wonton style chips. LAME: Needed more kalua pork. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3, would have the toppings a bit more evenly distributed. Maybe a lomi salmon salsa and some may ploy sauce. Some kind of spice, a wasabi sauce drizzle. 

Maria (5) – PRESENTATION: Great! RAD: Loved the wonton style chips. LAME: Took a decent while to get service. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: The ratio was great. Lots of mayonnaise and sauce (which I loved) but might be a bit much for others. Super light and fresh. Good serving size for the price. 

Jess (4) – PRESENTATION: Good first impression! Looked delicious! RAD: The pork was delicious, liked the chips too, kind of like wontons. LAME: The seaweed, could have it without the seaweed next time.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Good ratio, 5 for 5 for chip to topping. Would replace the seaweed with avocado or spring onions. 

Ty (4) – PRESENTATION: Pretty different, crunchy and unusual. I'm down! RAD: Loved no cheese and the sauce and fresh veggies. I did like the seaweed too.  LAME: Need more meat. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4, need more meat. Loved no cheese, felt healthier. I say add a lomi salmon topping with a poi drizzle. 

Celestial Seasonings (3) – PRESENTATION: Looks good, not standard nachos. RAD: Kalua pork! LAME: Mayonnaise (big sad). TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4. Mayonnaise should be seasoned? Looks fresh and new in here. 

Tango Tango – In lie of a proper review I will write a haiku or two.  

PRESENTATION: 
Raised brow. A question.
What is this i taste? Onion?
Onion every bite.

FUCK.

 RAD: 
Salty, meaty pork
Fucking up orders is fine
I'll just have more beer.  

LAME: 
Where should I have parked?
Hope our car was not towed away.
Fucking nacho night…

Jini (3) – PRESENTATION: Even topping dispersion, much toppings. RAD: Light crunchy chips = excellent. LAME: The green stuff…seaweed? TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: A lot of everything, like 80%. 

JQPineapple (3.5) – PRESENTATION: Kalua pork nachos - nice presentation, first thought white stuff was cheese. RAD: Fresh ingredients, crunchy chips. LAME: white stuff = mayo. Dish was cold.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4. Good for Hawaiian style but I don't love them. Good service. 

Jenny (3.5) – PRESENTATION: Ahi nachos - they look amazingly delicious.  RAD: The sauce on top was good.  LAME: Onions were pre mixed and I am not a fan of raw onion.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3.5, decent. The size of the onions was unnecessary. Great group of people, slow service. 

Kimi (3) – PRESENTATION: Giant stuffed nachos = Not browned. RAD: Kalua Pork. LAME: More cheese please. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4. Great place to watch the game. 

Trish (2) – PRESENTATION: Beautiful! Toppings evenly spread. RAD: Cheesy sauce is tasty! LAME: Mystery greens?? Why are the 2 types exactly the same other than meat? TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Ratio is pretty good. Mayo and sauce are good. Seaweed not. That's it but for meat. Wouldn't order again. The remodel is interesting. It's bright for a dive bar. 

Dusty  (2.9) – PRESENTATION: Chips look fresh, lots of toppings. RAD: Chips are fresh! Pork and eel sauce were good.  LAME: Asked for onions on the side, they put them on everything. Loud crappy music, seaweed made it really salty, no cheese, not a fan of mayo.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3.2, chips stayed crunchy due to no queso. Service was bad, not friendly service from 2 servers. 

GA (3) – PRESENTATION: Kalua pork nachos - great first impression, looked delightful. RAD: Loved the crunchy chips. LAME: Pork seemed salty and no cheese. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4. The menu should include the toppings so customers know what toppings are included.