Simple Joy

Everything we got was amazing!

Location: Makai side of King Street, directly across from Morio's Sushi Bistro (Precision Radio Building).

Parking: There are 4 spots behind Simple Joy, however, they are hard to get out of if they are full and you have a larger car. You will have to back out of the parking area as there is not enough space to turn your car around. There is also street parking as soon as you cross Pensacola Street.

Food: All vegan. No meat, dairy or eggs. They do use meat substitutes in some of their dishes. We ordered the Crispy Spring Rolls, Banana Lumpia, and the Fried Tofu (it is silken). All of the appetizers were tasty and the sauces were flavorful. I ordered the Philly Sandwich and my husband ordered the Sea Combination dish. My sandwich was really good, full of vegetables and a yummy sauce, and my husband loved his dish even with all of the sauteed onions that were on it (a lot of onions). We paid $2.95 ea for Fresh Lemonade and $3.95 for Pineapple juice (no re-fills and came with a lot of ice), but a pitcher of water and glasses were brought out as well.

Service: Our server for dinner was sweet, kind, friendly, helpful and as attentive as possible as well as the gentleman who seated us. There was a little bit of a wait for food as each order was prepared individually. I appreciated the fork and spoon that were wrapped in our linen to keep them clean.

This food was nicely prepared and flavorful. We are looking forward to visiting again soon.



Updated from previous review on 2016-04-06

The Pho is the best. The broth and mock meats tasted exactly like the real thing but better. If you ever want your friend to go vegan and try mock meats go to Simple Joy. They will be wondering how it's vegan! Very affordable prices!!!!!

Simple Joy does excellent southeast Asian cuisine, and they make forays into other territories, too, with varying results.

My suggestion: Consider sticking with the Asian dishes, and balance your meal so not everything is fried. (Avoid the French fries.)

The Vietnamese Crispy Pancake is a good middle-way option combining a little fried yumminess with sprouts and greens.

Fresh juices (including carrot) are a plus, though the serving size is small for the price.

Enjoy!

I really appreciate that their menu is entirely vegan, but this is the kind of vegan food that makes potential/transitioning vegans jump ship. Previously frozen Sysco fries and bland soup.

A menu with 5 different cuisines on it is just a bad sign.

Great place for people transitioning into veganism as most of the menu is veganized versions of popular items. The pasta dishes are on point!! I've had almost everything on the menu and it never disappoints.
Not a really great place for low fat vegans.

I cannot express enough how scrumptious Simple Joy is! I ordered the Thai tea, Crispy spring rolls as an appetizer, and Yakisoba noodles for dinner. Everything had so much flavor and tasted amazing! I ordered the Marinara sauce pasta for my toddler and he LOVED IT! So did I :) the sauce was one of the best that I have ever tasted, honestly! My hubby ordered the Pad Thai and he ate the whole plate. Must visit!!!!

I have eaten here many times, and always go to eat here at least once when on O'ahu. The menu is varied with many options, all of which are well made and delicious. The setting is inviting and clean. The staff are welcoming and friendly. The food is delicious and very reasonable!! I love this place!!

We got teriyaki kabobs and chicken nuggets and they were both great! We modified the teriyaki kabobs and they got everything right. The Thai iced tea is also great here!

Small restaurant (9 tables) that speaks to all pallets. They have Vietnamese and Thai, American and Italian. Their menu is also clearly marked for gluten-free options. I couldn't decide so I asked then nice young, quiet waiter and he suggested the Vietnamese rice flour pancake. Boy was he right! It was very tasty - crispy on the outside and warm and almost creamy on the inside. It was filled with tofu and broccoli. There was a homemade "fish" sauce for dipping, along with some salad fixings. It was filling, delicious, and well worth the short drive from Waikiki.

We really enjoyed this place! Interestingly enough, we found that we had a tough time finding really good vegan food during our recent visit to Honolulu. While there appears to be several places that offer vegan options in the area, we weren't extremely impressed with the menu items offered. In this case, we really enjoyed ourselves! We started with an order of their crispy spring rolls, and the buttered/garlic bread. My husband ordered one of their claypot options, and I had a delicious curry based soup. Overall, we really liked it. By no means is this the best vegan food we have ever had, but it was one of our favorites in Hawaii! We were actually really surprised that the place didn't get much business during the lunch hour + that we spent there. There were a few folks that came in for carry out, but literally, we were the only people in the restaurant for hours. This place should definitely get more business!

You must try the hot & sour soup. It might be the best soup I've ever had. There isn't much to it, but the broth is amazing. They have a huge variety of fake meats, which scared me at first, but the tempura "shrimp" blew my mind, and every bite of their clay pot tofu was incredible. I'll be back!

Nice place, but not much healthy choices. No salads, a lot of oil, fried stuff, a lot of salt. It's hard to find smth comfort. Service was dissapointing. We had to wait for every dish. There was only 2 other tables occupied. The waiter was coming to everyone with each dish and asking whose order was it.

I had one night in Honolulu before flying home, and I wanted to try Simple Joy after finding it here on Happy Cow. I'm so glad I did! I had the pasta puttanesca and my non-vegan husband had their version of a Philly cheesesteak. We loved both! We split the vegan ice cream for dessert, and found another winner. Had I had more time in Honolulu, I would definitely have returned, and my husband plans to have lunch there before he leaves the island. Simple Joy is wonderful!

Good food, friendly staff. BUT This restaurant has the least friendly menu I have ever looked at. The photos are blurry and are not labeled so you have no idea what you are looking at. The font is hard to read becuase of color choice. The way it navigates it is really hard to figure out what to order. Seriously, I have never seen a menu this bad.

Appears to be a fusion of Vietnamese/Asian and Italian foods, primarily. Definitely a transitional foods restaurant. Majority of menu items are based on meat substitutes. Very meaty. Portion sizes seem fair in my opinion. The minestrone soup is delightful. The Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwich) is very good. The "fries" on the side are shredded, fried, seasoned tofu instead of potatoes. Delicious and unique, but again, very meaty. The chocolate cake dessert is surprisingly good. So many interesting choices on the menu, you're certain to not get bored quickly.

Updated from previous review on Saturday February 05, 2011

[UPDATE] After eating here countless times, I think it's worth mentioning the service can sometimes be insufficient. The staff is friendly enough, just inexperienced and not trained in proper service. Just because you can carry a plate from the kitchen to the table does not mean you're qualified for table service. I've had numerous occasions where our orders were either forgotten, or mistaken. I suspect ESL as the culprit. If they're not certain about the order, just ask! Far less embarrassing then messing it up.

In a more recent example, the waiter told my date she was wrong and that she had in fact ordered the dish he was serving. While I know this to be incorrect ( I helped her choose the dish), at the very least the customer is almost always correct. To further illustrate, moments earlier the same waiter brought a spring roll appetizer to our table. After explaining to him we didn't order it, he proceeded to check with another table. Apparently they didn't order it as well. Back to the kitchen it went.

Now I don't mean to single him out, as there have been similar instances with other servers. Most involve absenteeism when you require their services (ie - water, check, etc). But accusing my date of being wrong, even if it's possible she might've been, gets you demoted to 3 cows. In his defense, he was remarkably fast to replace her fork when she dropped it. And so earned his tip for the night.

Nice staff, good food.

Plenty of choices an absolutely everything vegan! I had to reconfirm this a couple of times because there are some items that could fool your everyday omnivore.