Giovanni's Shrimp Truck.

[Paflyers]

Do you think that it is a doable drive from Pearl Harbor? I really wanted to check this place out, however the only day we have a rental car, is our Pearl Harbor day. We going on a North Shore excursion, but that is a hosted event and I am not sure we will be anywhere near the food truck. I realize it will be quite I drive, I google mapped it, but do you it would be worth the 35-40 minutes drive up the island? Our Pearl Harbor timed tour is for 11:00 am, so the rest of the visit at our own pace, I am all for making sure we head out of there at a reasonable hour to make it there before they close! What do ya'll think?

 

[kyton]

Are you going to Pearl Harbor before your Arizona tour? Or are you only viewing the Arizona? All the sites at Pearl Harbor can take hours whereas the Arizona Memorial is around 45mins. If you go earlier and finish with the Arizona Me oriel it would be doable however not if you were starting at 11.

Giovannis isn’t the only shrimp truck - there are others. What they sell is also called a “plate lunch” which you can get all over the island - basically scoop of rice, scoop of Mac salad and a garlic shrimp (or hot dog at some stands).

 

[Paflyers]

Are you going to Pearl Harbor before your Arizona tour? Or are you only viewing the Arizona? All the sites at Pearl Harbor can take hours whereas the Arizona Memorial is around 45mins. If you go earlier and finish with the Arizona Me oriel it would be doable however not if you were starting at 11.

Giovannis isn’t the only shrimp truck - there are others. What they sell is also called a “plate lunch” which you can get all over the island - basically scoop of rice, scoop of Mac salad and a garlic shrimp (or hot dog at some stands).

I planned on heading out to Pearl Harbor around 7:00 am right after we pickup our rental car. I was hoping to get in some of the things before our 11:00 am tour.

 

[Great3]

While I love that shrimp truck, one of my favorites of all the shrimp trucks I tried, I would say no, it’s going to be difficult to fit it in. There is so much to see / do at Pearl Harbor, it’s an all day event for me. Of course, if muesum stuff don’t interest you that much, than it’s doable if you leave by 1pm. If you do that, you might as well plan for shaved ice than, and / or dole whip, as well as Ted’s bakery, than I will say it’s worth it. Just remember, the line just to order and get food can easily be 30 mins to an hour (Island time ).

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Great3

 

[abdgeek]

Do you think that it is a doable drive from Pearl Harbor? I really wanted to check this place out, however the only day we have a rental car, is our Pearl Harbor day. We going on a North Shore excursion, but that is a hosted event and I am not sure we will be anywhere near the food truck. I realize it will be quite I drive, I google mapped it, but do you it would be worth the 35-40 minutes drive up the island? Our Pearl Harbor timed tour is for 11:00 am, so the rest of the visit at our own pace, I am all for making sure we head out of there at a reasonable hour to make it there before they close! What do ya'll think?

Giovanni’s Shrimp truck Haleiwa location is open from 10:30 am - 5 pm. You can google their website to see the menu. They only take cash and are in a parking lot with a couple other food trucks. I ate there recently after a morning tour and got there early so I didn’t have to wait long for my food. After eating there, I went to Waimea Valley and the Banzai Pipeline. If it’s on your bucket list then do it. It was on mine and I’m glad I finally did it. You’ll find mixed reviews on TripAdvisor for them. You will have to make your own decisions after you visit.

 

[corgi_monster]

What day is your Pearl Harbor visit? I’m not asking because I’m a creepy internet stalker. I’m asking because traffic conditions can vary wildly based on day of the week and time of the year.

 

[nkereina]

If you arrive at Pearl Harbor early and do the museum portion of the site before your 11am Arizona tour, you'd probably have time to go to Giovanni's. You'd finish up your Arizona tour by 12 most likely, and that would put you at the North Shore by 1ish under normal traffic conditions I believe. Personally, I don't think the shrimp truck is worth going that far out of your way. We attempted to go there on our North Shore day, and found parking to be a challenge, lines were long, almost no seating, hot, and we don't eat much seafood so we were not loving what we were seeing (shrimp is peel and eat). We opted to go up the road to Kono's instead, which was awesome.

 

[Paflyers]

What day is your Pearl Harbor visit? I’m not asking because I’m a creepy internet stalker. I’m asking because traffic conditions can vary wildly based on day of the week and time of the year.

Thursday Feb 13th.

 

[TongaToast21]

I enjoyed Giovanni's! I actually think it would be worth it to go to the North Shore even if you can't make it during their hours of operation. I really enjoyed Haleiwa and watching the waves and surfers from the shore.

 

[corgi_monster]

Thursday Feb 13th.

You'll hit a lot of traffic on the 13th.

Assuming you're the first person in line to pick up your car, you'll roll out of Aulani at 7:15 and hit peak traffic. It will probably take you at least an hour to get to Pearl Harbor.

I would suggest leaving Pearl Harbor no later than 2pm to avoid traffic heading to Giovanni's (assuming you're going to the original Kahuku truck). However, if the surf is big that day, leave even earlier than that. I made the mistake of driving to the North Shore on a day when there was the potential for the Eddie to take place and it took me 2+ hours to get from Dole Plantation to Ted's Bakery in the past - never again!

If you decide not to go to Giovanni's on your Pearl Harbor day, you might want to check out Karai Crab. It's like a local-style seafood boil - crab, shrimp, crawfish, potatoes, corn, sausage, etc. all drowned in a buttery, garlic herb sauce similar to the one you'd find at Giovanni's. You'll pay a lot more, but at least you won't have to eat with the flys lol. Karai Crab is popular with locals and I think it's a great, less touristy alternative to Giovanni's with much better food.

 

[jsmith]

Are you going to Pearl Harbor before your Arizona tour? Or are you only viewing the Arizona? All the sites at Pearl Harbor can take hours whereas the Arizona Memorial is around 45mins. If you go earlier and finish with the Arizona Me oriel it would be doable however not if you were starting at 11.

Giovannis isn’t the only shrimp truck - there are others. What they sell is also called a “plate lunch” which you can get all over the island - basically scoop of rice, scoop of Mac salad and a garlic shrimp (or hot dog at some stands).

Seriously plate lunch-two scoops rice, one scoop macaroni salad and any of numerous protiens-Shoyu chicken, kalua pork,fried or shell on shrimp, mahi mahi, katsu chicken, lau lau, salmon, et al ( but I have NEVER seen a hot dog) is the quintessential Hawaiian lunch. But I would not drive to the north shore for Giovannis. there are tons of other plate lunch places on the island, including numerous L and L bar b que's. There are other shrimp trucks I like better-the red shack one has sweet Thai Chili Shrimp-but none of them worth fighting the traffic to get there. Nico's on the pier is a great choice for seafood with out the drive. If you were doing just a north shore day I would say go for it-and Ted's, but driving distance and driving time are deceptively disparate on the island and that's a long way to go for some garlic shrimp and rice that will likely be rushed after your Pearl harbor day.

 

[mkb3]

Might I suggest Mike's Huli Chicken? They have a Huli Chicken/Garlic Shrimp combo that I found leaps and bounds better than Giovanni's.

 

[plygph]

In my never to be humble opinion the simple answer is NO there is simply not enough time to do either location of Giovanni's and Pearl in one day will 11am Arizona tickets. Sorry. I have eaten at Giovanni's and other shrimp trucks such as Blue Water Shrimp and Seafood which is located in the same shopping center parking lot as Leonard's near Aulani while it was not Giovanni's they were very good.

 

[bakenatj]

It's doable but will be a long day. If your tickets are at 11:00 you won't be done with the Arizona till 12:15 to 12:30. If you leave shortly after, then you should be to North Shore by 1:15 or so. If you want to wonder through the museum and see other things at the AZ memorial then you need to leave really early (Bowfin is pretty cool). Corgi is correct, you are looking at minimum hour drive to Pearl Harbor from West Side.

There are two location for Giovanni's. There is a location in Haleiwa, on south side of town, and then over by Kahuku. There are more options besides Giovanni's in Kahuku (Fumi's is my favorite). Plus the drive around the north shore is awesome, but will take you at least 3-4 hours (Stop at Pipeline, Sunset Beach so on.) Just noticed you will be there in Feb, so a Must to stop see Pipeline. Waves can be kill'a in Feb. So doable but long day.

 

[dachsie]

Last Sunday we did just this. Woke up and went to mass at 7am, ate breakfast then went to PH. We got there at 9:15 and they changed our tickets to 9:45. So we looked around a little before the boat then went to the memorial. Afterwards we did the narrated tour. We left around noon and headed to Haleiwa and went to the Shrimp truck. Line was long but it went quickly. We ate in car because it was raining and then did some shopping. While there got the text for our room at Aulani so we headed back and checked in about 4pm

 

[skipcannon]

Just going to the North Shore in general is worth it and like others said, there are other shrimp trucks. Assuming you don't have to have the car back by 5, you can grab dinner up there. We love to grab stuff from the food truck and then head over to a beach and watch the surf while eating (Sunset is convenient for this). There are other food trucks there too (thai, etc.) Good luck!

 

[newdeal]

I didn't see anything that special about this shrimp truck. You could get the same food all over the place I am sure only without having to wait in a very long and slow line in order to do so.