Located on University Avenue next to where Varsity Theater used to stand, Kit N’ Kitchen is a small Italian restaurant with some Chinese influences. The restaurant us usually fairly busy during peak hours, but unfortunately shares the small parking lot with a number of neighboring businesses like Bubbies and Ezogiku.
When we walked in for lunch a few of the tables were already occupied. We chose a table next to the windows and our server brought over the menus. Kit n’ Kitchen’s menu offers a wide variety of different dishes, primarily pastas. A large portion of the menu is comprised of “design your own” selections, allowing the customer to choose what sort of ingredients they’d like in their pasta and match it with their choice of sauce.
We decided to go with one of the special set menu’s, which included a choice of soup, appetizer and entree.
Touted on the menu as a “creamy” mushroom soup, this soup turned out to be just the opposite. There was very little evidence of cream at all. The soup base was not well seasoned, and in the end the whole thing tasted like vegetables boiled in water and oil.
For our appetizer we decided to try the shrimp scampi. After our experience with the soup we weren’t quite sure what to expect. Fortunately for us the scampi was prepared in a much better fashion than the soup. The shrimp were cooked perfectly and served in a bath of garlic oil along with a few pieces of toasted bread. The garlic oil sauce was delicious, and I must admit I dunked each piece of bread into the sauce before eating.
One of the main dishes we had ordered was this Italian sausage pasta. While the sausages themselves were quite flavorful (albeit a little on the sweet side for my tastes), the rest of the dish was just average. The sauce was not as well seasoned as I would have liked, at times tasting like nothing more than tomato sauce.
Our second dish was the Pesto Chicken. The chicken was well prepared, retaining its moisture. The pesto was fairly good, although not quite as powerful as pesto sauces you might find elsewhere. Overall the dish was satisfactory, but nothing I’d go out of my way to order again.
Final thoughts: In my past experiences here I have found that Kit n’ Kitchen’s menu is quite inconsistent. Some menu items are very good, while others are just average or even poor. While service is always fast and friendly, I find myself wishing that the food was a little better prepared for the price you pay. If you do find yourself eating here, I would highly recommend sticking with the garlic oil based dishes and pastas, as they have proved to be the most consistent.
| Service: |    |
Average + |
| Food: | |
Average |
| Atmosphere: | |
Average + |
| Overall Value: | |
Average |
| Price: |  |
$10-$20 per person |
Kit N’ Kitchen
1010 University Avenue Honolulu, HI 96823
Phone: 808.942.7266
Tags: Hawaii Food, Hawaii Food review, Kit N Kitchen review, Kit n' Kitchen
Other Popular Reviews:
The ONLY reason why this place is still around is because they’re cheap. Hawaii people are more than willing to pay cheap prices for inadequate food just to stuff their faces.
this place is awesome, their foods are not greasy n heavy at all !! don’t go there expecting JUST Italian, i’ll say they are Euro-Asian, the chef-owner is from Japan.. i love their lamb dishes, awesome !! my mom loves their Spicy ground beef eggplant, my husband always order their Seafood pasta. the place is very clean with oversized paper table clothes n crayon you can draw on the table………
Gosh,we’re absolutely in love with this eur-asian cuisine!
Our usual is create your own pasta…ours is really to die for–pasta with their tomato sauce, scallop bacon spinach, also pesto cream sauce Clam n shrimp pasta!!
We go their almost two times a week, and you know what, Mayor Mufi Hammemann is a regular of Kit n Kitchen, i have seen him more than three times, he is extremely friendly to everyone !!
I love the food of this place,Kit n Kitchen, my husband love the red wine ox tail stew, and me, the spicy ground beef pasta ! They are not simply Italian, I like their idea of combining two great cooking culture together Italian/Asian. There are so many more creative items on the menu that we need to go back to try. and please don’t mind, we love their cream soup, we don’t like the thick n sticky kind of soup, theirs are just perfect.
Hey Dale, I think you didn’t try their signature dishes. I love their crispy garlic wings, just can’t find any wings better than that!!!!!! My sister always has the garlic grilled beef. This place is much much more than Italian.
Lately, I become creative with my pasta dish. Last night me and my family dined at The Kit n Kitchen. I’ve only known about this place for two weeks, but have dined three times since. The Kit n Kitchen experience is all about having control of one’s own pasta. There are a variety of toppings and sauces to choose—from sweet to tangy to spicy—the selections are far from ordinary.
In fact, this place reminds me restaurants that I enjoy a lots in Japan, and LA. It blends the culinary traditions of two or more nations (I see Italian, Japanese, Chinese, French in Kit n Kitchen) to create innovative and sometimes quite interesting dishes. My Dad is a Japanese, he loves their Burgundy OX tail stew, and the spicy ground beef eggplant. Mom enjoys their Wasabi Seafood.
Great review! Having lived near UH for a couple of years now, I’ve always passed by but have never visited Kit n’ Kitchen. I might just stop by for the heck of it!
OMG - fab. Service was very good — prompt, friendly, informative. Food (Pan-fry Salmon, Seafood Pot and the corn soup with puff) were all attractively presented, served the appropriate temperature, tasty. Menu has lots of Asian-inspired items. Will go back.
Try the Beef Chimmichurri, which has lots of parsley and garlic kick…that’s what I go for every time I’m there. Also, their carrot/ginger salad dressing is among the best dressings I’ve had.
great food !! beef chimichurri is a classic, i love their
mix mushroom pasta, three kind of mushroom with your choice of sauce. my grilfriend loves the garlic prawns, creamy white sauce with shrimp baked in oven then topped with crispy garlic.