Kick back at Leslie’s
LESLIE'S PLACE
Hours: 2 p.m. to 4 a.m. daily
Location: 549 Kokea St.
(Just off Dillingham Blvd.,
near Honolulu Community College)
Phone: 845-5752
Bar hopping in the Nimitz and Kalihi areas can get kind of sketchy at times. How do you know if the door you're walking through will lead to a neighborhood bar, one of Honolulu's finer adult establishments (i.e., a strip/hostess bar) or even one of those gambling houses long rumored to be in the area?
Sometimes it's hard to tell until you're inside and actually ordering a beer. Just off Dillingham overlooking Kapalama Stream, Leslie's Place maintains an unassuming presence with lots of free parking along Kokea Street. The glass fronting the bar is blacked out, leaving an open front door as the only glimpse of what's going on inside.
Things seemed to start out OK when the Barfly first landed; a few regulars watched "Sportscenter," and "WWE Sunday Night Heat" offered a change of pace on the big screen. We even got free pupus after ordering our first $2 beers, although neither the Barfly nor his trusty drinking buddy were big fans of the eggplant served to us.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Leslie's Place manager Craig Arakawa served with a smile Monday in the Kokea Street bar in Kalihi.
Unfortunately, our luck began to change once the Filipino karaoke started to play. Wrestling on TV got traded for lyrics in Tagalog, and it began to get harder keeping the drinks coming, even though we sat just across from the bar. Good thing the pupus were grinds; the salt and pepper pork chop ($12) we ordered was really ono, deep-fried and just spicy enough to keep you going for your drink.
Overall, Leslie's Place seems a good choice for pau hana or as a late-night stop. Instead of doing battle on the streets during afternoon rush hour, park at Leslie's for a bit and let traffic die down before cruising home. Also, the bar's cabaret license allows them to serve until 4 a.m., making it a good place for one last drink after a night out.
And keep in mind that Leslie's Place is a "transformer" bar of sorts. When the Barfly walked in around 7 p.m., a bartender and cook appeared to be the only employees working. But an hour and a half later, we started to realize there were more nicely dressed female employees beginning to show up, and it didn't look like they were there to just serve drinks. Not wanting to find out if there was a champagne room past the roped-off staircase leading to Leslie's second floor, we paid our tab and hit the road.
How much for a Bud Light?
$3 a bottle; imports are also available for $5 and mixed drinks start at $6. Happy hour drink specials are in effect before 10 p.m.
Get things to do?
There's a Megatouch game machine near the front door and a dart machine on the dance floor. Karaoke is available, though pickings might be slim if you don't like golden oldies or Filipino hits.
What about the grinds?
A pretty good selection of pupus are available: Fresh poke, sashimi and oysters (all $12) are on the menu, along with shrimp tempura ($15) and crab ($20). Chinese dishes range from egg rolls ($8) to fried rice ($10) and kung pao chicken ($12).
And the help?
While it's cheap beer that will bring the Barfly back to Leslie's Place, the service wasn't too bad either. Dee, our first bartender, was friendly and more than willing to help us choose something to eat. It wasn't until Dee's shift ended that we had problems getting served.
Barfly appears every Friday in Star-Bulletin Weekend.
E-mail Jason Genegabus at jason@starbulletin.com with suggestions of neighborhood bars to visit.
