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FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Regular customer Ervey Valle, right, enjoys a beer and friendly conversation with bartender Bobby Chow at Henry Loui's in Mapunapuna.

Old-school charm

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HENRY LOUI'S Location: 2850 Paa St. (Near 99 Ranch Market) Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily Phone: 833-3728

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TAKE SOME time to navigate the side streets in Mapunapuna near 99 Ranch Market and the Toyota dealership, and you'll be rewarded by a cozy spot that's been a fixture in the neighborhood for more than two decades.

A number of readers have e-mailed during football season, encouraging me to check the place out on a Monday night or Sunday afternoon. And although my visit this week didn't coincide with any of the NFL's playoff games, I could understand why so many people enjoy coming back here again and again.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE the influence of a bar's longevity -- it often means that the owners are doing something right.

It's easy to see that Henry Loui's has been around for a while. Once you get past the unassuming front door, a pretty large room awaits that just oozes old-school charm.

An abundance of wood provides a sense of classy elegance, the booths lined with lauhala thatching and tapa print covering the ceiling. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the furnishings are remnants of the time this joint was known as Sanford's, before Henry Loui's made the move from Waikiki to its present location 24 years ago.

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Cozy Henry Loui's has been a Mapunapuna fixture for more than two decades. Here, Bernadette Telefoni celebrated her birthday with friends, Malia Naeole, left, Telefoni, Donna Feldmann and Cindy Kawahara. Behind the bar is bartender Bobby Chow.

Your first tip to looking like a regular when you walk through the front door? Forget about waiting for someone to seat you and hang a quick right into the lounge area. If you wait (and it's before the end of dinner service at 9:30 p.m.), the staff will end up taking you into the dining area on the Ewa side of the room.

While you'll still be able to order off the pupu menu and see the action on a couple of televisions nearby, sitting in the dining area takes away from the neighborhood bar vibe that the lounge provides. Sitting there also makes it more difficult to take part in the karaoke that's offered every night (except Sundays).

ON THE night I visited Henry Loui's, all the action was in the lounge. Separated from the restaurant's dining area by a centrally located bar, there are a number of booths and tables to sit at if all 10 barstools are occupied.

Along with the televisions in the dining area, various sporting events are shown on the screens that hang over the bar and in the corners of the lounge.

But instead of oceanscape paintings and old photographs of Oahu and Maui's coastal areas, a number of football jerseys sit in display cases above the booths. Various other bits of memorabilia are also on display, giving this side of the room a distinctive sports bar look while retaining its old-school roots.

With the majority of customers appearing to be in their 40s and 50s, the lounge seems to hit its stride about 7 p.m. Just like any other neighborhood bar, there are a couple of customers who appear to know everyone in the room. A group of co-workers sat at another table, sharing beers and horror stories from the daily grind they had just completed.

Sure, most of the younger generation will skip this joint in favor of more happening places in town. For the legions of office workers in the area, however, Henry Loui's is in a great location at the crossroads between town and Leeward Oahu.

How much for a Bud Light? The Barfly drank $3.25 bottles of Bud Light during his visit; imports are also available at $4.25 a bottle, and there are different drink specials offered every night of the week. Get things to do? Other than sing karaoke or watch television, there isn't much else to do here except talk story with the employees and other customers sitting at the bar. A couple of Megatouch machines near the front door offer another option if you get bored, and it was pretty entertaining to watch grown men and women get all excited over winning stuffed animals from one of those crane-type games that's next to the Megatouch machines. What about the grinds? Henry Loui's calls their ribs the "Best Suckin' Ribs," so you know we had to try some. The half-rack ($13.95) was enough for one person, slathered in a sweet sauce and topped with green onions. The best? I'm not sure, but these were pretty good. While the kalua pig sandwich ($9.95) arrived with a generous portion of pork, it quickly turned into a greasy mess. Got some money to spend? Try the 24-ounce porterhouse steak ($27.95) or the ribs with a side of lobster tail ($25.95). The Combo Lounge Platter ($18.95) with barbecue ribs, pulehu ribs and fries is also worth a try, and there are a number of items available for $6.50 each, including won tons, spring rolls, onion rings and potato skins. A full dinner menu is also served until 9:30 p.m. nightly; last call for pupus is 11 p.m. And the help? All of the barstools were taken when we first walked into Henry Loui's, which limited our seating options. After a slight initial wait, however, there were no problems ordering drinks or pupus -- and boy, did we get our food fast! Most of the servers appear to be longtime employees, which means they're very efficient and seem to care about their customers' dining and drinking experience.