Asian salad was delicious and so refreshing at Simple Joy in Honolulu
Curry noodles at Simple Joy in Honolulu
Vietnamese pancake at Simple Joy in Honolulu
Vegan
American
Take-out
Vietnamese

A family-owned restaurant that serves a variety of dishes from pasta, burgers and sandwiches to Vietnamese entrees and noodle soups, rice dishes with mock meats. Opened fall-2010. Reported fully vegan August 2021. Open Mon-Tue 10:30am-2:30pm, Mon-Sun 5:00pm-9:00pm, Thu-Sun 10:30am-2:30pm. Hours may vary; call ahead.

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142 Reviews

First Review by beve_luna

Avatar Herbiv4

Herbiv4

Points +2069

Vegan
22 Nov 2012

in love

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.

Pros: variety, nice prices, parking in back

linguine with garlic and mushrooms at Simple Joy in Honolulu

veggie tempura at Simple Joy in Honolulu

chicken nuggets at Simple Joy in Honolulu

interior at Simple Joy in Honolulu

Avatar jetgal

jetgal

Points +108

Vegan
16 Mar 2012

Good, not great

First, the menu has a ton of selections, its a bit overwhelming. I think it would be better if they shortened the menu and made the selections tastier. The soup that came with my entree tasted the same as the noodle dish I ordered- salty, too much soy, nothing amazing. I splurged and ordered desert. I usually love anything with chocolate, but the cake was gross. It tasted old, like it had been in the freezer for a long time and I don't even know what they used for frosting. Simple can be good if you use the ingredients wisely. Unfortunately, Simple Joy missed the mark with me. The staff is super friendly though. Its a shame the food isn't great.

Pros: Friendly Staff

Cons: boring food, gross desert

Avatar Mesohungry

Mesohungry

Points +23

Vegan
23 Jan 2012

Me hoppy!!

This was a good first expereince to a vegan resturant. I will be back as they have a lot of things i'd like to try. There portions are smaller then average resturant servings but, I still walked out full and happy. Prices are very reasonable. Easy to find parking and seating. My non vegan hubby enjoyed it even though he grumbled thru thr door. Left quite happy:) I ordered putanesca it was okay Im not into mock meats but theres were juicey and I enjoyed chewing away on it. alot of seasoning and A LOT of capers. I havent had heartburn since I became vegan a year ago. I got heartburn today. Bf ordered mushroom pasta was sooooooo delucious.

Pros: Yummy choices, Lots of seating, Lots of parking at noon

Cons: Sticky bathroom., Coed bathroom, Tap water.

Avatar Suzy

Suzy

Points +18

Vegan
21 Mar 2011

Wonderful, wonderful!

Absolutely every bite was delicious, and all at a very affordable price. We are just visiting, so we won't be able to visit often, but I think my sister and her buddies will be new fans! I had the Vegan Feast, my sister the Pumpkin Soup and Vegetarian Sensation, and my husband the Pesto Pasta - and we all shared bites. Hope to go at least one more time while we are here!

Pros: wonderful food, simple ambiance, good value

Cons: service a bit spotty, bathrooms outside

Avatar bandita

bandita

Points +123

Vegan
07 Feb 2011

Good variety of mock meats

I'm so relieved that this turned out to be a good place. I normally don't take guests to vegetarian places I haven't tried before but I've only been here in HI for about a week, and I was tired of all the restaurants I've been taken too with the limited vegetarian options that turn out so bland and boring. So this time, I invited and treated my family and friends to this place. They looked really disappointed when they saw this place was vegan. But they were all a good sport and ordered a meal. And we all loved it! And one was very amazed at how the mock meats tasted so real. He never knew such existed and believed that vegans basically just eat bird food. This was a great opportunity to break that myth and at the same time, bring up the truth on the barbaric treatment to livestock animals. This is a great place to bring guests who normally love meat.

Pros: Great variety of mock meats, Easy parking, Reasonably priced

Cons: Portions a little small, Small dessert selection

Avatar VeganDietGuy

VeganDietGuy

Points +189

Vegan
13 Dec 2010

worth at least 2 visits

We were in town for the Honolulu Marathon and decided to try Pure Joy as Loving Hut was closed. Was surprised that parking (4 spots) were full and restaurant was nearly full on Sunday afternoon. We had heard they were affiliated informally with Loving Hut, but the waiter did not know anything about it. In fact, he could not even tell us whether their pasta was whole wheat or not, did not even know such a thing existed! We had the Eggplant Parmigiana with fettuccini and the "Clay Pot Sensation". The pasta was cooked al dente, slightly hard the way I like it. However, I thought the food, especially the clay pot tofu was a bit on the expensive side for the small portion. I would however like to go back and try their vietnamese sandwich and the curry noodle soup an earlier reviewer mentioned.
William

Pros: many choices, variety, parking

Cons: uninformed staff, portion size

Avatar beve_luna

beve_luna

Points +16

Vegan
06 Nov 2010

ehh...no

I ate here for dinner and although it is a very nice atmosphere, the food i not that good. I had the quesadilla which had practically no daiya cheese in it. Then had the mushroom linguine with white sauce....lets just say that i was eating just pasta without any sauce. Everything was lacking, and they are tight with their servings.

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