Friendly Waves
$$ • Restaurant
Most Recent Reviews
I was reassured that it was gluten free. I didn’t feel real confident so I just ordered the nachos but I still got sick. It might have been the cheese sauce it tasted like processed cheese.
Outstanding! This place is amazing. Well worth the drive if you are not in the area.
I had the Da Hamburger 🍔 with the Boa Bun which is best described as a rice pancake, which I appreciate the effort, it’s a big delicious juicy burger so after several bites things tend to get a little messy, so extra napkins or a knife and fork are a good idea. The fries are GF and were pretty good. They don’t have GF Beer which is too bad, but I did try a Koloa Rum Guava Canned Cocktail, which was GF and a nice option not too sweet and when poured into a glass looks like lager beer. Staff was knowledgeable and the food was good. I’ll come back again.
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Incredible GF experience. Everything EXCEPT the burger buns is gluten free. They offer a rice bao bun or lettuce wrap as a replacement. I had the bbq burger with bacon and fries and they were wonderful. Our server was knowledgeable and incredible. Even the house made pickles were delicious
Found through this app. I can't say enough about this place. I had the wings and also ate some sweet potato fries. Wings were huge!! Most of the menu is GF. Things are clearly labeled that aren't GF. Dined with 3 non celiacs who loved their meals too. Waitress was very knowledge. I will be back . On weekends they do GF pancakes. Delicious !!!!
2nd trip nachos and sweet potato fries so good !!!! Had the steak nachos and they were to die for. Service is great !!
Almost everything is gluten free, a few exceptions clearly listed. They only fry gf food in their fryer so yes, you can have fries there ! I got the burger, it comes either wrapped in lettuce or on a thin bao rice bun. I felt the rice bun was a bit chewy but burger was really juicy and good.
Practically everything is gluten free except the buns and Mac salad. Great food and fun environment!!
Almost everything is gluten free! They only fry gf items so no worrying about a shared fryer, great place to have wings and fried items that you normally can’t have. I still tell them I have celiac and they take exceptional care in the kitchen. They also have gf breakfast items on the weekends.
I ordered the veggie nachos and they were so gross. Both my husband and I were sick all night. We think it was The “cheeze “ sauce . Would not recommend
What a great experience. The manager came to our table and went over the entire menu with me. As stated in previous reviews, almost all of the menu is gluten-free. I had the naked wings with the orange sauce. It said it was a little spicy, but I didn’t think it was at all. It was delicious!! I also had the sweet potato fries and had enough leftovers for lunch the next day! Yum!!
Could not believe the menu at this place! All of it was like normal bar food, delicious, & basically ALL GF! Flavorful poke bowls were amazing! Fried pickles, fries, & chicken wings!!! This is the best GF place we’ve been to since she was diagnosed with Celiacs one year ago! We WILL go back.
Such a great selection of GF options! All of the fried options were GF, so we had wings, fries, and nachos. Good sports bar atmosphere, and the server was very knowledgeable. Good size portions for the money.
The food is delicious and the staff was extremely knowledgeable. Almost everything on the menu was gluten free. My wife has a serious allergy and had no issues.
Food is absolutely wonderful and best of all almost everything on the menu is gluten free. The service is excellent.
Almost everything is gluten free, except for a few well labeled items. Our server was amazing and recommended some great food, we got bao pancakes with pork belly (delicious!!) and loco moco. I was excited to have the loco moco (rice hamburger eggs gravy etc) since it’s local hawaiian cuisine, i’m glad this restaurant makes it gluten free. The cocktails with Koloa rum were so good too.
We were also super happy with the environment, it’s a fun sports bar vibe with an open air feel on the second floor downtown with lots around.
We enjoyed all the gluten free options! Would come back.
Nearly all menu items are gluten free, including all wings and fries. Only menu items containing gluten are the mac and cheese and buns for burgers. They offer bao buns or lettuce wraps for burgers. Dedicated fryers
We had lunch at Friendly Waves today and I will say, the food was awesome! Lots of gluten free options, very knowledgeable bartender who explained everything to me and our food was absolutely delicious! The bbq burger minus the bun, was yummy and the fries were perfection! We will be back to try the fresh catch later in the week 😋
Very knowledgeable. The wings and poke nachos were delicious. We had a few order mishaps but none of them affected the gf-ness and they made it all right.
Gluten free and dairy free Poke nachos were great! Lots of GF options
I had the most incredible fried fish and chips! They have a dedicated fryer and the menu states how safe they are for those with gluten allergies. The server even told me “no gluten goes in our fryer!” I felt so good about eating here and it was a delicious meal.
Cannot recommend this place enough! Only 4 things on the menu that were NOT gluten free. The staff were very helpful, knowledgeable, giving all at the table the confidence that they knew what they were doing. And the cocktails were nummy. Ambiance was also great. A wonderful find for our family!
It’s great to have fried gluten free food. Otherwise, not much to talk about.
The menu is basically gluten-free. They are great with cross-contamination. Their fryer is gluten-free. The wings were AMAZING!!!!! the staff is very well trained to handle allergies and all so kind.
Terrific experience! The staff was very knowledgeable and happy they could confidently provide a safe meal. Most of the offerings are GF. One negative is that they didn't have a GF bun. My son with Celiac had the burger, fries, wings - all GF and free of cross contamination! He wanted to try the fried chicken, since that's such a rare find, but he was stuffed. Nice open air table. Restaurant is located in a great area with other restaurants, shops. We were excited to go back for another dinner, but discovered they are closed on Tuesdays. Check their hours before going. Thank you for a great experience!!
super delicious! the chicken burger was great. the staff was knowledgeable and asked me if i was celiac !! if i wasn’t leaving tomorrow morning i would totally go again
This app helped us find Friendly Waves after a morning of awesome Koloa zip-lining that left us wanting a hearty lunch. Excellent food, knowledgeable staff, good portion size, and nice shaded outdoor dining area. Over 90% of the menu is already GF, and the rest can be easily modified. Server and kitchen made sure to take extra care prepping my meal to avoid possible cross contamination. I ordered delicious chicken wings and the best sweet potato waffle fries I’ve ever had. Wings are available “naked” (aka crispy skin) or with GF breading in at least 6 different flavors. My family enjoyed their ramen bowls as well.
A great option for those with celiac! I love their approach - essentially a gluten free restaurant with a few gluten items. Bonus my waiter had celiac so she was so nice and so helpful with navigating the menu. Such a treat to have chicken wings, and they were very good. Would definitely come back here!
Their fryers are all gluten free, no gluten goes in so it’s safe! We went here twice on our trip. The first time we ordered a bunch of fried chicken wings that were awesome. The second time I got a lettuce wrapped fish sandwich and fries. The kitchen is very conscious of gluten and the menu was really thoughtfully put together to make things naturally gluten free.
I have celiac and dairy allergy. I ordered the Upland burger with sweet potato fries. The food was delicious! But when I was almost done eating it I found a piece of breading (similar to chicken tender breadding) with my fries. I WAS GLUTENED.
Lots of GF options and GF fryer. Knowledgeable staff and yummy food! Will be going back!
Had the most delicious burger!!! Mouthwatering. They are extremely conscious and careful with GF orders. Also extremely knowledgeable. I felt completely safe and taken care of. GF bun is a “rice” bun described as a bao bun, or you can have it lettuce wrapped. Fries are so delicious as well. I also got the wedge salad. You can’t go wrong here!!!!
Ordered the deep fried wings, delicious and big selection of sauces (chose to get sauces on side so could try different ones). Regular fries were delicious as well (dedicated fryer). Took about an hour to get our order so that was a bit rough but food was good and safe, no one got sick.
They are extremely careful with allergy orders, this will sometimes mean food takes longer to come out. That’s fine with me for safety reasons but just be understanding. The gluten free bun isn’t like a typical hamburger bun, it’s more like a bao bun. The dedicated fryer is great.
The hamburger was good. The 'bun' wasn't really a bum but it was still good. The sweet potato fries were great.
Best restaurant on the island so far for people who have gluten allergies. They have a wide variety of options and they are truly careful. In fact, I had a hard time choosing which meal to order ! The manager is very knowledgeable and has trained his staff well.
Didn’t get me sick. the fries were very good. The service was very friendly. The fried chicken was not the best cut of meat.
Knowledgeable staff and delicious food. We had wings, poke nachos, and pork belly. receipt was marked ‘celiac’ .
Almost the entire menu is gluten free! I had the fried chicken and french fries, very simple but still so delicious. Definitely recommend!!
Almost everything on the menu is gluten free. Everyone enjoyed their meal. We will be going back!
Many gluten free options (almost the entire menu), and food allergy safe. Staff is knowledgeable about allergies and can talk you through the menu, and the alternative ingredients that they use. If you make them aware that you have an allergy, they mark the ticket and pull out new pans/etc to prepare your food.
I had the fried chicken sandwich, which they substituted the bun with a gluten free bao bun. Overall the food was good. The bao bun was a bit sticky compared to a normal bun.
We had a great experience here! My wife is gluten-free and also allergic to soy. We read about the many gluten-free options here and had hope. When we arrived, Sampson greeted us and talked to us about the menu and we could tell right away he was very knowledgeable about gluten free and other allergy needs, in fact he explained they built their restaurant and processes around not using gluten. There are a few items that use it, but not many (and he was very clear on what these were) and they don’t fry anything with gluten. Got that? Anything fried is gluten-free!!! They do use soy in their oil, but they are able to setup a pan fry with non-soy oil if you call ahead or are willing to wait a little longer for the prep. We got Fish and Chips (with fresh tuna), steak nachos (corn chips fried in the non-soy oil, delicious!), and a burger with a rice based thick pancake as a bun (also delicious). Would highly recommend!
Highly recommend. Celiac safe. Separate cooking area for my food with a dedicated fryer. Lots of options.
Wonderful service and knowledgeable about celiac. Assured me they would cook my food separately and all of the fries are GF bc they don’t cook anything with gluten in the fryers. Delicious burger with the bao bun. Great atmosphere.
The best meal we had the entire stay!! Everything is GF except buns, sausage ,carnitas (cooked in beer) and noodles. You can get fish n chips by ordering the fresh catch fried and a side of fries! Get the bang bang sauce as a side! Oh and the Nachos are what dreams are made of. Gluten husband loved the Philly! A really great lively open aor bar atmosphere! My only complaint was the mojito had no flavor but who cares when you can get fried food!!. Please go and support them so they stay open!!
Wow. For bar food, this was terrific. The staff is well versed in celiac protocols and we had a great time. Several types of chicken wings, hamburgers and lettuce wrapped fish tacos. Two members of our party with Celiac and no problems.
Finally found GF safe Loco Moco....tried several places that said they could make it GF but they would leave the gravy off. Not here the gravy is GF too! Wait staff and cooks very knowledgeable with gluten issues. We also had the nachos and breaded wings. I have not had breaded fried chicken since celiac diagnosis. Found our new favorite GF spot!
Server was amazing. She explained that the owner is very passionate about making it safe for gluten free people to eat safely. They have any wings you want with breading, tons of burger options and fried chicken. They have stuff for kids too! Love it here!
Delicious and safe! We ate here twice on our weeklong trip.
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