Rice, a hamburger patty, a fried egg, gravy over everything. Loco moco is the plate we reach for most often in Waikiki, because it lines up with how we actually eat on vacation: no real lunch, then something solid around 2 pm. Over enough trips, the list of places we have tried got long, and our favorite turned out to be a steakhouse, not a plate lunch counter.
These are the six we have eaten ourselves and could match to a menu the restaurant posts today. They are ranked by our taste, which is simple: a meaty patty and a sauce with some weight to it. The prices and hours come from each restaurant’s own site or ordering page, checked November 11, 2026. A few other places where we have had loco moco are left off: one has closed, and for the rest we could not match the plate we ate to a menu they post now.
The six at a glance
All prices are from official menus or ordering pages, checked November 11, 2026, before tax and tip.
| # | Place | Where | Loco moco on the menu | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Signature Prime Steak & Seafood | Ala Moana Hotel, 36th floor | $19.95; $15.95 at happy hour | Opens 4:30 pm nightly; happy hour food 4:30-6:30 pm, lounge only |
| 2 | Wolfgang’s Steakhouse | Royal Hawaiian Center, Building C, Level 3 | $23 on the lunch menu; “The ‘W’ Loco Moco” $17 on the W Lanai menu | Restaurant 11 am-10 pm daily (10:30 pm Fri-Sat); W Lanai 3-10 pm |
| 3 | ShoreFyre | International Market Place, and 2446 Koa Ave | IMP: $30 breakfast, $31 lunch and dinner. Koa Ave: $29 | IMP: breakfast, and lunch & dinner menus. Koa Ave: breakfast and lunch menus. Not on the happy hour list |
| 4 | Pioneer Saloon | 3046 Monsarrat Ave | $18 on the online ordering page | 11 am-8 pm, per its site |
| 5 | Heavenly Island Lifestyle | Shoreline Hotel Waikiki, 342 Seaside Ave | $27 on the breakfast and happy hour menus; $25 at dinner | 7 am-9:30 pm; happy hour 2-4 pm |
| 6 | Nico’s Pier 38 | Pier 38, Honolulu Harbor | Lunch $19.29 (mini $15.04); breakfast $17.33 (mini $14.71) | Breakfast 6:30-10 am Mon-Sat; lunch 10 am-4 pm |
Our ranking, and why
1. Signature Prime Steak & Seafood
Steakhouse loco moco is a different animal, mostly because the patty is a real steakhouse patty. The one we ate at Signature came with a creamy lobster gravy, rich in the way a lobster bisque is rich. The current happy hour menu lists it only as “Signature Loco Moco,” so we cannot tell you the gravy is the same today.
The price is what makes it easy: $19.95, down to $15.95 at happy hour. The happy hour page gives food from 4:30 to 6:30 pm and drinks until 7 pm, nightly, walk-in only and in the lounge only. The restaurant itself opens at 4:30 pm, so this is not a 2 pm plate. For us it is the exception day: Pink Line trolley to Ala Moana Center, walk over to the hotel, and eat at 4:30 sharp. We wrote up the rest of that happy hour here.
2. Wolfgang’s Steakhouse
Another steakhouse patty, this one under a classic mushroom gravy. We used to order the happy hour mini loco moco here on a regular basis; in 2017 it was $7, and it was not as mini as the name said.
That price is long gone. The lunch menu lists a loco moco at $23. The W Lanai terrace menu, served 3 to 10 pm daily, has “The ‘W’ Loco Moco” at $17. Happy hour, 3 to 6 pm daily, is printed as a drinks deal (draft beer from $6, Budweiser or Bud Light; wine from $8), and the menu does not mark the loco moco as a happy hour item. If we went back, it would be the $17 terrace version at 3 pm, which is about as close to our usual schedule as a steakhouse gets. More on the floor and the prices in our Wolfgang’s piece.
3. ShoreFyre
The draw here is the patty: half beef, half bacon. When we ate it at the International Market Place location years ago, it came with grilled Maui onion, a runny egg, and the house gravy, and the bill said $18.55. It was a regular-price item then, too.
The plate has grown. Both International Market Place and Koa Ave now describe an 8 oz patty, 50% smoked bacon and 50% angus chuck, on Hawaiian fried rice with gravy and two eggs. The International Market Place menu adds sautéed onions or mushrooms for $2 more; the Koa Ave menu does not list that add-on. The price depends on where you sit: $29 at Koa Ave on both menus, $30 at breakfast or $31 at lunch and dinner at International Market Place. It is not on the happy hour list (3 to 6 pm daily at Koa Ave, weekdays only at the market place). With fried rice and two eggs, this is the one we would split rather than order two of. The full happy hour breakdown is here.
4. Pioneer Saloon
Pioneer Saloon skips gravy for a thick demi-glace. We had the mini size, carried back to our room, and even that was a solid amount of food, with a thick patty that tasted like beef.
On the Monsarrat Avenue location’s online ordering page, a loco moco sits in the rice bowl section at $18. We did not find the mini there, so ask at the counter if that is what you want. The restaurant’s site lists 11 am to 8 pm and invites you to take your plate lunch to the beach. It is on the Diamond Head side of Kapiolani Park, beyond where we walk on an ordinary day, so for us this would be an order-ahead stop on a bus or rideshare day, not a stroll.
5. Heavenly Island Lifestyle
The odd one out, and we mean that kindly. The version we ate had a 100% Big Island ranch beef patty, an egg from a local farm, a lot of organic vegetables, and a slightly sweet ginger teriyaki sauce instead of gravy or demi-glace.
The breakfast menu now lists it on 10-grain rice with green beans, lentils, broccolini, organic carrots and a local beef patty, with a ginger soy glaze and apple dressing, at $27. The dinner menu has a similar plate at $25. The same breakfast-and-lunch page also has a Supreme Loco Moco on the lunch side: two Kobe-style beef patties, demi-glace with mushroom and onion, two eggs, $27.
Here is the part that matters to us. Heavenly’s happy hour runs 2 to 4 pm, and the vegetable loco moco is on that menu at the same $27, so there is no discount on that plate. Still, it is the one place on this list that is open, serving loco moco, and in a happy hour window at exactly the hour we get hungry, a short walk from where we stay. Through November 15, 2026, the homepage also lists a $40 three-course Restaurant Week dinner, after 4 pm only, built around house favorites that it says include the signature loco moco. (We covered that week here.)
6. Nico’s Pier 38
Two thick patties and a big portion. For our taste, it was seasoned a little lightly, but it is a filling plate. Nico’s is on Honolulu Harbor, not somewhere we would walk from Waikiki, so we had it delivered to the room.
The lunch menu, 10 am to 4 pm, lists the regular loco moco (two patties, two eggs, mushroom onion gravy, mac salad and chow mein noodles) at $19.29 and a one-patty mini at $15.04. The breakfast menu, Monday through Saturday 6:30 to 10 am, has them at $17.33 and $14.71. A delivery app can show different prices from the restaurant’s own menu, and fees come on top.
What we would actually do
- A 2 pm loco moco in Waikiki: Heavenly, inside the 2-4 pm happy hour window. If we can wait an hour, the $17 plate on Wolfgang’s terrace from 3 pm.
- The best one, on an evening that is worth the trolley ride: Signature at 4:30 pm, $15.95 at happy hour.
- One plate for two people: ShoreFyre’s fried-rice version with two eggs.
- A day we do not leave the suite: Nico’s, delivered.
Takeout is our default, and loco moco is no exception: the Pioneer Saloon mini went back to the room with us, and Nico’s came to the door. The sit-down steakhouse plates are the ones we eat in the restaurant, because that is how they are served.
Before you plan a meal around this
Every price and time above was read off the restaurant’s own site, PDF menu, or ordering page on November 11, 2026. Heavenly’s homepage says its hours were last updated November 4, 2026. Menus in Waikiki change often, sometimes without the website keeping up, so treat these as a starting point and check the linked page the day you go.
The ranking comes from plates we ate over several trips, and some have changed since. Signature’s current menu does not say whether the lobster gravy is still the sauce, and ShoreFyre now serves its loco moco on fried rice with two eggs. If you love a plain gravy-on-white-rice loco moco, our top two are still the place to start. If you would rather eat something green before your 2 pm beer, go straight to number five.
