This past Tuesday Diner A and yours truly stopped by for lunch at Nico’s Pier 38. Which for as long as they’ve been here, was a first-time visit for the both of us. As the name implies, they’re located in the new Fishing Village on the dockside of Pier 38 in Honolulu Harbor.

Nico’s is on the ground floor of a building that shares space with POP (Pacific Ocean Producers) Fishing and Marine. Nearby on the mauka side is another featured eatery in this otherwise isolated area called ‘Uncle’s'…

Being located just steps away from United Fishing Agency, Hawaii’s premier fish auction block, you can bet your cans of tuna and sardines the seafood offered at these eateries will be as fresh as you can get. If that isn’t enough reinforcement, the commercial longline fishing boats docked out front should help to further endorse that thought as you dive into that ahi, mahimahi or whatever else you’re having…

I don’t know about this boat. What a wreck!..

Here we are at the front of Nico’s…

All of Nico’s seating are under this large outdoor patio area.

or you can opt to sit at Umbrella tables right by the pier near the edge of the water (see second photo above), which is where we sat. Nice.

Here’s the entrance to the service area…

If you watch the Food Network (like I do religiously), you know who Guy Fieri is. Well, looks like we’ll be seeing Nico’s featured on a future episode of Diners, Drive Inns and Dives, as he’s clearly left his mark “Guy Ate Here” on the wall next to the Gyotaku sign in front…

Once inside the service area (which is strictly take-out), you’ll find a refrigerator case full of beer, wine and various desserts…

and logowear t-shirts and caps…

and most important of all, the menu boards…

By the time we got to the counter, which was about 12 noon, the Pork Cutlet with Mushroom Onion Gravy menu item was crossed off the board. That sounded good. I must note, the place was PACKED (always a good sign) with what looked mostly like white-collar workers and military personnel. Interesting demographic for such a remote industrial location.

While seafood may be top-of-mind at a place like this, as you’ve seen on the menu, there are dishes for “landlubbers” as well. To which Diner “landlubber” A chose the Hoisin Barbecue Chicken…

I was really craving something deep-fried on this day, and to much delight, when I seen Beer-battered Fish ‘N Chips on the menu, it didn’t take any more deciding on what I’d get…

That shot’s more just to show you exactly where we sat right by the pier. Here’s a better angle of the Fish ‘N Chips itself…

Fish? Check. What kind of fish? Marlin (Kajiki). Chips? Check. Medium-cut fries. Tartar sauce? Check. More like an aioli, actually. Malt Vinegar? Check. Lemon? Check. Although for squeezing, I would have preferred it cut into a wedge than a parallel slice.

So how is it? Let’s start with Diner A’s Hoisin Barbecue Chicken…

Notice there’s a bed of  Chow Mein noodles underneath the entree. Upon tasting it, he said flavor-wise, it wasn’t anything special, but a nice touch never-the-less. That slice of chicken underneath looks DRY. And unfortunately it was. Very dry due to being overcooked. On the positive side, the Hoisin Barbecue sauce was delicious. It had more of  smoky, American style barbecue sauce flavor to it, with a sweet and sour thing going on. It kinda’ tasted like Tony Roma’s sauce. Couldn’t taste the hoisin at all (thank goodness, as I don’t care for Hoisin). The BBQ sauce alone was really good.

The portions was also generous on his plate, including 4 big pieces of boneless chicken. Enough that he shared one with me…

Fortunately, while the other 3 pieces were leather-dry, the piece he shared with me was very tender and moist…

I also appreciated the distinguishable seared edges, or as we say in Hawaiian, “papa’a”, or in Japanese, “Koge”. On this piece alone, I give a solid 3 SPAM Musubi. On this piece alone.  The other 3 pieces of  Hoisin barbecue chicken “leather” left Diner A somewhat disappointed.

Let’s sample the Macaroni Salad…

Diner A thought the mac’ tasted kinda’ weird being that it had a hint of tang to it. I tried some and thought it wasn’t too bad. Pretty good. Cool and creamy, with if there was a note of acidity in it, perhaps being that Nico is French, he puts a dash of Grey Poupon in it? Just throwing the idea out, you know. lol  I give their Mac’  2 SPAM Musubi. Diner A gives it 1.

Finally, throwing salt into Diner A’s wound of a leathery chicken plate, the rice was undercooked and stiff. How can you mess up RICE on a plate lunch? GONG.

With that, Diner A gives Nico’s Hoisin Barbecue Chicken plate 1 SPAM Musubi by a stretch.

Now let’s try the Fish ‘N Chips…

First of all, why is the cut so thick? It’s like they took a marlin STEAK and battered it, whereas most Fish ‘N Chips are made from bite-size strips of a filet.

I must say, thankfully it was fairly moist and tender….

Being that the cut was too thick, the ratio of batter to fish meat was out of balance, without enough golden-crispy crunch to contrast the tender marlin meat inside. It was all meat and minimal batter. Also, the “beer batter” was more like a simple seasoned dry flour. It didn’t come across as liquid-based (as in beer) batter. That said, I’d more aptly name this “Chicken-Fried Marlin Steak” than “Fish ‘N Chips”.

As for the chips (fries), they were tender inside, but soggy outside. The problem was, I think they screwed-up the order, as another customer came back to the counter while I was waiting  (for about 10 minutes) and told the cashier he got the wrong order, which he had fish ‘n chips, which I think was my order. So he gave that plate back to her in exchange for something else. Then finally about 5 minutes later after I had to check, the cashier hands me my order.

See, because they’re so busy, Nico’s normally gives out electronic pagers, but apparently they ran out of them, and instead just handed us a receipt with a number on it. But apparently they don’t call numbers, only pagers. So we were basically on our own. What kind of system is that? Being in business for this long, and knowing how busy they get, they need to have enough pagers for EVERY CUSTOMER. Or have a back-up system in check, As it was on our visit, it was rather chaotic behind the counter.

So my Fish ‘N Chips, along with the aforementioned problems about the dish itself, had also steamed itself into sogginess because it had been sitting too long.

Summing it up, the single piece of marlin was cut too thick and steak-like. The batter was too fried chicken-like. And overall the entire dish was soggy from sitting too long before service due to a breakdown in the system behind the counter. Its only saving grace was that the marlin was moist, tender and flavorful, while the Tartar sauce, which was more like an aioli, made it all taste decent. With that I give Nico’s Fish ‘N Chips another 1 SPAM Musubi… by a stretch.

In contrast, my homemade beer-battered Fish ‘N Chips RULED in comparison….

Now THAT’S how beer-battered fish ‘n chips should look like.

Then there’s Alexander’s EXCELLENT tempura-based Fish ‘N Chips from Maui….

Notice how they’re cut into bite-sized strips, not one big STEAK. Nico, please change your cut and make it like this. THIS is how you do Fish ‘N Chips.

Reading over the reviews of Nico’s on Yelp, many users rave about their Furikake Ahi, so if/when I return here, that’s what I’ll get. That Pork Cutlet with Mushroom Onion Gravy sure sounded ono, as did the other special of the day, the Panko-breaded Hebi with Cilantro Aioli.

As for our order, the fish ‘n chips recipe needs tweaking, the grill master needs some lessons in proper doneness, and they need to get enough pagers for EVERY customer and/or a back-up analog system functioning properly.

Nico’s Pier 38
1133 N. Nimitz hwy. (Across the Nimitz Business Center, 1st floor of POP Fishing & Marine)
Honolulu, HI 96817

Tel. 808-540-1377
www.NicosPier38.com

The Tasty Island rating:

(1) Average.

Related links:
• Fresh-off-the-Slab Fish Takes a French Twist at Nico’s – Honolulu Advertiser
• Nico’s Offers Perfect Lunchtime Escape – Honolulu Star Bulletin
• A Fish Auction Story – Honolulu Star Bulletin
• Nico’s at Pier 38 – A Global Tradition Lives On in Iwilei - Hawaii Diner
• Nico’s Pier 38 – Yelp user reviews