Hooters offers heaping piles of good food at happy hour

Hooters pulls no punches about what it’s selling. Catering to a young male clientele, it’s unashamed in putting its waitresses in bright orange hot pants and tight-fitting tank tops, which are decorated with an owl in a tongue-in-cheek reference to “hooters.”

While shorts and tank tops are no rarity here, Hooters is probably the only place in Hawaii where the outfit is finished off with nylon stockings and white socks and shoes. It’s a distinctive enough look to make you glance twice if you’re inclined.

The experience

The pub is located in the Aloha Tower Marketplace, right next to the pier where the Star of Honolulu cruise ship docks. If you go during happy hour, 3-6 p.m. weekdays, you’ll get the double delight of watching hula dancers greeting passengers, in addition to observing the above-mentioned waitresses.

Hooters is a national chain based in Atlanta, but it originated with a single restaurant in Clearwater, Fla., a beach town on the Gulf of Mexico. The decor, one would imagine, is supposed to refer to those roots, with a kind of oyster-shack feel to the wood-trimmed bar and souvenir shop. Other than the natural tones of wood, the predominant color is orange, as if one needed a reminder to look at the waitresses’ shorts.

Overall, the feeling of the place is fun and casual to the max. With plenty of flat screens around, sports is never out of eyesight. I went during an NBA playoff game, and there was a good crowd there enjoying the fun.

The food

Bring friends when you go to Hooter’s, which puts all of its appetizers at half-price for happy hour. It’s a bargain, but it takes a group to go after the food, which comes in ample portions and is almost shamefully filling. As if looking at the waitresses doesn’t make you feel guilty enough, leaving a heap of food on your plate that you can’t finish will do the trick.

For $9.50 ($19 regular) you can get Hooters’ Original Buffalo Platter, which consists of six shrimp, six boneless wings and six regular wings, each heavily breaded and deep fried, so you can feel it down to the arteries. It’s a nice variety, but it looks like you really need three people to eat it all when it’s good and crisp.

I had the sliders ($6 during happy hour). They came with two chicken and two beef sliders per serving and plenty of curly fries. The sliders themselves were no one- or two-biters, they were a handful. This was plenty of food, with plenty of flavor, although one might question why the chicken had to be both breaded and served on a bun. Aside from making for a rather chewy dish, it was clearly more bread than chicken.

I also had the new Hooters-Style Skins, ($4 during happy hour): carved-out potato skins, restuffed with potatoes and special sauce. This was probably the tangiest, spiciest style of potato I’ve ever had — really good for clearing out the sinuses on a stuffy day.

There is a section of the menu that features heart-healthier items, such as steamed shrimp, snow-crab legs and Cajun-style blackened shrimp. Unfortunately, none of these is offered at happy-hour prices. Still, it’s an option for those avoiding fried food.

The drinks

Happy-hour drinks are a snap: half-price on domestic beer, Coors, Miller, Bud and Bud Lite. For $3 a pint and $5 for a 22-ounce “Big Daddy,” it’s a nice deal.

The verdict

Hooters puts as much fun as it can into having a meal. Even the menu contains cute little side jokes, like this description of its Original Buffalo Shrimp ($6 during happy hour): “Breaded shrimp, tossed in your favorite wing sauce, tender inside, crisp outside, just like a lot of us.” Or this comment in the menu about the staff: “Those iconic Hooters girls? Yes, we’ve got that too, so order up, dive right in and enjoy the view.”

With a sign that says “Caution: Blondes thinking” hanging near the bar, Hooters obviously doesn’t take itself very seriously. Patrons shouldn’t either. In the right frame of mind, happy hour there is a perfectly enjoyable way to have a meal without spending a lot of money.