If you love Italian food, chances are, you’ve heard of Onda Pasta, a business known for its fresh, handmade pasta and sauces. It’s also how the food truck Piccola — Italian for “small” — Onda got its name, according to owner William Chen.
“Alohilani (Resort) approached us with an opportunity to utilize a quirky space in Waikiki, and as you know, I love the unexpected,” he shares. “Knowing we had a vacuum for some amazing, approachable, traditional Italian food, I wanted to highlight the amazing, fresh pastas available to us from Onda Pasta — hence the food truck’s name — paired with housemade sauces, and voila! A Roman pasta truck was born last March.”
You can find the truck in the back lot of Alohilani Resort, which is accessible via Kealohilani Avenue. “Most times, people think we are in the front of the building,” Chen says. “If you’re driving into Waikiki, we can also validate self-parking at the resort for two hours. Not to mention, we have such a fantastic team who is so proud to be serving classic, Roman-style Italian food, which some people aren’t expecting. We feature delicious pastas with simple ingredients rather than chicken parmigiana or meatballs.”
Signature pastas include gnocchi Bolognese ($15) — fluffy, handmade potato dumplings in a rich tomato and Butcher & Bird pork sausage ragu — and shrimp scampi ($17), which is a nod to North Shore-style garlic shrimp with fresh tomato, lemon and garlic butter.
“We also feature a puttanesca ($12) made vegetarian with our housemade tomato sauce with capers and olives, al forno ($12) — our cheesiest sauce finished with toasted bread crumbs — and pesto ($12) with toasted macacamia nuts and sweet basil,” Chen adds. “And don’t sleep on our panna cotta ($5).”
The truck is currently open for lunch and dinner 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5-8:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays, per Chen.
“We hope to be open seven days a week soon,” he says. “Stay tuned via our Instagram (@piccolaondahi) for any updates.”