For years, on our morning commute down South Beretania Street, we’ve been intrigued by the bright red-and-white signs of 8 Fat Fat 8 Bar & Grille.

Open since 1986 — or thereabouts, according to its website — the popular watering hole’s name combines the Chinese lucky number eight with “fat,” which means to prosper, as in “kung hee fat choy.” “We hope for double the luck and double the prosperity,” the website says.

We could all use some of that, so a Friday evening as Chinese New Year approached seemed an auspicious time to give the lounge a try.

The experience

A banner above the door says “Sports karaoke pool darts.” The door was open but almost completely covered by a huge brown paper shade. A metal floor fan whirled in the darkness below.

We edged past the shade into a large windowless room illuminated by three TVs tuned to college basketball, with beer signs on the clean white walls and Christmas lights strung over the horseshoe-shaped bar. Most of the dark-green carpeted space was filled with large and small burgundy vinyl booths, with dart video games around the perimeter, but there was ample room for the pool table: Minnesota Fats would have felt right at home.

Most of the tables had “reserved” signs; asked whether we had reservations by the pink-braided waitress in cutoffs, we confessed that we hadn’t, but the five of us were promptly seated in a big, comfy booth.

At 5:15 p.m. there were people seated around the bar, and by 5:30 p.m. the tables were filling up. Good air conditioning and the fan setup provided relief from the hot, muggy Kona weather.

The all-local crowd was nicely mixed in age: groups of longhaired 20- to 30-somethings who appeared to be from the Makiki neighborhood, almost everybody in T-shirts and jeans or shorts; multigenerational family parties; couples on dates; a few older men in aloha shirts. A lone red-haired young woman with sunglasses on her head sat reading a book at the bar.

Yes, it’s a dive, but in a loud, happy, inclusive sort of way. When one of my companions announced that he had just finished reading all of Proust in French for the second time, no one batted an eye.

Parking is free in the neighboring Midas lot after 5 p.m., and there were open metered spaces nearby on Beretania Street.

The food

While there are no happy-hour specials on food, it is reasonably priced and servings are generous. Pupu items are regularly priced at $6 to $16; fresh ahi sashimi or poke are market price.

The menu said you’d get six to eight pieces of garlic shrimp scampi for $10, but we lucked into a couple extra of the fresh, hot, buttery shrimp.

Cold ginger tofu, $6, was an all-around hit. “This is incredible,” raved a young woman in our party.

Ika Geso, three sticks of tentacled deep-fried squid, $6.50, proved crunchy and delicious but on the heavy side.

Six homemade pot stickers, $7.50, were delicious and chewy, their delicate wrappers glistening with oil. Waitresses passed by carrying heaping platters of deep-fried food. (As the bar’s website noted, fat also “meant in olden days that you’re rich because you could eat well.”)

After a pause the Fat Fat Special Chicken ($11) arrived, a roasted half bird cut in pieces. The dark brown skin “slides off and leaves you succulent, moist, white flesh,” a companion rhapsodized.

All in all, there was a good variety of modernized, local-style Chinese food, as another in our party observed.

The drinks

Beer specials change daily. The Friday special was a 22-ounce bottle of Kirin, $5 during happy hour (regularly $6).

We had tall cold pours of draft Sierra’s Beer Camp IPA, $5, and Heineken BrewLock, $4.50; one of us enjoyed a bottle of Kulmbacher Eisbock, $7.50, which has 11 percent alcohol content and was nearly sold out. Manager Mary Young said the bar offers rotating beer selections on a limited basis.

The verdict

By 7:15 p.m. nearly every booth was full of people contentedly sharing steaming platters of noodles. “It’s really good. Considering it’s a dive bar, it’s a notch above,” a companion summed up.

If you want to relax in a welcoming atmosphere with good, basic food and drink and no pressures, pull on your T-shirt and jeans and you’ll fit right in at 8 Fat Fat 8. It’s a great place to go with a merry group to better sample the variety and large portions of rich pupu. Arrive early to snag a space.