The standard Ono Hawaiian BBQ day runs 10:30am to 9:00pm, seven days a week. That single line covers most of the roughly 90 restaurants in the chain, but the interesting part is not the opening and closing time — it is what happens to the food between them.
The standard week
| Day | Opens | Closes |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 10:30am | 9:00pm |
| Tuesday | 10:30am | 9:00pm |
| Wednesday | 10:30am | 9:00pm |
| Thursday | 10:30am | 9:00pm |
| Friday | 10:30am | 9:00pm |
| Saturday | 10:30am | 9:00pm |
| Sunday | 10:30am | 9:00pm |
A flat seven-day schedule is unusual in this category and it tells you something about the format. There is no Sunday cut, no shorter Monday, and no late-night Friday, because nothing here is limited by an overnight smoke. Plates are cooked to order on a flat-top and a fryer, which means the kitchen can run the same hours every day without worrying about running out.
Two real exceptions. Locations inside malls, food courts and airports follow the landlord, which usually means a later open and an earlier close. And a handful of stores in busy urban centers extend to 9:30pm. The seed schedule above is the chain standard, not a guarantee for the address you are driving to.
Why nothing sells out here
At a Texas-style smokehouse the closing question is whether the brisket is gone. That question does not exist at Ono Hawaiian BBQ. Hawaiian BBQ Chicken ($12.49) goes from marinade to glazed in about eight minutes on the grill, Chicken Katsu ($12.49) is fried to order, and rice is held in commercial warmers all day. Arriving at 8:45pm gets you the same plate as arriving at noon.
The one genuine exception is Grilled Mahi Mahi, which is seasonal and priced by location — that item can and does run out, and some restaurants simply do not carry it. Kalbi Short Ribs ($16.49), the most expensive plate on the board, is occasionally the first thing a busy store runs low on late in the evening for the simple reason that it is the slowest item to cook.
The rush, and how to miss it
- 11:45am to 1:15pm — the hardest hour and a half of the day. Ono is a lunch chain first and the counter line reflects it.
- 2:00pm to 4:30pm — the best window in the whole day. No line, food cooked to order for you specifically, and staff with time to answer a question about the fryer or the glaze.
- 5:30pm to 7:00pm — the family dinner rush, heavier on Family Meals ($46.99) and Keiki Meals ($5.49) than on single plates.
- After 8:00pm — quiet again, and a good time to pick up a Spam Musubi ($6.49) for tomorrow.
If you want the single best plate of the day, order in the mid-afternoon lull. Nothing has been sitting, the grill is not backed up, and requests like one scoop of rice instead of two — the swap covered in our Ono Hawaiian BBQ nutrition guide — get handled without a second thought.
Breakfast, and the plate that pretends to be one
There is no breakfast service. Opening at 10:30am is a deliberate lunch-forward decision, and the closest thing to a morning order is Grilled Spam & Eggs at $11.49, which is a full plate with rice and macaroni salad sold all day and happens to be the cheapest complete plate on the menu.
Holidays
Holiday schedules are set locally, so treat the following as the pattern rather than the rule. Most locations close on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, run reduced hours on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, and stay open normally for Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day. Our Thanksgiving guide for Ono Hawaiian BBQ covers what to do on the day itself, and the full menu with current prices is worth checking before you go, since prices are also set regionally. Call ahead on any holiday; a two-minute phone call beats a locked door.