CONTRIBUTED BY SHELL BURGER

Tacos & Coffee l Okinawa Hai!

Tacos & Coffee l Okinawa Hai!While driving around behind Kadena Gate 2 street one day to avoid traffic, I came across an interesting building with a large sign on it stating “Tacos & Coffee.”

My first reaction was, “What an odd combination.” However, I was intrigued by the waterfall or water wall that covered the entire outside sign.

Tacos & Coffee l Okinawa Hai!I decided to give it a try, so I dragged a couple of adventurous co-workers with me.

It was tricky to find again (we were about to give up when we came across it), but if you know where Key Coffee is it is just down the one-way road from that.

The inside is decent-sized and the décor is very eclectic.

You can tell the restaurant is not often visited by Americans, but luckily they did have one English menu that we were able to use to order.

We placed our orders at the counter first, then went and found a table.

The tables actually had gaming machines built into them.

This is the first time I have seen something like it. I have seen machines at tables back in the states, but not where the table is the machine and you eat on top of the screen.

The restaurant appeared to allow smoking as ash trays were on the tables and the people next to us were smoking. Our food arrived pretty quickly.

My co-workers both ordered the Yakiniku Teishoku, which came with a drink, for 850 yen. I ordered the Taco Rice for 650 yen.

The Yakiniku set that came out looked very tasty, and I was told by both guys that they enjoyed it.

One coworker said the macaroni salad was surprisingly very good and the egg was cooked just the way he likes it.

My taco rice was good as well, although I could have used more salsa.

The place had a hole-in-the-wall vibe, but we all agreed this was a place we could see ourselves going back to. The service was good and we were in and out of the place within about 30 minutes. This could be a great alternative lunch spot.

Tacos & Coffee l Okinawa Hai!

Tacos & Coffee l Okinawa Hai!

Tacos & Coffee l Okinawa Hai!
Menu – click to enlarge

Hours: 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. (One of the Japanese menus showed breakfast hours, but I was not sure if it was correct as the employees did not speak English.)

Payment: Yen

Directions: From Kadena Gate 2 go straight on route 20, you will turn left on the street just next to Richie Rich, go down approximately 7 streets. You will go past the one way street going left. The next street is one-way turning right. Turn Right. Tacos & Coffee will be on your Right-hand side. There is a small parking section.

Editor’s note: We are unable to map this location without a physical address or GPS coordinates. If you can share either, let us know in the comments section and we’ll get a map uploaded pronto!

 

 

 

5 COMMENTS

  1. This place is remnant of a popular trend back in the 1980s. Tacos were a big craze started largely by Charlies Tacos and King Tacos. Many other restaurants jumped onto the bandwagon adding Tacos to their menu. Most of these places were “Coffee Shops”. These are places usually characterized by the their dim lighting, sofa seating, arcade game tables, and shelves full of manga and magazines. The prominent sign “Coffee and Tacos” was seen on many places around the island. Although the real name of the restaurants were actually something else. This is the primary reason we opened a place called “Esparza’s Tacos & Coffee” in Chatan.

  2. A friend took my children and me here for lunch our first week on Okinawa. It is definitely not a fancy place, but the food was delicious! My son and I were not adventurous and chose the Taco Rice, and it was quite good. My daughter had Beef Fried Rich which was wonderful. The waitress spoke no English, it seemed, but she was very friendly and we managed to communicate. I will definitely go back!

  3. An alternate route would be to continue down Gate 2 street one more intersection and turn left between the “Best Grilled Cheese” cafe and Mayco Optical (Club Fujiyama and Nine are just opposite where you would turn off Gate 2 Street). Then you can just go straight until you literally would drive right into the parking lot kitty corner from the Taco/Coffee cafe.