Talofa Polynesian Market

I never review this early lol. Sometimes it takes me months tbh. My on time review is probably bias lol as I am Samoan lol. We were driving around searching every market that pops up on yelp saying they sell hot Samoan food, my mom grew up in Hawaii and remembers a market on the corner in her old neighborhood somewhere that sells Samoan food. I search yelp & end up here first, this wasn't the market, we eventually found the one she was speaking of, but of all the ones we visited today, this one stood out to us the most, as we tried food from every market we visited. They definitely had the most options from the other markets we tried , even sold Vaifala in mason jars. The 4 stars really is for the price. What we got here we would usually pay $100 off top for in the mainland. So to us, the pricing was reasonable. It's only missing a star because the lack of flavor in what I wanted the most lol. The palusami being $7 was def, uhm, questionable. The second market we visited had theirs priced at $3. I feel so many things come into play when you price food. Like ....do it taste like $7? My pops is the cook in our family & early on he tried steaming his luau before baking it. This creates a more soft texture in the luau kalo creating an easier tear when you dip your kalo or fa'i in lol & a better chew. I realized how much that made a difference when I ate the palusami from here today. The luau was tough, hard to tear into with my kalo and when I went to take a bite it was rough. Idk how to explain but I wish it was softer. The faalifu inside also could've used more seasoning. However I'm here for more than that lol , because I HATE Turkey tail. I've always been able to do oxtail because I feel like there's more meat than fat there, But with Turkey tail I feel like it's all fat, little meat. However the Turkey tail from here, best I've had to be honest. I only tried because my mom said I'd like it. She was right. So tasty. I didn't even mind the fat because it was marinated and seasoned well. I also had the vegetables and mamoe lol I mean, we killed that in the car on the drive back to the hotel lol. I kept telling my mom wait I need to take a picture for my review lol but Lol we couldn't stop eating it after tasting it. That should say enough lol.Also, they sell canned spaghetti here lol. The kind they don't sell it in reg grocery stores on the mainland anymore. I have to order it on Amazon for my parents, so it was so cool to see they sell it here lol. So lucky lol. They had sweets too. Pankeke, half moon pie, banana bread. I had the banana bread and it was good, your typical Samoan banana bread. Other than that, this place is def. Worth the time & money. My parents would love to not have to cook Samoan food anymore because it's sold just down the street LOL. But until then our annual Hawaii trips will include Talofa Polynesian Market from now on.

When Im missing Polynesian food this is where i come to.Theres a few Tammys around the island.They serve allTypes of polynesian food.Its a little store but has so much goodies for polynesian food lovers and locals and whoever else loves polynesian food can find here.Food is made fresh everyday.I love the lamb and luau leaves in coconut milk and taro,Banana,tapioka and purple sweet potatoes is yummy goodness with the food.They weigh the food a pound.It get a little pricey but its all worth it when u are wanting to eat polynesian food price dont matter lol.If u want to take orders of poly food u can ask and they will do it.I love there poke and shrimp poke here to.

Needed green bananas or plantains for my pastele stew. Mexican store said plantains had bad crop this year. Searched high and low in Chinatown. Finally just googled and Talofa came up. Near Tamashiro Market...everyone knows where Tamashiro Market it. Usually got street parking and if not, little lot in the back. Korean-owned? Weird, but whatevers since they have my bananas so don't really care. The cooked food looks pretty good...may try it one day. Koreans cook Japanese food, so maybe they make Samoan food too?

Suuuuuper expensive for Polynesian food!!!!! Staff is friendly but the food is WAAAY overpriced!! $5 for one palusami??!! And it ain't real coconut milk!! But my $5 is real!!

Located on N King St.Family owned business. Once named Tammys is now named Talofa Polynesian Mart.There is two places to park: The front which is the metered parking if you're lucky or you can park in the back. The back is in it's own small squared shape parking lot. And when i say small, It's really small. I like what this store has to offer except for its customer service. I understand it's a family owned business that mainly serves Pacific Islanders. Customer service here lacks as the lady at the counter is always rude. There is cooked foods if you're looking to buy some cooked polynesian food for the convenience, You should stop by here and make a plate. If you're looking to make it at home, This is a good place to buy the food to make it. I buy from here & Tamashiro Market when i'm looking to buy groceries to take home to make Lu Sipi or Lu Pulu, ect. What is also nice about this store is that they sell a lot of Islander Pride items. Country flags, Combs, Bracelets, Hats, Shirts. You typically wouldn't see this at a market which is great so it saves you a trip from having to go swap meet. It's a little bit more expensive than if you went to the swapmeet but you pay for connivence and it looks really nice too. Parking is a bit of a hassle, but i don't mind that. What i can't ignore is the customer service. Rude, and very unpleasant. With the recent name change, I hope they managed to fix that as well.

This is what a Google search for Polynesian food gets you: an authentic Polynesian market with fresh dishes haoles have never heard of! It all started with tasting Lau Lau on Kauai for the first time and almost passing out from its goodness. Upon our return to Oahu, we researched and found out that Palusami was the Samoan version of Lau Lau, so we had to try it , and were blown away. There wasn't even meat , but taro leaves and coconut milk were so flavorful, it was almost incredible. I must admit that we thought we were getting mushrooms when we bought baked Turkey Tail...it was an actual turkey tail, which I somehow did not even consider and am laughing about it now. We are not vegetarians and really enjoyed both the turkey tail and the baked lamb. Personally, I like my ulu browned a bit more, but the baked breadfruit with coconut milk we got was still delicious. The pineapple hand pie was interesting, but probably not a repeat. The filling was a bit to jello-like, but it wasn't too sweet, which we appreciated. The only disappointment were the banana donuts as they tasted like tough banana bread rolled into balls. My friend found the atmosphere a bit sketchy, but I loved it. Authenticity wins me over every time. We are going to stop in again to try their poke and octopus in coconut milk that everyone was grabbing.

Soooo onolicious and affordable food. We loved everything except for the lamb ribs which was very oily. Very tasty but oily. However, I didn't let that sway my vote. Stop in and have some delicious foodTalofa Samoa!

So friendly and very tasty food! The staff is helpful and approachable and while prices might not be the lowest, the groceries are high quality. Definitely recommend.

Food are amazing,me and my wife have lunch there and we thought that was the best taste of poly food from all the Polynesian restaurants we ever been before even the dessert panikeke and half moon pie it so delicious.After we ate we went back and bought taro,palusami,panikeke,half moon pie,for our kids in California

100/10. Great Food! excellent service! Staff was super super friendly! Would come here again next time I visit. Slay