Chicken in a Barrel Hanalei

After hiking Kalalau (18 miles… yeah), we were beyond hungry — the kind of hungry where you’d eat your own backpack if it had sauce on it. So we pulled up to Chicken In A Barrel BBQ around 6:30 PM on a Thursday, and honestly… it hit the spot in the best way. We ordered the 1/2 Chicken, the #3 Baby Back Rib Plate, plus a full order of fries and a side of ranch. Total came out to about $50, which felt totally fair for the amount of food and how filling it was. The ribs were my favorite part — smoky, meaty, and not dry at all. They had that real BBQ vibe without being drowned in sauce. The chicken had a solid char on the outside and stayed juicy inside (which is not easy after a long day when you’re eating fast and don’t want to mess around). Fries were crispy and salty — exactly what you

The food here was good with good flavor. The portions were a decent size. We ordered a pulled o pork sandwich and lived the fries. We also enjoyed the actual chicken itself! The staff was nice, there’s plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. Overall it was good, but not a MUST on a short trip. However if you’re local or on a longer trip - it’s a great place for chicken.

While driving from the south shore to the north shore, we stopped at the shopping area. We are from Kansas and love to BBQ/smoke as well as eat BBQ. Anytime we travel, we like to try out the local BBQ and see what are their flavors as well as how they smoke their meats. We ordered their loaded fries with chicken, side of Hawaiian cole slaw and a pulled pork plate. I'm glad we decided to split the pulled pork plate because there was more than enough for two people -- especially since we tried out the loaded fries! The staff was very friendly and full of joy. Their slaw had a great local flavor to it. The loaded fries had a hidden kick to them with the sauce they used but were very good. The pulled pork had a great smoke flavor! You could tell it had been truly smoked and not steamed

Wouldn’t recommend this place if you’re planning to eat here. The chicken itself is decent, but the place is dirty - there wasn’t a single table or chair that didn’t have bird droppings on it. Service was good, no complaints about it. Not very appetizing, unfortunately.

The BBQ is very average here. The service was great - loved our cashier. He had great vibes.