mrgebull

My wife and I recently returned from Oahu. We explored the entire island and made a point to visit the famous shrimp trucks recommended by readers. We decided to try it and was quite disappointed that the shrimps are precooked and therefore the shrimps are a little mushy! No need to go into the difference between precooked and freshly cooked shrimp here. For us shrimp aficianado's, Mackey's shrimp truck, which is a few miles the opposite direction of Giovanni's from Turtle Bay Resort cooks the shrimp as ordered and therefore the shrimp are fresh and firm. Also Giovanni's garlic shrimp pales in comparison to Mackey's. Giovanni's garlic is toasted to a large extent. The flavor is so so. Mackey's garlic is cooked slowly to retain the garlic taste to release the flavor into the oil. Mackey's shrimp with their garlic sause is a MUST to eat.
Aslo, Mackey's spicy shrimp plate is so much better than Giovanni's. Again we have the fresh vs precooked thing goings. I have to say I have never had better spicy shrimp than these! Giovanni's seems to use a tabasco like sauce as their base.
You should try both for and then please report back here. I am sure you will find that Mackey's is the best.
Oh by the way.....on our last day in the North Shore we stopped back at Mackey's one last time to eat their savory shrimp. I saw on their truck that they had won one the Shrimp Truck competion in 2005!!!

DebitNM

We were there in October. We passed on Giovanni’s too and ate at “Holy Smokes” instead,; it was in same parking area. The owner was a super friendly guy and convinced us to try his food.

DH had hot and spicy plate of shrimp 1# for $14 and I got short rib plate which was $11. Since he only had ˝ order of ribs left, he gave me a teriyaki steak too. Meals came with corn on cob, rice and salad; they were very tasty.

Debi

Trav

For what it's worth, this is mrgebull's first post.

makai1

Sounds fishy to me!!!

iamq

I smell a (spicy, garlic) rat.

pila

OldSouthernBelle

Here's one fan of Giovanni's!

Miyukitty

I think I have eaten at almost all of the Shrimp Trucks during my numerous trecks to the North Shore to surf and stuff, and I have to put my vote with Giovanni's. And a quick vote amongst the girls in the office declared Giovanni's a winner too \(^o^)/

MelissaHI

Well, Mackey's did win the shrimp truck cookoff at Turtle Bay last year!

http://tinyurl.com/yevm5v

I don't know who won this year's cookoff yet, though, since it was only this past weekend.

mrgebull

Just so you guys and gals know....Though this was my first post, it was 100% legit. My wife and I just had our first visit to Hawaii and as far as food goes Mackey's was truly memorable.

MelissaHI

I just checked--this year, Turtle Bay Hilton didn't do a competition. They had an event called the "Taste of the North Shore Shrimp Trucks" to develop comraderie rather than competiion.

If you're really into the shrimp, you may consider checking in with Turtle Bay for next year's "taste" event!