Big City Diner, known for its family-friendly atmosphere, has six locations around the island: on Ward Avenue, in Kaimuki, in Waipio, at Pearlridge, at Windward Mall and in Kailua. We visited the last because we heard the view it offered of the Koolau mountains would make it a great place to kick back and relax while sipping a cold one.

The experience

The drive into Kailua wasn’t too bad during pau hana hours on a Thursday, but that’s compared with my daily after-work drive to the west side. The big parking lot for Big City Diner, which anchors one end of the Kailua Town Center, is also used by customers of other businesses in the shopping center. We lucked out and got a stall right in front of the restaurant.

Upon entering the establishment at around 4:40 p.m., we were greeted quickly by a hostess who, after hearing we were there for happy hour, showed us to one of the eight empty round tables shaded by big umbrellas on the patio. Happy-hour specials are available only at the bar and on the terrace. Most of the seats at the small bar, which straddled the inside and outside of the restaurant, were occupied.

We were the only ones enjoying the outdoor seating at first, but within an hour two families with toddlers and elementary-age children arrived; one family also had a dog with them. (Leashed animals are allowed in the patio area.)

Our waitress was friendly and helpful, delivering our orders quickly and not hovering. I tried to relax and enjoy the fresh air and mountain view, but the pau hana traffic along Hekili Street was a little distracting. And with our food came a few uninvited table guests in the form of flies, which I had to keep shooing off our dishes. My cousin noted that the diner’s late-night happy hour might be better, since the traffic would have died down and flies wouldn’t be a problem.

By the end of the meal, which was almost at the end of happy hour, the patio was beginning to fill up, and a guy was setting up music equipment. Every Thursday at 6:30 p.m., musicians perform cover music until 9:30 p.m. On Fridays and Saturdays, live music runs from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. with the well-known local band Saloon Pilots performing on first and third Fridays and other groups rounding out the month.

The food

The menu says that during happy hour, pupu are half price with the purchase of two drinks per person. Our waitress initially told us that if two people in our party ordered two drinks, we would get the discount — but after we’d ordered food, we were informed that everyone at the table needed to drink up. With four of us at the table, this made our drinks more expensive than the food and pushed our bill up quite a bit.

The fare was your typical bar type with a few local twists. The chicken wings ($5.75 during happy hour) were tossed in a spicy guava-barbecue sauce. The calamari tempura ($5) was breaded in panko and served with a spicy garlic-wasabi aioli sauce. I usually prefer the calamari rings and legs, but these calamari strips were juicy and deep-fried just right.

We also tried Ray-Chan’s poke with a secret sauce (half off market price, $5 during our visit), the nachos ($6.25) and the steak ($5.50).

The food was good and portions were great for its price, especially for those who enjoy spicy food. “Everything is spicy yet so addictive,” my cousin’s husband said.

For you nonspicy eaters, chili nachos and steak might suffice, or you could order garlic bread with cheese, fries, tofu or other gluten-free, nonspicy items.

The drinks

I tried Big City’s guava margarita — a first for me, and the first time I’d seen one offered on a cocktail menu. The tequila in the $6 blended drink stood out nicely, with a hint of guava lingering after each sip.

Since I had to order another drink, I also sampled the restaurant’s nonalcoholic Original Samurai Li Hing Lemonade ($4.79). It was delicious! The sweet-salty refreshing beverage had a slight tartness and was served in a 25-ounce glass, well worth its price.

Mango-infused iced tea was equally refreshing. It wasn’t as sweet as the lemonade, and the $3.99 price comes with a refill. However, a refill doesn’t count toward the two-drink-per-person rule.

There are also happy-hour drink specials: 16-ounce beers and well drinks are 50 cents off; 25-ounce beers, house red and white wines, Bud Light and Bud are discounted by $1.

Wine drinkers: If you dine at Big City Diner on a Wednesday, all bottles and glasses are half off with any food purchase. However, during happy hour wine drinkers have to choose between half off wine or half off pupu. You can’t combine the specials.

The verdict

I would go back for the late-night happy hour, but note: While Big City Diner is a good place to hang out as a big or small group, the two-drink requirement tacks on some extra dollars to the happy-hour bill, especially for larger groups. If everyone in the group is going to drink, then it might not matter, but it’s something to be aware of in advance.