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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, October 2, 2005

COVER STORY
Sports fans huddle at Roundtable Pizza

Bartenders Ehren Pierle, left, and Alexis Jolly offer sports fans pitchers of beer and lots of tasty finger foods.

Photos by Randy T. Fujimori

Roundtable Pizza & Sports Bar

Where: 150 Kaiulani Ave., Ohana East Hotel

Call: 944-1199l

Hours: Daily from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.; open from 6:30 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays

Parking: Free 2-hour validation and $1 per hour thereafter.

Note: Live entertainment is featured every Saturday night starting at 9:30 p.m.

A group of five women visiting from New York hooted, hollered and high-fived one another as Yankees outfielder Bubba Crosby ripped a ball over the right field wall in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead the Bronx Bombers to a one-run victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

Meanwhile, dressed in a Dallas Cowboy football jersey and sporting a matching baseball cap, Kenya Scott cheered on her favorite NFL team as they played the Washington Redskins during a nail-biter two weeks ago.

"This is the best sports bar on Oahu," asserted the Waikele resident, as she sipped on a beer at Roundtable Pizza & Sports Bar. "If I don't come here at least once a week, I don't feel the same."

Since opening this Roundtable Sports Bar — which is the only one of its kind in the Roundtable franchise — two years ago, owner Bob Bach said he has shown every live major league and college sports game possible.

"We even do the weigh-ins here for the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) bouts," said Bach, who also owns the Roundtable Pizza and C.J.'s New York Style Deli & Restaurant at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. "We show every imaginable sporting event, including all pay-per-view games, for free."

With wall-to-wall screens and smaller monitors located throughout this 6,200-square-foot restaurant/bar, fans — like Scott — can get their fix of armchair quarterbacking.

"I just don't come here to watch football though," said Scott, adding that traveling from Waikele into Waikiki is worth the drive. "I come here to watch the Lakers, the Dodgers, the USC Trojans and, of course, the Warriors."

While sports events brings residents and tourists alike in to Roundtable, the food keeps them huddled here long after the games are over.

"Everyone is so nice and friendly. It's like family here," Scott gushed. "I love the atmosphere and I love the food."

Roundtable pizzas are weighed down with a generous amount of toppings. What you see is what you get. And you get to see a lot with any one of the restaurant's specialty pies.

The King Arthur Supreme (from $9.95 for a personal to $24.95 for a large), for example, is piled with three cheeses, pepperoni, Italian sausage, dry salami, Portuguese sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, yellow onions and black olives. Every bite reveals a flavorful blend of all the ingredients. And it's not just a few pepperoni gratuitously thrown here and there — it's everywhere, as are the rest of the toppings.

"We got a guy who comes in here at 7 a.m. to roll the dough and make the sauce from scratch," said night manager Scott Nagamine. "I don't want to sound biased, but our pizzas are the best."

A favorite among tourists is the Hawaiian-style pizza ($7.95 for a personal to $21.45 for a large), which will convince skeptics that fruit does belong on a pizza. Chunks of ham and pineapple blanket a mound of red sauce and cheeses. Yummy!

Robert Komet and Christopher Ponce prepare pizzas and nachos.
"Everything here is fresh," said kitchen supervisor Robert Komet. "From start to finish, it takes me about five to eight minutes to get a pizza out. And even faster on weekends."

When Roundtable opens at 7 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, it's non-stop action for Komet and his kitchen crew.

"Crowds already start to form outside at 6:30 in the morning," Bach said. "On Sundays, we bring in $10 breakfasts from C.J.'s."

And we're not talking the average two eggs and a couple strips of bacon here. This is a true gourmet breakfast, consisting of three large eggs, a choice of thick-sliced deli-style bacon, link sausage or Portuguese sausage, rice or country-fried potatoes and sourdough or wheat toast.

It's certainly worth driving in for from Waikele, Scott smiled.