**This review is for the Valentine's Day set menu**
Choosing a Valentine's Day dinner spot has become harder with so many choices now. Arden Waikīkī was one of my last discoveries and was lucky enough to get a reservation in while on the waitlist.
Arden Waikīkī is located in the Lotus Honolulu Hotel--formerly Diamond Head Grill in the W Hotel. There's FREE self parking in the lot, which is amazing in itself. The website and past Yelp reviews noted valet only, but that's not the case anymore. The restaurant is inside the hotel. Take the stairs or elevator to the 2nd level. Inside is quite wide open and spacious with a bar and lounge area near the front and dining area after. Depending on where your table is located, your view is Kapiolani Park, so if you want the Diamond Head view, you can request a table near the window.
The Valentine's Day set menu was $98.00, which was an amazing (and the best) deal compared to the many other restaurants that were all $100+. This was essentially a $196 meal for two.
The Valentine's Day special drink was a Banana Bread Old Fashioned. It sounded interesting! This came with a thin slice of a crisped banana bread, and oh this was delicious and went incredibly well with the old fashioned. The flavors were very well balanced between sweet and bitter with the right amount of bourbon. I wish the ice block was smaller though! I went through the drink too fast!
We started with the Oysters on the Half Shell with Rosé Shave Ice and Mignonette. The oysters were Shigoku oysters from Washington State, and they were delicious! Sweet, clean, fresh, with a slight brine. The rosé shave ice added a nice hint of berry and citrus flavors while the mignonette added a touch of tartness and tanginess. Definitely a nice bite and a nice start. A total of 6 oysters came.
Next was the Hamachi Sashimi with beetroot slices shaped like a rose with Shiso leaves. I wouldn't have guessed the combination of beets with hamachi would work, but it did! The hamachi was fresh and sliced well. It wasn't as rich and buttery, but more so light and delicate. The beets had a slight bittersweet flavor. It needed bit more shoyu for me to bring everything together. The portion was a little small for two people. It looked like it was for one, maybe?
The Big Island Veal Bone Marrow was good. But it was odd to have 3 pieces of marrow with 4 pieces of bread. Is this right? The bread was toasted too much--too hard, and had too many holes, so it was very messy and a lot of oil went through. The miso paste on top was flavorful and along with the pickled onions helped cut through the rich marrow.
For the main dish, the surf and turf, 16 ounce USDA Prime Ribeye and Kauai Prawns with fried brussel sprouts. The ribeye was very well cooked to a medium rare. It was an excellent char taste and aroma, and the meat was tender and juicy. It was a little under seasoned for me, but still acceptable. The prawns were perfectly cooked! Firm, fresh, sweet, and clean. The brussel sprouts were very good. Light and crispy. This was most seasoned item on the plate!
Dessert was a lychee sorbet with fresh raspberries, rose and raspberry jelly, and these little sweet tubular crackers (that looks a lot like dried bean curd sticks). The sorbet was amazing! It was creamy and with good lychee flavor. A nice ending to the meal.
Overall, a very nice Valentine's Day dinner. The food was fresh, beautifully presented, and prepared and handled very well. What I really appreciated and enjoyed is that each dish really let the ingredients shine and show how well they complement one another. There was hardly any wait time for each dish to come after one was finished. Our server, Josiah, was great. Very friendly, very attentive, and very informative. He made us feel welcomed and comfortable. Most of the staff we interacted with were very friendly. I liked the openness of the restaurant. I wish they had bigger windows to enjoy more of the view. Definitely a nice place to chill, relax, and have a meal. Will come again! read more