An excellent venue for music. Comfortable seating and good acoustics. However, meeting the food and drinks minimum can be challenging. Neither are particularly good and service tends to be slow. read more

Terrible, the smoked salmon taste like bologna and was hard as a Rock. I sent it back.They have food on the menu but they were out of at these two choices. The nachos again, terrible. The quality of the food was digesting. The drinks are watered down too read more

Blue Note Hawaii - Entertaining was subpar. Disappointing - Music Venues Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Food is horrible and overpriced. Mixed drinks are watered down. Would give it a 0!! It's under renovation and is extremely hot. read more

Love the music, food needs vast improvement. Andrea is a super server. Remembers me when I come, and is very polite and attentive. I appreciate her service and smile. The menu always lacks. Food is lackluster, needs color, garnish, flavor...help! Luckily, service is good. read more

We went to Blue Note Hawaii for a night of comedy featuring Roy Wood Jr., and it was absolutely amazing! Two local comedians opened the show and had us laughing right from the start. They brought great energy and hilarious local flavor that really set the tone for the night. Roy Wood Jr. was phenomenal--sharp, smart, and incredibly funny. His delivery was effortless, and he had the whole room cracking up non-stop. It was honestly one of the best live comedy shows we've ever attended. We only ordered drinks, and the service was great--quick, friendly, and everything came out just right. The venue itself has a cool, intimate vibe with good acoustics and sightlines from pretty much anywhere you sit. Highly recommend catching a show at Blue Note Hawaii if you get the chance. read more

Blue Note Hawaii - Music Venues Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

I've been to 3 shows here and each experience has been AMAZING!! There are seriously no bad seats in the house! Service is always efficient and friendly, with servers who know the menu and can make good recommendations. I've only had drinks and desserts there and have been very happy with both. I remember John stands out as an outstanding server if you're lucky to be in his section. He has really good hustle to bring drinks as fast as possible even when it's busy (so be patient) and he's charming even when he's working so hard. I appreciate that they bring in a range of talent with different genres and performances. They offer music (both old school and new talent), comedy, the occasional fundraiser and other mixed bag of entertainment. The tickets I've looked into are usually around $50 or less which is affordable compared to other venues but the fees for online sales bring it up by $10-20 per ticket which is steep IMO. The lines have never been too crazy, things move pretty fast. It's first come with seating so if you want a specific seat, go early! I saw: Sister Nancy front row and it was the most amazing thing to look into her eyes as she sung. Chicken skin moment!! Maxxi Priest was also incredible and he moved throughout the crowd to serenade us all. People were dancing in the back too. Tumua had a really funny improv comedy show that had me busting up laughing. If you see an act on their schedule, just book it! It's small so it'll likely sell out and as I said there's no bad seat in the house so you'll have a great time! read more

See all

We went to see Jake Shimabakuro on 4/7/2025. I took my family and was excited to share Jake's music with them as I have been a fan. The doors opened an hour and a half prior to the show, and to ensure good seats, you need to get there prior to when the doors open as a line forms. We ended up with a good booth seating, which was nice as the "premium" seats in the center are just packed in there and you're sitting sideways to the show. With an hour and a half to pass, you kind of need to order dinner. We did, and it was about the MOST AWFUL food I've had in a long time. On top of that, it was about $50/plate with $20 drinks. We had to ask for salt and pepper due to the lacking flavor. I had coconut rice with mine that was hard, crunchy, and tasteless. My daughter's Caesar Salad had almost no Caesar dressing and dry chicken. The drinks were also pretty "mis" flavored. My two kids had mocktails that were awful. One was spicy with too much ginger and the other completely tart with no balance of sweetness. Overall, a completely disappointing start to the evening. Overall, the dinner was over $317 for our family of 4, and I'd have enjoyed an ABC store Musubi way more. Over $600 for the whole evening with the poor food quality left me really feeling disappointed I had attended. They have a $20 minimum order per person, I recommend hitting that minimum if you go and eat elsewhere before or after. read more

Good: Great attentive waitstaff. Did not have to wait too long for food or drinks. Bad: Food: Read the reviews prior and knew the food would be bad going in. Ordered a charcuterie for $30 to meet the $20 minimum purchase. How can you mess up cold meats and cheese? Way overpriced and very sad looking. AC: I would avoid this place until their AC gets fixed-- it was way too hot waiting in line to enter and not much cooler when we finally got seated. Looking around the room alot of people were trying to fan themselves. It was very uncomfortable. read more

Blue Note Hawaii - Not worth it! Charcuterie $30 - Music Venues Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

My best friend treated my wife and I and we had a wonderful time. The food was delicious, service was top notch, and the show was outstanding. Good to get away and enjoy our beautiful Waikiki. We were situated nearly 20 feet away from the band and we all had a great time. Can't wait to come back again for another terrific show! I was lucky to get complimentary parking which is always a bonus! read more

Blue Note Hawaii - Entrance - Music Venues Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

See all

Located at the Outrigger Hotel. Parking is downstairs and can be a bit pricey. There's also parking available over at Outrigger Waikiki Paradise, formerly Outrigger East. The venue is great for shows. Dark ambiance and decently spaced out. Views of the stage is accessible at almost any angle no matter where you sit. The downside to Blue Note is the service. It's almost impossible to get an order in. Either they need more waitstaff or better management. Not sure. We couldn't get a sever to take our order before the start of our show and we were there 25 minutes after opening . When we finally did order it took half an hour to get 3 waters and 2 mai tai! Our food order took an additional 20 minutes after our drinks and they missed 2 items. By then the show was about 3/4 done. They also just take our drinks without asking if we're done. She just came and grabbed it and we had to stop her...twice! read more

Went to see a comedy show here and ordered some food. Server and staff were very friendly and service was on point. Prices are what you expect for Waikiki. Food was tasty, appetizer portions are a bit small, so double order if you've got more than 2 people in your party. Entrees were nicely portioned, perfect for sharing! Lighting is pretty dark, so if you need reading glasses, be sure to bring them! read more

Oh Blue Note! After all your functions and after all these years and after reading these reviews, you folks still have not made any changes and in fact, things just keep getting predictably worse! I wish you folks would take reviewers comments and really make some change because we all want to support the talent that performs here but for some reason, you folks just continue doing what doesn't really seem to work! Let's first start with the line - the last time we came they had two lines - one for premium and one for standard. This time, it was back to one line and could be because of construction and space was limited. The AC was NOT working. It was so hot and fairly miserable. We went to see Kat Timpf and even she and her guest star complained about the heat. Perhaps you folks could have had the hotel provide some fans or something. Seating - seating always pretty much sucks! I wish they would seriously consider just having assigned seating and the way they squeeze people on to the tables is crazy. If they had assigned seating it would probably make the line situation dissolve freeing up room outside the venue and they would be able to utilize the staff to take orders instead of having all of them seat people. Service - service is always a toss up as well. I think we have visited Blue Note about 6 or 7 times now, and only one time was the service good. The servers seem to be overwhelmed. Initial service is slow and then getting service after you order is even slower. Utensils are usually always forgotten and refills on water is scarce. You need to call the server to get assistance. On this night particularly it was so hot and we kept having to ask for water. We ordered dessert (ice cream sundae) when we ordered dinner because for anyone that has ever been here you know that once you order you barely see your server. Well the sundae came and it was completely melted like it was made when the order was put in! We just ate it, because getting the server and then waiting for another one would likely take until the end of the show! Oh well! Food - again always a miss here! They were out of several things since they had a matinee show. You would think they could plan better but again, expected! We ordered the quesadilla which was horrible. Probably just Costco or Sam's Club heated up. We also ordered the shortribs which were ok, but tasted like it was just pot roast. No gravy so it was dry. Overall, we have decided that going forward, we will not eat at Blue Note but instead eat somewhere else first and then just have dessert at Blue Note. It's just not worth it. Blue Note, please read comments and try to take them in and make some changes. read more

Rating the food only: small portions, overpriced, and no flavor. 2nd time I've been here in a year and no change. The only reason they get a 2nd star is the service was good. Do yourself a favor and eat beforehand. read more

My friend invited me to Blue Note since she was on the band guest list. She wanted me to accompany her and it was our first time going there. The performances start at 7:00pm and we got there around 5:30pm where the doors were already opened. We ate an early dinner beforehand and were notified that we had to order a minimum of $10 for each person. So we got dessert to share which was their Blue Note Sundae Royale. The sundae was $16 which was a very high price for a sundae. The sundae has 75% whipped cream and 25% (one small scoop) of vanilla ice cream. It is not macadamia nut flavor as described on their menu. It was just plain vanilla with no macadamia in it. There were some nuts on top. The hot fudge was a thin layer on top of the ice cream. Each scoop was just a mouthful of whipped cream. We also got the mocktail of What is Hip? It is $8 without the alcohol. The drink has lilikoi syrup but it wasn't much and we couldn't taste the mint. We basically just drank a regular club soda. On to the performance, the singer was Mindy Smokestack. I am not much of a fan of oldies music but Mindy is a great singer. She has a very strong voice and she keeps singing back to back up to 3 or 4 song. Her guest singers were also great. It was cute how she has her daughter with her to perform and her daughter also has an amazing voice. The band were really good. The saxophone solo was incredible. I like band music and enjoyed marching band in parades so the ones playing in house were passionate and professional. Overall, I would give 3 stars for the food options and the prices. The interior does have a jazz club vibe with dim/low lights. The tables are pretty close together so it gets very tight to walk through the spaces or squeeze out of our seats. The booths have much better spaces. I would give 5 stars for the performance and service. Our server was sweet and friendly. She would also check up on each guests frequently. read more

See all

This review is not regarding the venue or the service (since both of those are excellent), but i just have to say how disappointed i was with Chris Botti's performance. I bought tickets thinking he was going to play his beautiful music but instead he barely played! Don't get me wrong the other artists were very talented but the name of the show should be called "Botti & Friends". Nice but too bad. Guess he is getting too old to play a concert? Considering we are the same age and have loved his music since the beginning, i had hoped for more of his playing the trumpet. read more

Watched the final Josh Tatofi show on Saturday, January 17. Hosh was great especially when dealing with the alarm interruption. His performance was definitely 5 stars. Tried some of the new menu items that were hyped on Living 808. Personally, the new menus were BLAND and TASTELESS. Used to enjoy some of the menu offerings so was very disappointed. That was the only real downer. read more

The blue note is a nice venue. I like coming here because it's not too big and the space is pretty intimate. On this occasion it was kind of hot inside, not sure if the AC was working properly. They do offer dinner service but the food is very pricey. I would stick with the flatbread pizzas or eat dinner elsewhere. The seating is first come first serve. If you like sitting at the booths I recommend coming early to get in line. I've never had a problem with the seating here. read more

See all

The ANA Nobuyuki Tsujii concert was awesome. Sooo talented and the musicians he brought was amazing as well. The big shocker was the food. It was really, REALLY bad. The chicken was super tough and dry. The other courses along with the chicken was so subpar also for a venue. It tastes like everything was microwaved. ANA should provide the food from their flights, so much better than what was served. Sorry for the bad review but we were really disappointed by the meal. read more

My wife and I went to see Josh Tatofi over Labor Day weekend and really enjoyed the concert. We've been to the venue several times and have always loved the vibe and the acoustics. It's a great venue to watch and listen to music. During previous visits, we only ordered drinks to cover the minimum $20/person charge. This time, I made the mistake of ordering the seafood tacos with rice and beans for $28. Honestly, this dish was so horrible that I wanted my money back. The tacos consisted of cold Misson tortillas, cabbage, 5 baby shrimp, with salsa, guac, and sour cream as condiments. The beans tasted like boiled, mashed pinto beans without seasoning. The spanish rice was fine, but didn't make up for the rest of the dish. I've eaten at other jazz clubs around the country and don't expect gourmet food. However, for $28, I expect the food to be edible. I will return to listen to music, but will take my wife's advice and eat dinner before going to the show. Do better, Blue Note! read more

Old review sitting in my draft. I don't know why I never posted. Foods alright, but you come here for a show and not for the food right? read more

See all

Blue Note Hawaii is a nice venue to see world class music in an intimate setting. Located on the 2nd floor of the Outrigger, the venue is an intimate setting of about 300 people. So No seat is really bad. They usually have two tiers of tickets, one for the front and a second slightly cheaper for the back. Seating is first come first served, so you stand outside in the lobby in a queue for best seating. People usually arrive 1 hr before entry for best seating. The venue has a $10 min order per person so be forewarned; however, pretty much everything on the menu is over $10 except the beers which are $9. The nice thing is , regardless of when you buy tickets, you have the opportunity to sit right up front or in a booth even if you bought tickets that day. Food at this venue seems "OK" . The prices are high, and to be expected. we usually have a drink and a small appetizer. We have seen others ordering food, and honesty were not impressed. So take this with a grain of salt as we did not actually eat the food. Servers were consistently good and friendly. All in all, a good to great venue, with awesome talent in an intimate setting, and the opportunity to have some food and drink . read more

See all

I was at the Blue Note on Sept 25th to See George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic! What a show! What a wonderful venue! Great food, great service, great atmosphere and George put on a show! Thanks Blue Note for bringing in Legendary artist and great food! read more

Food is tasty, drinks are delicious, service is great for a concert venue and the shows and seating are great. Probably have been here at least 10 times and each time I've enjoyed myself with all of the above. read more

The entertainment is usually really great! The food can be good. The service is always good! The fact that they need a new ventilation system in the kitchen and the dining room is completely FILLED with smoke that burns your eyes..NOT GREAT! Blue Note Hawaii. For the love of God. Please fix this!! read more

Visited on Valentine's night to see All4One. It was a great show. My only complaint is that the volume of the speakers was way too loud for such a small venue. Especially since I was seated by the stage. Other than that it was a great show with very attentive staff. read more

Atmosphere is amazing. Kind waiters and bartenders. Coming here is such a fun experience! The only downfall is that the food is underwhelming and average at best but sold at premium price. Something to note before going. Aside from that, everything else lived up to its expectations! read more

Blue Note is such an amazing concert and event venue. - Parking: Park at Waikiki Ohana East. Get your ticket validated before the Blue Note gift shop closes at 9pm! - Minimum $ spend: depending on what section you sit in, there is a minimum food and beverage spend. We sit in the VIP section, which is $20 per person. Not a problem since everything is Waikiki pricing lol. - Food: the food here is so-so. My husband and I shared the watercress salad and seared furikake ahi. I recommend the drinks for sure! My husband had the old fashioned and I got the Manhattan - strong and well-worth the Waikiki priced. - Seating is first come, first serve. Go early and wait in line for the best seating. - dress code is smart casual, but adjust for humid Hawaii weather. It can be very humid in the lobby where you wait outside of Blue Note (they really should put fan or something in there...) Can't wait for my next concert here! Cheers to Blue Note Hawaii! read more

Blue Note Hawaii - Seared ahi with watercress salad, cocktails: Manhattan and Old Fashioned - Music Venues Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Went to the All-4-One show at the Blue Note and we had a great time! I love the atmosphere here. It's very intimate and I feel that any seat is a great seat. The service was very nice. Mellam (I apologize if I butchered the spelling of her name) was very attentive and friendly. Everyone looked happy to be working there so it gives a very relaxed and pleasant vibe. The herb roasted chicken was delicious. read more

Blue Note Hawaii - All-4-One - Music Venues Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

See all

The Blue Note is a comfortable, small venue that's very casual. Due to its size, there's no bad seat. We went to see the Frank Delima Mother's Day lunch show and really enjoyed it. We've been fans of his for over 30 year', and he did not disappoint! He can still make you laugh and keep you entertained for hours. The show is what you pay for. We had to order food and/or drink, and if I had my choice, I wouldn't order either. The food was okay. I had a flatbread sandwich, which was something you could probably make at home. It tasted alright but cost almost $20, with tip. Unfortunately, the service was slow, but you couldn't really blame the server since everyone orders at the same time. Parking was inconvenient since the only validated place was at the Outrigger East, at the corner of Kuhio and Kaiulani. It's a good block away, so allow at least 10-15 minutes to walk from your car to the Blue Note. Also, even with validation, it was $9. Overall, it was a fun evening since the entertainment was good. If you think of the cost of the food and parking as part or the show, it's worth it. I would go back only because you can't see some entertainers any place else. read more

See all

Went to Blue Note Thursday evening to see JR DeGuzman, funny guy, who I've been following for about a year. It was fun and good friend and fellow Yelpster Rod U got us front row seats which made the experience even more fun because he was able to interact with the comedian. This guy is too funny in a local humorous way. I liked the Blue Note room. Not too packed although the show was sold out. I appreciated the valet parking ($15 plus tip) and they were fast, pleasant and smiling despite the crowd of people who descended upon them immediately after the show. My only disappointment was the food and a bottle of wine shown as 2015 but delivered as 2020.....does not take 5 years to fix the wine list. Ordered the charcuterie plate which came with 5 crackers, five crackers was definitely not enough people. Maybe add five little toasted baguette slices? The Hamachi crudo was so thinly sliced and covered in chili sesame oil it was difficult to extract the paper thin pieces from the plate and again the tiniest portion. Service at the show was excellent, definitely no complaints there. The bill was handled expeditiously despite having a communal table. read more

Blue Note Hawaii - Waiting for JR DeGuzman! - Music Venues Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Won tickets from Island 98.5 iHeart radio station to Eli Mac's first show at the Blue Note! What a treat ! I've always wanted to go to a concert or show at the Blue Note. I'll for sure be back. Atmosphere is relaxed and waiters and waitresses are friendly. We sat in a booth and our drinks were brought to us right away. Ordered a FOMO and Oban. FOMO was delicious! Also order the ahi "tar tar" which was just lightly seasoned ahi poke over a bed of chopped avocado. There was more avocado than poke. Kind of disappointed with the portion. Chips were nice and crunchy, wish we had more tho. Tasted like it was from Hawaiian chip company. Noticed that the staff walked around a little too much. We kinda wanted to just enjoy the show and music. It's understandable that they were just checking to see if we needed to order more food or drink tho. Service was great if it was a restaurant with live music. For improvement, maybe there can be a sign if service is requested to put your candle on the right side of the table or something to get their attention in a discrete way. Overall our first experience at the blue note was amazing ! Staff was super friendly and looked like they enjoyed working there as well! read more

Blue Note Hawaii - Ahi "tar tar" Lightly seasoned poke over avocado. Taro chips we good, tasted like it was from the Hawaiian Chip Company. - Music Venues Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Venue was very intimate. There's no bad seat for a show. Good selection available for food and drinks. The scallops were amazing. read more

Tonight I treated my Father to a candlelight performance at Blue Note. The hostesses were so sweet, however the host who sat us had no emotion and made us feel like we were a problem (someone pissed in his cheerios apparently). We had a great seat to watch everything, and our server was JUST what we needed. Local guy named Devan, 10/10 for him! He was relaxed, knew his menu, and joked around with us too. We ordered 3 appetizers and 3 desserts, but we were STUFFED by the time desserts came! Their wine was sub par. And desserts were beautiful, but very dry. Except the bread pudding, that was BOMB. No complaints there. Get the bread pudding! read more

See all

Food: Meh....... OVERPRICED!!!!!! One of largest overpriced food places I've ever been to. You have to spend a certain amount of money when you eat here, which you can easily meet with just two dishes. Food was ok, but definitely not mouth watering and worth the price. The mushroom ravioli is very heavy and rich ($36). Rosemary garlic truffled Parmesan potato wedges appetizer ($16) tasted like they just zapped it in the microwave. Chicken Makhani ($36) tasted horrible; it was DRY and flavors were just yuck. Service: this was the only decent thing about the night. Service was really good, even during the event. They were very attentive. Ambiance: clean and spacious. Decent. I really wouldn't recommend the food here, but you have no choice right? Gotta spend a certain amount. But seriously, way overpriced and not worth it. So I would not recommend the food here. read more

See all

The Blue Note is located in the Outrigger Hotel...first time there. We attended the first show Friday night, doors open at 5 pm and show starts at 6:30 pm. While waiting, we ordered a round of non alcoholic beverages,we had minors with us. We also ordered appetizers: salad, garlic mussels,sashimi plate, a charcuterie board and a burrata. Everything tasted good, my only complaints were no chopsticks available and the appetizer plates were a bit small. The service was friendly and fast and actually very good. They also serve dinner. The place was PACKED.....my suggestion go early by 4 so you can get a good seat. If you sit on the floor level ,you will be sitting shoulder to shoulder. We sat next to the stage, but, it was ok. We saw the Stylistics, omg so good, brought back fond memories and visions of Las Vegas. We will definitely go back. read more

See all

The house was packed last night!! New Year's Eve with Iam Tongi, an America's Got Talent winner and home-grown local boy who lives on the mainland due to the high price of living in paradise. We (a party of 5) arrived early to get great seats in front of the stage. Good thing we did because it was a full house. We ordered our food and drinks (there is a $20.00 minimum food/drink order on top of the ticket price) and waited for the show to start. Two of us ordered the Tofu Tikka Masala because it was light and tasty. Two of my friends ordered Prime Rib, but had to return one for further cooking as it wasn't cooked enough. It turned out just fine when it came back. Our fifth person arrived late so she had Sashimi. Since it's New Year's Eve & Ahi is at at a premium, the fish was fresh and delectable. Kudos to our server (forget his name but he's from Montenegro) for keeping up with us. read more

See all

Great entertainment venue but the food absolutely sucked. I had the shrimp picatta at the recommendations of the waitress. It came practically dry, had maybe 5 capers and dusting of cheese, and 3 shrimp. Mentioned it to the waitress and she said the chef will remake it. It came back in what almost seemed like a broth still no taste. And it was outrageously priced. If you're not going to make good food, just offer regular bar food that you can easily reheat or fry rather than charging outrageous prices for badly cooked food. read more

Blue Note Hawaii - Shrimp piccata - Music Venues Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

The five stars are for the entire experience, the food would be lower. We came here from the mainland to see Kimie Miner and Keahiwai. Tickets were $45 for premium and $35 for regular. Seating is first come first serve. If you want good seats, be in line when the doors open. The food was just OK. It looks better than it tastes. No need to get the food just drinks. There is a $20 minimum per person. Service was excellent. The ambiance is the best. It was a nice intimate evening. We had such a good time. read more

See all

I highly recommend not buying food here, just eat before you come, and only purchasing drinks. All of our food was overpriced and very disappointing. I genuinely feel ripped off. I never leave negative reviews, especially for restaurants, but I had to speak up. There are a number of reviews with the same experience when it came to the food. The service and entertainment was great though, but because of the food I don't plan to ever come back. read more

See all

Okay so first off we got tickets at a great price for DC young fly the show was amazing but the hosting could have been better opened the doors almost 3o minutes late and we understood because it was back to back shows .....moving forward we were seated and didn't get water for another 30 minutes we ended up going to the bar getting our drinks and then bam a fight broke out at the bar. The waitress came almost towards the end of the show asking if there's ANYTHING ELSE SHE CAN GET US? I think she noticed at that point we finished our wine and beverages and brought us water. She wasn't rude and it was busy but we literally had self service the whole night . read more

Blue Note Hawaii - Music Venues Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii