So just a warning, parking for this place was very confusing. They do valet only for $6, and signs…read morewere not very clear on which ramp to take. Thankfully the workers at the car dealerships below were very kind and helpful in pointing us in the right direction. The restaurant is right on top of car dealerships, and you'll enter and see a lot of cars in a showroom. The restaurant is up top, and fills up pretty quickly so have a reservation. My family and I tried several of their food the other night- the mochi crusted fish, mochi crusted tofu, the scallops, truffle seabream, Caesar salad, paella and some dessert. Everything was delicious! Most entrees start $50+, I personally really enjoyed the truffle seabream with risotto. I wasn't as full as I hoped, but flavor was good.

Meh...just meh…read more Service/ambiance were great, but the food was lacking. We ordered the paella, chowder, Caesar salad and short ribs. Why two stars? Multiple reasons. The chowder could have been eaten with a fork. The "dish" consisted of 95% bowl with 5% congealed soup. The soup was thick and if you attempted to dip your spoon in it, you couldn't. The soup that you are given is so minimal, you have to tilt the spoon to the side just to get a portion. Congealed, somewhat flavorless, and lack of portion size. Next time, just serve it on a plate rather than a bowl. The paella isn't paella. It comes in a bowl, not the norm. The rice is nothing more than a semi-flavored jambalaya. The seafood seemed to be cooked separately rather than in the paella pan. It wouldn't have been half bad if they named it something other than paella. Just call it dirty rice with seafood. Overpriced. The Caesar salad was alright, nothing spectacular. The short ribs were pretty good, the best part of our evening. The sauce was good, but the portion size was undesirable. This is what is saving MW from a 1 star on top of the service/ambiance. 4 items for about $169. Overpriced, lack of portion size and overall lack of flavor. For fine dining, you can find better.

The world food tour duo dined at La Cucina in the Imperial Plaza. I'd heard lots of good things…read moreabout this intimate restaurant on the ground floor of a mixed-use condo at the corner of Kapiolani and Cooke. There is lots of validated parking, accessible via Kawaiaha'o St ... You just wind your way upward until you find a stall marked "Customer". We were the first patrons of the evening and were seated at the back corner of the restaurant. Cobalt blue glasses, already filled with water, and a carafe were sitting on our table. The menu is accessed via QR code. I ordered a bottle of Barolo ... Our hostess / server brought a 2018 Perla Terra Barolo. It was light bodied, slightly acidic but with sufficient notes of red fruit to make it enjoyable. We ordered the Midollo Osseo, roasted bone marrow topped with pesto and served with toasted sourdough, and Cavoletti di Bruxelles, fried brussels sprouts in brown butter with Italian sausage, topped with dried cranberries, sliced almonds and Parmesan. Both appetizers were delicious! The bone marrow was unctuous and flavorful. The brussels sprouts were good but we boxed half of the order. My tablemate ordered the Risotto Funghi e Tartufo, that featured Porcini and other mushrooms, topped with sauteed foie gras, truffle oil and Parmesan. I chose Rigatoni Bolognese, featuring veal, pork and beef in tomato sauce with Pecorino Romano. The risotto was excellent; my rigatoni was very good, though I wished for a bit more tomato sauce. We boxed a large portion of the risotto. Dessert was a classic Tiramisu, and I had a cup of coffee. La Cucina's tiramisu is what we've been looking for ... one with lady fingers, creamy mascarpone, and an appropriate dusting of cocoa powder. We really enjoyed our meal at La Cucina. Service was fine even though there was just a single person handling all the tables. The prices are very reasonable ... Highly recommended!

This place was yummy! I especially loved the bone marrow with the perfectly buttery bread. So…read moreaddicting and probably my favorite dish of the meal. I'm not a huge pasta connoisseur, so I can't really tell you great quality vs. good , but I did enjoy the lobster ravioli, especially since that's something I'm definitely not making myself. I will say the pasta texture was a lot firmer than I expected. Maybe people like it more al dente, but I personally prefer my pasta a little softer. The sauce was really good though--I was scraping up whatever was left on the plate! My friend got the seafood pasta and really enjoyed hers too. The cheesecake was just okay for me. I wish it had a little more flavor, and afterwards I kind of wished we had gotten the tiramisu instead. My only gripe is that they're a little old school when it comes to reservations, so we had to email them. Thankfully my friend handled that for us . Also we pre-ordered food so no issues with it taking too long. Overall, a great place to eat! The bone marrow alone is something I'd come back for.

Became a fan of Chef Kajioka after dining at Cafe Miro in January. As we were planning a trip back…read morein August for the wifey's bday, I definitely wanted to head back and made reservations for The Counter as I saw pics on IG of their meal here. We lucked out and found street parking nearby. As we walked into the restaurant, we were quickly greeted by the host/server who showed us to our seats along the U shaped counter. Loved the clean and modern decor inside the restaurant. As we sat down, our water cups were quickly filled and the only few questions they had for us was whether we wanted the wine pairing and we wanted to add the caviar toast and shaved truffles. We opted for the wine pairing, caviar toast and truffles. The meal was fantastic from start to finish. The most notable dishes for me were the ahi and caviar toast, cold corn soup, the lobster and the dessert. Sadly the portion of the toast here was about 1/2 the size of what we had at the cafe and unfortunately they didn't have uni for the night (maybe don't go on a Tuesday). Service was fantastic but they did have a few hiccups which were tolerable as the food was amazing. The wine pairing was also good and paired well with the dishes. As we are currently planning our trip back later this year, we will definitely head back to either the cafe (if the remodel is completed) or back to the counter for another meal. This is likely the best meal we've had in HNL in quite some time and highly recommend it.

Miro Kaimuki - The Counter: An elegant, intimate experience that, sadly, left a lot to be desired…read more The service was great but I had a few qualms which influenced my decision of probably not returning. A couple things about Miro: - You have to pre-pay via OpenTable (unsure how it works if you call ahead), but just be aware you will be fronting the cost. Also, there are two seatings, one at 5pm, and one at 7:30pm. The 5pm seating is $165 per person and the 7:30pm seating is $195. I'm not sure if there is a menu difference but just know there is a difference in price depending on the time you choose. - Upon arrival you have to wait outside before being let inside. The restaurant locks the doors while they are in service, so if you are the 2nd seating (which is what we were) at 7:30pm, you will have to wait outside. Honestly my girlfriend and I were pretty confused as we've never had this experience before. We even tried to message/call the restaurant but didn't hear from them so we were close to leaving, but luckily some people were leaving from the earlier seating and let us know to wait outside and that the servers would let us in when the time comes. Now onto the most important part- the food. The menu was 6 courses (not including the bread). We got all of the add-ons and I also did the wine pairing. There wasn't any menu available but here's what I got based on photos: - First Course: 4 starters which reminded me of Bar Maze. This was probably the best course for me. I really wish I knew the names of each dish but it was an oyster, salmon tart, another tart (I think this was tomato or something), and ikura toast. All of it was super tasty. - Second Course: Ahi, Caviar, and Uni all on top of their special toasted bread. Now I am a big proponent of all three toppings, but the bread was so rich and dense, it overpowered all of the toppings. I felt the uni went best with the toast, but definitely not my favorite to start a meal so heavy. - Third Course: Almost like a bacon carbonara but without any pasta? It was kind of like a custard texture. It was good but felt a little out of place in the whole grand scheme of the tasting menu. - Bread: I don't count this as a course but we were served this beautiful baked bread with honey butter. Super yummy. - Fourth Course: Lobster - which, of course was tasty but not memorable for me. - Fifth Course: I can't remember if this was wagyu but this was also pretty good. Pretty small for an entree but the meat was cooked well and the presentation was very nice. - 6th Course: There were two desserts and one complimentary dessert for my birthday. The orange creamsicle dessert was the best one. My girlfriend and I didn't like the gummies as they were a bit too sour/savory for our taste (it was li hing flavored which isn't my favorite so I could be biased). The birthday dessert which was a dark chocolate cake thing- it was OK. The cocoa was a bit bitter and was a little too unsweet for our taste. Overall, I think Miro was just okay. For the cost of $195 per person + the wine pairing (which I believe was another $95), and the add-on's for both of us (~$60-70?) plus my girlfriends mocktail, this came out to a very steep $550+ dinner. I feel for 6 courses this is pretty overpriced, especially because the portions are super small and I don't feel the tasting menu was very cohesive. I would definitely rather go to NatuRe, Mugen, or Senia as they are relatively close (or at times cheaper) in price to Miro. Don't get me wrong, the ambiance was beautiful and intimate, and I think it's worth trying at least once if you want to splurge, but sadly this won't be a restaurant I return to regularly, if at all in the future.

Located on the Ross side of Waikiki Shopping Plaza. Dined here for different occasions, all for…read morework meetings and had inconsistent service. When we were at the bar countertop we got decent service. When we sat in the happy hour section vs dinner section is when it was a little spotty. Once, when we sat in the happy hour section (to the left of the bar) and tried to order dinner service food in addition to happy hour, we were told no...so then we asked to move to the dinner service side and forfeited the happy hour menu items. On another occasion, we went for dinner service and made a reservation online for a specific type of dining service listed on OpenTable, and when we sat, the server mentioned that it didn't matter what type of reservation we made online, we could order whatever we wanted. During this occasion, we also noticed that the server was using the brown cloth napkins on the table to polish silverware, drinkware, and then fold it back up to be ready for table service. I would suggest using a different polishing cloth, to create a cleaner appearing atmosphere. As for the food, it has been consistently delicious. Know that they change up their menu every season, so I personally look for the items with the restaurant symbols that appear to be popular, has not disappointed thus far. If you want to utilize the restroom, it is located on the 2nd floor of the plaza, up the escalators/elevators, don't forget to ask for a restroom code. This restroom was rather dirty though, like a homeless person just cleaned themselves before we got there. And we got lost the first time trying to find the restroom and ended up in the Stix restroom instead. Nevertheless, I'm curious to know what the speakeasy is like at Botanico, may come back to try this if the menu/vibe is different there.

We first saw Botanico about 10 months ago after eating at STIX Asia downstairs. Based on the sign…read moreoutside we thought it was a skin care company but after turning the corner, we saw that it was a restaurant. We had a date night here this weekend. We made reservations on open table easily and found parking at the Waikiki shopping plaza which we were already familiar with. After our 2 hour meal, we found that we didn't have to pay for parking. That's a GREAT deal in Waikiki! I'm in a wheelchair and found the ramp outside and around the restaurant where big island burgers was. When we got to the top of the ramp, we found a stantion blocking the entrance I feel they should have opened it prior to our arrival since I noted I was in a wheelchair in my reservation. I had to call the restaurant to open it. That was fine and the worker, I believe her name was Ai, was so kind and told us they had a table for us but it was in a narrow area. So we waited for a minute and she sat us in a more comfortable area. The menu, I have to say, is a little confusing. The prefixe menu $80/pp"menu pregustazione" has a antipasto, appetizer listed then primi course which I presume is the main course and a "secondi" course but has a price tag for each item. Then desserts have 3 items listed. Does that mean everyone shares 3 desserts? Then coffee or tea We asked our waitress for recommendations. She recommended the Terra e mare antipasto misto to share between the both of us (which we ordered) and the red snapper aqua pazza. We passed on the aqua pazza because my dad is a fisherman and we eat red snapper often. The pupu was great: Seafood ceviche, bruschetta with tako escargot(I think), focaccia, calamari, prosciutto, calamari, and shrimp covered in katafi. It was such a great introduction to the restaurant. I also had the oasis cooler to drink, a delicious zero proof drink with soda, pineapple & coconut cream. Such a delight! Hubby had the grape garden cooler with aloe liquor, white grape puree, elderflower liquor, lime & mint. He works for a liquor company and preferred my drink. We shared our entrees: vongole bianco and pescatore spaghetti. The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente. The pescatore spaghetti came with shrimp, mussels, clams & scallops. We could taste the seafood in the spaghetti. Delicious! There was a little bit of sand in one of my clams in the vongole. Nothing to complain about, but something that could be avoided by cleaning them properly. Prior to ordering we asked the waitress " you know local braddah, he like know which dish has the most". Then she nodded. So we knew she wasn't local HOWEVER after reading some reviews (after dining there) , we saw they offer kamaaina discount. We were not offered that. We ordered the Sicilian cheesecake which was light and delicious. It had a crème brûlée top. Yum! We also ordered the tiramisu which was light and airy For the heftier crowd , the portions will not satisfy you. It would be nice if the restaurant offered extra noodles for a fee. Next time I'd like to try their moussaka because that's hard to find here. I think it's Japan National owned. You can taste the strive for excellence. I had to ask for a water refill which, in my books, tells me how good service is. So that needs improvement. My server was nice but not outstanding. Overall a nice experience for a date night. Great vibe.

Chef Chai brought back Happy Hour! It went away for a while during the pandemic, so I was happy to…read moresee it return. If you want to step up your pau hana with some divine pupus, head to Chef Chai between 4 PM and 6 PM. It is a great way to enjoy some of their dishes at happy hour prices. They also offer an early bird three-course dinner special if you are looking for something a little more substantial. Great food, great pupus, and happy hour prices. I love me a good happy hour.

Hadn't eaten here for years but was going to the Journey Farewell concert so I booked a table…read more We were early but that was no problem. Service here is great. Interior is nice. We were seated at a table for two by the window, but it was a little odd when a party was seated next to us out on the lanai. Totally quiet but they were very close... Food was good and much of the menu was changed but there were a few oldies, such as the Kaitaifi crusted black tiger prawns and roasted butternut squash and lobster bisque. Drinks were good. Ross's old fashioned with big ice and luxardo cherry was delicious. Hubby's whiskey was also good. I ordered the signature started platter as my starter and entree. It was a lot. Apparently others have done so. The complimentary appetizer of pita, pickled cucumbers (like namasu but not as tasty and not as picky), grilled chicken and peanut sauce (sate) was nice but not outstanding. Grilled chicken was dry. Orange sauce was very good. Ate it on the pita. Cucumbers missed the mark since it wasn't tangy enough and was warm... The Kaitaifi crusted shrimp was good, nice and crispy. The hamakua mushroom and black truffle arancini was delicious with the tomato basil sauce. So was the foie gras mousse on brioche (my fav) but I was VERY disappointed when hubby pointed out that the couple outside had a LOT more odd the mousse on their brioche! So did the table on the other side of us... grrrr. Mini smoked duck tacos were good, ahi tartare cones were fun and good but the cone gets soggy at the bottom. Except for the foie gras mousse on brioche and Hamakua mushroom arancini, nothing was outstanding. All good, just not amazing. So as a platter it worked because of the variety. Hubby also tried a few items such as the ahi tartare, which he liked. Hubby had the wok fried jumbo black tiger prawns and really enjoyed them. We skipped dessert because we had plenty to eat.

Lovely setting for celebrations with a menu that offers something for every appetite and dietary…read morepreference. My companions chose pasta, pizza and burgers, while I selected the Mediterranean appetizer combo and marveled at the pretty colors and accompanying bread with a smattering of Zaatar spice blend. For dessert, the Greek yogurt and sorbet were the perfect light end to the meal. Service was friendly and knowledgeable. Free valet parking. I'd come back!

I love love love the food and ambience. Service is terrible for some reason. This is the second…read moretime I've dined here in the past two months and I honestly thought the first time was a fluke with the service and decided to try again. Surprise surprise it wasn't a fluke lol. On Monday I made reservations via phone call. Everything confirmed. I received two texts during the week my reservation for Friday at 7 was confirmed. Great! I called Friday to add three more guests to our dinner reservation of 6. Immediately she said I didn't have a reservation booked. I tried to clarify with a phone number but she said it was only by name. I spelt my name twice and no. I asked her if she had any reservations for a party of 6 at 7pm. Yes but for xxxxx. And I told her that was me!!! And she finally repeated my name back to me with my last name - I felt so gaslight/mindblown. Never mind I was driving so I said ok glad we have our reservation but she said we couldn't add anyone. Ok that's fine. We show up party of 6 to this enormous table clearly big enough for three more. Ok. Service is sloowwwww. Our drinks took at least 20mins. And our second round was beat by our entrees. Server said the bar was behind - got it. 20mins for a beer is wild! Anyhow, bill comes and mind you we've been begging for water all night (on top of our slow drinks) and it's ridiculous to expect an included 20% gratuity when there was not even toilet paper in the restrooms. I have no problem showing appreciation when it's earned but expecting it when it's not is shameful. Just saying. You've been warned. The food is but the service is questionable.

Omg, super authentic Thai food in Honolulu. Everything here was fantastic, but hands down the best…read moreKor Moo Young, I've ever had. (Grilled pork neck). Pork neck is fatty like pork belly but firmer in texture. Sing Sing's version is super smokey and perfectly grilled. Highly recommend! Will def go back when I go back to Oahu. Pair with drinks at EP Bar next door for a really great night!

I've been seeing this spot popping up on my feed, so I finally decided to check it out on a…read moreSaturday night. I made a reservation ahead of time since it gets pretty busy. The space is on the smaller side, but I really liked the interior and decor. The restaurant has a nice atmosphere. The hippo logo was so cute! Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed with the food. We ordered a variety of dishes, including appetizers, sides, and main dishes, so we could try a little bit of everything. To me, the food leaned more toward Asian fusion rather than traditional Thai cuisine. Overall, I found the dishes to be either too salty or too sweet, and the flavors were definitely not what I usually expect from a Thai restaurant. The portions also felt quite small for the price. After trying several dishes, I felt the food was overpriced and the restaurant a bit overhyped. It seems like it might be more of a drinking and social spot, which could explain the popularity.

Glad I decided to give this place a try. The restaurant has a beautiful interior and staff are…read moreattentive and friendly. The dining experience felt a bit higher-end and reminded us of Japan (I believe the owner, waitstaff, and cooks are all Japanese). The food, although quite pricey, was very tasty and presented beautifully. I got the diavolo spaghetti (a daily special) that came with a rich and slightly spicy tomato-based cream sauce. The noodles were thick and al dente, which I enjoyed. The fiancé also really liked his fresh cream gnocchi that came with a slice of salty prosciutto. The gnocchi was very soft and almost melt-in-your-mouth. Portions were a little small but we still left satisfied. We came during lunch, when the prices were a little cheaper and all entrées come with salad. The salad was tasty too--even though we don't typically enjoy spring mix. We will be coming back!!

Cucina Moon in McCully Shopping Center is a recently opened Italian restaurant that specializes in…read moremaking their own pasta from scratch. I've been there two years ago for my anniversary dinner, and I'm happy to find out that they have a regular menu along with new and seasonal items as well. Expect at least $40+ per person though, especially if you're ordering small dishes to go with the main entree. Ahi Tartare Appetizer (4/5): Pretty good but I think it was almost $20 for a small glass. Gnocchi Fresh Cream with Prosciutto (4/5): I went in thinking fresh gnocchi was more chewier but maybe that was the wrong expectation? It was almost like a fluffy potato ball. Cream sauce was great, not too oily or heavy. I'm a texture person though so wish there was more in that department. Overall, Cucina Moon's pastas are different from your usual Italian restaurants, in a good way. I like this place for slightly special occasions.