Need help with Waikiki restaurants

[jehb2]

My brother and his wife (no kids) are going to Waikiki in 16 days. They’ll be staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. We never eat out except for the Ala Moana Japanese food court so I can’t really help him in this area. I would be grateful for any restaurant suggestions in the Waikiki area.

Also, will he need to make advanced reservations because of Covid. I know this was an issue last year. Thanks

 

[slip]

I would definitely try to get reservations when going to any higher end place. Hopefully it won't be too late.

I would go to Dukes at sunset, always nice. For steaks, we love Hy's, Signature and Aloha Steakhouse. Hy's is on the Fancy side the other 2 are more casual. Aloha Steakhouse is the cheapest of the 3 but still very good steaks.

For a casual fish place we love Paia Fish Market on Kuhio. It can get crowded but you can always call in and get takeout also.

I'm sure other will chime in.

 

[DaveNV]

Never mind. I had recommended asking @slip about things, but he posted just before me.

Dave

 

[Wolfepack88]

Reservations for popular/touristy spots (like Dukes) will help. Many places stopped allowing online reservations via apps as they ran into too many people not showing up so call for them. There are a lot of restaurants depending upon your budget. We love the Tanaka Ramen in the Ala Moana mall, its very very good ramen (yeah I know its Ramen). Orchids in the Halekulani hotel is a very nice restaurant (pricey). Local spots are great too so if you drive up to the north shore and you want some picnic table type local food we love Ted's Bakery, love the short rib plate!! We made a lot of our lunches and breakfasts in our kitchen in the Grand Islander. We have kids so our restaurants were geared toward stuff they also like. They are getting close to breaking out of just kids type food and trying more stuff. I'm sure you will get a deluge of places and you can always yelp and google to get real reviews and updated experiences.

 

[GraceH]

If your brother and his wife likes Japanese food and Sushi, give Izakaya Nonbei a try. My sister, who travels to Oahu on business(pre-COVID), took us there last year. The restaurant is quaint, a short drive off the main strip, and located in what looks like a residential area. My sister said that the Hawaii 5-0 film crew regularly stops there after filming for a meal.

I also 2nd @Wolfepack88 ’s Tanaka Ramen recommendation, though we usually eat at their other location in Kapolei because the line is shorter there.

The Pig & The Lady in Chinatown (Vietnamese Fusion) would be a great choice if feeling adventurous. Their Chef’s food is featured on Hawaiian Airline’s First Class menu. We tried their limited food offerings (Vietnamese Banh-Mi Sandwich and Udon) at a local food market held Wednesday nights at the Neal Blaisdell Center, but they are at several markets throughout the week.

Duke’s and Merriman’s will require a reservation, and early if trying to get a sunsetting time slot.
[edit: I also found this link to a few recommended restaurants in Honolulu with a short description of each]

 

[csodjd]

I would definitely try to get reservations when going to any higher end place. Hopefully it won't be too late.

I would go to Dukes at sunset, always nice. For steaks, we love Hy's, Signature and Aloha Steakhouse. Hy's is on the Fancy side the other 2 are more casual. Aloha Steakhouse is the cheapest of the 3 but still very good steaks.

For a casual fish place we love Paia Fish Market on Kuhio. It can get crowded but you can always call in and get takeout also.

I'm sure other will chime in.

I’m going to disagree with Slip a bit here. Hy’s is good, yes. But it has no Hawaiian feel. It’s a good steakhouse that could be in any city in the country. And I was underwhelmed by Aloha Steakhouse. It was okay, but didn’t create the, we need to go back there feel. I have three favorites for “high end.” Signature Steakhouse on the top of the Ala Moana hotel. Orchids, right on the beach in the center of Waikiki. And Michels, also right on the beach at the Diamond Head end of Waikiki at the Colony Surf hotel. Also very popular is 53 by the Sea. These are all excellent high-end dinner locations.

For great pizza, I’m not sure you can do better than Harbor Pub, just below the Chart House. Harbor Pub also has a great Happy Hour with drinks ~$5.

For breakfast, Aloha Kitchen, just a few min walk from HHV, is fantastic. Unless you are there before they open at 7:00am expect to wait about 20-30 minutes. I have never seen a morning without 25 people waiting outside to get in.

I also enjoy a more casual dinner at Tommy Bahama. Sitting on the rooftop bar area in the evening is very nice.

BTW, from Hilton Hawaiian Village you can easily walk to all those except Michels.

 

[csodjd]

Here is another wild, albeit expensive, dining experience on Oahu. Most have never heard of it. Gaslamp. It is about a 20 min drive in Kailua. https://gaslamphi.com/ Reservations are required because you need a password to get in. It is located inside a pub/bar, through the phone booth in the back. Very small, about 6 tables and a bar. Live Sax being played from the balcony.

We sat at the bar last time and, after figuring out that the “bartender” was lying to us about being a new hire and was actually the owner, had a great chat about the restaurant, etc. He even bought us a round of drinks.

 

[10spro]

Just FYI - Duke’s Waikiki is booking out into October. They said to come in person for same day walk-in. They start taking names on the wait list at 4pm. No idea how long the wait is after that.

 

[Monkeyboy]

Netflix has a show called street food episode 5 is for Oahu. Don’t recall anything in the village on there though. I second Tommy Bahamas And dukes. Roy’s is good also. We use open table for reservations.

 

[csodjd]

Just FYI - Duke’s Waikiki is booking out into October. They said to come in person for same day walk-in. They start taking names on the wait list at 4pm. No idea how long the wait is after that.

I played golf with one of the owners recently. He said to call the restaurant for reservations, don’t use the online reservations. He said they allocate a certain number to web reservations and those fill way in advance, but the restaurant holds onto a lot of reservations lots that are available if you call.

 

[Monykalyn]

We had reservations for Hulu grill on open table over July 4th so check there. Also did walk in to dukes bar twice over that week -you have to scout for table but we literally a walked in and within couple minutes found tables (one night after 8 and one night right around 6ish). It is bit of luck but far better than a 2-3 hour wait time and this was over extremely busy 4th of July week! Our go to was Tikis though. And we met friends at Uncle Bo’s-very sketchish appearance and actually fantastic pupus and drinks. Unless something changed from July reservations aren’t required “because of covid”. Most places have walk up FCFS seating at bar too. Also recommend calling about reservations vs online-found that places had space when calling (again this was over 4th of July week).

 

[csodjd]

We had reservations for Hulu grill on open table over July 4th so check there. Also did walk in to dukes bar twice over that week -you have to scout for table but we literally a walked in and within couple minutes found tables (one night after 8 and one night right around 6ish). It is bit of luck but far better than a 2-3 hour wait time and this was over extremely busy 4th of July week! Our go to was Tikis though. And we met friends at Uncle Bo’s-very sketchish appearance and actually fantastic pupus and drinks. Unless something changed from July reservations aren’t required “because of covid”. Most places have walk up FCFS seating at bar too. Also recommend calling about reservations vs online-found that places had space when calling (again this was over 4th of July week).

We actually never really go to Dukes, we just go upstairs to Hulu Grill. We’ve walked right in there when there was a 2hr wait at Dukes. I’ve never quite understood that.

 

[easyrider]

We usually grab some food and groceries at Don Quiote's. It's a Japanese supermarket with a take out food court outside. It is an interesting time browsing the odd food items in the grocery store. It's inexpensive too. Another place we always go to is the Rainbow Drive In out of habit and the food is decent. Then we head to the beach or park.

I like Maragami Noodle restaurant on Kuhio Blvd.. There is always a line. Fairly inexpensive depending on what you order.

The Mitsuwa grocery has sushi rolls and other items. We buy them on our walk to eat on the beach. Fairly inexpensive.

Pai's Deli is pretty good and inexpensive. It's close to the beach.

We did go to a couple of restaurants like Roy's and a sports bar off Lewers for kicks. They were pretty good. Roy's is pretty good and there was no line when we went.

I can't wait to go back to Waikiki. There was a time in my life we only tolerated Waikiki but now we love Waikiki.

Bill

 

[Monykalyn]

we love Waikiki.

We loved Waikiki too! I don get the disdain for Oahu. So much great food I can’t even remember all the places we ate, we got food from food trucks a few times as well

 

[artringwald]

One of our favorite ways to dine is to go to Duke's lunch buffet. Since we'll be too full for a big dinner, we go to House Without a Key for pupus and a relaxing, low key hula dance.

https://www.halekulani.com/dining/house-without-a-key/

 

[mchct]

We usually grab some food and groceries at Don Quiote's. It's a Japanese supermarket with a take out food court outside. It is an interesting time browsing the odd food items in the grocery store. It's inexpensive too. Another place we always go to is the Rainbow Drive In out of habit and the food is decent. Then we head to the beach or park.

I like Maragami Noodle restaurant on Kuhio Blvd.. There is always a line. Fairly inexpensive depending on what you order.

The Mitsuwa grocery has sushi rolls and other items. We buy them on our walk to eat on the beach. Fairly inexpensive.

Pai's Deli is pretty good and inexpensive. It's close to the beach.

We did go to a couple of restaurants like Roy's and a sports bar off Lewers for kicks. They were pretty good. Roy's is pretty good and there was no line when we went.

I can't wait to go back to Waikiki. There was a time in my life we only tolerated Waikiki but now we love Waikiki.

Bill

I know Waikiki/Oahu isn't some people's favorite island, but we like it (probably because more of our friends/relatives are from this island) but Oahu probably has the most variety of local eats or even the fancier restaurants.

We also like shopping/browsing at Don Quijote, Mitsuwa -good places to pick up some sushi, bentos, or smaller grocery sizes compared to Costco/Sams. And The Andagi Guy is at the Donqi store on certain/days and times if they want to try the andagi (Okinawan fried donut balls) and the local places like Rainbow, Liliha, Mitsu Ken, Ethel's, and even Zippy's are all ono! The other place that many like is Side Street Inn and there's two locations in Honolulu.

Slip also posted a you tube video of some locals who visit different food places, so that might be good to look at. I'm also going to include a link to a google docs that we used to update with local eats, but it hasn't been updated since 2018 and some of those places closed or closed during covid, so yes we know it's not up to date, so just use it as a reference. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1C0HYgdmZsHuyEJh9B1zk5JJPdWw_DH613aCVXkuwEiY/edit?usp=sharing

 

[easyrider]

I know Waikiki/Oahu isn't some people's favorite island, but we like it (probably because more of our friends/relatives are from this island) but Oahu probably has the most variety of local eats or even the fancier restaurants.

We also like shopping/browsing at Don Quijote, Mitsuwa -good places to pick up some sushi, bentos, or smaller grocery sizes compared to Costco/Sams. And The Andagi Guy is at the Donqi store on certain/days and times if they want to try the andagi (Okinawan fried donut balls) and the local places like Rainbow, Liliha, Mitsu Ken, Ethel's, and even Zippy's are all ono! The other place that many like is Side Street Inn and there's two locations in Honolulu.

Slip also posted a you tube video of some locals who visit different food places, so that might be good to look at. I'm also going to include a link to a google docs that we used to update with local eats, but it hasn't been updated since 2018 and some of those places closed or closed during covid, so yes we know it's not up to date, so just use it as a reference. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1C0HYgdmZsHuyEJh9B1zk5JJPdWw_DH613aCVXkuwEiY/edit?usp=sharing

Zippy's !!!! We never made it to Zippy's last trip but that is a place I like.

Bill

 

[artringwald]

I almost forgot that last time we were in Waikiki we ate at Maui Brewing. If you're in a mood for burgers or pizza, I'd recommend it.

MBC Waikiki - Largest Bar in Waikiki, Island-Inspired Cuisine

Enjoy the views, live music, and award-winning craft beers at Maui Brewing Co. Waikiki— featuring Hawaii’s largest bar. Book your table today for an unforgettable night out.

www.mbcrestaurants.com