My parents aren't as mobile as they used to be. So after helping them all day, I came here to eat, just like old times. Kenko Ya will always have a special place in my heart. I was a little sad that my favorite server was not working. Maybe I'll see her next time! I decided on Udon. The broth is really good and warms the soul! I also got my usual, inari and an eel roll. Both very good! Would've had green tea, but it was late and it would've kept me up. The young servers working were all very friendly. I do remember when they were at the other smaller location, which was when I first discovered them. Good times! Mahalo again Kenko Ya! read more

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Kenko-Ya is probably one of my favorite restaurants on the windward side! A great Japanese restaurant with big portions. I usually order their combination meal with butterfish, mochiko chicken and shrimp & vegetable tempura. Their butterfish is moist and has great flavor. The mochiko chicken here is one of my favorites and they give you a lot! I have enough for leftovers the next day. The shrimp & vegetable tempura has a nice light and crispy batter and they give quite a lot of veggies with two big pieces of shrimp! At our recent visit with got spicy ahi which was quite spicy but still tasty! The service is really good, with the servers being very attentive. I definitely recommend this spot if you're craving Japanese food! read more

Kenko Ya - Combination meal with mochiko chicken, spicy ahi and shrimp & vegetable tempura - Japanese Near Me - Kaneohe, Hawaii

Easy spot to come in and grab a bento style meal. I got the combo spicy ahi and mochiko chicken plate. Pretty generous portion. The spicy ahi was quite spicy. read more

Kenko Ya - Spicy ahi and mochiko chicken - Japanese Near Me - Kaneohe, Hawaii

Today I had the day off so decided to have lunch with my good friend and my sister and BIL. I ordered their Teri chicken and shrimp tempura .it comes with miso soup and bean sprouts with Edamame. It was very good . Next time I'll make sure to order something else . My friend had Butterfish and shrimp tempura. My sister had their Beef sukiyaki and my BIL had their vegetables tempura. We all enjoyed our food . Kenko Ya was originally located on the other side Of Kaneohe shopping center where CPB and Safeway located . I believe now it's Donut King . Service was very friendly 3 other waitress came up to our table and asked if we needed anything Support local I'll be back in the near future for decent Japanese food read more

Kenko Ya - Teri chicken and shrimp tempura - Japanese Near Me - Kaneohe, Hawaii

Went to the Windward Side to have lunch with friends. I had the Shrimp and Vegetable Teishoku. One person had the Miso Butter fish, one person had the Teriyaki Chicken and my wife had the Beef Sukiyake. No complaints about the food. And our server pleasent. Enjoy read more

Kenko Ya - Part of the shrimp and vegetable tempura Teishoku - Japanese Near Me - Kaneohe, Hawaii

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Food was delicious! Misoyaki butterfish was prepared well, not a heavy sauce just plopped on top. Tempura was cooked just right. Hubby had the Ribeye with garlic butter cooked to his preference - medium. Service was quick and servers were nice! Checked in on us often for drink refills. Felt like your small quaint Japanese Teishoku eatery. Family friendly and we saw kupuna too enjoying their Sunday lunch together. I would definitely go back! read more

Kenko Ya - Misoyaki butterfish with spicy ahi and tempura. Spicy ahi was a little too spicy for my liking and portions were generous. - Japanese Near Me - Kaneohe, Hawaii

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Stumbled upon this gem with my family after a round at bay view. We arrived right at opening at 5pm, and they were quick to seat our party of 6. Huge portions of combination and single entree meals, as well as delicious maki sushi rolls and shareable apps. We also ordered a pitcher of beer, which happily fed 4 people two rounds. We stayed for about 1.5 hours, by which time the dinner rush came flying in! Apparently it's a spot that local windward crowd frequents because we saw two separate aunties and their families roll up while we were there. Would definitely be harder to get a table around 6-7ish. read more

Kenko Ya - Japanese Near Me - Kaneohe, Hawaii

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From the old location to the new location in Kaneohe, the staff and the food is always on point. We went on a Sunday night and it gets busy. We waited for about 10 minutes and got seated as soon as they cleared the table. The spacing is not big, but it's comfortable. I believe this location is bigger than the previous location. Our server was Erika. She's super bright and bubbly. She was fantastic with revisiting our table and checking in to make sure we have everything we needed. Some highlights of our food: - the sukiyaki is super savory and delicious - I've never seen bell peppers as a vegetable tempura, it was nice and crunchy - Erika introduced us to the Tiger roll, which was a spicy ahi with jalapeno, and now I will forever order it - the tonkatsu is just perfectly cooked and apparently we ran out of sauce (that's how good it is) - the mochiko chicken had a soft crunch and it's so Ono. I will always come back to Kenko Ya for the staff and food. Definitely check them out! read more

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Went out to lunch with friend and had beef sukiyaki and my husband had shrimp tempura and vegetable combo. My sukiyaki was good. Lots of thinly sliced beef, tofu, egg, bamboo shoots, white onions, and konyaku noodles in a light shoyu broth in a stone black pot. My husband had the assorted tempura teishoku. One of My friends had miso butter fish and tempura and my other friend had teriyaki chicken and tempura. All was good. Had good times talking about old times. Like vegas, housing, work and of course our health. Lol... as we get older its good to talk about things going on with our lives. Service was great and had choice of where to sit because came right when they opened. Will be back again. read more

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$$$$ Easy $100 per table. Cost of business is high and still a good choice for great service and good food but for the price, you would expect higher quality or more quantity. Itʻs still the same. Increase $ due to high expenses. Not a cheap eats. Might as well go to the one and only dedicated sushi bar up the road if you want sushi only. There is only one in Kaneohe. Otherwise, itʻs a local eatery with friendly staff and you donʻt have to drive out of town to eat tasty food. I do enjoy eating here but now less frquemcu due to price. read more

Not too sure why I haven't tried this place sooner! Maybe because I was spending most of my time at Kizuna ahah. But I am glad I came here for lunch! Walked in and was greeted and seated right away. Big menu with a variety of food. What caught my eye was the tiger roll and spicy ahi crunch. Debated between those two and we ended up getting both along with calamari, udon and ebi. Sushi was delicious! I like how much unagi and spicy mayo they drizzle on the tiger roll. I was so full right after and it was a great lunch. Service is good, would come back again. read more

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Everytime I come out to the kaneohe side to visit my grandma, one of the most beloved restaurants we go to is Kenko Ya. We love the service as they've always treated us far nicer than we deserve and they sometimes give us free desserts for apparently being long time customers :) It's definitely not something I expect but something that I greatly appreciate and cherish. As for the food, it's the gift that keeps on giving lol. I usually order the combination plate with salmon and misoyaki Butterfish. The portions are huge and fish is cooked to perfection. The skin on the salmon is always crispy with the fish being soft and exploding with flavor! They also give miso soup and vegetables with certain dishes. Love the staff, love the service, love the atmosphere, love the food and love the experience. High quality Japanese food that I'd recommend to anyone. 5 stars!!! :) read more

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I'm sure the owners would be very concerned to hear how we were treated. We understand we were a large party without a reservation, which is why we politely asked whether you were able to accommodate us. Instead, the host continued to be hostile and ultimately told us, "Maybe you should go somewhere else, sister." Rude is an understatement, and the entire interaction was extremely unprofessional and disappointing. I would give her 0 stars if I could, I wish we got her name...this was on Saturday 5/9/26 around 5pm. Oh I should also mention that there were 2 pregnant women and 4 children in our party. What a shame! read more

If I can give this shi**y place a 0 I would!! We came on a Saturday around 5 for a party of 10. She ask if we had reservation which we said we didn't. The hostess was rude and said she doesn't think they can accommodate us as we didn't call in advance. My friend ask her straight up if she can or not so we can go somewhere else as there are two pregnant women and four kids that are hungry. She straight up said Go somewhere else! If the owner happens to read this please have her train to have a better customer service especially for a hostess! She has no business working with people. Horrible!! read more

Thank you Kenko Ya and staff for making my dad's 77th birthday so happy! The best part of the review first, I found out they give complimentary dessert for your birthday, you can choose from a small slice of cheesecake or mochi ice cream. My dad choose the strawberry mochi ice cream. Best part is the restaurant music stopped, then there was like a rumbling sound and then happy birthday started playing on the speaker and the whole restaurant started to sing happy birthday. They brought out 2 mochi ice creams with a candle inside. My dad was so happy with the surprise. Thank you to the wonderful employees. Now back to the beginning to the food we ate before the birthday celebration, , we all got the $28,95 teishoku and got miso butterfish ($3) more added to the $28.95 and shrimp and vegetable tempura. It came with miso soup and appetizers. The miso butterfish was really good! and so was the shrimp and vegetable tempura. One of best restaurnts in Kaneohe, it gets crowded fast even on a Wednesday afternoon it was packed for dinner. We were able to just walk in at 5 pm but noticed it got much more crowded an hour later. Note that they close Monday and Tuesdays. The restaurant is next to Longs Drugs across of Windward Mall. read more

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Great service and food! There is a LOT on the menu so there will be something for everyone :) read more

Kenko Ya - Japanese Near Me - Kaneohe, Hawaii

We rarely travel to the Windward side of the island but had to pick up an order so decided to finally try this place for lunch. My friend has been raving about their Mochiko Chicken so I ordered that with Shrimp/Vegetable Tempura combo meal for myself and my husband ordered the Shrimp/Vegetable Tempura with Chicken Teriyaki combo meal. Combo meals includes toss salad, rice, miso soup, soybeans and seasoned bean sprouts appetizers (not sure if appetizers are the same every day). My friend was right! Their Mochiko Chicken was awesome! I don't usually order this because some of the places I've tried, it was either too oily, overcooked or not enough taste but here, it was perfect! They also give you a dipping sauce but didn't need it! The tempura was hot and batter crunchy...so good! My husband liked his food too but said he liked my chicken better. The food is pricey BUT the food was good! Our server, Mitsuko was really nice and another server kept refilling our water without being asked. Very satisfied with the service!! The only question I had was...we were charged $7 for Yuzu Sorbet but the menu shows the price as $4.50...was this a mistake? Either the menu or cash register has to be corrected. This place is located in the Kaneohe Bay Shopping Center with a lot of parking right across the street from Windward Mall. read more

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Thoroughly enjoyed tonight's dinner at Kenko Ya in Kaneohe. Hot sake followed by combination plate of misoyaki butterfish & saba (mackerel). Friendly service by Melissa was prompt and efficient including menu advice. My tasty butterfish had zero bones, I think that's a personal first! It's maybe my third time here but always a good experience so I'm posting my review. Even the music is amazing, for a not-quite-boomer the playlist was spot on! read more

Kenko Ya - Saba and butterfish - Japanese Near Me - Kaneohe, Hawaii

I'm so glad we found this spot on Yelp! We came on a Friday night and it was a bit crowded but the wait wasn't too long. Their tempura was so crunchy and crispy! I also love that they gave natto nigiri! They're the first restaurant I've come across that has that on their menu! read more

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My family loves this place. The food is great. The servers are awesome and the ambiance is simple and nice. We enjoy the teishoku dishes and the sushi rolls. The portions are large. And of course the foods are tasty. We have eaten here many times and have not ever been disappointed. We also do take out which is convenient. Located next to Tasty BBQ and Longs Drug store at the Kaneohe Bay Shopping Center. Friday nights tend to be busy. Lots of parking available. read more

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What a pleasant surprise coming down to Kaneohe to have some Japanese food! It was Pau Hana Friday, and I was catching up with my homie - Gary T.. My original plans were to go to Windward Mall to check out Kiku-Ya, but when I let my homie pick the eating place, Kenko-Ya was the choice. I'm so glad that my homie picked Kenko-Ya, as this Japanese restaurant offered a great selection of grub, friendly & attentive service, and pretty reasonable prices. Kenko-Ya is located at a strip mall, where the First Hawaiian Bank (Kaneohe Bay branch) & Safeway is located. Parking here is plentiful, as the strip mall has ample parking spaces. I'm not sure if this restaurant takes reservations, but when my homie & I came here for dinner on a Friday night, we elected to come here at an earlier time (approx. 6:00 PM). I'm so glad we decided to come here for an early dinner, as the restaurant was packed for a Friday night, with many other hungry customers waiting outside of the restaurant for a table to open up. The Grubbige - There were so many good choices on the menu, but I ended up getting the Two choice Combination Dinner ($25.95) - as my choices were a Teriyaki Chicken & Spicy Ahi. The two choice combination meal came with white rice, salad, & miso soup. My friend ended up ordering the Nabeyaki Udon ($18.95) - Thick noodles in a broth, combined with chicken, vegetables, shrimp tempura, & egg. Overall a very satisfying meal, and I can see why this restaurant is so popular on the windward side. On the windward side, and looking for great Japanese food? Give Kenko-Ya a try! You won't regret it! read more

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The service here is great. It is friendly, attentive, and quick. The prices here are also very affordable, considering the size and the value of the item... It is also somewhat of a complete meal with some of the items, including edamame, pickled vegetables, miso, soup, etc. Some of my favorites include the rainbow roll, chirashi bowl and the tempura. It's always so clean, Cool from the air conditioning, and festive inside. I really enjoy coming here for lunch or dinner with family and friends. read more

Kenko Ya - Steak and sushi - Japanese Near Me - Kaneohe, Hawaii

Came on a Friday night and luckily there was a table ready, so we were able to get seated. It got crowded quickly. Server brought out edamame and bean sprout appetizer quickly and asked if we needed more time to order. We asked for a few more minutes. We ordered and food came pretty quickly. Food was hot and crispy. Super delicious. My only complaint was that the salad was bagged salad and some leaves of lettuce that I had were a little mushy, but the tempura and tonkatsu were all super crispy and hot! Small little place with a good amount of booths and tables. Servers are friendly and attentive. read more

Kenko Ya - Combination of 2 - Tonkatsu and shrimp and vegetable tempura - Japanese Near Me - Kaneohe, Hawaii

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WowwwWww After seeing all the good reviews, I've decided to try this place! I've been skeptical on trying new restaurants lately due to my high expectations. But this one went ABOVE and BEYOND! All the servers were attentive and super friendly! It literally felt like I was being served at someone's home as a guest. The food came out quick and it was soooo delicious! I couldn't decide on what I wanted so I tried multiple things. From their soba, combination set & their sushi! Everything was goood and didn't disappoint. I definitely will be coming back! Good food & good service?! +100 stars for me. read more

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We went to Kenkoya one weekend when we decided to check out Windward Mall. It was a like a real homey local Japanese restaurant. There were a lot of customers from the neighborhood that you could tell were regulars. The waiters and waitresses knew them by name and it was nice to witness their camaraderie. Kenkoya has a pretty big menu so it took a few minutes to try to decide what to get. I got the oyakodonbori and my daughter got the tempura udon. The oyakodonbori was good but it had way too many onions. The onions were chopped a little too big for my liking. I think the overall taste besides the onions were very good though. My daughters udon was okay. It didn't taste like fresh udon but my daughter seemed to have no problem with it. The sushi they had there was probably the best thing there. They had a lot of variety and it was tasty. read more

Kenko Ya - Shrimp tempura roll - Japanese Near Me - Kaneohe, Hawaii

The wait wasn't bad and I got a table right in the middle by myself . The food was as expected I really liked what I ordered nothing was bad about it! The waiters were very friendly and the place was nice! read more

Kenko Ya - Chicken katsu don, and the tiger roll - Japanese Near Me - Kaneohe, Hawaii

Fast prompt and friendly service. After a long hike at Manoa Falls & Makapu light house you have to treat yourself to delicious sushi at Kenko Ya. Restaurant is clean and tidy! Restrooms are well maintained as too! We ordered the Dragon and Tiger rolls - so delish! The menu is extensive. They had bento box options, donnburi, noodles and too many choices from which to choose. The restaurant sits in a plaza shared by other stores so parking was not an issue. read more

Kenko-Ya is one of the few places I'll gladly drive over the Pali. Especially since I live in town with so many places to eat at. I love eating here because the servers and staff are friendly and I enjoy their combination plates and my BF likes the sizzling ribeye platter over onions. Recently I even had a bottle of Kyoto Matcha Ipa that had me reminiscing of my recent trip to Japan! LOL well it was a little bit more expensive at 9$ but worth the splurge. I try to go early for dinner so that I don't need to wait. This place is popular with the Kaneohe locals so if you go to dinner on the weekend you'll probably wait a little bit to get in. They are also popular for take out. Everything that I've had here was delicious I love the shrimp and vegetable tempura tasty and not too heavily battered. Solid japanese restaurant on the Windward side. read more

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A very nice quaint Japanese eatery. Service is good and our server was friendly and helpful. Combination meal - (butterfish/sashimi) - 5/5 The butterfish was very tender, tasty and boneless. The white misoyaki was applied just right. The flavor was perfect the char overtones and a semi-crispy skin. The sashimi was decent sized pieces consisting of 3 pieces of ahi and 2 pieces of salmon. The sashimi was very good. The tempura was light and crispy. The veggies was cooked just right. No veggie pieced were under cooked and hard or overcooked and mushy. I would order this combination again. Tonkotsu - 4/5 THe Tonkotsu was breaded lightly and had a very nice crisp to the bite. The meat was a little dry, but okay,. The tempura shrimp was tender and very good. The veggie tempura was also very good and the veggies v cooked perfectly. Nabeyaki Udon - 3/5 The individual who order this selection never ordered udon before. So her first impression was to compare it to other Asian noddle soups that she had in the past like Wun Ton mein soup. She preferred the thinner noodles to the thicker udon noodles. That being said, I'm sure that the udon soup was very good and other people who have experienced udon might give it a better rating. Kenko Ya is a very nice and popular Japanese restaurant, as evidenced by the long wait line outside. I would recommend giving Kenko Ya a try when your palate craves Japanese food. read more

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Definitely recommend this place. The waitstaff, environment and food were great. Will definitely go back again.

Their miso butterfish was sooo delicious and the sashimi was fresh too. I'd definitely eat here again :) read more

Kenko Ya - 2 - Combination Meal -sashimi, miso butterfish - Japanese Near Me - Kaneohe, Hawaii

Ordered a tiger roll to go Beautiful restaurant inside Great customer service Fresh delicious sushi read more

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Marissa provided great service. The Sukiyaki was Excellent. Great lunch and definitely will return.

Best service ever food was hot the waitress was the bomb welcomed us with positive energy. Friendly environment.

Rez for 5 people or more allowed. You may have to wait bcoz they are so popular! Food (servings were good for the price) & service was good! Their shrimp & veggie tempura teishoku came w/FOUR shrimps & 6 pcs of asstd veggies (sorry, I moved the food around so you could see everything; it did come nicely presented) & their shrimp tempura is the best! They have the tiny panko pieces covering it & it was not greasy! BIG bowl of rice (I ate about 1/4) + a tossed salad & hot tea. Pickled/salted cabbage & edamame were provided after you order & food came out pretty quick! They also have some desserts, but we were all so full! I cannot wait to go again! read more

Kenko Ya - 4 shrimps, 2 sweet potato, 2 stringbean, & 2 eggplant - Japanese Near Me - Kaneohe, Hawaii

This restaurant is usually always busy at dinner time . If yiu have a large party make sure you make a reservation since there is not enough space for large tables. The service and servers are very polite and accomodating. Kenko Ya is one of a few places that includes sashimi as one of their choices in a combo meal. The sashimi comes with 3 ahi and 2 salmon slicdes that are about 1/2 inch thick. My wife always orders all ahi slices. We usually get their two choice combo sashimi and shrimp and vegetable tempura. Their shrimp tempura is heavily breaded while we like it less but it was crispy and tasty. The combos come with rice salad edamame pickled bean sprouts and miso soup(salty). I would rate their food a 3.8 overall. The ambience was nice not too noisy unless you have some noisy clientele. They had a good variety of alcoholic beverages beer sake and shoju, however their wine was restricted to one red and one wine. read more

We didn't have reservations. They quoted us 15 minutes wait, it was about 40 minutes. The portions are pretty good, the food was above average and service was OK. read more

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I've always enjoyed dining at this restaurant since they opened at the old location at the other end of the Kaneohe Bay Shopping Center. Kenko Ya just recently moved into a new larger location which can accommodate about 70 seats vs old location of 40+ seat restaurant. (If I remembered correctly) Their new location is near Longs Drugs and next to Tasty Korean BBQ in the old Irifune location. So far at this new location, we haven't had to wait to be seated. The restaurant can accommodate more customers and opened throughout the day. I'm glad since it's not like before when we may have to wait when they were busy at their old location. The menu is the same for lunch or dinner with two or three combination meals, teishoku, nabemono, donburi, hot and cold noodles, and extensive sushi menu too. Everything I've tried is really good. My family raved on the light and Crispy shrimp tempura and I like the option to have ahi & vegetable tempura since I can't have shrimp. They even offered ika and vegetable tempura. Another great choice was the mochiko chicken! They gave a sauce for the mochiko chicken (ponzu sauce?) but you really don't need it since the chicken is crispy and so tasty alone! These are the items I would highly recommend! There are 18 choices to choose from for the 2 -3 choice combination meals. It also include the butterfish, unagi, soft shell crab and fried oyster for additional $2. I'm glad there's a Japanese restaurant like Kenko Ya in Kaneohe! I would say it's the best in Kaneohe. The service always excellent and food comes out right away and always so yummy. The complimentary side dishes may change but the recent one was a tasty marinated salmon skin dish and edamame. The delicious miso soup has pieces of aburage inside. My brothers and mom are usually picky but they really enjoyed it and had no complaints! I've been here three times recently and always enjoyed my food! My nieces love Japanese food so we all had a nice meal! Thank you! Nice interior with a bar and the 2 separate bathrooms. I was impressed with the ladies' bathroom! The bathroom was really nice and clean inside with modern fixtures. I would highly recommend this place!!! Selection and portion were great! Thanks for reading my review! =) read more

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What a great way to finish off a relaxing Father's Day than dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant . We always get a warm welcome like we're family no matter how busy they might be. We never worry about what on the menu because it's all great. We'll keep coming back. read more

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Food is DELICIOUS! Service is always GREAT! Decor is nice too, in alignment with the overall theme of Kenko-ya!