I visited the island with my boyfriend to spend time with his family and we came here our first night with the family...and we were thrilled! First tip: make reservations! This restaurant has a good amount of tables and traditional Japanese zashiki/sunken floor tables. However, if you do not make reservations prior, and the restaurants fills up, you'll only be offered the bar/counter seating. Second tip: free valet (+tip of course!) within their small parking lot. The restaurant is easy to find, right smack dab on the corner of University and Dole. From the outside, you're not sure what to expect of this place, but step inside to a very modern, sleek, sophisticated Japanese restaurant with extremely friendly staff. They are very observant and service was great. The menu was impressive...I've never seen variety like this before. Pupus, Salads, Tsukunes...take a look here and see for yourself: http://www.yelp.com/menu/tsukuneya-robata-grill-honolulu We ordered the chicken hearts, the potato salad, fried cheese, tsukune with egg, garlic tsukune, Uni & Crab "Kamameshi" Rice, ramen, ahi tuna, Hamachi Carpaccio...I may have forgotten a couple, but man...everything was delicious! Keep in mind the pupus and tsukune are small plates like 1 or 2 an order, so make sure to ask the server to explain the menu to you prior to ordering. HIGHLY SUGGEST: Uni + Crab rice, Tsukune with Egg, and the Chicken hearts! read more

I have been to this restaurant several time over the last 1.5 years. It's quite good. The speciality is japanese chicken kabobs, but they have a lot of other very good food as well. I have always had good service here. The waiters are hooked in with wireless PDAs--I have actually had the experience of ordering drinks then ordering the meal, and before I was finished ordering the drinks arrived from the bar. Kind of pricey but not out of line with similar quality establishments. read more

Always wanted to try this place but never got around to it until a terrible UH Bball game got the wife and I motivated to leave at half time. Place was empty and felt small. We found ample street parking since the valet guys left at 8:30pm and came in the restaurant trying to find people to give their car keys back to.....pretty strange. The food was GREAT but PRICEY. The tskune and robata items need to be ordered in "2s" even though they are shown on the menu with prices for "1"........must be a psychological trick to get you to think it's cheaper than it actually is. We had the Teri chicken tsukune, Teri chicken and shiitake mushrooms from the robata grill. We also had the Gohan and miso soup and the yaki musubis with chicken broth. Food was great but on the small size. All this was about $25. Despite the cost, we'll definitely be back. Probably will eat a happy meal prior to coming here to fill me up a little. Not sure if they have a happy hour on food but if they do, that will help get an extra star. read more

I like the ambience and service. There are lots of kind of food menu. Especially sermon was very fresh and tasty! Very impressed! read more

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Stars only for the ambiance. It was such a bad experience that I seriously just left and I'm writing this review. We had family friends in town from abroad so my dad made reservations for late night. We got there at 10, were told to wait for another hostess, a little weird but no big deal. She showed us to our seats and we get some food orders in. Maybe 20 minutes later, my dad's phone rings, it's the restaurant asking if we're coming or not. My dad informs them that we're already here and are sitting down. That's where I start getting really annoyed. The food slowly comes out, no big deal, but towards the end, my boyfriend puts in an order, 15 minutes later we still don't have it. If it was busy, we'd understand, but it was midnight and there was one other table besides us. He got up to cancel the order and was met with an "uuuhhhh... It just came up." So we were forced to pay for food we no longer wanted and forced to wait for the food we no longer wanted. On top of that, the sign outside advertising drink specials apparently doesn't go into affect until next week. Tl;Dr false advertising with signage outside, food might take long even if it isn't busy and you'll be forced to accept it, and they might call you while you ate seated asking if you're going to honor your reservation. Do not recommend. read more

Oh. My. God. Lets talk authentic Japanese food. This place is AMAZING. I would spend ALL MY MONEY HERE. Finding this place by mistake was the best part of my trip to Hawaii. GREAT PRICES read more

First of all the decor of this restaurant is fabulous! However, it's obvious that that's what you're mostly paying for. The food overall was very good, but the prices are high and the portions are very skimpy, even for the izakaya-type dishes. The Tsukune was good, but the one I liked best was the shiitake mushrooms stuffed with the tsukune. My group also had the miso-tofu (ok), fried chicken (yummy! but you only got 4 pieces), paitan ramen (tenkaippin's is much better), daikon salad (ok), teriyaki tsukune (I didn't try it), and one other dish that I didn't try because there really wasn't enough to go around and I didn't want to order another one just to try it, mango sorbet (very good), and the coffee jello (yummy). I would go again, but only on a special occasion and I would eat a little snack before going. read more

Good Japanese food. It's mostly pupu style. Good service - no complaints there. Parking can be full often, but there is usually street parking near by. read more

This is a good place to cruise with friends if you want to drink and eat pupus without the hustle and bustle of a bar or club setting. Price isn't as cheap as buying alcohol at Tamura's, but for a restaurant it really isn't that bad. Service is quick and friendly, and the waitresses/waiters will usually go out of their way to help you out. Feng shui is pleasant, with an orange/bronze tint to lighting within the place, and the wooden furniture gives a nice homely feel. If you come with a larger party, there is authentic Japanese-style seating in a more secluded area of the restaurant. Here, you can (or rather, must) take off your shoes, sit on a mat with lowered flooring to put your feet in, and enjoy being spoiled if you have the money to spare. The food is naturally tasty. And when I say food, I mean pupus. Garlic fries are a must-try. There is a cheese fondue type of entree. Forgot the name, but very very tasty. But the #1 thing, Iichiko shochu + oolong tea. Pure brilliance. And if you are a frequent flyer, they will save any bottles of alcohol you buy for up to three months. Just write your name, draw a personal design, and the bottle will be there when you need it the most. read more

I went there for my birthday dinner with my family (4 of us.) We called to make a reservation at 5:30pm for 6:15pm same night. They are not too busy if you go early (before 7pm). Although it was 4 of us, we sat at the Japanese style table that seats for 8. We were able to use a huge table comfortably. We ordered the "nabe". One order is for two persons, so my mother and I ate the nabe. My son ordered bunch of different tsukne (chicken meatballs on a stick). Little bit expensive but all tasted good. Our favoriate was cheese fondue style tsukune. Excellent if you like gooey cheese. The ramen was also excellent. They have complimentary valet parking, so I wouldn't mind going there even though they have tight parking space. Overall we enjoyed it very much. Good food and attentive service. read more

A wonderfully unique and pleasant addition to the Japanese food scene, Tsukuneya offers specialties from Nagoya including the best zaru tofu in Hawaii and the most delicious tsukune I've ever had. Also delicious are the broths for their nabe and ramen which are among the most flavorful in Hawaii. Authentic dashi, yuzu-kosho and other delightful flavors of Japan are integrated into the menu. If I want to go to Japan without flying, I come here. read more

The best robata in the US of A. Very professional staff, nice atmosphere, interesting and unique "fusion" robata. Have been there many times and will continue to go there everytime I'm in Hawaii. read more

Tsukuneya Robata Grill - Onsen tamago tsukune...maiuuuu! - Izakaya Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

This was the 5th time at Tsukuneya and it's been consistent each time. Actually on this visit, went there twice on the same night: before and after the volleyball game. And this way we could try more dishes. Their signature item "tsukune" is the minced chicken, formed on a skewer and grilled. The tsukune is coated with either plain salt, teriyaki, spicy miso, wasabi, etc. The cold home made tofu is silky and served with a dashi sauce. And the tenmusu (rice ball wrapped shrimp tempura), grilled onigiri (grilled rice with a nice crunch) and the daily specials are all good. Really enjoy the atmosphere which is fairly authentic Japanese and the service is friendly and efficient. Only wish they had some form of a happy hour. read more

I've been to Tsukuneya Robata Grill many times. One of my many favorite places to eat. The food is delicious, the ambience is perfect and the service is fantastic. Good place to hang especially after 9 p.m. when they slow down after the dinner crowd. read more

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I have to say. We are longtime patrons of Tsukuneya. The chicken tsukune and seafood sushi and sashimi are great. That's not to say the other unique pork, beef or natto dishes aren't, because they are. The staff is personable, Tsukuneya staff take their jobs seriously and the dishes are beautifully presented every time. read more

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Ask me how much I like this place. Enough to have been here 4 times this summer, twice in the last two weeks. Enough to bring all my out of town guests here. Enough to come out of Yelp retirement to write a review. The ambience is really nice and the food is really good. It looks a little sketch outside, but it's pretty inside. Save room for dessert! Get more than one! read more

Tsukuneya is one of few authentic Japanese restaurant in Honolulu. My personal recommendation is Japanese style crispy hamburger. This is best Japanese style hamburger you can eat in Hawaii :) There are more great eats but that's for you to adventure. I would give five star for the staff, food, and environment, but I gave four star this time for pricing. I think it's little over the edge. Especially for drinks. Anyway I still come here a lot! It's worth it. read more

I go to UH Manoa as a student and it stuns me how I never bother to go to these sort of places even though its a breath away from where I go school. (Can I hear a holla for BUBBIES!!??) Ahem, my boyfriend took me here for a late Valentine Day dinner and let me tell you I was greatly looking forward to it. We were the first customers inside and right away we got to our service. Now for my pros and cons. Pros (As many as they are!) -The Decor- I've been reading around on Yelp that some were not a fan of the decor. I for one loved it, in fact I was half tempted to swipe one of their lamps for myself. (BUT THAT WOULD BE STEALING 0_0) The bamboo, flower arrangements and lighting worked for me and totally relaxed me after a hard day at school. -The Service- One of the best I've had in restaurants, but then again the restaurant was slow on a weekday night. We were frequently asked if we needed anything and ordering more food was a cinch. (The only exception was the Eel Rice that took a 15 minute wait, but at least I was notified) -The Food-I am a huge fan of Japanese food and Tsukuneya did not disappoint in the taste and appearance department. Every platter was a treat for the flavor and looks. My favorites were the Eel rice and the many many Tsukuneyas. Even the Chicken Cartillage (yeah yeah, laugh if you want) was awesome to eat. Cons (Few but glaring, these are the only reasons I can't bring myself to give them a five star review) -The Price- Yikes! The prices are pretty packing when it comes down to it. This is definitely NOT a place to eat if you are watching your wallet. Keep in mind that ordering Tsukuneyas are double than what the price says. (Which is why it says at the bottom of the menu that you are ordering for 2 items) But the taste was to die for, I mean the Mushroom Chicken Tsukuneya was so delicious I would have like MOAR....Hey! Speaking of which!! -The PORTIONS (or should I say lack of) This was my biggest issue as I kept saying to my boyfriend "I might still be hungry...." The portions are truly NOT to the price's justice and the Eel rice, while one of the best Eel dishes ever is FAR TOO SMALL for me to share. I mean, I did anyway with my boyfriend. But seriously the size of the bowl was a lot smaller than the bowls I eat at UH. (gasp, that can't be good...) In all, come here if you're in the mood for great Japanese, not scared for your wallet, and don't mind the fact that you might not be completely full at the end, this is a great place to be. (I know some people just are not fans of eating till their full meh, dunno) It seems like a nice place to invite friends too! Good Japanese Food! Just MAKE YOUR PORTIONS BIGGER. WE MUST HAVE MOOOAR. read more

Great food!! Counter seats are the best! Quiet, and comfy! I like the fact that it is quiet place for weekend! I reallu enjoyed the crab sunomono, and chawanmushi! read more

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It is my first time to go there. Great food and we enjoyed. Just no server came, always we had to look and ask for server.Bad... Star for only food! read more

I am always a fan of any place that stays open late and has happy hour drinks, bonus if they have happy hour food prices too, which Tsukuneya does. I love the fire cracker shrimp which you can usually find on the happy hour menu for $5.00. The late night menu does change periodically so they don't always have the same things on the menu. The calamari is good, chewy and crispy with a nice mayo sauce, $7.00 on the happy hour menu. we also ordered the chicken and cheese fondue (not on the happy hour menu), the tsukune menu comes in 2 pc orders so you get 2 pieces of chicken still cooking in a sizzling pan with melted cheese. Then there's the drinks....!! We ordered the Lychee sake which comes in a martini glass, cold and delicious for $3.00 and the Nigori Sayuri sake $5.00 in the little box where they fill your glass until it pours over the edge, they also have a selection of happy hour beers. We ordered a couple more items off the happy hour menu, fried fishcake and kim chee pork to wash down our drinks and it was all delicious. read more

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idk how i ended up here but i did with a party of ten or so after we ate at sanoya. my party was pretty much the only people there on a wednesday night and i felt really bad for our server since we only ordered about 5 drinks, 3 grilled dishes, and 3 desserts TOTAL. my friends ordered drinks and they all enjoyed it. it was pricey for some of them. tsukuneya's drink menu is pretty extensive. the skewered stuff looked good but i didn't try them. i ordered the annin tofu and my friend got the fried monkey banana. the tofu was very creamy and the flavor was light. not sure if it was worth the $5.50 for such a small size. the fried banana dessert was AMAZING! it was huge and super good! i love the decor and ambiance. the server was great, very friendly and attentive, probably since we're the only ones there lol. i may go back again to actually try real food. read more

Food was good but kitchen was so slow. Felt bad because our server was working hard. Waited maybe an hour just for sushi and didn't event receive it. They served our dessert without finishing all of our orders. And to make it worse, after not getting our food, they put it on our tab and charged us full price. Disappointed. read more

This place used to be perfect for a casual dinner night out but service has gotten worse and worse over the past year. The old Japanese lady in the front greets you but doesn't ever know where to seat you lol. This last time we went, it seems like all the servers were new and training. They gave us the food from our order and didn't give us the proper utensils to eat it with. Do they expect us to eat cold tofu with chop sticks and eat it off the dashi sauce plate? Do they expect us to drink soups and noodles by slurping it without a spoon? They ask us if wasabi is ok and even though we said yes, they don't even give any to us. They gave us sauce plates for the sushi but didn't give us any shoyu. What's gotten into this place? We spent the whole night just asking them for things like we're not allowed to eat with the proper utensils. This made our meal very unpleasant. On top of that, part of our orders did not ever come out because they forgot to enter it. The employees, including the managers all need proper training! read more

After seeing their crab croquette special in an ad, I've been waiting to go here. I guess it would've been better if we never had a chance to go. Good: -I liked the croquette - very creamy inside and tasty. It reminded me of the gratins I had in Japan. -Their deep fried yam in nori was also good where the yam had a slight kick to it and was all gooey. Bad: -I had the spicy Taiwanese ramen - and it was really spicy (which I didn't mind) but the ramen was all clumped together and hardly edible. -Because the ramen was spicy, I needed water. Plenty water. But they hardly came to refill. -We ordered tsukune and chicken in the very beginning. Someone who joined us halfway also placed an order. We were almost done with our meal and asked how much longer it would take. The first lady said she'll check and never came back. The second guy said he'll check and came back saying it'll take another minute. And so it came - but I'm pretty sure they forgot about the order because it definitely doesn't take over an hour to grill these... -Same as the tsukune and chickens, some other orders were forgotten and we had to keep on asking where the food was. The worst was the shrimp sashimi that came when we were pretty much ready to leave. -Someone else ordered their Japanese-style hamburger and side rice to go with it. They brought out the rice set early on and that person was pretty much staring at the thing while everyone else ate. By the time the hamburger came, the rice was all cold. -They also tried to serve us someone else's food and looked very confused. -In general, the servers weren't attentive at all (although the guy was better than the lady) I also wanted to try their desserts but we all agreed that it'll probably take a really long time to come out so we opted not to stay. We probably won't return ever again. For the price we paid, it just wasn't worth it. read more

Went with a group of people for late night drinks and snacks. We all ordered a bit of everything, and every plate that came to the table was delicious! I will definitely be back here. read more

It's good. Get the Tsukuneya plain, fondue, curry , steamed bean sprouts (ono) and finish off with onigiri. Oh dessert my wife likes the coffee jello with ice cream and I sometimes get the monkey fried banana...it's good and very filling. read more

The 9pm Happy Hour Menu is a great value and the food is delicious. Tsukuneya is conveniently located across the street from Stan Sheriff Center. It's best to come with a large group so you can try more dishes. We ordered everything on the happy hour menu plus the homemade tofu from the regular menu. Best tofu on the island. I would have given them 5 stars if they didn't run out of the grilled rice balls! We'll be back for more. read more

Some friends and I checked out Robata Grill on the corner of University Avenue and Dole St. They have "valet" parking (they double or triple park your car in the lot). Food: Different. This is a Tsukuneya-style restaurant (indicates a region in Japan that prepares this type of food). Tsukuneya-style involves chicken ground with mountain yam (yamaimo) and a plethora of spices, then grilled or fried in various meatball-like forms. The prices on the menu are for one portion, but when you order the tsukuneya, you must order a minimum of 2 orders. Of course, we had to try the house specialty (tsukune), so we had the "teriyaki" version ($4.50 for 3) which was the ground chicken mixture mashed onto wooden skewers and grilled with a teriyaki glaze. We also tried the "mixed cheese" version ($5.00 for 2) which was supposed to have cheese in the middle of the chicken mixture then mashed on a wooden skewer. Ground chicken and cheese may sound odd, but I was willing to give it a try because I love cheese; and after having the awesome cheese/lotus root thing at Kai, I was willing to be a little adventurous. There was a trace of pale yellow melty-cheese like substance when I bit into the skewer, but that was it. I could not taste the cheese at all. They also stuff the chicken/yam/spice mixture into "shiitake mushrooms" ($5.00 for 2) which was awesome. I really liked that one. The menu offers more than tsukune, though. We shared the "tofu dengaku" ($6.50) which was grilled with some kind of yummy sauce on it. I normally am not a tofu fan, but I ate two pieces. The "steak" ($26.00) was pricey, but good. Well-flavored, cut into strips, it came on a cast-iron platter with fresh beans, carrots and what looked like frozen french fries from a package. Obviously, the french fries were unnecessary (and bland and a bit mushy), but the rest of it was good. We also tried the "veggie kamameshi" ($8.75) which was rice cooked in a pot with veggies. The rice was not really koge ("burned" so as to form a dark brown crust) on the bottom (which is the way I like it!), but just the palest of tans. It comes with a dashi broth that you can pour on top of your rice and eat it like chazuke (almost like a porridge). It was quite flavorful. My friend tried the "panna cotta" ($4.75) for dessert. Bleh. My suggestion is that you skip it and go to Bubbies or something instead. The panna cotta was a little too hard (gelatinized) for me. Also, it came in a glass and was topped with this unnaturally bright red viscous liquid that tasted a bit like cough syrup to me. Service: It was pretty attentive, but they did not come around with the water enough. The water was served from these jugs that had charcoal in them...for purification. The wait staff was pleasant and they are willing to explain everything on the menu to you. Also, they use these PDA devices to send your order to the kitchen. It was pretty cool. Ambiance: Quite relaxing. There is a bar in the front with an assortment of alcoholic beverages and, of course, sake. The lighting is soft without being too dark and there is a separate "tatami-like" room that is screened off in the back, if you have a group and want some privacy. There is a long bar as soon as you enter. There were a lot of Japanese-speaking people there, as well as a menu in Japanese. Overall: It's a little different from other izakaya-type places, so worth a try. Personally, I think I would prefer to eat at Kai or Tokkuri-Tei on Kapahulu Ave. read more

They have a variety of Tsukune, roll- or a stick-like surimi product made with beef, pork or chicken but they are really pricey. I wouldn't go back to this restaurant again. read more

This place is very expensive! $5 for 4 pieces of grilled shitake mushrooms?!?!! The prices really ad up fast for small servings of ground chicken and other food items. It may be worth it if the food was absolutely delicious, but it is just fair, in my opinion. I wont be going back here for a very long time... read more

Went here last night with my bf after attending the UH baseball game. It was our first time and they did not disappoint! I'm already looking forward to when I could go again. We got there just a little after/around 9pm. It's valet parking but we didn't know and just pulled in to a stall and got our ticket from the valet guy. Carpool if going with a large group because the lot is very small. It wasn't too busy which is great because I don't like crowded places. We were immediately greeted and told we only had to wait 5 min for them to set up the table. Our server came soon after (we were told we would have two servers who could help us, and it seems like one was more the lead server than the other but both took our orders as we ordered which is great so we don't have to wait for "our server" to come by). He gave us recommendations and oriented us to the menu and what everything was. They had happy hour specials (after 9pm) which was great. We started off with the squid legs, yams in nori, nori wrapped mochi, tsukuneya (it's like a chicken meatball on a stick and their signature I guess). Then we added their house made zaru tofu, more tsukuneya, the shrimp and Kakiage fry, katsu, hamachi sashimi (sooo good!), tsukemono, and fried chicken skin (a must if you love chicken skin). We also ordered a sake sampler, another type of sake, and tried the lychee sake and peach sake just because (they're on the sweet side so definitely a sake for those who like sweeter drinks and not a strong taste of alcohol). Lastly, my favorite part, dessert: warabi mochi with a scoop of green tea ice cream. I wish it had been a little bigger but it was delicious nonetheless! Everything was delicious! If the different flavors of tsukuneya that we tried, we had: teriyaki, spicy miso, goma, and the Parmesan eight tartar sauce. Our servers were attentive and empty dishes were cleared promptly to make room for new dishes. Service was on point. Ambiance was just right. Cleanliness was good too. They even have an area where there have the tatami mats and you remove your shoes to sit. Hopefully aiming to go back this coming week. read more

We recently went there for dinner. At first the menu was confusing but I was simplified by one in our party. After we got our order, it was all good. We had like 5 servers for our table of a party of 6 & overly attentive and sorry but it was a little annoying though. $200 bill :-0 read more

Our family of five adults were all very disappointed with this restaurant. My mom had seen their ad on TV and said it looked interesting, not the typical Japanese food, so we decided to try it. As soon as we arrived, we were turned off. There were many parking spaces in their lot, but we were forced to use their free valet. This was annoying since we parked in a stall and yet felt obligated to tip him for moving our car out of the stall when we left. DUH! Gee, someone should tell Obama to incorporate this idea into his Jobs Plan. Another turn off: the tsukune is priced singly, yet we're told we must order two of each variety. What?!? Why not price it that way? One tsukune was a minimum of $1.80 (average about $2.50) and was literally 2 little bites. We ordered 4 different flavors and we all agreed that this was nothing special, just a gimmick. Gee, they "knead it for 30 minutes"---well why bother, plain chicken grilled with sauces would've been just as good, probably cheaper with less labor involved. Another great idea for job creation. I was eager to try the fresh tofu despite the disturbing price of $8.50. Well it was 4 small lumps of soft tasteless tofu. I'm not saying it was bad, I just wondered what was so great about "fresh" tofu that was basically tasteless. We had the daikon salad and that wasn't bad. We ordered chicken/nori robata and vegetable robata, all nothing special. The grilled musubi with broth was good, but again not worth the price. We wished there were some beef dishes for variety. Perhaps if we had known "tsukune" meant chicken, we would've avoided this restaurant. It got to the point where I decided to just stop eating and let the men finish. I didn't see any sense in wasting any more money, frankly. We ended up spending $86 (included 2 beers). Two of us went to a movie immediately after and had a lot of room in our stomachs for a large popcorn and candy bars. The service was very good, though! That's the only positive comment I have, I'm sorry to say. Not at all worth the money. If we had ordered enough to fill us, we probably would've spent at least $120...for a chicken dinner. read more

Service was mediocre, lacking in politeness and very long wait to have orders taken. If you're looking for healthy food, this is not the place to go. Many items were fried. Sashimi was very good though. read more

My S.O and I randomly decided to drop by and you know what we had such a great time. What's not to like? the service is beyond superb the food oh wow! We plan on coming back over and over. read more

Nice decor. Good selection of items to select from. Bummers that when we tried to order Chicken Liver and Chicken Heart they were sold out and it was only 7:30pm. WTF! We ordered the Seafood Natto and wasn't not happy with it. The Nagoya fried chicken with vinegar sauce was good. Overall, not a bad place but was expecting more. read more

This place deserves more reviews and more fame than it has right now. But understandable, its kinda out of the way for tourists, so prob not that well known. Honestly, i wouldnt know how to order the food if i wasnt with a Japanese person. However, everything is super good, worth the adventure. Esp the rice with uni and ikura, OMG, amazball. The tofu and the chicken soup are good too. read more

Where do I start? Jason our waiter has been serving us every time we come over! This place is the bomb, thank you for making each trip wonderful. The Tsukune dishes are the best. Give it try and no regrets! read more

My girlfriend and I are here in Hawaii for the first time. We were recommend by a family member to come to this place. Excellent food for our first restaurant experience. Our waiter (Michelle) was very polite and made sure that we were okay on any of our drinks. She answered all of our questions and was always there when we asked for her help. We highly recommend her as anybody's waiter. read more