Restaurants in Honolulu & Waikiki
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Eggs 'n Things
Never empty, this bustling diner specializes in hearty breakfast fare, from thick pancakes done up with whip cream to steak and eggs. The odd hours reflect its clientele, early morning tourists, graveyard shift workers and post-clubbers.
reviewed
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B
Diamond Head Market & Grill
Fast-food for an upscale neighborhood, this takeaway counter and deli market feeds families who don't want to heat up the kitchen as well as career bachelors with healthy versions of plate lunches. The salmon plate gets an approving nod from others in line and there are picnic tables beside the parking lot for immediate consumption. In the market, you can stock up on salads and picnic supplies.
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C
Sam Choy's Breakfast, Lunch & Crab
Its menu offers huge portions of local specialties, such as fried noodles or loco moco (three hamburger patties and more, buried in gravy) for breakfast, along with mainland staples such as bacon and eggs, and fresh crab. The food is great, a high-quality change from overpriced hotel fare. The on-site Big Aloha Brewery pours some of the best microbrews in town.
reviewed
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D
Down to Earth Natural Foods
Honolulu's largest natural-foods supermarket has a small sandwich and salad café with lots of vegetarian options. The grocery section has a decent selection of local and organic produce including Hawaii's tasty papaya and apple bananas.
reviewed
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Imanas Tei
At this top-rated izakaya (a Japanese pub serving food), enjoy world-class sake while grazing on delectable sushi and crowd-pleasing nabemono (do-it-yourself meat and vegetable soups).
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Rainbow Drive-in
If nothing else, it's refreshing to have a president who appreciates plate lunches and shave ice. President Obama has enjoyed plate lunches at Waikiki's Rainbow Drive-In
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G
Ono Hawaiian Food
A legendary destination for traditional Hawaiian dishes and local grinds - get a combo plate, but don't miss the kalua pig.
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Helena's Hawaiian Food
Wedged between a radiator shop and the highway, this humble Honolulu institution dates back to 1946. The menu is mostly à la carte dishes, some smoky and salty, others sweet or spicy. You start with poi (fermented taro) or rice, then add a couple of small plates of lomilomi (minced and salted, with tomato and green onion) salmon, briny shortribs or kalua pig, and you've got a mini-luau for under $10.
In 2000 this modest storefront restaurant joined Honolulu's bigwigs when it was honored with a James Beard award. The restaurant is now run by Helen's grandson, Craig Katsuyoshi.
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Alan Wong's Pineapple Room
Though Honolulu foodies may disagree, we prefer this dressed-down cafe inside a high-end department store to Alan Wong's eponymous dining room on King St. All the star chef's classics are made here in an open exhibition kitchen, plus the menu shows off some haute twists on island comfort food like the kalua-pig BLT sandwich and loco moco (rice, fried egg and hamburger patty) made with kiawe-grilled North Shore beef burgers. Desserts are killer, especially the five-sorbet sampler with knock-out pairings of fresh fruit and sweets.
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Golden Palace Seafood Restaurant
It says seafood on the sign outside, but it is the dim sum around US$2 that brings in Chinatown's midmorning regulars. All the dim sum components are here: impatient wait staff, mystery meatballs, pink tablecloths and Asian kitschy art. You get only a quick peek inside the bamboo steamers and no accompanying explanation. Tasty requests include char siu bao (steamed pork buns), shrimp or chive dumplings and look funn (steamed rice noodles).
reviewed
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K
Waioli Tea Room
What a gorgeous setting wrapped up in shade trees and long, flowing vines in a green nook of Manoa Valley. The stone house is a vintage specimen from the days when it was the kitchen for the Salvation Army Young Ladies' Orphanage, whose bakery truck was so successful that it threatened to put local shops out of business. The main event here is the afternoon high tea from 14:00 to 16:00, but others filter in for breakfast chats with friends.
reviewed
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Downtown
Hidden on the ground floor of the Hawaiʻi State Art Museum, this arty cafe is a downtown outpost of Kaimuki’s trendy Town restaurant. ‘Local first, organic whenever possible’ is still the theme, with fresh salads, soups and sandwiches that break through culinary barriers – think cantaloupe sorbet, lotus-root chips and ginger chicken sandwiches. Make reservations or grab a haute plate lunch to go from the ‘ASAP’ takeout counter.
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Kyo-ya
Kyo-ya is the full deal, a formal Japanese restaurant with kimono-clad waitresses specializing in kaiseki (multi-course meals). The lengthy menu includes several sashimi and tempura pairings, along with butterfish misoyaki and a traditional Kyoto-style grill served with several small courses. Both the setting and food presentation are elegant, and it's a favorite spot among islanders for a special night out.
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Maiki Market Food Court
On the mainland no self-respecting eater would be caught hanging out in a shopping center food court after the age of 17. But cross the Pacific Asia has brought the old-style market into air-conditioned comfort. This particular nucleus for communal grazing includes small outposts of favorite Honolulu restaurants, like Yummy Express, which serves Korean-style lunch plates with your choice of a fork or chopsticks.
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Ba Le Bake Shoppe
A corruption of the word 'Paris,' this Vietnamese bakery-café is one of an islandwide chain established by a recent Vietnamese immigrant. The simple shop is best known for its chewy baguette sandwiches, but you can also scratch that spring-roll itch. For a caffeine jolt, there's an equally chewy cup of coffee served with loads of sugar and milk, either hot or iced. There is another outlet on N King St.
reviewed
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O
Pavilion Cafe
In the Honolulu Academy of Arts, this upscale café has a lovely courtyard setting overlooking the museum's water fountains. The kitchen specializes in gourmet salads and sandwiches, but also makes an innovative pasta of the day. It's a good place to relax and a wonderfully indulgent way to support the arts. Reservations are suggested, particularly if there's a special exhibition at the museum.
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Top of Waikiki
Once a hallmark of progress, the revolving restaurant was first introduced at a world's fair in the 1960s but it has since become a relic of simpler times. Rotating at about one revolution per hour, this tower-top restaurant absorbs a 360-degree view from mountain to sea and back again. There's food involved too (sunset dinner around US$14), but the novelty is the slow-motion sit-and-spin.
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Oceanarium Restaurant
Dine with the fishes at this hotel restaurant and aquarium: weekend brunch buffet from US$21, dinner buffet around US$34. The dining room wraps around a three-story aquarium brimming with colorful tropical fish and more pensive sharks and rays. The occupants of the tank are only for decoration, not for consumption. Divers feed the tropical fish at noon, 13:00, 18:30 and 20:00.
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3660 On the Rise
Of the top-end Hawaii regional restaurants, 3660 will woo diners skeptical of white tablecloths. The dishes are sensible without being flamboyant and include familiar surf-and-turf ingredients that are either seared or pan-cooked. But the result is far from country-club fare thanks to the thoughtful additions of Hawaiian flavors. The restaurant is between 12th and 13th Aves.
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Tokkuri Tei
Bring your sense of adventure to this cozy izakaya (Japanese bar serving small plates) with upbeat versions of sushi standards. The decor is Japanese lanterns and bookcases store customers' favorite bottles of drink. Try the house poke (made with fish roe), grilled shiso maki (shiso leaf and pork) or soft-shell crab drizzled with a sweet chili vinaigrette.
reviewed
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Shokudo Japanese
This contemporary Japanese restaurant serves up fine cuisine at reasonable prices. The menu focuses on small plates, allowing you to try unusual tastes, such as mochi cheese gratin and the more traditional noodle and sushi options. Not to be missed is ishiyaki, a hot-stone cooking style that's served on a sizzling plate - the unagi (eel) rice is a winner.
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Cafe Laniakea
Chic and health-conscious, this café runs with an entirely different crowd than your average mess hall. Set in the courtyard at the historic Julia Morgan-designed YWCA, the café has a changing menu committed to local and organic (when possible) ingredients. And because Honolulu has never heard of pretension, the upscale meals are close to down-home prices.
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Makai Market
Bringing the Asian-style marketplace indoors, this above-average mall food court is a circus of neon signs, hundreds of tiny tables crowded together and dozens of fast-food stalls. Search out Yummy Korean BBQ, CoCo Curry House for Japanese-style curries, Donburi Don-Don for Japanese rice bowls, and island-flavored Lahaina Chicken Company and Ala Moana Poi Bowl.
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Kaka'ako Kitchen
Although it's not as ʻono (delicious) as it once was, this takeout joint still serves functional plate-lunch meals with brown rice and organic salad. For a gastronomic edge, order a gourmet plate with crispy sweet-chili chicken or a seared ʻahi sandwich on a taro bun. Daily specials may disappoint. Also at Airport Industrial Park.
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Duke's Canoe Club
By common consent, Duke's is the most popular beachfront restaurant in Waikiki, located beachside at the Outrigger Waikiki hotel. Named in honour of a local surfing legend, the open air restaurant caters to a constant stream of locals and visitors alike, and features live Hawaiian music afternoons and evenings. The breakfast and lunch buffets are a bargain.
reviewed
