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Oahu is undergoing something of a renaissance at both ends of the dining spectrum. You can splurge on world-class contemporary cuisine at destination restaurants and explore local flavors at popular, very affordable holes in the wall. Whatever your taste and budget, you’ll find places that pique your interest and palate.
You may wish to budget for a pricey dining experience at the very top of the restaurant food chain, where chefs Alan Wong, Roy Yamaguchi, George Mavrothalassitis, Chris Kajioka, and others you've seen on the Food Network and Travel Channel put a sophisticated spin on local foods and flavors. Savor dishes that take cues from Japan, China, Korea, the Philippines, the United States, and Europe, then are filtered through an Island sensibility. Take advantage of the location and order the superb local fish—mahimahi, opakaka, ono, and opah.
Spend the rest of your food dollars where budget-conscious locals do: in plate-lunch places and small ethnic eateries, at roadside stands and lunch wagons, or at window-in-the-wall delis. Snack on a musubi (a handheld rice ball wrapped with seaweed and often topped with Spam), slurp shave ice with red-bean paste, or order Filipino pork adobo with two scoops of rice and macaroni salad.
In Waikiki, where most visitors stay, you can find choices from upscale dining rooms with a view to Japanese noodle shops. When you’re ready to explore, hop in the car, or on the trolley or bus—by going just a few miles in any direction, you can save money and eat like a local.
Kaimuki's Waialae Avenue, for example, is a critical mass of good eats and drinks. There you’ll find an espresso bar, a Chinese bakery, a patisserie, an Italian bistro, a dim-sum restaurant, Mexican food, and a Hawaiian regional-cuisine standout (3660 on the Rise)—all in three blocks, and 10 minutes from Waikiki. Chinatown, 15 minutes in the other direction and easily reached by the Waikiki Trolley, is another dining (and shopping) treasure, not only for Chinese but also Vietnamese, Filipino, Malaysian, and Indian food, and even a chic little tea shop. Kakaako, the developing urban area between Waikiki and Chinatown, also offers a mix of local eateries, upscale restaurants, and ethnic takeout.
Outside Honolulu and Waikiki there are fewer dining options, but restaurants tend to be filled with locals and are cheaper and more casual. Windward Oahu's dining scene has improved greatly in recent years due to the visitors to Kailua and Lanikai beaches, so everything from plate lunches to Latin foods to creative regional offerings can be found there. Across the rest of the island, the cuisine is mainly American—great if you're traveling with kids—but there are a handful of Italian and Asian places worth trying as well.
Loyalists of Roy Yamaguchi's celebrated spots in Hawaii Kai and Waikiki are thrilled to find his North Shore outpost—a rustic, beam-and-concrete-floor pavilion literally on the sand at Turtle Bay. All the favorites are served at this more beach-casual spot, from miso deep-water black cod to beef short ribs, along with a more casual lunch menu.
Putting a playful and inventive spin on Hawaii regional cuisine, Kapa Hale offers upscale food and cocktails by an outstanding Honolulu-born chef in a mid-century modern dining room. Menu items are changed seasonally and sourced locally, with fun, wordplay names for different dishes, and there's a focus on using local vegetables creatively in all dishes, as in an edible lei poo (a head lei).
When Lee Anne Wong, best known as a competitor on the first season of Bravo's Top Chef, moved to the Islands, foodies waited with bated breath for this, her first restaurant. It's a lively yet laid-back café, where she took the concept of breakfast and flipped it, creating innovative dishes like Breakfast Bruschetta with vanilla cake rusks, local honey, and yogurt; also on offer are her signature dumplings, which change daily, and many other specials.
Tiki's is the kind of fun place people come to Waikiki for: a retro–South Pacific spot with a back-of-the-bar faux volcano, open-air lounge with live local music, indoor-outdoor dining, and a fantastic view of the beach across the street. Chef Ronnie Nasuti turns out beautifully composed plates and puts fresh twists on the super-familiar—like spicy "volcano" chicken wings, watermelon and feta salad, or Thai-style shrimp puttanesca. Be sure to try one of the mai tais, which come in a variety of flavors, then settle in and stay a while. There's live music on most nights (check the calendar on the website) and an upbeat crowd at the bar. Tiki's is in the Twin Fin Hotel and may look like a place designed for tourists, but it's the locals who come back again and again.
There's nothing "Mickey Mouse" about the updated Hawaiian food at the prix fixe fine-dining restaurant of Aulani, the Disney resort, which has a reflecting pool and decor with beach house elements like a thatched roof. Add to that the views of the Ko Olina lagoons and Pacific Ocean—and nightly live music by top local performers in the adjacent bar—and you have an evening worth the pretty penny.
This legendary indoor-outdoor restaurant has views of Diamond Head and an expansive terrace on the same level as the beach, so you’ll feel the calm, island vibes as soon as you arrive. Azure offers a sophisticated atmosphere and features the chef’s multicourse tasting menu, which spotlights local seafood, meat, and produce. Homemade desserts, such as the citrus olive cake (a top favorite), are delightful. If you want a coveted beachfront table (you do!), be sure to ask when you make your reservation.
At this elegant, indoor-outdoor restaurant in Waikiki's oldest hotel, try for a table on the veranda, which overlooks the courtyard and a majestic banyan tree. Although the adjacent Veranda restaurant serves breakfast—and an exquisite afternoon tea Friday through Sunday—the Beachhouse is an especially delightful spot for a sunset dinner, featuring three- or four-course tasting menu options that use fresh, local ingredients. The bar mixes up craft cocktails, and there’s a massive wine list as well. If you would rather just sip a drink and have a small bite, grab a seat at the more casual Beach Bar in the center of the courtyard.
Local farm-to-table guru Peter Merriman is well-known throughout Hawaii for his inventive and popular restaurants, and this one captures his creativity and locally inspired food mantra perfectly. Hawaiian slack-key guitar music and the gentle buzz of diners kicking back make this a nice stop for a leisurely lunch—that could easily slide into happy hour.
Roy Yamaguchi is one of the 12 founding chefs of Hawaiian regional cuisine, a culinary movement that put the state on the foodie map back in 1991. Opened in 1988, his flagship restaurant across the highway from Maunalua Bay is still packed every night—reservations are essential—with food-savvy visitors and well-heeled residents, all of whom come for classics like smoked Szechuan baby back ribs or blackened ahi with soy mustard butter sauce. Local favorites include the miso butterfish and chocolate soufflé (which should be ordered with your entrée). There are also vegetarian and vegan options, not to mention an exceptional wine list. Although the Waikiki branch is busy, it's this original Hawaii Kai location that loyalists return to again and again.
The Ko Olina outpost of Roy’s famed restaurant chain overlooks the 18th hole of the Ko Olina Golf Course and reflects a distinct local vibe, as most of the friendly staff come from this side of the island and exude an authentic aloha spirit. Dine on the Hawaii-Asia-Europe fusion signature dishes of Roy Yamaguchi and the chef’s west side–influenced creations out on the patio or in the iconic wood-beam-and-concrete interior.
Enjoy a taste of modern Hawaiian cuisine from the chef who started it all, Roy Yamaguchi. Situated in the center of Waikiki, the sprawling, stylish restaurant has been serving innovative pan-Asian dishes since 2007 and remains a fan favorite. Today, executive chef Jason Ichiki uses locally sourced ingredients to prepare such delectable signature dishes as spicy ahi hand rolls, ginger soy-glazed ora king salmon, and honey mustard–braised short ribs. Enjoy a multicourse chef’s tasting dinner in the main dining room, sit at the sushi bar, or simply snack on some happy hour pupu plates at the lively bar on the lanai. There’s something for everyone here, including an excellent children’s menu.
Among the first of a new wave of plate-lunch places to take particular care with quality and nutrition, this breakfast-and-lunch spot in a strip mall offers brown rice and green salad as options instead of the usual white rice and mayo-loaded mac salad. Sweet-and-spicy garlic chicken and mochiko (rice-batter-dipped and fried) chicken, adapted from traditional Japanese dishes, are specialties that bring locals back again and again. Service is quick and cheerful. Sugoi lives up to its name, which means "awesome" or "wow" in Japanese.
This new prix fixe dining experience that incorporates local ingredients in a modern way is the creation of Jason Kiyota, who used to head up the fine-dining side of The Food Company in Kailua. The small restaurant, with its mid-century modern–inspired dining room, is tucked behind a discreet black door in the unassuming Kilohana Square strip mall. Inside, you choose from two options on a three-course menu, as well as a small number of add-ons. Come for an upscale date night in a less-visited spot.
