Best Restaurants in Honolulu: 27 Spots I’d Actually Go Back To

Last spring I flew 7,200 miles between Manchester and Honolulu and feasted myself out on the island in three weeks. Not the hotel buffets. The real stuff.

What you will come across next will be the best restaurants in Honolulu and Oahu as a whole that will find their way into my notebook, listed by what you actually want at the moment, which could be budget, cuisine, occasion and neighbourhood.

What You Need to Know Before Eating in Honolulu

The majority of guides omit this part altogether, which is insane since the Honolulu culture of dining has its own rhythm and rules that surprised me as a British person. Get them wrong and you will have wasted time, money or both.

Reservation, Tipping and Timing

Popularity Two or three weeks in advance, book via OpenTable or Resy. I was taught this and found myself in trouble when I arrived at Senia one Saturday night with the idea of simply taking a seat. Nope. Waiting forty minutes, and that was a stroke of luck.

In Honolulu, tipping is between 18 and 22 per cent and it hurts when you are accustomed to the UK standards. Budget for it. Certain places to eat in Honolulu do not accept credit cards (I am staring at you, Rainbow Drive-In and Helena’s Hawaiian Food) and you should have twenties in your pocket.

The locals take dinner early. At 6 pm, the trendy places are already being crowded. When you do not want to push a table against someone and eat, 5: 30pm or after 8 pm is the time to go. Lunch is where the gold lies; a number of the restaurants that I have listed would cost 30 to 40 per cent less at lunchtime with virtually the same food.

How Hawaiian Food Actually Works

You have never ordered a plate lunch, so here is the offer. You order a protein (kalua pork, chicken katsu, loco moco), which is served with two scoops of sticky rice and a scoop of macaroni salad. Every single time. The mac salad bewildered me initially, but on the third day, I was in the mood to have it.

Poke consists of raw fish (usually ahi tuna) that is sliced into cubes and seasoned. Poke counters are available in petrol stations and supermarkets. Do not laugh, some of the best poke I ever had was at Foodland on Beretania Street. Even the shoyu poke, which costs approximately 5 pounds a generous bowl, was more satisfactory than a number of sit-down restaurants that were charging three times as much.

Best Restaurants in Honolulu for First-Time Visitors

When you do not have much time, and you want to experience what makes the Honolulu food special, you should begin with this place. It is here that I got to know why people travel half a mile around the world to get this food.

Helena’s Hawaiian Food

Helena is as old as it looks and it is. Fluorescent lamps, Formica tables, zero pretension. I had ordered the pipikaula short ribs and the lau lau and I was actually sitting there wondering how I had been missing such food all my life.

The short ribs are smoked, salty, a bit chewy, and absolutely addictive. Cash only. No reservations. Be there before 11 am or take your chances in the line. It shuts down at the end of food, which is normally mid-afternoon. This is the best place to have classic Hawaiian food and I will attest to that.

Senia

Senia is located in one of the Chinatown side streets and does one thing I have seldom encountered done very well: fine dining without taking oneself too seriously. The menu is divided into snacks and starters à la carte and a tasting menu. I visited it twice and had something different each time.

The pastry case on the mushroom tart was so perfectly crisp that it irritated me to think of how badly I baked. That kind of technical accuracy wins my respect immediately as one of those who has spent years of his life in the kitchen worrying about pastry ratios. Its tasting menu costs around 120 pounds a head and it is well worth it.

Marukame Udon

There is always a queue outside Marukame. Always. But the queue is long and in a hurry since you are watching them prepare udon noodles through the glass as you queue up. Fresh noodles, which are cut and boiled on order.

A bowl of hot udon with tempura will cost approximately 6 pounds. Six quid. At the cost of noodles, this good. The broth reeks of the sea and bonito flakes, the consistency of those noodles (thick, chewy, with a slight spring in them) is something you just can not feel in a packet. I attended it four times within three weeks. No shame.

Best Food in Oahu on a Budget

The food in Oahu is some of the best, and it is cheaper than a flat white at home. I’m not exaggerating. The food truck and plate lunch culture on the island implies that you can dine brilliantly for less than £10 a meal.

Rainbow Drive-In

Since 1961, Rainbow Drive-In has been serving plate lunches and the formula has not changed because it does not need to. The boneless chicken, mahimahi, and rice plate is approximately £8, and will keep you full all afternoon.

Cash only. Outdoor seating. The type of neighbourhood in which you are resting your elbows on construction workers as they take a lunch break and tourists who have conducted their research. This loco moco with that dark gravy coming around the yolk of the egg is nothing but comfort food, and the dish I miss the most now that I am back in the UK.

Romy’s Kahuku Prawns

You will have to drive to the North Shore on this one, but that is the beauty of it. The Romy raise their prawns directly behind the shack in aquaculture ponds. You can see them.

I ordered the garlic butter prawns and they came head-on, shell-on and swimming in garlic. The smell itself would halt traffic. Sloppy to consume, completely worth it and costing approximately £10 a plate. Bring wet wipes. The picnic tables are facing the prawn ponds, which are either beautiful or a bit disturbing to look at depending on your perspective.

Pioneer Saloon

The Japanese-Hawaiian comfort food at Pioneer Saloon in Kaimuki costs less than weep over in central London. The curry is fat and highly spiced and is poured over rice with a tonkatsu cutlet that is incredibly crisp. About £9.

The space is tiny. Maybe eight tables. The moment you enter, it smells of frying pork and curry powder. I visited on a Tuesday at 11:30 am and had to wait fifteen minutes to get a table; that is all you need to know about the quality. And it is good, decent food prepared by people who love.

Nice Restaurants in Oahu for Special Occasions

When you are celebrating (anniversary, birthday, or just made it through the ten-hour flight at Heathrow) then Oahu has fine dining that is worth dressing up. These are the good restaurants in Oahu worth the money.

Sushi Sho

Sushi Sho is a small omakase counter in the Ritz-Carlton Residences. Eight seats. That’s it. Chef Keiji Nakazawa offers approximately twenty sushi and sashimi dishes within around ninety minutes.

I have never had an expensive meal like this one. Approximately 250 sterling pounds without drinks. And I would repeat it tomorrow. The nigiri on the otoro melted on my tongue in a manner which I actually did not know fish could. Everything comes one dish at a time, hot rice, fresh fish, consumed right away. No photos. No menu. Just trust.