Some Dependable Restaurant Choices On Oahu Vacation

Once you’ve got your vacation under way, you’ll be trying to find a really good restaurant where price is not a consideration, but where you can expect the very best in fine dining.

There are terrific restaurants on all the islands.  We’re discussing only Oahu here.  What follows does not consist of “reviews,” but of characterizations of eight restaurants that live up to the highest of expectations.  Keep in mind that we take no advertising on this site so these are selected because we like them and our clients have reported favorably after visiting them.  (Most of the reviews you’ll see elsewhere are of restaurants that advertise in the brochures or on the Web, so they’re certain to be favorable.)

Shown alphabetically, all these restaurants are “award-winning.”  Their chefs are “celebrity chefs,” some on an international scale, all of them locally.

3660 on the Rise
Outside of Waikiki in retro Kaimuki, the 3660 menu has an innovative Euro-Island touch – the culinary marriage of the East/West heritage and home-grown ingredients now known as the Pacific-rim style. 

Alan Wong’s
Alan Wong’s features Hawaiian Regional Cuisine.  The dishes are a reflection of the diversified cultures in the islands, using fresh, locally-grown produce and seafood prepared imaginatively.

Chef Mavro
George Mavrothatlassitis is probably the most decorated among Hawaii’s great chefs. His restaurant specializes in French-Hawaii cuisine.  The menu, which is changed quarterly, includes pairings with good wines by the glass.

Hoku’s
Located inside the upscale Kahala Hotel, this multi-level dining room offers exotic and innovative fusion fare — Hawaiian, Asian and European flavors.  You’ll see the open kitchen with woks, a kiawe wood grill and wood-burning ovens,, and ocean views are available to every table.

Hy’s Steak House
Hy’s is not part of the national chain.  Its cuisine is pretty much  "Continental," but also has mixtures of American, European, Hawaiian and Pacific influences. The Broiler Room centerpiece yields house specialties — steaks, chops and seafood – that have been broiled over kiawe wood.

John Dominis
Known first for its view of Diamond Head and the Waikiki skyline across its oceanfront, John Dominis is famous for its seafood.  The restaurant boasts that it uniquely can do fish eight different ways. You’ll pass an exotic fish-on-ice spread as you enter the restaurant.

La Mer
This elegant restaurant has an internationally-known menu with neoclassic French cuisine.  The chef uses local ingredients blended with flavors from the south of France.

Roy’s
Roy’s is where Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine — European techniques with Asian flavors — was born.  Now a spreading chain of fine-dining restaurants, the original restaurant is located in East Oahu.  Its European sauces and bold Asian spices create toothsome new tastes.

For more insight into the myriad dining options you’ll have on all the islands, pick an agent from the Hawaii-Aloha Web site (Hawaii-aloha.com), or call 1-800-843-8771.

Posted by Jim Winpenny.

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Published by Bruce Fisher

Since 2006 Bruce Fisher has been publishing the Hawaii Vacation Blog and the Hawaii Vacation Connection Podcast which create daily content about Hawaii Travel and Tourism. This Blog is the only online resource providing Hawaii-based information aimed at travelers seven days per week. postings reflect the Hawaiian Islands, their culture and their lifestyle as accurately and thoroughly as possible.

Entry Filed under: Oahu

April 8th, 2009