Alan Wong’s Restaurant

If you are anywhere near Honolulu and consider yourself a foodie, DO NOT miss this place! The details the chef put into every meal was hands down the most incredible food experience we’ve had. Every staff member was beyond friendly (and you could tell it was genuine), and their recommendations were out of this world. The ginger crusted onaga and twice cooked short rib on the entrée menu is better than words, and the chopped ahi sashimi and avocado salsa stack for an appetizer will blow your mind. All the flavors! Thank you Alan Wong’s for an unforgettable evening!

I recommend tasting menu. You won’t be disappointed.
Pro — Every plate is carefully selected by the chef. Con — Advance reservation.
I’ve seen famous Hawaiian chefs eating here. You know that says it all.

Basis for my starred ratings (which skews heavily to the food or drink):
1 star: Never again.
2 stars: Poor food, poor experience, extraordinary measures in order for me to come back.
3 stars: Average, nothing really special, nothing particularly bad.
4 stars: Very good, would definitely return.
5 stars: A favorite, one of the best.
My comparison is to other high-​end fine dining, basically the other restaurants in other states that are considered one of the best. Some Michelin-​starred joints too even though Michelin doesn’t come to Hawai’i. As much as we hoped to love this place, I can’t quite get myself to give it even 4 stars.
I’ve been keeping in mind that Hawai’i as a whole is more casual. Also keeping in mind that we went at high season. Even with this in mind, there are some things I couldn’t ignore.
Th place was packed and it was loud. Very loud. One large party in particular had some really rowdy folks that caught the attention of the other restaurant patrons. That kind of detracted from the experience.
We also purchased the beverage pairing with our tasting menu. This was perhaps the weakest beverage pairing and service we received at a fine dining restaurant. The servers weren’t particularly knowledgeable about the wines being poured and on two occasions, they brought out the wrong wine with the wrong course. They were apologetic and very nice about it, but it really messed with the flow of dinner.
Our menu consisted of:
Amuse
Kualoa Ranch shrimp on polenta
Scottish smoked salmon
Hawai’ian kampachi crudo
Foie gras «sundae»
Keahole butter poached lobster
Local farm raised tilapia
Maui Cattle Co. beef tenderloin
«Magnificent mango»
Absolutely nothing was bad. On the other hand, nothing was fantastic either. There wasn’t a single dish where my wife and i were blown away. Very much appreciate the use of local products and each was executed just fine. No dish surprised us, or challenged us. So when ti comes down to a high-​end fine dining experience, this was A-​OK, but nothing spectacular.

TRY THE KA’U COFFEE!
My wife and I got appetizers and drinks and were totally satisfied. We got a sampler of different artisanal butters which blew our minds! But the thing that we loved most was the Coffee Menu. Being avid coffee tasters and seeing that there is a WHOLE MENU DEDICATED TO COFFEE we were thoroughly pleased.
Amazing ambiance, delicious food and drinks plus outstanding service.
What more can you ask for?

The bf took me here for our anniversary.
The staff were absolutely friendly; however, I thought the tasting menu was just OK.
Wasn’t the best in my opinon, especially for the price.
We will definitely not try the tasting menu, but will check out other dishes next time.

They were very accommodating. My friend is allergic to shellfish and they were willing to substitute the menu tasting items. He didn’t end up getting it, but others on our table did. They ended up substituting all the shellfish out of one guys meals and we had to kindly ask them to remake all four to five meals. They did it without hesitation but everyone had to wait still.
We had the seafood bowl which was really a disappointment. The lobster and mussels were overcooked. The soup was really flavorful though! The mashed potatoes and bread they serve was probably the best part of the meal. The chili pepper aioli is soooooo good. The Molokai mule is reallllly good as well.
The usually very attentive wait staff was hard to flag down. We went waterless and without drinks for a while. Even bread was hard to come by.

Well, we decided to try something interesting while visiting this island. The Unilocal reviews were mostly positive; so we wanted to give it a try. This place isn’t located Ina nice neighborhood. Pretty rundown. It was hard to find this hidden gem lol but anyhow, the decos of the restaurant reminds me of TVB (80s) lol very old fashion style (even the way staff dress). I think the food is slightly overrated. We liked the appetizers (lobster tofu) but were not impressed with the entrees (I guess we have been used to gourmet and this restaurant didn’t match our expectations).
Make sure you make a reservation!
Yah, waiters were very attentive.

The biggest let down of my Hawaii trip. I reserved Alan Wong for my fiancé’s birthday a couple of months ago and was honestly very excited for it. We arrived 15 minutes earlier for our 7:45 reservation but had to wait a little bit for the tables to turn over, which was fine. Our server, Troy, was great and attentive. Although the tempo of the service felt a little rushed and fast at times, since sometimes they would start to give us new utensils for the next dish when we were only halfway on the one we were eating.
We ordered the tasting menu, the bag, foie gras, and shell fish stew. For all of the seafood that we had, as a whole, I would say they were all overcooked. The only dish that turn out decent was the shrimp and lobster lagsana which only stood out due to its sauce. The foie gras was grainy which I was really disappointed.
In the end, our bill turn out to be exactly $ 200. I’ve dined at nice restaurants in the Bay Area of San Francisco that costed just as much, like at Gary Danko, Alexander’s, Sierra Marr just to name a few. but this was the only time I felt the money I spent did not match up to the food at all.
The only reason I’ve left it 2 stars is truly because the service from Troy was good. I mean, even through a late night, he could still great us with a warm smile.
I really hope Alan Wong can regain its quality. It seems from the recent Unilocal reviews that people are noticing the slip in the quality in its food.

Make a reservation and dine here if you are on a vacation in Oahu. Definitely worth it. Definitely an upscale kind of place. I was wearing a hat and was nicely asked to remove it which I didn’t mind at all and was already planning to. Everything was really tasty and I left satisfied and full. I can definitely see why they’ve won numerous awards. When I come back I think I’ll have to get the prix fixe menu. Not sure if I’d do the pairing w/​wine although for a special occasion, then I’d be open to it. First they start you off with some bread and unlimited servings as all great (not good) restaurants should. The focaccia was simply delicious enough for me to have seconds. Wow.
I decided to start with two appetizers. Da Bag and the chopped Ahi Sashimi and Avocado. First of all when they brought out the foiled bag (looked like a bag of popcorn inside) with the kalua pork inside it looked extremely massive then they popped the foil and the food was steaming inside. Great presentation. Then the ahi sashimi came out and it was the largest I’ve ever seen. OMG, and super yummy for my tummy. For the entrée, I went with the twice cooked short ribs. It was very sweet and saucy, more than I would have liked although it was cooked to perfection and tender on the inside. I didn’t even need a fork and knife to cut it as the meat just fell apart so easily with a fork. The portion was definitely enough as I had to pawn some of this off because it was filling me up too quickly.

Its really good, but really reallly really too expensive for me to justify going back. This is somewhere you go for an anniversary in hawaii to kind of check it off your list.
Service is outstanding, you can tell they have been trained very well in all aspects of the menu and wine.
Food flavor is awesome, food portions are just OK, i would have expected a bigger steak for what i was paying for.
Even if you dont drink, expect to spend $ 200 for two people at least.

I really wish I could give this place 5 stars. The food and service from the servers were superb! It was the hostess (Pretty sure her name was Gwyneth) that kind of ruined it for us.
After a long awaited time to try Alan Wong’s out, we finally made it to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Finding the place may or may not be tricky. If you’re not familiar with the area, you just might miss it. Valet service was very friendly and quick.
We took the elevator up to the 3^rd floor and immediately stepped out into the restaurant. I walk up to check in, and the hostess did not bother to look up. I was standing there for a good 2 – 3 minutes before I was acknowledged. It looked like she was putting inserts into their menus. I understand you have things to do, but standing there for several minutes without being acknowledged made me feel like an idiot, and not to mention, unwelcome. The 2 – 3 minutes I stood there looking stupid felt like 20 minutes.
She finally glanced up, continued inserting whatever into the menus, THEN greeted me. I understand you’re busy, but at least greet your customers. Anyway, she told us that our table wasn’t ready, and asked if we wanted to wait at the bar. I kindly replied «sure!», then she went back to doing whatever she was doing. Could you point out which way to go? Do we walk ourselves over? Can we sit anywhere at the bar? It was our first time there, it was a busy night, and we had no idea that the bar area was the bar area. It looked like the kitchen or something.
We ended up not sitting at the bar because we were unsure of ourselves. After about 10 minutes of arriving, we were seated near a window. From there, everything was great! It’s just that the hostess is the first person you see/​interact with when you enter the restaurant. You should be able to make a good first impression.
Anyway, to the food – we had oyster shooters, and the poke nachos (I forget what they’re called) with won ton chips and this dish was AMAZING! I had the twice-​cooked beef (kalbi?), and that was delicious too! I could only eat half though. The portion was pretty generous. We got complimentary guava desserts, and that was good too. Everything we had was delicious! Wait staff was very friendly and quick, and made sure you were comfortable and had everything you needed.
For a fine dining restaurant, Alan Wong’s portions are fairly large compared to other fine dining restaurants.
As far as pricing, we don’t know how much our bill was because my mom surprised us by giving the restaurant her credit card info so she could pay for our dinner. Thank you to the staff for accommodating her request!
Overall, 5 stars for wait staff, food quality, and parking (valet). I just had to knock a star off for Gwyneth’s service, which ultimately imprinted the first impression we got from this amazing restaurant.

Definitely try to make a reservation in advance to Alan Wong’s if you know you are going to be in Oahu. It was an amazing dining experience. We were staying in Ko’olina, so we weren’t sure how traffic and parking was going to be, and ended up arriving about 30 minutes early. They immediately offered us to join them in the bar to start with a cocktail as our table was getting ready.
The reason why I couldn’t give a 5 star was that they didn’t have everything on the menu. Our server took our order, and would come back later and would be like «oh we don’t have anymore of that now, can you select something else.» We have no problem with being sold out of something but it would have helped to know about those before looking over the menu.
Would give this place another visit IF I was to go back to Hawaii with a large group for some sort of special occasion.
Dessert: The «Coconut» is pretty but would not recommend to order. (Wasn’t that tasty in my opinion.)

I have to qualify this review by stating that I live in LA, which is in my opinion, the food capital of the world. When I chose this place for my 1 year wedding anniversary, I was pretty excited to try it out as it had received rave reviews.
Although the service was outstanding, the food was just meh. My wife and I had the tasting menu and the standout courses were the lobster/​shrimp lasagna and the coconut dessert. The other courses were average, nothing to write home about. The sauce for the ginger crusted onaga was good; however, this dish was way too gingery. The short rib, although attempting to be a Korean dish, didn’t get the approval of a Korean who grew up on this stuff. Although the meat itself was tender, the dish was way too sweet to enjoy. maybe made more so for the «gringo» palate.
The portions were good as we had a difficult time trying to finish the short rib course and the coconut dessert. I don’t want to generalize, but it seems like «fine dining» in Honolulu just doesn’t compare to LA.

⁵⁄₅ solids stars!!!
Boy, I was not disappointed. Not to gloat, I have been to many high end restaurants, and the food, service, and pricing is absolutely perfect. The portion sizes were great for each dish.
Although the restaurant is located in a seedy part of Honolulu, once you step in, you forget the sketchy neighborhood.
We went with the «Menu Tasting»:
1) Fish and Poi: 3.5/5-this dish was OK
2) Lobster and Shrimp Lasagna: 5/​5, boy, this was the best lasagna I ever had in my life. I typically don’t like al dente, but this was just pure deliciousness!!!
3) Ginger Crusted Onaga, Long Tail Red Snapper: ⁴⁄₅ This dish was pretty good, but not very memorable.
4) Twice Cooked Short Rib, Kalbi Style: ⁵⁄₅ This was my second favorite dish of the night — DELICIOUS
5) The Coconut: ⁵⁄₅ Third favorite dish of the night. By the time this dish came out, we were SOOOO stuffed already. This dessert was so refreshing and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Will I come back? YES, PLEASE!!! I hope the lasagna will still be on the menu. I would order a few plates ;)

Truly a 5 star dining experience. Wait staff is attentive and knowledgeable. The food was superb. I would highly recommend the Chef’s Tasting menu — I personally did the 5 course tasting menu ($ 85) and thought it was a perfect amount variety — I was stuffed trying to finish the dessert. But there is also an 8 course tasting menu, if you have a bigger appetite. The waiter recommended the 5 course if it is your first time, and then come back to try the 8 course when your palette is refreshed. With the 5 course tasting menu, you get their 2 best sellers, basically the reason I chose the tasting menu so I wouldn’t have to choose between the two — short rib kalbi style and the red snapper. Over time as the menu changes, these two dishes remain. The short rib was my favorite. The meat was so succulent. I usually don’t order fish when I dine out because I’m more of a meat person, but the red snapper was very flavorful and lighter of a dish. I really enjoyed the mushrooms and corn and vinaigrette that came with this dish. The combinations of the flavors and textures were great.
The décor of the restaurant is OK. I love the open kitchen. It’s not really trendy or even really upscale looking in my opinion. But the restaurant looks clean, and that’s all I care about when I dine at a restaurant with such good tasting food.
The restaurant is located on the third floor of an office building. Be on the look up for the sign, it can be easily missed.

Flawless dining experience from the time of making the reservations to desert.
Alan Wong is one of a group of Chefs including Sam Choy, Roy Yamaguchi (Roy’s Restaurants), Peter Merriman, credited for the creation of Hawaii Regional Cuisine where they use local fresh ingredients to highlight the ethnic diversity of Hawaii’s food culture.
Went there for my mom’s birthday. It was 6 pm on a Thursday. The restaurant was packed and abuzz with energy. We arrived on time and were immediately greeted by a hostess with a friendly smile. She seated us promptly. Great table for 5 in the corner next to the window with great views of the mountains. Within a minute, a team of servers brought us water and took cocktail orders.
The food was entirely excellent. We had three appetizers :
(1) Da Bag-​Steamed Clams with Kalua Pig, Shiitake Mushrooms in a Foil Bag. It came out in a round shallow glass dish covered in aluminum foil. The waiter opened the foil at our table causing plumes of steamy trapped flavors to rise into the air and monetarily clouding our vision. This was my fave appetizer of the night. How can you not love the intermingling of clams and pork fat.
(2) The Seafood Cakes– Lobster, Shrimp and Crab Cakes, Caper Mayonnaise, Tsukemono Relish. Excellent dish especially if you’re a shellfish fan. The slight richness of the caper mayo were perfectly balanced with the slightly acidic Tsukemono relish.
(3) Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras with Li Hing Mui Chutney and a side of toast points. Amazing dish ! A bit on the rich side by nature. The Li Hing Mui Chutney added a unique Asian sweet/​sour flavor to this classic French dish.
The main course was equaling impressive.
(1) Twice cooked shortrib with gingered shrimp and kochu yang sauce. Super tender. Be prepared, the dish is on the sweet side for a meat dish.
(2) Grass fed ribeye with a purée of spinach, choy sum and garlic. Amazing cut of steak. They must have marinaded it in garlic because every bite had a subtle but delicious garlic flavor.
(3) Shrimp & Clams Linguini with a chili coconut lemongrass basil sauce. A blend Italian and Thai flavors with a spicy kick. It was perfect because my mom wanted a noodle dish with Asian flavors.
(4) Keahole Lobster Lasagna in a crab cioppino sauce and Saxton braised vegetables. Excellent dish. The crab cioppino was amazing and the tomato flavors complemented the lasagna perfectly.
Our waiter was knowledgeable and friendly. The entire service team provided impeccable but unobtrusive service.

Best meal during our Hawaii vacation!
My beau had bounced around a few different restaurants before landing on Alan Wong’s — he wanted to treat me to something special during our vacation, and by golly this did not disappoint in the slightest (even though the service was a bit awkward)
Valet was easy as pie, and once on the third floor the elevators open to the restaurant host station. Our reservation was found quickly and our table was waiting for us. Our server approached us quickly and offered us/​explained to us the different dining options, as well as beverage list. I quickly spotted a Sancerre (sav blanc) and was delighted that they had it as an offering!
I opted for the menu tasting, and the beau being a meat and potatoes guy — got the ny strip.
After ordering, we were offered bread, a delicious foccacia and french roll. The aoili was interesting as the spread for the bread, I cannot say I liked nor disliked it.
My first and second course were served together — the tuna stack was delicious, I wish I ordered a full serving of it. My fav. part of the tasting was the lobster lasagna. Oh my goodness, the lobster was divine and I would fly 12 hours all over again just to have that! The fish course was interesting, I wasn’t a fan of the frons on top but easily pushed them off and the dish was enjoyable. The corn tasted so fresh and sweet, it was great. I was so full by the point the kalbi style short rib came out — I did my best to eat a few bites and it was def. delicious and tasted like kalbi. The obvious visual star was the coconut dessert — really great presentation and it went down smooth and beautiful. A perfect ending to the menu tasting. I highly recommend it, worth every penny.
My boyfriend loved his steak — it was cooked perfectly med-​rare — not much to report on that other wise, haha — he finished it!
The only very interesting part of our meal, was the servers. They were VERY awkward. Pleasant, but I could totally feel they just wanted to be laid back guys but had to put on an air of «stuffy» for the restaurant. Nothing seemed natural when they came to the table. My bf and I are pretty laid back, and we wanted nothing more for them to just relax and not feel like they had to be too «stuffy» around us. Nothing went wrong, they did everything right, which is why I won’t retract a star, but they were just very awkward.

Alan Wong’s is consistently 5 stars for me. From the great service, beautiful ambiance to the delicious food and drinks. We came here again to celebrate my birthday and I love the way they customize the menu where they have all the chef’s sign the menu and it’s a keepsake when you leave.
We ordered the following:
HR Cesar Salad ($ 14): This is my favorite!!! They put the salad (Kalua Pig, Romaine Lettuce, anchovies, croutons and shaved parmesan) in a parmesan bowl and add anchovies on top. This is such a great starter.
Roasted Ma’o Farms Beet, Ho Farms Tomato, Avocado Salad ($ 15): Also, my favorite. Fresh beets with greens and I especially love their Ling Hing Mui sauce, it’s a little sour and sweet and just goes well with the salad.
Foie Gras ($ 24): In California there is a ban on serving Foie Gras so whenever we see Foie Gras on a menu, we have to order it. This Foie Gras was seared and plated, I wish it had a side of micro greens or on a nice crispy baguette. Eating the Foie Gras just like that was very heavy but we were able to get more bread so that definitely helped cut through the richness.
Nihau Lamb ($ 40): It was saffron rice and lamb baked in a hot pot bowl. It was interesting but very filling and heavy. It had a great taste but we definitely won’t get this again.
Twice Coked Short Rib ($ 42): We got this for or kids and they were able to separate it into two plates so that was so nice of them. My kids loved the tender, juicy and flavorful short rib.
Banana Pie ($ 12): It was like banana cream pudding in a graham cracker bowl with whip crème on top. My husband loved it. It was very light and not too sweet.
The Coconut ($ 13.50): A trip to Alan Wong’s is not complete when you don’t end your wonderful night with The Coconut. The creamy coconut ice cream in a dark chocolate shell with fresh fruit on top. Once you get this, you will always want it.
Rusty’s French Press Coffee ($ 9): we met Lori from Rusty’s about 2 years ago. My husband loves her coffee and one time she invited us to her lovely home where we had her delicious coffee and sat and talked. She is definitely a true sweetheart and puts her heart and soul in her coffee. So whenever we go to a restaurant and we see Rusty’s on the list, we would order her coffee with no hesitation.
Mai Tai ($ 17): My husband got this and I just said «OUCH» on the price but he liked it.
AW House Merlot ($ 9.50); It was good.
Island Delight ($ 12): it looked like a strawberry smoothie and it was good. I said ouch to the price on this too.
I’m looking forward to going to going to Alan Wong’s again very soon.

This is a culinary experience I think everyone should try at least once in their lives!
The Unilocal reviewers who mentioned the location of this restaurant as kind of in a sketchy part of town were right. We circled for street parking but went with valet since we didn’t feel comfortable parking our car off the main road. Valet was only $ 5 and its right underneath the restaurant.
We took the elevator up to the 3^rd floor and the doors opened to the famous Alan Wong’s restaurant. It was dark and the décor was bland. It was very busy with a mix of different kinds of customers ranging in all ages and many people were celebrating something. We arrived about 20 minutes early for our reservation and they made us wait those 20 minutes. Let me just cut to the chase and say that the service was just Okay and did not live up to the caliber of the food we ate.
After we were seated, we waited another 15 minutes before our server Troy introduced himself and said «congratulations on celebrating something» then looked back to his notes to find that we were celebrating our engagement. This was one of three times we saw the guy the entire night.
We both ordered the tasting menu without hesitation. A guy (don’t know his name but he served us the entire night) came by to bring us bread options. We opted for the garlic focaccia served with a something aioli. DELICIOUS!
Our first and second course arrived quickly. I don’t remember what the first course was called but it was like a cold soup with a taro tortilla looking thing with kalua pork on top. That was probably my least favorite course of the night but it wasn’t bad, just in comparison to everything else it was just okay. The second course was delicious! I had the chopped ahi sashimi and salsa stack and my fiancé had a seafood cake since he’s allergic to avocados and isn’t keen on raw fish. There was a nice kick and the textures of soft and chewy and crunchy at the bottom were a roller coaster for my tastebuds.
The third course was a lobster and shrimp lasagna. The lobster and cream sauce was delicious! The only thing was the lasagna was over cooked and tough to cut through.
The fourth course was the Ginger Crusted Onaga. OH. MY. GOODNESS. This was a highlight of the meal since there were 3 things on that plate I usually don’t ever eat: Ginger, Mushrooms and Miso. But to get me to clean that plate and not even realize what I’m eating was a testament to how fantastic that dish was. The fish was cooked beautifully and the sauces were just amazing.
By the fifth course, we were already slowing down but forcefully trucked through our culinary adventure. It was the twice cooked short rib, soy braised and grilled Kalbi style with a ginger shrimp and eggplant. You didn’t even need a knife to cut through the short rib as it just melts in your mouth. By this point we were beyond full.
It took a good 30 minutes for our dessert to arrive. This was the second time we saw our server was him apologizing for the wait on our dessert and gave us a flan to apologize for the wait since we were celebrating something. The last course was the coconut. So good. So delicious. We were past the point of full to even finish it all.
The last and final time we saw our server was when he brought us our check. He checked up on everyone around us plenty of times but skipped over us. Weird.
Overall: The portions for the tasting menu were generous to say the least. Seating is tight and we were so close to the couples sitting on each side of us that we could join in on their conversation. Again service was just okay. They did their job and that was it. This place gets 5 stars for food and –1 star for service. We would definitely come back for the food but would hope for a better experience with service.

This place was amazing. The service was top notch and the food was decently priced for a high end restaurant and portions were good sized.
My boyfriend brought me here for our anniversary and they personalized our menu! Super cute has it rolled up with a tie for when we left.
We had the poke pines, da bag, Caesar salad, ginger opakapaka and the short ribs. Everything was amazing! The short ribs was a little to sweet for my taste but still very good. The poke pines and da bag was my favorite tho.
Definitely recommend people to check them out!

Sans doute un des meilleurs restaurants de Honolulu, Alan Wong’s Restaurant est étonnamment situé dans un immeuble industriel d’un quartier à l’écart de Waikiki Beach. Pas de parking mais un service voiturier. On accède au restaurant via un ascenseur (ça né paie pas de mine), et les portes s’ouvrent sur la réception et le bar. Ambiance feutrée, lumières tamisées, personnel très amical.
Nous y sommes allés un soir en semaine et c’était quasiment plein. Ça fait quelques jours que nous étions à Oahu et on a pris le pli de la tenue décontractée de l’île. Du coup, nous nous sommes présentés sans réservation, en t-​shirt, short et basket. Contrairement à beaucoup d’endroits parisiens qui se veulent un peu sélect, le personnel s’est montré très avenant, pro et nous a dégoté une table très bien placée.
En attendant la table, nous avons siroté un mai tai qui s’est révélé être le meilleur mai tai que nous ayons goûté en 2 semaines à Hawaii.
Côté table: nous avions pris en entrées le mini loco moco (une spécialité locale un peu revue par le chef) et les nachos au canard rôti (mix subtil mexicain-​asiatique), en plat le mai mahi et le short rib braisé à la sauce de soja, en dessert le coco (qui est en fait une noix de coco en chocolat glacé avec de la glacé coco dedans). Tout était franchement délicieux, raffiné et extrêmement bien présenté. Le service: impeccable.
Ils né font pas d’expresso, mais du café ‘French press’, la cafetière à piston. C’est servi avec des noix de macadamia enrobé de chocolat.
On s’en est tiré avec une note d”environ 150 $ et ça les valait pour le goût et l’expérience client. À recommander donc à tous ceux qui veulent se faire un très bon resto à Honolulu.