Heijouen

Went for the first time last night with a friend and my sweetie. It was decent food and I liked that they’ve got the grill exhaust under control, no smelly clothes. But I have to agree with another, everything is ala carte and adds up quickly. Ordered an $ 8 salad that was basically lettuce with a smidgen of dressing. Didn’t look anything like the menu picture and when my GF asked why, they brought us a small dish of sliced carrots to add. Crazy but oh well, had to give it a try cause I love Asian food but don’t think it was worth $ 100 for the amount we got. Staff was very attentive.

We went here last night and was a bit disappointed. The food was ok but think it was overpriced!!! Portions were small and EVERYTHING is ala carte. They don’t give you any side dishes… kim chee… seaweed…etc. If you want it you need to buy it. I wouldn’t pay the $ 8 for the kim chee sampler.
The service though was good. Don’t think we would go back though due to the prices…

Let me say it by lists of words:
Great service
Great meat selections
Meats are fresh and tender
Friendly staff
Totally enjoyed our dinner. Best Korean place I’ve been to here in Honolulu. Will definitely go back again. The raw beef salas was quite different and pretty good.

Went here during the last days of my 1-​month work period in Oahu, living in Kaimuki where this joint is located. We walked by this place so many times going towards Waikiki beach that we just decided to go in one night.
It was expensive, but it was good. It wasn’t mind-​blowing, just good. I don’t know if it was worth our money, but we ate and got full off some quality food so there’s no complaining about that. But with all that said, I would only recommend coming here for some sort of special occasion because it does seem like a fancy place where you’re paying for a classy environment. In other words, if you just want some great BBQ for cheap, this is not the place to be.
You will smell like food after eating here because that’s the nature of places where you BBQ your own food. You’ve been warned!

I love heijouen, I crave it quite often. they own a chain in Japan, you know it has to be good. best yakiniku i’ve ever been too, bar none. the meat is so tender and delicious! and I love all the sides, garlic butter, tofu, onions, sprouts, its all so yummy! decently priced considering the quality of food your getting. seriously, a must try! you won’t be disappointed!

This Yakiniku place is easy to find– located on Kapahulu Ave across from the basketball courts. However, parking is limited as they only have a handful of stalls in the back. Luckily, street parking wasn’t hard to find.
I came here on a Sunday night with some friends and there were some tables eating, but they weren’t that busy. We were seated right away and given menus while we waited for our friends. Service was good – attentive and friendly staff.
I was pretty satisfied with the food. They had great quality meats, though I don’t exactly remember all the types I had that night. I do remember enjoying their beef tongue and kabli a lot.
Get their garlic side dish if you are a garlic lover! They put the garlic in a metal cup with sesame oil, salt, and ajinomoto (aka MSG – are we surprised here?). Leave it on the grill for about 10 – 15 minutes and you get soft, delicious garlic.
Also tried their bibimbap which was delicious. Hot, tasty, and crispy rice. (Would be even better if I we got it spicier, but some people didn’t eat spicy… GRRR…). It came with seaweed soup, but that I didn’t care too much for. It was light and didn’t have much taste.
My friends didn’t let me pay for my share, so I am not sure how it compared in price vs. portion.
Overall, a restaurant I’d recommend to give it a try for great Yakiniku meats and a more relaxed atmosphere than places like 678.

If you’re craving authentic JAPANESE yakiniku then Heijouen is the place to come. I often travel between Japan and Hawaii so when I’m craving some quality yakiniku Heijouen never let’s me down. Definitely a must try!

Terrible! This place advertises itself as Yakiniku but has no idea what Yakiniku entails. Probably the only Yakiniku location I’ve been to without a vegetable set, everything’s ala carte, pricey, and the service sucked the moment I walked in the door. I literally walked out without even eating. This place will be out of business within a year if it keeps up the crap service and menu.

I’m Japanese and I’ve been to every Japanese restaurant in town, but this one had the worst service of them all. There weren’t many customers in the place and they were staffed adequately, but they just stood around talking to each other. And what seemed like the kids of he owner were just running around the restaurant like its a playground.
Got some Michi for desert and half way through cooking it, the girl is like «oh, you should break that up before cooking it.» Seriously?

I think I’ll come here every Friday for the rest of my life. Friday is ladies night. Translation: happy hour drink prices all night just for the ladies!!!
Other hot items on the menu for us a.k.a. our Heijouen staples:
— stone pot bi him bop
— kim chee chige
— kal-​bi — lots of it
There always seems to be a table open for us, no wait. Good for families.

Best meats in hawaii hands down! This place is so Ooooo gooooooodddd! Great atmosphere and awesome cool set up.
I am a regular customer and always will be one. The meats are fantastic and seasoned perfectly. The best cuts of meats that you can find! The imported special beef from Japan (wagu grade A) is just a few reasons why I come here.
Another reason why I like coming here is because of the beer selection. Fantastic! I personally enjoy the aloha lager because it goes great with all pieces of meats.
The parking is nice. It may be a little tricky but it is free parking! Say what!

Yakiniku? I first cut my teeth on the wares of Gyukaku, but have since moved on to this little gem. It doesn’t quite offer the same vast menu options, but the meat quality is far superior. Each cut of meat is tender, juicy and nice. I got bored of the slightly brown, mushy, unloved meats of the former, and ever since I’ve come here, I’ve just loved it. It’s not flashy, it’s not over the top, it’s just good meat and veggies, with a couple a different side dishes. IT’s very simple, the staff is friendly (although I have come here quite a few times, so they know who I am), and the food is good. It is a bit pricey though, a step up from other yakiniku, but like the old adage says «you get what you pay for».
Not much parking! Bear that in mind.

The heady aroma of rich grilled beef, undertones of sesame and soy, hints of delicate smoke from superheated charcoal; and that’s just smelling yourself not the food. Japanese yakiniku married to Korean BBQ makes one happy couple.
Japan’s first fusion Yakiniku /​Korean BBQ restaurant’s only foreign outpost. Not AYCE but affordable. The flavors are neither pure Japanese or Korean but overall, delicious! Who doesn’t want to eat grilled, thick cut, marbled pieces of USDA prime short rib, strip loin, skirt steak, and beef tongue with tasty, vibrant Koran inspired kimchi and namul?
Soapbox rant: All Asians do not look alike and Yakiniku is not Korean BBQ.
— Yakiniku: Focus on the pure flavor of the ingredients. Un-​marinated /​not seasoned, cuts of high quality beef and veg grilled on narrow grates over charcoal served with dipping sauces and salt. The guest does the cooking the way they want.
— Korean BBQ: Focus on the combined flavor of the dish. Marinated /​seasoned cuts of beef and served with prepared veg. Wide grate grill, less smoky flavor. Servers do the cooking to house standards.
Two grades of beef, USDA Prime («fine») and USDA Choice made special by thick cuts. Most are gently marinated in either soy or sesame. The Hirami (skirt steak) in either Prime or Choice cut packs the best flavor followed by the Prime Kalbi. The standout is the thick cut tongue. Once grilled, it’s juicy, tender, and flat out beefy. The simple addition of zesty ponzu makes the flavor explode. (Pork, chicken, and some seafood complete the offerings; all untasted).
Everything, including all proteins are in single serving sizes sold ala carte. The selection of mushrooms are great when grilled and so are the mixed veg (kabocha, onions, corn, zucchini and peppers). A sprinkle of salt. All good.
Standard beer, sake, and mixed shochu drinks. Fair prices, better during the daily happy hour.
Different. Solid. Fun.

Four stars for quality and value. Negated one for ambiance (seating four 5 is limited, for 4 gets pretty tight on a four-​top table) and variety.
They have an interesting menu. I can appreciate that they are doing a yakiniku with a different menu and slightly different approach, more along the lines of Gyu-​kaku (smaller app plates) vs. Yakiniku Seoul (family style). lol I suppose it’s not so different after all in that sense, but their menu is unique! The quality offering is as well, and they allow you a range of quality to ease up on your wallet. Can’t complain about that! Their smaller plates allowed for more variety and even though some of the dishes looked meager, they were filling. I might skip on their salad, though…
Everything is a la carte. I believe they have specials and happy hour liquor. I would definitely come here again, if ever I was in the Kapahulu area around mealtime…? Why not? It’s chill.
Did I mention that you can taste the quality in some of their premium items? Well, won’t know til you try.

The quality of meat here is just the same to Hiroshi’s! Very good excellent quality without the price tag like Hiroshi’s! They order from the same meat wholesalers so I know the quality is at its BEST!
The owner is a very cool helpful guy! He suggested to us a ton of dishes to try! Super good selections! The toro kalbi is my ultimate FAVE! We always visit about twice a month just to eat really good quality food!
I will dine here in the near future!

Came here for dinner with Lori M., Nat N. and John N. recently and pretty much enjoyed our dining experience. It’s a fairly new addition to the Yakiniku style dining scene here in our Honolulu. It’s a nice place inside and quite intimate. You may be a bit challenged when it comes to parking when it gets busy though. Parking is fairly limited in back with some reserved stalls.
I started out with a cold beer, as all of you who know me know that! We then started dinner with appetizers, which were the kimchi assortment and roasted vegetables. The kimchi assortment was average, I use kimchi as a gauge when dining at a Korean or Yakiniku restaurant. I believe that if the kimchi, namul or banchans are good, then so will be the food. This theory works most of the time. One word of advice though, if you order the roasted vegetables like we did, be sure not to attempt to eat the core of the sliced corn! Oops, I thought the whole sliced piece was edible! :) Ordered the Cube Cut Tenderloin, ooh, this cut of beef is really tender, but at $ 19 bucks a pop, it’s quite pricey for the quantity you get. The Beef Ribs are alright, marinated chicken is standard fare and the pork was ok. One thing though, you will pay for the sauces. For me, it was the grated daikon with ponzu. I mean, you could have the meal without the sauce, but I believe that the sauce IS the success to this type of meal. I also thought that the grill was a generous size, allowing you to expeditiously cook your meal in a timely manner if you’re extra hungry! Haha! ! The service was friendly and quite attentive. The waitstaff do a nice job answering any questions you may have regarding your selections. Don’t be afraid to ask them!
All in all, the food was tasty, but if you’re the type who is prone to flinching when it comes to seeing the prices, you may have second thoughts. So if the price and portion sizes aren’t a consideration for you, then I think you’ll enjoy your experience here.

Way back when I lived in Boston, every single Japanese sushi restaurant was actually owned by Korean people. Tonight we had the opposite! A Korean restaurant owned by Japanese people. I think that there was a little something lost in the translation.
At Heijouen every thing there is ala carte. They do serve salad and namul like other Korean restaurants, but you pay for it all. They have a page full of different meat items like most yakiniku places. However, here the portions are much smaller.
We ordered the Fine Kalbi meat (about 8 thin, 3inch long slices) and Cube tenderloin with garlic butter for $ 15.80 (7 chunks of meat). Granted, those cube pieces were so tender that I could break it in half with my chopsticks. The garlic butter comes in a metal cup that you let sit on the grill. My complaint about this is that the garlic is not freshly minced. You can tell it was chopped garlic from a jar.
We also ordered the Kimchee Jige. For me it was fine… mild and not too spicy. I know that hubby loves his jige to be fiery HOT. It was full of thin pork, kim chee and soft tofu.
One really big plus is that they passed the good rice test. You can tell they did not use cheap rice and it showed in each grain’s shiny and perfect roundness. Not a mushy grain to be found!
So for Kalbi, Cubed Tenderloin with Garlic Butter, Kim Chee Jige, vegetables, a salad and tofu with Korean sauce and one glass of red wine ran a total of $ 72 without tip. This was kinda high for the small portions.
Overall, the food tasted good, the meat and rice were high quality and the service was good. It was a good first visit. I do think management needs to re-​think their portion sizes though.

There are a lot of Yakiniku’s on this island. Not sure why anyone would want to enter such a competitive, saturated market, especially when you’ve got places like Sikdorak which is hard to beat at $ 19 for all you can eat.
This commercial spot also seems to be like a bad luck corner, because the two previous businesses that occupied this spot did not have much luck. Will Heijouen encounter the same fate as their predecessors? My prediction is: yes. Not because of the quality, not because of the service. But, because of the pricing. Everything is ala carte, and it adds up quickly. There are no happy hour specials.
We ordered the beef fine ribs, cube cut beef tenderloin, beef outer skirt, stone pot bi bim bap, and assorted namul. Our favorite of the meats was the outer skirt. It was tender and juicy. The beef fine ribs was excellent too but a little pricey for the amount you get. The cube cut beef was tender but lacked flavor. The stone pot bi bim bap was delicious and on par with bi bim baps at other Yakiniku restaurants.
Bottom line: service is excellent, food quality is excellent, but it’s too expensive when compared to their competitors.
p. s. there are a few free customer parking stalls behind the restaurant (off of Kaimuki Ave). Come early to snag them otherwise good luck finding a stall on the street.

If you love meat like I do, Heijouen is right up your alley.
Price-​wise, Heijouen is somewhere in between Gyukaku and Hiroshi.
However, in terms of quality of meats, Heijouen has them both beat — hands down.
On our first visit, my dining partner and I ordered:
— Beef Fine Kalbi ($ 9.80)
— Thick Cut Beef Excellent Tongue ($ 10.80) x2
— Beef Rib Fingermeat ($ 7.80)
— Cube Cut Beef Tender Loin with Garlic Butter ($ 15.80)
— Pork Ribs ($ 6.80)
— Thick Cut Beef Ribs ($ 19.80)
— Thick Cut Beef Tender Loin ($ 19.80)
— Beef fine Outside Skirt ($ 9.80)
— Shredded Meat Soup in Noodles (Yukkejan w/​Ramen) ($ 8.80)
— Napa Cabbage Kimchi ($ 3.80)
MEATY HIGHLIGHTS
Beef Fine Kalbi — If you’re a kalbi eater, I suggest this one. (If you’re into the saucy Korean BBQ kinds of kalbi… this isn’t it.) The sauce is light, so the flavors of the meat aren’t lost.
The Thick Cut Beef Excellent Tongue was perfect. If you love tongue, go with this one. I loved it. As you can see, we had 2 orders. I really wanted to try all the meats before doubling up on one type, but I just had to have more tongue. ;-P
I had to order the Beef Rib Fingermeat because of the name. Fingermeat is actually NOT finger meat. It’s the remaining intercostal meat once the ribs are removed. I loved the texture and firmness of the meat; it had a firmer chew to it without being (nasty) chewy. I really liked it!
The Cube Cut Beef was excellent. Masa, the manager /​owner, advised us to enjoy it more on the rarer side… which is what we did.
It was absolutely amazing. I really enjoyed the natural flavors of the meat and the fact that it was sooooooooooo tender. This was definitely one of my favorites of the night.
Thick Cut Beef Ribs and Thick Cut Tender Loin — Do it. There were both extremely tender and juicy. The meats were great by themselves, without any sauce. This is a real treat for those of you who appreciate true meaty flavors.
TOPPINGS
Additional toppings /​sauces are $ 2.80, but we were given 2 complimentary dipping sauces — a soy based one and lemon juice.
$ 2.80 Toppings:
— Garlic Butter
— Cheese Fondu
— Grated radish and ponzu sauce
VERDICT
I’ve found my new yakiniku «niche» in Honolulu.
Heijouen is remarkably Japanese with more than just hints of Korean mixed in. (Kind of like me! Hah.) I am such a fan of this place! The meats are excellent and the Korean-​influenced dishes are a nice addition! :)
I’ll be back real soon.
*BTW, they open at 5PM every day.

Rating: ⁴⁄₅
Date (s) Visited: 12÷25÷12
Food: ⁴⁄₅
Service: ⁴⁄₅
Atmosphere: ⁴⁄₅
Price: ⁴⁄₅
Heijouen, if I am not mistaken, is Japan’s equivalent of Gyu-​kaku and the Kapahulu location seems to be their first property located in Hawaii. In a market already saturated with yakiniku places, can Heijouen successfully differentiate itself? The answer seems hopeful.
Food
Like Gyu-​kaku, Heijouen’s menu primarily features Japanese yakiniku items with a few Korean dishes sprinkled here and there. Unlike Gyu-​kaku, however, Heijouen’s focus seems to be primarily on offering quality beef products. There are no «cheap» beef items here, but do not let that discourage you. They charge a premium because you are getting premium quality.
My friend and I ordered their gyu tongue, regular harami, and fine strip loin. I was a bit wary of trying the tongue, but the strawberry red pieces of meat sprinkled with sesame seeds and a light dash of pepper was too tempting. As to be expected of a tongue, it was a bit tough, but otherwise was hearty.
The harami was served in long, thin slices about the width of a man’s thumb. They cooked quickly and were quite tender. As the «cheapest» meat on their menu, I was satisfied, but it paled in comparison to the fine strip loin. They charged a pretty penny for it, but it was completely worth it. The chef’s recommendation was to eat it rare, which I did. The beef was buttery — silky, even. At Gyu-​kaku, you might be tempted to scarf something like this down, but at Heijouen it is a dish meant to be savored.
I got their chicken as well. When grilled and blackened appropriately, it tastes rather like yakitori. We received a good portion, but my only complaint was that the pieces of chicken were rather spherical. Since nobody orders chicken rare like a steak, we were not sure when they were done and left them on the grill for a while.
I also ordered hiyayakko, which was a bit disappointing. The amount of tofu was extremely generous, but it lacked the same sort of classy aura the other dishes had. There were no green onions or katsuobushi — just a small ball of grated ginger and a splash of sauce. It still tasted good, but it definitely felt like a neglected item.
Service
Overall, the service here is reasonably good. We were seated promptly, given menus, and allowed to take our time deciding. The waiter rather hovered around us since we were taking forever, but was otherwise polite. Our food was brought out quickly and we ate in peace. Unfortunately, our table was rather small, so my glass of ice water soon melted into lukewarm water and it was not refilled. Our check also took quite some time with apologies, but no explanation. But other than those two gripes, the service here is unlikely to offend or disappoint in any significant way.
Atmosphere
Since Heijouen is a chain restaurant in Japan, it is a «safe» place to eat for Japanese tourists — kind of like going to McDonalds overseas… kind of. The entire restaurant was filled with Japanese tourists and we were greeted by the chef, in Japanese, who asked if we were from Japan. That was a bit unexpected, so we awkwardly explained in English even though we were capable of speaking Japanese. If you know Japanese, you might want to brush up. The chef seems like the sort of person with many good stories to tell.
What really sets Heijouen apart from other yakiniku places is that the air actually moves in the restaurant. You can come here and feel reasonably certain that you are not going to come out smelling like smoke. That might change if it gets extremely busy, but you will definitely feel the overhead fans circulating the air like you are at the Pali lookout.
The décor is not anything special, but it is nice, clean, and intimate. I can imagine taking someone here on a date and not screaming. over the people sitting next to us. The same cannot be said of Gyu-​kaku. If you want a good laugh and can read some Japanese, look at some of the translations. A few of them seem to have been plugged into Google translate and pasted into their U.S. menu.
Price
I waffled on what rating I wanted to give Heijouen for their prices. It is more expensive than Gyu-​kaku and most other yakiniku restaurants, but the quality makes up for it. The attention paid to their beef, however, does not always translate to other menu items, so that seems to be a strike against them. Ultimately, however, I am going to err on the side of optimism and give them the better rating.
Heijouen is not trying to appeal to the raucous, after work happy hour types who want cheap food and alcohol. Their menu seems targeted at people who know what premium beef, good service, and a calm environment are worth. Expect to pay approximately $ 20 per person and do not expect to leave feeling as though you had gone to a buffet, but that leaves the night open to dessert or coffee.