Morimoto Waikiki

There’s something genuinely exciting about Morimoto Waikiki. Intimate and inviting, we’re greeted warmly by the host before being whisked away into the chic modern interior. It’s all glitz and glamour, much befitting of its celebrity chef owner.
We decide on the Chef’s Omakase menu, and are wowed with the delicious creativity of what follows. The Toro and Hamachi Tartare is a playful take on the usual sashimi appetiser, allowing guests to match the various accompaniments to their own tastes and liking. A Whitefish Carpaccio is served with hot oil, ginger and soy — a nod to classic Chinese flavours and is wonderfully balanced. The Foie Gras Chawan Mushi is perhaps a little too rich but is perfectly proportioned and tasty all the same. A selection of «melt in your mouth» nigiri sushi follows, which leaves us begging for more. This royal meal is then rounded off with a trio «sampler» of expertly cooked proteins — a slow cooked pork belly, some spicy shrimp and a tender wagyu fillet.
It’s all show shopping stuff, but like all the finer things in life — something this special comes at a price.

I’ve always been a fan of Morimoto. My first experience at his restaurant was in Tokyo at XEX Tappanyaki style dining. Needless to say I was mouth watering in love! Morimoto in Waikiki is delicious (not as amazing as XEX) but this is delicious enough I almost could break the bank and eat here once a month. The first time I was here my husband and I each ordered our own dinner. We shared our appetizer and dessert. We were both enjoyed our dinner and it was everything we expected. Then we came back the second time when my sister visited from Boston. The three of us did the tasting menu… I’m still dreaming of it! It’s a bit pricey… I think it’s about $ 150pp not including drinks. The price was overlooked with our happy stomachs and smiling faces.

Finally got to try Morimoto’s for a special occasion with my girl. Won’t be going back.
Started off bad when the hostess wasn’t very friendly. I think her name was Roan. We were given the choice of inside or outside so we chose outside because the weather was nice. The outside tables were like 90% empty but for some reason she wanted to seat us at a table that was directly behind a lounge sofa where a couple was already seated and talking. If we had sat there, I’d be seriously bumping my arm against the back of the dude’s head every time I took a sip of my drink. When I asked if we could sit at a table closer to the ocean, she didn’t even acknowledge or respond to my request and simply started walking toward the table. So… I guess that’s a yes?
Our waiter was Nick and he was great. So no problem on the service there.
As for the food, very pricey and overall mediocre. Browsing the menu, none of the entrees really sounded appealing to us so we decided to order a bunch of appetizers and some sushi.
Yose dofu ($ 19) came out first. They say it’s prepared table side but it basically means they bring the pot of warm liquidy tofu to your table and just leave it there to set for about 5 – 6 minutes. Then they cut it and serve it to you. For some reason it comes with a Korean style kim chee soup which is not authentic at all and tasted terrible compared to the real thing. But overall, the tofu was pretty good minus the kim chee soup.
Next was the foie gras oysters ($ 22) for 3. I thought the oysters would be raw but they were cooked. The foie gras and uni pieces on top of the oysters were so tiny at first I didn’t think that the little clumps I saw resting on top were the foie gras and uni. The whole thing was overpowered by the strong teri sauce anyway.
Crispy rock shrimp tempura ($ 18) was not crispy at all. They were so drenched in sauce that the fried tempura batter was super soggy and there was no crunch to the shrimp. And way too much mayo all around. We barely touched this dish and waiter asked if he could box it up for us and we declined and he seemed to understand why.
We also ordered the pork belly kakuni but never got it. After trying the other dishes, not sorry it was never brought out.
As for the sushi, the pieces were very pricey as you could get two pieces for the same price or little more for the price of Morimoto’s one piece. The fish quality was good, however. I had the aji and salmon and they were great. The unagi, not so much. My gf had the mirugai and it didn’t look fresh at all and she said it was terrible. I should’ve been suspicious when I saw that the mirugai was the same price as maguro and hamachi. Not the norm.
The best part of the meal was the dessert. This was the only dish I really enjoyed. We split the chocolate peanut bomb and it was one of the best desserts I’ve had anywhere.
When we got the bill, I was very surprised to see a 18% tip already added to the total. Huh? I didn’t particularly care for this automatic add on for our party of 2. What the hell? Too bad for them. I was actually gonna tip 20% but declined to add additional tip to the bill because I didn’t feel it was right for the restaurant to decide their own gratuity.
Anyway, had to try once. And once is enough for me. Many better options in town for that kind of moola.

We’ve been coming to Morimoto’s more often than before and love it, due to a few things.
1. Quality of Sushi and Sushi Chef Suda San is by far the best on Oahu.
2. Customer service from the host, Bar tender Davin, Mimi the best waiter and Sushi Chef Suda is consistent, Unlike other Japanese restaurants they pay no attention to you even though you drop $ 500 ++.
3. The Sake selection is priced right.
Don’t judge Morimoto Waikiki until you order from both sides of this restaurant. If you only ate from the dining side of the menu you’re missing the other side of the traditional Japanese sushi of Morimotos. We have been to numerous sushi bars on Oahu and we have to say, if you love sushi request to eat at the sushi bar in front of Suda-​San.

Slow but friendly service plus poorly made, bland sushi made for a mediocre experience. It made for a sadly memorable meal the night of my fiancé popping the question.
Sushi was served without soy sauce, several minutes later the bottle came, splattered with soy all over. Sushi rice was warm and not sticky enough to hold together. Vegetarian combo was flavorless and ignored using Morimoto’s decent-​sized vegetarian sushi list. Instead, using broccoli in raw and cooked forms, and Japanese pickles which were far too salty (not nearly as good as more traditional Japanese pickles), and came in cheap, beat up, plastic bowls. Sent most of it back and ordered tamago sashimi –without rice, but they gave me it as sushi which wasn’t as good. Ume shiso roll was good, but rice was warm and falling apart.
Server failed to check in on us, but asked if we wanted dessert. We wanted to order dessert, but everything else was unimpressive and we feared any other course would be, too. She took the failed vegetarian sushi off our bill which was kind, but… There were so many things about this place that made me question why anyone goes there. While the staff are certainly hustling to get plates out, and are friendly, the food was poorly executed or beautiful but «meh» in flavor. Skip this place if you’re expecting a four or five star experience.

This review would have been a long rant of how terrible and slow the service was. However I must say they were quite impressive with rectifying a terrible situation. We had 7:30 reservations for my birthday dinner. We arrived at about 7:05 and were greeted and told by the hostess about 5 – 10 minutes… lie…we got sat at 7:32 which I won’t complain about because our reservation was after all at 7:30. The restaurant was packed. we sat at a table for 2 outside and it was ok except there was a big puddle that my feet landed in when I sat down. No server to be found until maybe around 7:45 when someone finally greeted us and asked for our drink order. Drinks came maybe about 10 minutes later and then we put our order in. Now here’s the review for the food
Toro tartare: this is one of my absolute faves… the presentation is amazing. The dish comes in a bowl of ice, the tartare is on a flat dish that you scoop out with a cute little scraping tool and then you add whatever sides you want. It comes with avocado, sour cream, wasabi, Maui onions, and some crispy little balls of deliciousness. I would go back just for this.
Scallop: comes with 4 pieces it’s a pretty good portion size for $ 18 and it’s definitely unique. We just thought it was alright.
Assorted sushi: you have an option of how much you want. we got the $ 45 one and it was a good array of sushi. About 15 pieces. My Japanese snapper HAD A BONE in it and I kind of freaked out but the server quickly remedied that by getting us 2 extra pieces to enjoy and it was delicious! The quality of fish is definitely there.
After our sushi we were left waiting about 30 minutes before the server came and apologized for how long we were waiting for our entrée and provided us with 2 glasses of bubbly and a beef carpaccio to snack on until the main dishes came.
The main dishes came around 9:30(we ordered at 7:55) we were contemplating just leaving because let’s face it. that is way too long to be waiting for your main dish. I’m so glad we waited.
Hubby got the Australian wagyu and HOLY SMOKES it was so tender, cooked to perfection and had so much flavor. Worth every penny of the $ 60 it cost. I got the pork chop and another HOLY SMOKES. I was so full from all the other food but it was soooooo good I couldn’t stop eating.
We also got a comped dessert for the wait time and that was really tasty also.
Overall the first hour of our morimoto experience was likely the worst I’ve ever had! Our server seemed less than friendly for the first hour but he quickly shifted his tone and our experience. To be fair they were really busy and that’s a management problem not having enough staff to manage the load of guests, so our server was probably just overwhelmed and sadly it showed the first hour or so but He made a less than wonderful start to our evening turn around to an amazing end. He started off not giving a real personable feeling and just an informative speal of the dishes, but later turned out to be very genuine and apologetic for the service level.
3 stars because although they turned around what was a horror show in the beginning, I don’t think a restaurant to that caliber should have even gotten to that level. There shouldn’t be a reason to have to fix a mistake but I definitely commend our server for righting their wrong.

This is my second trip to one of Morimoto’s restaurants. My first was to Morimoto XEX in Tokyo. Of the two places its a toss up of which I liked better but both have been equally impressive in the quality of service and food.
We walked in and gave them the name on our reservation and were seated immediately. The waiter was courteous and prompt. The menu gives you a great variety of prices and dining options. There is a tasting menu, ala carte or combos for sashimi and maki. If none of that interest you there is a cold appetizer or hot appetizer menu. Then all sorts of Asian fusion cooked entrees.
They also have a very interesting cocktail list. This area impressed me most about the service. My wife and I ordered cocktails, I had a glass of shochu trying something that I was not familiar with. Turns out I really don’t like Shochu. After a few sips it was clear I would not be finishing it. Before we had ordered anything else and without me saying anything about not liking what I had ordered our waiter noticed my dislike for my beverage. He asked if I’d like to order something else and took my failed attempt into shochu mastery off our bill. The Morimoto Soba beer turned out to be an excellent replacement. That is good service in my book.
I went for the Bori Bop, a take on a Korean dish, that had some of the best yellow tail I’ve enjoyed in a long time. My wife had the Duck, Duck, Duck, and each version of the duck was pretty awesome. Desert, their take on a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse, was delightful way to end the night. The restaurant also brought us out a small sherbet as an end of meal pallet cleanser.
Definitely high end and expensive but worth it for a special occasion. If you are looking for a cheaper option there are a few options on the menu and you can stick to some really excellent maki that will keep you under $ 50 for two people if you are careful what you order. But if you are going all out you can easily push closer to $ 200 or more.

Oh wow, we had an absolutely amazing meal here! First and foremost… please do not be intimidated by the location of the restaurant if you are not in the «1%». It is in a hotel that is way way out of my price range I’m sure, and the restaurant looks like a place that perhaps only the «beautiful people» would be welcome… but…we arrived in shorts and t-shirts…nice shorts and t-​shirts mind you, but hardly formal wear… everyone was very friendly, and we were treated extremely well… we did not encounter even a bit of snobbery! We were also by far not the only ones not «dressed for dinner».
Now that that piece is out of the way, onto he food! Since this was our first trip here, our server suggested we order a variety of items to share. This was a fabulous recommendation! We had the whitefish carpaccio which was one of the most amazing appetizers I’ve ever had! If it is possible for fish to melt in your mouth, that was the case here! We also had the pork gyoza which was served with bacon foam and fresh tomato sauce; these were so delicious!
For entrees we shared the buri bop which was cooked table side in a stone bowl that had been heated to 450 degrees, and also had the snapper. Both dishes had the most wonderful combinations of flavors that just managed to fit with each type of fish so well without overpowering the delicate flavors of the fish.
We were stuffed, but still managed to share the haupia for dessert. Coconut cake, popcorn ice cream and caramel corn — so good!
Service was excellent! Each dish was described in detail as it was served, and all of the servers had clearly tried all of the dishes and had a great enthusiasm for the food. Timing of courses was perfect! This is a great «foodie» destination in Waikiki!

We wanted some sushi today at home, and decided to order from Morimoto.
It came in two boxes, and it looked like a piece of art. So organized, so pretty, opening up the box is like opening a jewelry box full of delicious and beautiful sushi.
Hubby said when he picked up the take out, the service was good and servers are friendly. It took only 20 minutes.
It cost over $ 80 dollars, not cheap, but worth it.
So nice and such a great treat!

Came to Morimoto for my 16^th anniversary. I haven’t been been here before, but I pretty much got what I expected: nice décor, loud dining area, and fine but expensive food in small quantities. Although we had reservations, we had a short wait. We were blessed to see the Hilton Hawaiian Village fireworks show right outside the lobby.
We sat inside as it was a little muggy tonight. Either way the tables are close together in big dining spaces so privacy and intimacy are out the window. We started off with a calamari salad, and it was terrific. The batter was light but crispy, and the salad tasty with a tangy soy based dressing.
My wife had the black cod and it was really fresh and sitting on a tasty teriyaki sauce reduction.
I just wanted sushi so I ordered a la carte: otoro, hamachi, aji, ikura, and Japanese uni. All delicious but pricey. At Mitch’s for example you get two pieces for the same price.
For some reason, the starter, plus sushi, plus some portions of my wife’s black cod, was enough to fill me up. That’s good because I was about to order more sushi, but I could save instead for say 20 Whopper Juniors.
We were comped a lychee sorbet for our anniversary. It was good, but I was hoping for some kind of chocolate cake or crème brûlée. I know I’m kind of greedy, but come on. How about doing me a solid with a cheesecake, chef?
Morimoto is probably not the place to load up on sushi, as you can go to Sasabune, Mitch’s, Sushi ii, Morio’s and others for high quality sushi aliong with volume. However, if you want to hang out at a place with loud energy, with great quality food in a clean environment, go here. There are more sushi set options during lunch which are more reasonably priced. Valet parking is free with validation.

Excellent. Came here with a large group, sat outside and table was great. Service was ok albeit the waitress «was at the end of her shift» and left halfway through dinner.
Food was awesome. I started with the Caesar that was one of the best things I have ever ate. Continued on with two rolls that were very good and nothing short of the freshest I have ever eaten.
Inside was ok but strangely decorated. If I was here with more then 2 or less then 10 I’m not sure I would like to sit inside.
Overall, loved it and the food was great. Totally recommend.