Sushi Izakaya Gaku

I LOVE THIS PLACE. Very casual. Food is fresh. The seating area is very clean. I like to sit at the bar; the chefs are so lively, and they love to talk about food! They have a wide selection of appetizers, which I love very much about the menu. Beef tongue and wagyu beef sashimi are among my favorites. I think I’ve tried every soup they have, and they are all so tasty. When ordering nigiri or sashimi, I always start off with the whitest flesh, then gradually work my way up to darker ones. Normally, my last order of nigiri or sashimi consists of the fattier tuna — o-​toro. Everything is great, though. I always leave stomach-​happy.
Best to call for reservation.

Lucky us, we got seated without a reservation at 7:30pm on a Saturday night. The food was oh so delicious! We ordered the popular items which appeared on the Unilocal reviews. Seared toro with garlic sushi, spicy hamachi tartar, ika geso, kabocha karaage and hamachi sushi. Oh so delicious.
Service was okay. I had to ask to more water and tea… I guess they were too busy to keep our drinks filled. But, she did come back to ask if we needed more alcoholic drinks.
There is a small floor seating area which can accommodate around 10 people, saw 2 small parties. If you have children, this is a good area to reserve.
I want to go back and try other items… can’t wait!

love love love! the BEST restaurant in Hawaii!!! no comments :) it’s pricy but so worth it! it’s just SO great! Chef Manabu, Nobu and Hiro is the best!
ハワイで1番大好きなレストラン美味しいのはもちろんだけどハズレなしメニュー豊富だしとにかく最高（）シェフみんな愛想いいし感じもいいしとにかく最高です。

I’ve been trying to eat at Izakaya Gaku with some friends of mine for a loooooong time now and we were finally able to get a reservation the other night. It was DEFINITELY worth the wait.
First of all, make reservations. Gaku only does one seating a night, so there are only so many reservations available. Call in advance, but I believe the earliest you can book a reservation is ten days. You can walk in and hope that maybe a table has left, but why risk waiting forever for nothing.
The interior is casual, like most other izakaya. Definitely the right environment to drink and eat some good food with friends.
I’m the type of person who likes to eat a variety of foods, I get bored of the same thing quickly, so izakaya are some of my favorite places. First we put in our drink order. My friend recommended that we order the sake they highlighted on the menu. It rotates every so often (monthly?) and is a good value, according to my friend. He was right. The sake we ordered was delicious and I’ll definitely try the sake highlighted on the menu the next time I go.
Onto the food. We probably ordered around 10 – 12 small dishes, ALL of which were delicious. The standouts of the night, though, were the negi hamachi tartare, tako basil, and uni shooters.
The hamachi tartare was served with green onions, tobiko, and a quail egg yolk. The tartare was smooth and fresh tasting. It was perfectly complimented by the green onions and spiciness of the sauce and the egg yolk added some extra richness. After we finished this we ordered another one. The tako basil caught my attention because I’ve been on a bit of an octopus craze lately and the combination of octopus and basil sounded new and interesting to me. The dish came with a few pieces of tako, each with a basil leaf and halved grape tomato on top. A mound of raw onion was placed in the center and the whole dish was dressed with a dressing that tested of shoyu, ginger, and daikon. The tako was perfectly tender and the basil and tomatoes worked surprisingly well with it. We almost didn’t order the uni shooters, but they caught our attention at the last second because we love uni. Served in a shot glass was a few pieces of uni topped with a dashi jelly and a dot of wasabi. The dashi jelly makes this dish. The cool saltiness of the dashi jelly perfectly compliments the natural briny flavor of the uni and the wasabi comes in right at the end with a nice nose burning kick.
Overall, I’m a big fan of Izakaya Gaku. The $$$$ price rating on Unilocal definitely scared me at first, but if you play your cards right here, you can eat some fantastic food without feeling like you’ll need to stay in for the next few nights.

Service: excellent
Atmosphere: very subtle, relaxing, calm
Wait: not a long wait, host was informative and very polite for walkins. Note: if you don’t have a reservation, which most times they’re booked, you can put your name down and just wait until he calls you when your table is ready. Walkins are available after 7:30pm.
Food: YOU MUST TRY THEIR WAGYU STEAK a APPETIZER!!! Mind blowing!
Sashimi is very fresh! We got the omakase chefs choice, course set. Tell the chef how hungry you are and they will make however much you can handle.
Price: I will say it’s not cheap as in, $ 150 – 200 if you want to experience it. But it’s quality food so they’re not overcharging.

Hawaii’s BEST Izakaya.
High quality ingredients, cooked and sauced simply to showcase their natural flavors with enough punch to hold their own against some beer and sake. Pillars of izakaya dining sans one, izakaya is a working man’s place; as for Gaku, that’s true if you’re a neurosurgeon or dot com millionaire.
Before going further, remember, izakaya’s are as much about the experience had with your dining companions as the food. Don’t be that guy. Put your mobile away. That text can wait, enough yeeps have taken great pics of the food. Enjoy.
Note: This is a seafood centric izakaya. Don’t come expecting yakitori, tonkatsu, or tempura.
Tip: The portion size of all dishes can be adjusted based on the size of your party. Ask the server.
The food, is outstanding.
Cooked standouts include the grilled moi (head on, scored, and aggressively seasoned with crispy skin and moist, flaky flesh). The burnt bits add a pleasant bitterness. Fighting over the eyes, cheeks and gorgeous bit atop the head an added pleasure. Do not pass on the tongue. Slightly thicker cut than most places, gently marinated. A squeeze of lemon, ahhh, juicy, beefy, with just the right amount of chew. The grilled king crab, tasty. Sweetness is offset by the gentle bitterness of grilling. A bite with some shichimi infused ground daikon and a squeeze of citrus, beautiful balance. Finally, if in season, the simply grilled matsutake mushroom is heavenly. Flash grilled with a pinch of salt. The dense mushroom remains raw in the middle, the outer layer picking up a gentle smoky bitterness with huge umame finish.
For cold dishes, if it contains otoro or uni, you’re set. Otoro always fresh and properly graded. As sashimi, atop a nigiri, or gently seared. Buttery and decadent. Uni is globally sourced and only the freshest and best flavor for the season. Outstanding wrapped with hirame or as part of any sahimi set. As for fish, stick to the chef’s recommendations on what’s the best. If you’re lucky, it’s a fresh caught onaga or opakapaka. Not classic but oh so good.
Service is unpretentious, izakaya friendly and efficient.
Many repeat visits since last reviewed. Very consistent.
The fun, outstanding dining experience comes at a price. Indulge on the MP (averages $ 25/​order) otoro and expect to pay $ 150+ per person before alcohol.
Hey, you can always start your job as a day trader tomorrow.

my brother took me and my fiancé out to Gaku for dinner the other day. Too good, yo. Too good. A nice thing about Gaku is that even though they take their sushi very seriously, they’re very friendly and are willing to explain the food to people. Other places can err on snobby, but Gaku is not like that at all (though they probably could be, given their acumen and food quality).
Got the kitchen food+sushi omakase (you can choose between that or only sushi omakase)~ was so incredibly solid. Some of the highlights were beef tataki, tofu agedashi with shrimp (perfectly fried tofu and shrimp that didn’t detract from either, complemented with a great sauce), and a huge sashimi platter (had some nice and varied offerings including awabi [abalone], aji, otoro [fatty tuna], raw ebi (shrimp), hamachi [yellowtail], etc).
After the kitchen food came out, we were given sushi, which included:
Seared toro brushed with sauce: we were told by the waitress that since it was already brushed with sauce, we didn’t need to use shoyu. So decadent.
Beef tataki brushed with sauce: again, no shoyu needed. Perfect.
Gaku’s ikura was the best ikura i’ve ever had~ they soak their eggs in dashi and so it’s far more complex in taste and less overtly «fishy» than most ikura i’ve tried. Even if you don’t like ikura in general, Gaku’s might change your mind!
I also really like their uni~ I’ve slowly come to like uni, and Gaku’s uni was, like its ikura, also probably the best of its kind I’ve had. I dunno who or where they get their product from, but they’re top-​notch.
High-​quality Japanese food with great practitioners of the craft, nice staff~ love love Gaku… Just make sure you make reservations in advance.

This is by far my favorite Japanese restaurant in town!!! I come here about 5 times a year just because the food is so delicious and the service beyond great! I love the chefs, everyone is so energetic and full of happy spirits! It’s kind of hard to make reservation during busy times, make sure you call and reserve two weeks ahead! My favorite dish is almost everything, the oyster is yum! The beef tongue yum!

Well, let’s make it clear that their food is pretty good.
Especially like the beef tongue, not many restaurant manage to cook this part that delicate and tender.
The tarter is great, but I was just craving for a bowl of sushi rice to go with it.
Sashimi combination B is a bit disappointing, shrimp is good. Fishes not thick enough, one of the piece has tiny bone is it that almost hurt me.
Sushi is decent, but I’ve had better.
Jelly tofu with Uni is not that amazing, I don’t think the uni on top of ours is that fresh.
Maccha ice cream is pretty good, not overwhelmingly sweet. Love it.
The thing that makes me a bit unhappy is the service, to be exact the reservation. We stopped by three times and this is the only time we got to dine here. They are very famous and busy I get it. But at least leave a real number that people can reach before asking «reservation?» every time we came in. I’ve been trying this number listed on Unilocal for like one hour and half straight, never manage to reach anyone.
Tip: if you were unlucky on the phone like us, but still want to come, come early, like 5 or before 6. You may get seated but they’ll inform you that you have to leave by 7 or 7:30 though.

This is not an authentic sushi restaurant! Don’t think I haven’t eaten sushi!
I do not go to this restaurant again! Bad service and very poor! When your order sushi they do not give you wasabi!

Definitely my go to spot now whenever I visit Hawaii!
Food–
–2 orders of the sushi moriwase which came with assorted nigiris– ikura, uni, maguro, sake, etc. & a tekka maki (5 stars)
–Negihama tartare… YESSSSSS!!! I could Netflix and chill with loads of this on my lap all day!!! (5 stars)
–Seared Toro. I can die happy now (5 stars)
Service–
Attentive and quick!

4 stars due to service and attentiveness.
Came here with reservations on a Saturday night around 6pm and it wasn’t packed until 30 minutes later — making a reservation is recommended! We got seated right away and got green tea. They consistently came around to refill our tea, which was a plus on their service. Our waiter was also very friendly and gave good recommendations on portions for the two of us. We both ordered an Omakase each ($ 60 each) and a wagyu beef tataki appetizer. The Omakase had 10 pieces including uni and toro which are usually the more expensive pieces of nigiri. Everything was good, but we asked for fresh wasabi and didn’t receive it :/​aside from that, we were full at the end of the meal and spent around $ 160 altogether. They greet upon entrance to the door and when you leave which is a nice Japanese tradition. Super authentic here with a bar full of professional Japanese sushi chefs! Parking wants too hard to find on the streets either, just that looking for the restaurant may be a bit hard because it doesn’t display the name of the place outside — however upon entrance it is decoration beautifully :)
Not a huge uni fan but I saw many people ordering the uni dish that comes with seaweed for you to wrap your own handrolls which I read was delicious — definitely recommend trying that if you’re into uni!

Awesome. Seriously as soon as I came in the door it felt like I was back in main land Japan. The atmosphere was authentic just like you would expect in any Japanese beach town. The drink list was impressive with the breadth of different saki, shochu, and umechu they had on the menu as well as Japanese beer.
But if you came here it probably wasn’t for the drinks but for the sushi. It was awesome. Had a seat at the bar so I could watch these guys work and it did not disappoint. The sushi was eclectic and delicious. Only thing I would knock it for might be the price but at the same time for the quality of food I think it was pretty fair.
Take a trip! It’s worth going all the way into Waikiki.

Wow! This place has amazing food!!! We went here hungry and left satisfied.
Atmosphere: Not very impressive from the outside but as soon as your open the door you feel like you traveled to Japan. The sushi chefs communicate in Japanese and greet you in japanese. There is plenty of sushi bar seating as well as western and traditional Japanese seating available.
Seevice: excellent service from the hostess, waiters and sushi chefs. Everyone here is ready to serve you and make sure you have the best experience.
Food: where do I even begin… We started by ordering everything and then saw what the regulars were ordering. Let’s just say the bill racked up quickly but worth it. We had the miso glazed butterfish, sushi combination, toro, fried pork, the spicy hamachi with nori, more seared toro, sweet potato tempura. Everything was very delicious!!!
Intangibles: I will be coming back again soon!

This is the 3^rd time I’ve been to Sushi Izakaya Gaku within a 3 year timeframe. For the life of me, I don’t remember who recommended me this place but whomever that told me, I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
We ordered the following:
Spicy Negihamachi Tartar ($ 9.50) — Yellowtail, green onion with Gaku’s original spicy sauce. It also has a raw quail egg on top that you mix together. You eat the mixture of Nori. My husband would eat it by itself. It’s not very spicy so I would mix some wasabi to give it more of a kick. This is my favorite dish.
Yellowtail Carpaccio with Jalapeño ($ 24.50) — Delicious! Fresh and spicy!
Wagyu Beef Sushi ($ 17) — First time that we tried Wagyu Beef Sushi, it was yummy :) :) Tender and very flavorful.
Hama Kama ($ 16.50) — It was good, you can probably get it anywhere else for a better price.
Grilled Gaki Matsu Mushrooms ($ 35.50) for 4 pieces of mushroom. When we saw the price we said OUCH!!! The mushrooms were good but not that good.
When we go back, it will only be for the Spicy Negihamachi Tartar and Yellowtail Carpaccio.

Probably the best TRADITIONAL and AUTHENTIC izakaya and sushi I’ve had in the states. We started with a few items of izakaya to get our taste buds warmed up. For the main feature, don’t waste your time doing anything other than the omakase. One word I would use to describe this place would be dilligence. The diligence of the entire staff bleeds through the food. Everything from order, to presentation, to the scoring of the fish for the sushi was an elaborate display of well orchestrated culinary achievement. Each member of the staff had a very particular role, and it was their sacred duty to carry out the task with perfection and grace. Gaku is completely casual and not stuffy, but hums like a well oiled machine. I’ll let my photos do the justice for this particular review, but I definitely left with a huge grin on my face at the conclusion of our dinner service.
PROTIP: Reservations required. When you’re here, check out the scenery. Not an ounce of English spoken here.

Aloha from the counter at Gaku,
What can I say about this place that won’t increase the wait time for reservations from 3 to 4 weeks?
The ambiance is quite nice, a busy little place with few little tables, a sushi counter and a larger table with Japanese sitting area (this is very fun in larger group). The parking through the back is tight but functional and nice to be off street. The staff is friendly and polite pointing out specials and asking about likes and allergies (very nice!)
The food is amazing, having eaten at most high end sushi joints on the island, for me this is the best. The quality and quantity is perfect, the fish and uni is always fresh and the Tako basil is amazing, the basil picked in the back of the restaurant few hours before (check out their little garden back there along the parking area).
My big hint for this place … Make a reservation before leaving, works for me and it’s a wonderful monthly treat for me and my plus one.
Happy Eats

We were supposed to go to Unilocal Event for the pre showing of Vacation but they ran out of tickets 5 minutes after they started giving them out. It was date night so we looked for somewhere new and food for dinner. Couldn’t let this date night go to waste.
We learned about this place from an interaction with a patron of The Beauty Spot. So we decided to give it a try.
It’s very good here. I rated it only 4 stars because of a few things. I’ll go further to say it’s 4.5 because the food is so delicious. The parking was a pain only because it’s not easy to find. We were lucky to find a spot on the street. It’s a little high-​end so definitely not a place to frequent unless you’re made of cash. Also the menu was not too big. But what they had was awesome.
Kabocha karaage — soft hot and delicious. Melts in your mouth.
Chicken Karaage — lightly breaded. Big chunks of meat. Ask for Katsu sauce.
King Crab cakes — better than Marylanf blue crab cakes. Huge chunks of tasty King Crab
Fried fish Bones — very fishy and tasty
Sashimi for 2 — I’ve had better sashimi but the Otoro was Heavenly. It felt like a fat bomb gong off in my mouth. Best EVER!!!
Gaku TNT — awesome mix of seafood in a creamy sauce.
The grapefruit soju was interesting. It came out with a fly all grapefruit which you had to squeeze. Our dessert was Mochi with ice cream.
For the two of us the bill was $ 116 with her drink and without the tip. We are going to introduce the family to it for 2015 Food Fest.

For a izakaya place I was pleasantly surprised with the omakase here. We opted to go with no hot dishes and to only have sashimi and nigiri. This place reminded me of maruya in San Francisco where they keep serving you until you say stop.
We started off with a hamachi tartare and it was delicious mixed up and put with nori. The hamachi was fresh and did not taste fishy. A great way to start off the meal.
Next we got a sashimi platter with 8 – 10 different cuts of fish. Surprisingly they gave pretty generous portions. Each fish was pretty fresh, the one I did not care for was the Saba.
After the sashimi we had a few nigiri and we had to throw in the towel. It was a good amount of food and generous portions for the nigiri. We still had room for dessert so we tried the green tea ice cream with red bean and Mochi. Can you say delicious?! It was so good! The only thing is it’s only a good dessert of you like red bean and Mochi otherwise it’s probably not your typical dessert.
Overall this was a pretty good sushi place. It’s a bit in the ghetto and no one is really around but definitely worth the experience.
Total for 2: $ 230

Normally I do not order sushi from izakayas because typically most izakayas specialize in anything but sushi and it’s usually the non-​Asians that order sushi. But Sushi Izakaya Gaku is different because true to their name where «sushi» comes before «izakaya», Sushi Izakaya Gaku definitely does sushi right. Oh and they do great izakaya dishes as well.
The wife and I were fortunate to get a seat at the sushi bar without a reservation because we arrived just after they had opened. In other words, definitely call ahead and make a reservation!
We were seated in front of the younger sushi chef, Hideki, who has been with Sushi Izakaya Gaku for 8 years as the right-​hand man to the head sushi chef and owner, Manabu Kikuchi, who reminded me of a Japanese Popeye.
Hideki definitely made us feel very welcome with his infectious smile and friendly banter. His signature comment to check up on us every few minutes would be «everything okay?» Of course everything we ordered was more than okay. It was cho oishi!
We started off with the spicy hamachi (yellowtail) tartar topped with a raw quail egg and negi (scallions) that was served with nori (seaweed). The tartar was creamy and had just the right amount of spice. And when we had eaten all our nori, Hideki promptly gave us more.
Then we ordered sushi plates that came with a fresh assortment of quality fish that included toro, salmon, uni, and ikura. Moreover, I rarely eat the tamago (egg sushi), but even that was really tasty. We also ordered additional a la carte pieces of the hamachi, salmon belly, and red snapper that were all amazing.
But of course the highlight of our meal was not the raw fish, but a grilled fish called moi. This fish was reserved for Hawaiian royalty and was so prized that commoners were not allowed to catch the fish and if they did their punishment was death!
Sadly, due to overfishing, moi is not that easy to come by at most restaurants and Sushi Izakaya Gaku imports their moi from the Big Island. Therefore, it’s not cheap at over $ 20. But you know what? You are not going to be able to eat moi outside of Hawaii, so splurge a little and don’t be a cheapass commoner and just order this fish that was once reserved for kings!
And by the way, Sushi Izakaya Gaku cooks this moi to moi-therf*KING perfection. The white flaky meat was very «moi-​st «and to continue the whole royalty/​king feeling, for a second I thought about screaming that trademark line from the Titanic, but the wife told me to «keep calm and carry on» or else Hideki might ask «everything okay?»
At the end of the day, we really enjoyed Sushi Izakaya Gaku because they serve great food and Hideki definitely made the experience fu*KING awesome.
This place is «moi» than worthy of its 5-​star reputation.