Wood & Bucket Tapas Bar and Grill

I heard there is «JAPANESE ASHI-​YU» (means foot bath), then went there with my friend. Hotel guests & restaurant users can it. We had lunch then use Ashi-​Yu. It’s is in the back side of the restaurant. Meal was good, relaxing Ashi-​Yu… So good :)

If you haven’t been here, you should check it out!
My fiancée and I tried It out on a lark and agreed halfway through our meal that we would definitely be coming back.
The mini Beef Wellington with black truffle was amazing and the Foie Gras sliders were perfect. Combined with $ 5.50 Mai Tais, this was the perfect meal.
Definitely recommend!

Nick, aka destroyer, was awesome! I asked for recommendations for eats and his advice was spot on! We had sizzling steak, pork lollipops, kalbi, and seafood risotto. There were 4 of us and we had plenty of food. Service was exceptional and friendly! We’ll be back for sure!

Great place! Good food, great environment, good prices, bartenders, servers and food runner they all know the true meaning of aloha. Main reason I love this place !

Man did I really enjoy this place! I only came here twice during lunch when it was virtually empty, but the food was really good. The only issues I had with this place that make me give it 4 instead of 5 stars is:
A. It’s really run-​down feeling. Kinda like a high school cafeteria.
B. Service is super slow. Even when it’s dead they’ll let you sit at your table a pretty long time before anyone even greets you.
What we ordered from the tapas menu:
Oysters — Can’t really go wrong here! Delicious.
Fried Calamari — Again another win! Perfectly cooked.
Garlic Shrimp — Pretty similar to a shrimp scampi. Good but not amazing.
Loco Moco — This was way too heavy for me. Salty and just. just. not my thing.
Kalbi Tapa — This was AMAZING. A must order. The sauce it almost teriyaki style. Sweet and delicious. The side macaroni salad and kimchee were also very good. Just sooo amazing all around! A must order!
There was also some coconut and strawberry blended /​frozen drink we ordered that was amazing as well. Basically like the ultimate pina coloda. Very tasty.
Final Verdict:
At the end of the day, the prices don’t break the bank and the food is delightful. Don’t expect high scale ambiance and fast service — and you’ll do just fine.

Omigosh, stay away from this place! Stay away!
We came here a few weeks ago and had a great meal. I even gave them a 5 star despite how hot it is and lack of ambience (hotel cafeteria kind). We even considered replacing Hy’s Steak House happy hour for this place.
The blonde wavy hair waitress seemed nice enough. She informed us it was cash only bc the computer was down. We said we had cash and it was fine. She walks off and doesn’t come back with menus for 10 minutes. It took even longer for her to get our order. Then she just never came back through our entire meal. We ordered a lot of meat, so my husband had to go up to the bar to get water. She saw him at the bar and still ignored him. She then walks past our table and asked the table behind us if they were doing okay and just completely ignored us… We live in Waikiki and eat out a lot and just really weirded out on how bad her service was. This would not be so bad to us if there wasn’t just 3 other tables and she was not the only waitress. We also saw her just staring out the window, or just chatting with co-​workers outside in the lobby and the bar.
This was disappointingly the worst service I’ve ever had in my entire life at any restaurant. To top it off, she couldn’t calculate how much we actually owed and she said she would just guess how much we owe… We asked for a menu so we could calculate it ourselves. The whole debacle took another 15 minutes.
Although we ordered the same menu items, the food was not that good. The hamburger steak was very mediocre, and the only thing that came out hot. Foie gras slider barely had a sliver of foie gras and cold, the greens were old and browned. Beef Wellington steak was raw and chewy and puff pastry was soggy. Lamb chops were overly salty and potato au gratin was old, dry, and cold.
Please stay away from this place. I feel really bad that I ever gave this place a good review. Thank goodness there are so many awesome restaurants to choose from in the area. Hy’s steak house has an awesome happy hour from 5:30−7. The food is better, same prices, and service is always superb and its only a few blocks away. We will be going to Hy’s to forget about tonight.

I don’t like giving negative reviews and I don’t give them very often. But based on the experience my partner and I had last night, I believe it is deserved. We tried Wood & Bucket for Restaurant Week. You would have hoped they’d put their best food forward. They did not. To start – very poor service – long waits, dirty dishes on the table, no checking on whether we were enjoying our meal. To be fair, the poor waiter was by himself, covering a large area and had to take orders, bus tables, serve food and get drinks. He was just plain overworked. I blame management and not him – he tried, but they were woefully understaffed.
The food: We chose the special menu: Both had Caesar salad. The salad was dressed and plated fine – but it was warm. Seriously, the salad had no chill to it at all. It seemed as if they were pre-​made and sitting around and not refrigerated. Second, the entrees: I had the steak, which was OK. It was cooked as requested, but lacked seasoning. And since there are no salt and pepper shakers on the table, I couldn’t remedy the problem myself. The seafood trio was not good. The Cajun shrimp was actually cold. Not lukewarm. Cold. Unappetizing and super spicy. Dessert: Crème brulee plate was super hot – like the ramekin and plate had been sitting under a broiler. Brownies were good, but topping was weird. Once scraped off, the brownies were tasty.
The last straw – both my partner and I have stomach issues this morning. I believe the lack of temperature control in their kitchen with the warm salad and cold shrimp might be the cause. I was fine yesterday and have no cold symptoms.
Sorry Wood & Bucket, you earned this review.

I really enjoyed this place when I was visiting Waikiki. It was recommended to us by our bartender at our hotel since we were looking for oysters. & the oysters here are delish!!! They were huge & full of flavor. I also got the creamy polenta with shrimp, total gut buster but well worth it. Hey, when on vacay get what you want! :)

Located in the Waikiki Sand Villa Hotel at the corner of Kanekapolei and Ala Wai, Wood & Bucket is a bright, airy venue that is open until 4 a.m.
Unfortunately, they were out of shrimps and polenta at lunch time, which was a huge disappointment. So I settled for garlic prawns and a side of caprese salad. Both dishes were good, with cream Brulee for dessert.
Prompt and friendly service. Overall, good food, but disappointing that they should be out of a key dish at lunch time…

I have stayed at the Hotel twice now and am about to head back again. A big reason I go back to this place is the bar and staff. I travel alone and Debbie was so welcoming introducing me to locals and making fabulous drinks. It’s nice to go to a bar that is so friendly with great food, drinks and service.

Love this place ! It truly is a gem in Waikiki… the service is Wonderful and the tapas are amazing. Lamb chop lollipops, the sizzling steak and the ahi poke were all so yummy and I felt fairly priced.

Hmm. what to say. Got there around 10pm.
Sign said seat yourself. We did. Noone came by. So we got up to sit at the bar. Tried to order a drink. Girl wasn’t familiar with local style drinks. Told her what was in it. She got a little irritated at this. We orders tapas. Really small amount of food for a really high price. Good presentation though. It was hot as hell in there. A little air flow would have been nice. We basically got ignored the entire time until her shift was over and she asked if she could cash us out. Didn’t ask if we wanted anything else. I did. More food and another drink. The drunk boys got more attention than 2 sober females. Typical. There were 3 people behind the bar running around scrubbing stuff, 2 of them never looked at us. When I gave her our bill, the new bartender never came around to see if we were actually done. Felt very ignored and like we were being hurried out. We looked like a mess from moving house all day, but we’re 2 strippers that like to drink and spend money. Noone gave us that opportunity. So we left and found another bar.

Whoa! Holy moly … what more could you want?
This place is way cool … old Waikiki without the real seediness. Just off Ala Wai, so you can get in and out without a lot of traffic. Valet parking, but it’s free, and basically you are just parking yourself in the front, in the lobby, you get the idea. Inside and outside, both are breezy. Staff is great … cool, friendly, but never in your face. The setting is fantastic with the pool nearby, a separate wine bar at hand… Waikiki kool.
But the best is yet to come. The food is great. The ahi poke, for example, the ribs… Get them as tapas, get them as an entrée, whatever. Drinks are so cheap that you don’t need the $ 1 Happy Hour discount (not that I didn’t take it).
Anyhow, great combination of ambience, food, and value.

Q: What do you do when you find yourself in Waikiki at 2 in the morning and the bar you’ve been sipping a drink (or two… or three…) at is about to close?
A: Ask the bartenders where they go after-​hours, order some greasy fried food, and LIVE LIFE before succumbing to the inevitable hangover.
Due to my undiagnosed Netflix addiction (it’s serious you guys…), you will not typically find me out at 2 in the morning nursing my last drink as the bar raises its lights and starts playing Closing Time. However, a special occasion calls for extra special celebratory measures with friends and family! While the rest of Waikiki’s late night patrons stumbled out of the bar into the darkened streets and back to their hotel rooms, our group decided to continue the party for a little while longer. The problem was… what was open at this hour? Of course there’s Wailanas or Zippys, the drunk person resting stop before heading home, but we wanted to try somewhere new and (more importantly) nearby. At the suggestion of our bartenders, we decided to try Wood & Bucket Tapas Bar — a popular stop for industry workers after they finish their shifts.
Located in the Waikiki Sand Villa Hotel, Wood & Bucket Tapas Bar is a beeaaauuuttttiiiffuuulll spot to kick back and relax with some good food and drinks at any time of the day, but especially at 2 in the morning. Instead of a rowdy/​sticky/​grungy bar, Wood & Bucket is a clean and more upscale lounge that seemed to attract a much calmer and laid back crowd.
With an impressive and quite extensive menu, it’s a good thing Wood & Bucket serves food until the wee hours of the morning! Unfortunately for us, our minds were singularly set on french fries, so we did not get to try any of their entrees. Their french fries, however, were AMAZING! Greasy, fried, and paired with the sauteed mushrooms we also ordered, the perfect late-​night, post-​drinking snack! Our friendly waitress made sure to check on us and refill our waters regularly.
The next time you find yourself in Waikiki after the bars have closed, skip Zippy’s and head to Wood & Bucket!

There is nothing special here. We had the polenta, curry risotto, and the lamb lollipops. All looked great but the taste was lacking. The table shared the cheese fondue, which was a ball of fried mozzarella cheese, def not worth the 13 $ for it.

I came here my first night in Waikiki. It was within walking distance of my hotel.
The ambiance is nice, as it’s all open air seating. I sat at the bar. The bartender was very helpful. I asked her for recommendations and she recommended the Spring Rolls with Kalua pork and the Kalbi Tapa (short ribs served with kimchee and macaroni salad). The Spring Rolls were good, but not wow. The Kalbi Tapa was delicious and I love kimchee, so that was an added bonus.
If ever back in the area, this is one of the restaurants I would go back to.

The atmosphere here is great! It’s so chill and not loud and touristy. The food is great! We got the foie gras sliders, the kalbi ribs, the lamb chop lollipop, filet mignon and the shrimp with polenta. The kalbi ribs come with a perfectly spicy kimchi and an overly mayo’d mac salad. The meat on the foie gras sliders was perfection, the sauce a bit sweet but together it all went really well together. The lamb lollipops were so, so delish! I could have ordered more. The shrimp was undercooked for our taste in the polenta dish but the polenta was mild and buttery. The filet was good with a strong blue cheese on top. Kamaile our waitress was a doll! Helpful and sweet-​stop in to see her and enjoy the food and ambiance!

Easy to miss. You’ll be glad you didn’t.
Located on the corner of Ala Wai Blvd. and Kanekapolei, in the Waikiki Sand Villa Hotel, Wood & Bucket is a somewhat hidden jewel.
Previously the Waikiki Sandbar, there is an updated décor and menu, mostly for the better. A few of the old favorites remain, like their signature dish, the sizzling steak platter. Another winner is the meaty and delicious lilikoi ribs.
One of the very rare places you can get quality food at a late hour. Kitchen typically closes around 2:30 AM.
PARKING: Metered street, free after 6 PM. Free validated parking with the hotel, valet only.

It’s a great neighborhood bar and I really enjoy hanging out here. I have a huge problem with the establishment and management allowing dogs at the bar or food service areas. The dog I saw sat in a recent employee’s lap and was by no stretch a service animal. Stop the insanity and establish some normative standards. Please!