Takumi Japanese Restaurant & Bar

Amazing, amazing, amazing!
My brother who’s visiting from San Diego wanted Japanese food and heard about this new modern restaurant. Wasn’t sure what to expect when walking in but it had a beautiful and intimate atmosphere. Very classy and looks highend but also definitely a place to drink at the bar. A little on the smaller side but the outdoor seats made it a bit more spacious.
We sat outside but ended off coming inside because it was a bit chilly at night.
We ordered anything and everything and even had some alcoholic passion tea drink, that was awesome! The garlic shrimp fried rice, karaage chicken, and their seafood salad hit the spot! Compliments to the chefs! The food was seriously different and Ono! The fusions and the food displays were off the chart and represented the prices quiet well.
This place is definitely somewhere I want to go for my birthday or anniversary! Can’t wait to go back and try more of their big food selection… Ohh and their lunch bentos, yes I must try that! :)

Awesome! Service was excellent, friendly and would check on how we’re doing. Had the grilled teri chicken lunch bento… teri sauce was ono! The entire staff thanked each of their customers which I thought was great… some places don’t even do that. Definitely going again, next time for dinner.

Takumi is one of the newest restaurants in Kapolei that just opened. With that said, my review is based on their soft opening.
When I entered Takumi, I was greeted by everyone with a loud, «Irasshaimase!» The service was great — I ended up sitting at the bar since the wait for a regular table would have taken 30 – 45 minutes. Our server/​bartender at the bar was Torey, who explained that what made this restaurant stand out from other places was the food and how it was cooked. He explained that the restaurant made everything from scratch. He was very attentive and helped us with our food choices.
The signature food he recommended was the okonomiyaki and the unwrapped gyoza. I got both and was not disappointed. The unwrapped gyoza tasted just like… gyoza! But the special thing about this dish was that it was already soaked with gyoza sauce so it actually tasted like it was already dipped into the sauce. The okonomiyaki was great! It actually tasted better than the one I ate when I was in Japan in Osaka. I’m not a big fan of an okonomiyaki overly drenched with various sauces — Takumi had a good balance. Got the kimchee pork belly — definitely a must try!
The interior is nice. Great service and everyone was always keeping busy continually refilling water or asking if we needed anything. The place is a bit pricier but it’s definitely a nice sit down area if you prefer a fancy dinner — it can get a bit loud though so you won’t get that private feel.
The bar looked very chic but the overall interior area was a bit small. The restaurant had a hibachi type grill bar, which is a great option to watch them cook in front of you.
Unfortunately, it must’ve been something I ate. After dinner, my stomach churned and did not feel good after. Would I come back? Definitely for the okonomiyaki — I definitely would advise that the price is a bit higher than restaurants in the surrounding area but if you’re looking for a nice bar to sit at or looking for good Japanese food you can’t find anywhere else on the west side, I’d definitely recommend going here.

Great atmosphere. Setting is very modern and nice. Workers are helpful. Delicious food.

We had an enjoyable time at TAKUMI. Sorry forgot the take a photo of the Seared Chicken and DF Pork Chops

I came here 3 times since it opened. My favorites were the shrimp fried rice, beef onion appetizer, seafood dynamite, unwrapped gyoza, homemade kimchi etc. basically, everything I’ve tried I’ve enjoyed very much! We also ordered the tepanyaki deluxe, and it’s kinda price but I think its worth it with the steak, lobster and shrimp! I also love that they have sake & beer priced decently considering we have to go to town for a decent bar/​restaurant. The waiters are very friendly and the service is great! Kapolei needed a restaurant like this so I’m very happy with This restaurant!
My only complaints is that they don’t have sushi. I think they should carry asahi as well. And, the peanut butter mochi dessert needs something. Maybe a chocolate drizzle ((LOL!))

Loved the modern interior, 1 star for decoration and 1 for service. The food, although cooked well were all bland except for the pork belly (ono). They all tasted the same, garlic and salt. No medley of flavors or enhancing of seasonings.
Food: garlic shrimp fried rice (we all added a ton of shoyu and salt), cheesy fries, bacon asparagus, scallops, grilled onion, ginger pork belly and the lemon butter calamari.
Drinks: CHU MAI peach tasted like bland soda water and $ 9 for a small glass of Cab red wine.
They don’t make blended drinks and they’re a bar. They also have scallops listed as $ 3.75 for 4 which thankfully I asked and they confirmed its for each scallop not the whole dish. For all that food plus 3 more drinks and a salad came to $ 120.
Me and my friends do not plan on coming back.

I was really looking forward to coming here. The appearance is very clean and modern. Our waiter was very polite and professional. He along with the other staff made sure our glasses were never empty. Our appetizers were ok. We ordered the bacon wrapped asparagus, garlic jumbo scallops, bacon wrapped prawns, pork belly, and the onion beef. By all means it wasn’t bad at all, it was tasty but nothing that would make you crave to come back.
My entrée on the other hand was the worst steak I’ve ever ordered from anywhere. I ordered the ribeye. The appearance of all their plates is very eye appealing. So even though my plate looked nice with only the steak and a small portion of vegetables it tasted gross. I ordered medium rare and it came out medium well. It’s not uncommon for cooks to over cook a steak but what I couldn’t palate was the meat itself. You could obviously tell it was previously frozen with freezer burn. I was so disgusted that I didn’t even want to send it back for a different one. When I’m paying about $ 35 for just a piece of meat and some vegetables the meat better taste great and cooked as requested. I wasn’t expecting Hys but Zippys could have made a better steak. So that is the reason for only 2 stars along with being the price for the food is not worth the portions and quality.

First time here!
Grilled garlic beef w/​onions
Pork belly kimchee
Teriyaki salmon
Okonomiyaki
^^^all highly recommended! Amazing! :)
Servers, cooks, all staff are friendly ^ – ^
Def will come back :)))))

A New Gem Emerges in Kapolei
It was by sheer chance that I walked into Takumi for dinner tonight. And I am glad I did. An excellent addition to the growing eatery scene in Kapolei. Located right next to Teddy’s Burgers in the Kapolei Shopping Plaza, Takumi is completely brand new. It boasts a modern yet comfortable décor with indoor and outdoor seating. The action happens on two large flat tops where guests watch their meals being masterfully prepared. There’s also a bar stocked with beer, hards and soju and sake. Bar closes at 10:00pm.
I ordered the lobster tail with scallops. The seafood was cooked to perfection. Takumi also offers with every order their house-​made kim chee; quite honestly, the best I’ve had.
What stood out most to me, was their service. Very friendly, personable and attentive. Qualities that have been greatly lacking in the food industry lately.
I am excited to come back to Takumi and try their pork belly!

This place reminded me of some places I had frequented in town in my single days… thank goodness we have something to raise the bar in Kapolei! Only in Kapolei can you have a teppanyaki area with a nice bar, good Japanese food, you can also come somewhat casual, and they had high chairs. No kids menu though! And I’m not complaining in the least, it’s a wonderful marriage of what was only previously accessible in town and «hey, you’re in suburbia now».
Our server was very personable and efficient. Having 2 under 3 we decided to order a few things to share. We ordered the calamari appetizer, teppanyaki chicken with vegetables and garlic chips, rice, and miso soup and yakisoba. Everyone enjoyed their meal, including the kids, and we loved the opportunity to have a Friday night with kids close to home yet not a chain restaurant. We are so happy for the new addition to Kapolei and will be back!

Our first time here… We loved it! Great servers along with the awesome food. The owner was cooking which was awesome! So happy this place is in kapolei. Now we don’t have to drive to tanaka of Tokyo. Thank you Tyler for the great service & sake refills.

New at kapolei. I would love for a restaurant bar to trive in kapolei since there isn’t much out here but I didn’t like takumi very much. Service was great, however, for anyone to return the food needs to be good as well. It was just ehhh. The mushroom medley was too salty, the chicken Karaage needed more flavor, the Mochi bacon was basically Mochi wrapped in thin bacon, their specialty dishes weren’t anything spectacular. They probably need a good happy hour deal in order to reel costumers in.
1 star for the interior and another for service.

Giving this place 2 stars cause most of the food was pretty good and that saved it from a 1-​star review. We were seated within 10 minutes of arriving, but it took about 20 minutes to get acknowledgement of being there and to get menus and water. The waiter did offer some of the house kimchi to try, but that took another 10 minutes for us to get. But we couldn’t try it because we had no utensils, napkins, plates, nothing. I used the call button and the waiter came by, but instead of noticing that we had no utensils, he proceeded as if we wanted to add on to our order, so I needed to ask him for napkins and utensils
So, slowly food started coming out, but it was one entrée without the salad and soup for my father in law. My son got his salad and soup, but no entrée and the appetizers came out around the same time. We eventually had to ask for the miso soup and salad for my father in law and for my wife as well. My son eventually got his ribeye, it was cooked to order, but he would’ve preferred it be seasoned a bit more. Then my order came, garlic shrimp fried rice, a little bland but edible. I kinda prefer garlic dishes to be heavy with garlic.
By the time I got my dish, I’d say an hour and a half went by since we got seated. My wife ordered a chicken plate and my mother in law ordered an okonomiyaki plate and it STILL didn’t arrive. Our waiter never asked if everything was fine or how was the food, not really personable, and never realized that the three guys were eating, but the ladies weren’t.
When it was finally brought to his attention, he seemed surprised and went to go follow up on it. He came back and didn’t really give us an explanation as to why their food wasn’t made. Needless to say, we cancelled the orders and tried to get the bill. This process took half an hour as the restaurant was having difficulties with their credit card machine.
Overall, it was a very disappointing two hours there, service was slow for beginning to end. 2 out of the 5 of us didn’t get their dinner and the worst part was that NO ONE took responsibility for it. Not an offer to comp an appetizer or anything, nothing to try and make up for it on our next visit, not even a sincere apology. All they told my wife and mother in law was, ‘Sorry for the wait, it’ll be better next time. This is our soft opening and the grand opening is next month.’ It was like they were oblivious to the fact that 2 people never got to eat dinner tonight.
As good as the food was that we were able to eat, I’m really not sure that there will be a next time. It’s a shame too because we live in Kapolei and this would’ve been a nice convenient place for Japanese-​style cuisine. The food is there, just NEED to work on the customer service part.

I give this restaurant one star because we didn’t even get to eat anything in there. We waited for a table because they had to clean it. This took 10 minutes. We were seated and given menus. The choices looked interesting although very pricey.
We waited for 15 minutes and no one came. I realize how busy they were but to keep customers happy, we could’ve been served water at least. There was a little round remote looking contraption on the table to press for drinks, bill or call so we tried pressing it to order drinks… nothing. What a joke! We ended up walking out and before we left, the girl (who actually sat us) told us thank you for dining with us. It was so stupid it made us laugh. They must be kidding charging so much.

Finally a Japanese restaurant and bar in Kapolei!
This review is based off of a recent SOFT OPENING dinner. To be fair, this review is a total constructive one.
This place is just what imported west Oahu residents have sorely been wanting for a while. Coming from a former town side resident taking up residence in kapolei for the past year, this place has TONS of potential.
The restaurant itself was a bit small with 1 bar area, a tepanyaki area with chefs doing cooking in front of you, about 6 – 8 tables inside and several tables outside. Yet big isn’t always better so ideally a good sized place.
Décor was very modern, simplistic and clean and hip. I was a fan of the wash lighting used on the walls inside. Also their bathrooms were very clean and modern as well.
Food was prepared well with very fresh ingredients. My personal favorite was their several types of okonomiyaki! A good 90% of their menu is meant to be shared and sampled with alcohol which I personally enjoyed. Prices range from $ 10-​$ 16 for apperizers/​pupu style dishes and the heavier dinner entrees ranged about $ 20-​$ 30.
Their alcohol items were simple with a few drafts, bottles, wines and mixed drinks. Which I enjoyed because I believe in simple and efficient.
Service was unfortunately the BUST during our experience yet I’m hoping it will get better with time. Water was not dropped or offered upon seating. Orders were taken yet our server would leave after jotting down a few things while weren’t quite finish ordering. Our alcohol drinks came AFTER our appetizers which is always a major let down for me. What better way to keep your customers occupied while waiting for their good than with their drinks?! I came with my wife and 2 of our other friends and had separate checks between us. Both checks were itemized wrong yet our server was quick to fix it. On the bright side, our server was very personable yet seemed overwhelmed.
All in all, I really want this place to succeed and THRIVE. Hopefully with the grand opening around the corner, these totally fixable things are addressed and fixed.
We’ll be back soon and look forward to better things.
SERVICE SHOULD BE HELD TO THE SAME STANDARD AS THE FOOD.
Ps. A little white noise in terms of music in the restaurant, bar (especially the bar)/patio area would be a plus as well!

I was on this side of the island so my boyfriend and I decided to try out Takumi! I always love eating teppanyaki, everything is piping hot and fresh and you can see the care put into making the food.
The teppan grill was filled with customers when we got there so we opted sit at the bar. (Definitely need to make reservations to sit at the grill next time). This place has really cute, modern décor, and the tables have these little buttons you can press to call your waiter or waitress! Super cool, reminds me of Japan and Korea!
We were pretty much starving when we got here sooo we ordered kind of a lot.
Bacon wrapped Mochi– Sooo yummy! The bacon was perfectly crispy, as was the outside of the Mochi, but the inside was delicious, hot and gooey. 5 yummy bites that you’ll want to mop up the sauce with!
Garlic scallops– four giant tender scallops that just melt in your mouth. I LOVE the scallops here! So much that I ordered a side with our meal!
Sautéed calamari with lemon butter– hands down my favorite calamari! To note, I love deep fried food, but somehow deep fried calamari doesn’t appeal to me as much as sautéed calamari. Deep fried calamari is tougher and chewier, and I much prefer this softer sautéed version! It’s melt in your mouth tender and is really good if you dip it in their house wasabi shoyu!
(Also note– dip everything in their wasabi shoyu sauce. It gives everything that umami flavor! Especially the seafood, meat and vegetables! I couldn’t even taste the wasabi, but it does remind me of this dashi shoyu I’m currently addicted to ahhhh)
Shoyu assorted mushrooms– I love stir fried mushrooms! Any mushroom medley steaming hot is a winner with me!
USDA ribeye steak– the chef recommended we order this medium for best taste, but heh I love my steaks super rare. so we compromised and ordered it medium rare. Look at my picture of the steak, and that pretty much speaks for itself. Spankin delicious! And of course, we added on scallops. The veggies that came with the set were good too. I was pleasantly surprised to find kabocha (pumpkin)! Also, the miso soup that comes with the set was so good that i ordered two!
Meat Tama Okonomiyaki– Okonomiyaki with pork belly and bacon bits! It takes ~20 minutes to make this, so make sure you order it early on in your meal. I think it has Hawaiian taro in it, nom!
For drinks, I had a hot sake and a strawberry chuhai! They make the chuhais to order and it was super easy to drink. My boyfriend had Kirin on draft, and they also have bud light on draft.
I was really full at the end. so I couldn’t have dessert. I would have literally exploded out of my dress, which would have been tragic, but hilarious. I did want to try their yuzu flan though. I’m a yuzu fanatic and if my boyfriend let me I would’ve probably eaten one and hulk ripped my dress.
Portion sizes were pretty big, especially the steak set, calamari and Okonomiyaki. My boyfriend and I can usually eat a lot, but this place definitely had us pack up some leftovers for him to eat at home.
Definitely recommend this place! Plenty of parking, friendly staff and the food is so good! It’s a nice spot for a date or a fun dinner with family and friends. I just wish it was closer to town!

This place is worth checking out! It’s a refreshing change compared to most Japanese restaurants in Kapolei. Very friendly staff, nice environment, and good food. There is room for improvement but that is to be expected during the first couple weeks, I can only see it getting better.
We ordered the Karaage Chicken, Potato Bacon and Cheese Okonomiyaki, and received a complementary side of Kim Chi. My boyfriend also tried the Peach Chu Hai and said it was pretty good. The Okonomiyaki takes some time to make but we received the Karaage right away so we didn’t have to wait long. The Okonomiyaki is definitely worth trying, especially if you’ve never had it before. Everything tasted very fresh and you can tell they take the time to make sure a quality plate is served.
We went around 7pm so it was during the dinner rush, we ended up waiting about 20 minutes. They seemed to have only one server, yet he still managed to do an excellent job by getting everything done in a very professional and friendly manner.
Will definitely come back and Can’t wait to see this place grow!

The food is pretty good. The steak is pretty tender and well seasoned. But the service is terrible. I asked what was in certain yakisobas and the waiter had no clue so he went to ask the manager, which took about 15 minutes. The salads and miso soup that comes with the steaks came last and we had to ask for our rice. Bad customer service honestly.

Everything was really unique with a delicious twist. Really good first impression and experience! I never normally drink alcohol ever but their Strawberry Chu Hai easily became my favorite drink. My friend and I halfed the Japanese Pancake.
The owner checked up on us to see how everything was which was a plus!
Will be back next time to try their unwrapped gyoza with cheese!