25 Best Restaurants in Oahu, Hawaii

Enjoy sunset views over the yacht harbor, live music, and signature "Guy-Tai" cocktails at this Waikiki landmark opened in 1969 by surfing legend Joey Cabell. The extensive menu maintains the midcentury notion of fine dining, with oysters Rockefeller, shrimp cocktail, and steaks (including a bison tenderloin from Ted Turner's ranch) alongside poke, macadamia-nut-crusted mahimahi, and the fan-favorite "Joey's ahi mignon." Early birds can take advantage of the "surf break" menu, and there's also a very popular weekend brunch (book in advance). Regulars perch at the bar, and in the dining room, local families, couples, and tourists feast amid the dark, cork-lined walls while admiring the lovely marina.

Putting a playful and creative spin on Hawaii regional cuisine, Kapa Hale has elegantly presented, upscale, fusion cuisine and cocktails by a local-boy chef. Menu items are changed seasonally and sourced locally with fun, wordplay names for different dishes.

When Lee Anne Wong, best known as a competitor on the first season of Bravo's Top Chef, moved to the Islands, foodies waited with bated breath for this, her first restaurant. It's a lively yet laid-back café, where she took the concept of breakfast and flipped it, creating innovative dishes like Elvis's Revenge, a peanut butter and banana tempura sandwich with candied bacon, and her signature dumplings, which change daily.

Perched along the seawall at historic Gray's Beach, in the luxe Halekulani resort, Orchids is a locus of power breakfasters, ladies who lunch, and those celebrating special occasions at Sunday brunch or dinner. The louvered walls are open to the breezes, sprays of orchids add color, the contemporary international dishes are perfectly prepared, and the wine list is intriguing. Highlights of chef Christian Testa's menu include a prime beef filet appetizer from Harris Ranch, a special lasagnette dish, and an abundance of seafood options. Enjoy sunset cocktails at the adjacent open-air bar, House Without A Key.

Dating from 1922, this historic café surrounded by the verdant Manoa Valley landscape is part of the Hawaii Salvation Army headquarters and has been independently operated by Ross and Stefanie Anderson since late 2018. A short menu of simple, delicious breakfast and lunch items are ordered at the counter and delivered to your chosen table, either inside the cozy, multiroom bungalow or on the covered lanai. The Waioli staff is largely made up of people in recovery from substance abuse who are learning the restaurant and kitchen trade, and a 3% vocational training fee is added to all checks, bringing the former tearoom back to its roots as a kitchen skills program for orphaned girls. There's a cute gift shop and plenty of space to linger in the lushness.

The spacious, airy 100 Sails continues the everything-you-can-imagine buffet tradition (with crab legs and prime rib, of course), along with plenty of à la carte small bites, an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients, and a commitment to knock-out presentation. And then there are the views—night after night, the sunsets over the harbor deliver stunning shows of color. For a delicious ending to a perfect day in paradise, accompany those vistas with a signature cocktail and the happy hour platter (cheesy fries, flat breads, taro chips, hummus).

This outlet of the popular retro diner chain—with four locations, including one at Windward Mall in neighboring Kaneohe—is across the street from a small bird sanctuary and has outdoor lanai seating and a bar. It's a hot spot for breakfast and Sunday football; popular dinner items include grilled steak with onions and mushrooms, baby back ribs, meatloaf, and salads. Kids and families love this spot.

Known for uncommon variations on common breakfast themes, this neighborhood favorite is tucked into a hard-to-find Kailua office park (call for directions). Local-style lunch plates are good, but the main attraction is breakfast, when you don't want to miss the guava chiffon and red velvet pancakes or the signature cinnamon macadamia-nut rolls. (The Waikiki location in the Ilikai Hotel serves dinner, too.) Be prepared to wait. The place is always packed for breakfast, particularly on weekends.

Escape the tourist traps and rub elbows with locals at this small, busy breakfast–brunch café, with outdoor porch seating and ocean views (come early or order takeout, as it closes early afternoon). Island favorites dominate the menu, including corned beef hash loco moco and lilikoi (passionfruit) pancakes for breakfast and garlic shrimp with mushrooms, fish tacos, and kalbi ribs for lunch.

Upstairs at International Marketplace and featuring a 2,000-square-foot lanai dining area, casual-chic Herringbone is a lively place for craft cocktails and dinner or weekend brunch. Emphasizing locally sourced seafood, produce, and other ingredients, the menu includes many raw bar options, as well as lobster rolls, king salmon, whole fish, salads, and flatbreads.

Everything about Hoku's speaks of quality and sophistication: the wall of windows with their beach views, the avant-garde cutlery and dinnerware, the solicitous staff, and the carefully constructed Euro-Pacific cuisine. The tasting menus frequently change, focusing even more on seasonal cuisine made with fresh, local ingredients (including herbs from the hotel's on-site herb garden). It's a popular choice for special occasions or for Sunday brunch, which is now a Japanese teishoku-style set menu. The dress code is collared shirts and slacks for men, elegant aloha for women (that is, no beachwear).

The Honolulu Museum of Art's cool courtyards and galleries filled with works by masters from Monet to Hokusai are well worth a visit, and, afterward, so is this popular lunch restaurant. The open-air café is flanked by a burbling water feature and 8-foot-tall ceramic "dumplings" by artist Jun Kaneko—a tranquil setting in which to eat your salad or sandwich, shaded by a 75-year-old monkeypod tree. You can also buy picnic basket meals to eat in the museum courtyard. There is no museum admission charge to eat at the café.

The placid younger sibling of boisterous Duke's, downstairs, resembles an open-air, plantation-period summer home with kitschy decor, stone-flagged floors, warm wood, and floral prints. The food is carefully prepared and familiar—with the occasional intriguing Asian touch—and dishes include steaks, locally caught grilled fish, and a few island-inspired options, such as the Loco Moco and tropical pancakes. Request a lanai or window table to enjoy the fabulous views of Diamond Head and the beach. Sometimes the music from Duke's resonates from below, allowing diners to enjoy it without the chaos of the bar.

This open-air, upscale taproom puts a local spin on classic American dishes and has an excellent waterfront view from its otherwise nondescript strip-mall location. A long beer, wine, and cocktail menu includes locally sourced drinks. The food portions are large, and TVs around the restaurant make for good game-day viewing or distraction for the kids. Stop here for lunch in between south and windward shore activities.

Livestock Tavern scores big with its seasonal offerings of comfort foods and craft cocktails and its cowboy-minimalist decor. Although meat, including some of the best burgers in town, commands the menu, offerings like burrata, creative salads, sandwiches, and fish round out the possibilities. Note the seasonal drink specials with creative names. Weekend brunch is also served.

A cozy, romantic space with a slightly sophisticated (for the North Shore) vibe, Maya’s serves up classic Spanish and Mediterranean dishes with island twists. Here, seafood paella is made with local line-caught fish and shrimp, a burger showcases Kunoa beef, and hand-tossed flatbreads come with roasted local veggies and macadamia nut pesto. Sit indoors at a table or the bar or on the patio overlooking the scene at the North Shore Marketplace.

This romantic restaurant on Waikiki's tranquil Gold Coast features beachside sunset views and traditional French fare. It opened in 1962, and the surroundings reflect this, with lots of wood and stone, bow-tied servers preparing lobster bisque and steak tartare table-side, and a charm that's beloved by old-time locals but sometimes lost on younger diners. Among the French classics (garlicky escargots, mustard-crusted rack of lamb) are local twists, such as yellowfin ahi tartare with tobiko (fish roe) and Hawaiian salt or steamed mahimahi. Brunch is served the first Sunday of every month. For a premium table with a jaw-dropping view, reserve weeks in advance.

Local farm-to-table guru Peter Merriman is known throughout Hawaii for his inventive and popular restaurants, and this one captures his creativity and locally inspired food mantra perfectly. Local slack-key guitar music and the gentle buzz of diners kicking back make this a nice stop for a leisurely lunch—that could easily slide into happy hour.

The name of this restaurant is the English translation of waialae (meaning a gathering spot around a watering hole). Renowned chef Ed Kenney explores modern interpretations of the Hawaiian foods he remembers from his childhood with an ever-changing locavore menu. Sit at the bar, on the lanai, or in the casual, homey dining room. Spread out and talk story with your neighbor. That's what inspired Kenney to open the place, after all.

Classic dishes from southern Italy’s Amalfi Coast dominate the menu at this sleek Four Seasons restaurant, with seating indoors, in various intimate and more social spaces, and outdoors overlooking a nature preserve. Locals come to celebrate special occasions, while guests from throughout the Ko Olina community come to feast on house-made pastas—especially the signature tagliatelle with truffle pesto and mushrooms—and multiple dishes that showcase Kona lobster. Valet parking during your meal is free with validation.

Tucked into the chic South Shore Market in Kakaako's Ward Village, Scratch Kitchen has hipster decor, an open kitchen, and creative comfort food. It's popular for breakfast and brunch and has both small plates and generous entrées on its dinner menu. The motto—"simple, rustic, approachable"—might seem a bit overstated, particularly as diners struggle to select just one or two things from the creative menu. But the good food, fun vibe, and location have people hooked.

On the ground floor of a glass-sheathed condominium, Tangö's spare contemporary setting stays humming through breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Finnish chef Göran Streng honors his heritage a bit with unfussy dishes such as gravlax with crispy skin, but the menu is, by and large, "general bistro," running from bouillabaisse to herb-crusted rack of lamb, with some Asian nods. The weekend brunch menu is a local favorite as well. The Scandinavian decor includes Marimekko prints on the walls, blond and birch woods, and cloudlike hanging white lamps. Don't expect a touristy experience: Streng caters mostly to his discriminating city-dwelling clientele.

This fancier sibling of the island's four Kono's barbecue spots focuses on Americana-tinged-with-Hawaiian food and drink served in a small, lofted eatery with a surfer-industrial vibe. Heaping portions of juicy smoked and grilled meats are the specialty, but the menu also has several great fish appetizers and entrées. Order à la carte or choose the Friends Night Out or Date Night prix-fixe meal options. The playful cocktails, several of which are presented under a bell jar filled with smoke, are worth trying. Note that most of the seating is upstairs, with bar seating below; brunch is also an option.

One of the North Shore’s liveliest eateries is set in a casual, contemporary space. It serves Hawaiian-style fare—from poke bowls and fresh wild-caught moonfish to nachos with ham and kalua pig on wonton chips—as well as pasta dishes, pizza, soups, and salads.

The Honolulu outpost of the NY-based original serves good steaks that have been dry-aged on site, as well as classic shrimp cocktails, slabs of Canadian bacon, crab cakes, creamed spinach, broiled jumbo lobster, and the token grilled fish selection. If it sounds like Peter Luger's on the Pacific, then it won't come as a surprise to learn that owner Wolfgang Zwiener was once head waiter at that legendary Brooklyn steak house. Stop by during happy hour for a prix-fixe sampler deal, or wander in for lunch and then spend the rest of the day lounging on the beach.