Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
Sorry! We don't have any recommendations for Oahu right now.
Oahu is undergoing something of a renaissance at both ends of the dining spectrum. You can splurge on world-class contemporary cuisine at destination restaurants and explore local flavors at popular, very affordable holes in the wall. Whatever your taste and budget, you’ll find places that pique your interest and palate.
You may wish to budget for a pricey dining experience at the very top of the restaurant food chain, where chefs Alan Wong, Roy Yamaguchi, George Mavrothalassitis, Chris Kajioka, and others you've seen on the Food Network and Travel Channel put a sophisticated spin on local foods and flavors. Savor dishes that take cues from Japan, China, Korea, the Philippines, the United States, and Europe, then are filtered through an Island sensibility. Take advantage of the location and order the superb local fish—mahimahi, opakaka, ono, and opah.
Spend the rest of your food dollars where budget-conscious locals do: in plate-lunch places and small ethnic eateries, at roadside stands and lunch wagons, or at window-in-the-wall delis. Snack on a musubi (a handheld rice ball wrapped with seaweed and often topped with Spam), slurp shave ice with red-bean paste, or order Filipino pork adobo with two scoops of rice and macaroni salad.
In Waikiki, where most visitors stay, you can find choices from upscale dining rooms with a view to Japanese noodle shops. When you’re ready to explore, hop in the car, or on the trolley or bus—by going just a few miles in any direction, you can save money and eat like a local.
Kaimuki's Waialae Avenue, for example, is a critical mass of good eats and drinks. There you’ll find an espresso bar, a Chinese bakery, a patisserie, an Italian bistro, a dim-sum restaurant, Mexican food, and a Hawaiian regional-cuisine standout (3660 on the Rise)—all in three blocks, and 10 minutes from Waikiki. Chinatown, 15 minutes in the other direction and easily reached by the Waikiki Trolley, is another dining (and shopping) treasure, not only for Chinese but also Vietnamese, Filipino, Malaysian, and Indian food, and even a chic little tea shop. Kakaako, the developing urban area between Waikiki and Chinatown, also offers a mix of local eateries, upscale restaurants, and ethnic takeout.
Outside Honolulu and Waikiki there are fewer dining options, but restaurants tend to be filled with locals and are cheaper and more casual. Windward Oahu's dining scene has improved greatly in recent years due to the visitors to Kailua and Lanikai beaches, so everything from plate lunches to Latin foods to creative regional offerings can be found there. Across the rest of the island, the cuisine is mainly American—great if you're traveling with kids—but there are a handful of Italian and Asian places worth trying as well.
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.
Tiki's is the kind of fun place people come to Waikiki for: a retro–South Pacific spot with a back-of-the-bar faux volcano, open-air lounge with live local music, indoor-outdoor dining, and a fantastic view of the beach across the street. Chef Ronnie Nasuti turns out beautifully composed plates and puts fresh twists on the super-familiar—like spicy "volcano" chicken wings, watermelon and feta salad, or Thai-style shrimp puttanesca. Be sure to try one of the mai tais, which come in a variety of flavors, then settle in and stay a while. There's live music on most nights and an upbeat crowd at the bar. It may look like a place designed for tourists, but it's the locals who come back again and again.
Named for its address on Honolulu's premier Waialae Avenue, this restaurant brought fresh dining to Kaimuki when it opened in 1992, inspiring a neighborhood dining renaissance. Loyalists swear by the steaks, the crab cakes, and the signature dish, ahi katsu wrapped in nori (seaweed) and deep-fried, with a wasabi-ginger butter sauce. Others counter that it's overblown and stuck in time. Either way, the romantic atmosphere, attentive service, and neighborhood staying power make it a local winner.
This legendary indoor-outdoor restaurant has views of Diamond Head and an expansive terrace on the same level as the beach, so you’ll feel the calm, island vibes as soon as you arrive. Although it's open for breakfast and lunch, Azure has a much more sophisticated atmosphere in the evening, when you can choose from a selection of small or large plates featuring local seafood, meat, and produce, or you can try the chef’s multicourse tasting menu. Desserts, such as the Russian honey cake and the Baked Alaska, are delightful. If you want a coveted beachfront table (you do!), be sure to ask when you make your reservation.
Loyalists of Roy Yamaguchi's celebrated spots in Hawaii Kai and Waikiki are thrilled to find his North Shore outpost—a rustic, beam-and-concrete-floor pavilion literally on the sand at Turtle Bay. All the favorites are served at this more beach-casual spot, from the miso deep-water black cod to the beef short ribs, along with a more casual lunch menu.
At this elegant, indoor-outdoor restaurant in Waikiki's oldest hotel, try for a table on the veranda, which overlooks the courtyard and a majestic banyan tree. Although it's open all day—and even serves afternoon tea—the Beachhouse is an especially delightful spot for a sunset dinner, when menu options range from crab cakes and paella to pork chops and steaks. The bar mixes up craft cocktails, and there’s a massive wine list as well. If you would rather just sip a drink and have a small bite, grab a seat at the more casual Beach Bar in the center of the courtyard.
Highway Inn serves what it does best: local favorites like Kalbi ribs, kalua (roasted in an underground oven) pork sliders, beef stew, and old-fashioned hamburger steaks. This is also a great spot to try poi (the pudding-like dish made of pounded taro). It gets crowded, so expect to wait for a table.
Roy Yamaguchi is one of the 12 founding chefs of Hawaiian regional cuisine, a culinary movement that put the state on the food map back in 1991. Opened in 1988, his flagship restaurant across the highway from Maunalua Bay is still packed every night with food-savvy visitors and well-heeled residents, all of whom come for classics like smoked Szechuan baby back ribs or blackened ahi with soy mustard butter sauce. Local favorites include the miso butterfish and chocolate soufflé (which should be ordered with your entrée). There are also vegetarian and vegan options, not to mention an exceptional wine list. Although the Waikiki branch is busy, it's this original Hawaii Kai location that loyalists return to again and again.
This breakfast-and-lunch spot located in a strip mall was among the first of a new wave of plate-lunch places to take particular care with quality and nutrition, offering brown rice and green salad as options instead of the usual white rice and mayo-loaded mac salad. Sweet-and-spicy garlic chicken and mochiko (rice-batter-dipped and fried) chicken, adapted from traditional Japanese dishes, are specialties that bring locals back again and again. Service is quick and cheerful. Pick up a bottle of the restaurant's pungent garlic sauce to relive the experience back home.
Sign up for Travel Tips & News
Thank you for your interest!
