Restaurant Review: HY'S STEAK HOUSE | Waikiki, O'ahu

KNEE-JERK-REACTION: Ummm... we should have gone to our favorite Steak House -- RUTH'S CHRIS @Restaurant Row.

Husband and I have a few things to celebrate so we decided to do it at Hy's Steak House in Waikiki last night. We celebrate my successfully passing the SAP Certification Exam. Second, husband got a new job. Yayy for celebrating great achievements!

LOCATION: Hy's is housed on the first floor of a condominium on Kuhio Ave in Waikiki. It is not the most convenient place to get to. A simple google search will get you there without a problem. Let the GPS guide you.

PARKING: Free valet --  nice touch!

DRESS CODE: Men are required to wear collared shirts. Based on the other women that were in the dining room, we aren't required to wear anything special. I saw women there with khaki capri pants and tshirts. **shrugs** Why did I go through the trouble of dressing up when, apparently, women can wear whatever they want?

RESERVATIONS: Yes! We did it online, through the Hy's website, "powered by OpenTable".

AMBIANCE: Dark. I felt like I was in an old white man's cigar room. The walls are beautifully finished wood and shelves filled with old books. There are paintings of white men with long white hair. Personally, I did not care for the art work on the wall. It would have been sufficient to feature the wood finishes and the shelving and books. The noise level was nice. It could be because we were seated, as requested, in a corner booth.

SERVICE: The staff were attentive but not friendly. Contrived? Yes! They were all trying a little too hard. Some of them felt..... rehearsed like they say the same thing to the guests over and over. And every dish you select is their favorite. **rolling my eyes** We interacted with five different servers throughout the evening.

Stewart took our drink order, delivered on the waters then took our order for the rest of the evening. The timing between delivery of appetizer to delivery of the entree was about thirty minutes. I am disappointed with that. What was even crazier is that not one server had come to tell us how long it would be or if we would like to order a drink. We just sat there until the entree was served.

FOOD: For appetizer, I ordered the Duck Foie Gras with Poached Figs and Brioche. This dish was one of two reasons we went with Hy's instead of going to my favorite place - Ruth's Chris. The one thing that came out of this one and only visit to Hy's is my new obsession with Foie Gras. It is, by far, the most delicious thing I have tasted in a very, very long time. If I do ever go back to Hy's, it will be for the Foie Gras. Even though it was an extremely tiny serving, it was very delicious.

Duck Foie Gras

Husbands appetizer was the Lobster Bisque. They only prepare this for the weekend crowd so of course we had to try it. It was tasty. I wish they had served it with crackers or toast. It needed some crunch for texture. A slice of toasted baguette would have been really nice to go with it.

I ordered Beef Wellington for my entree. I ordered it medium-rare. It came well done. There was not an ounce of pink. :-( I was supremely disappointed by this but did not want to make a fuss cause I was darn hungry. Ugghhh!!! This dish lacked seasoning! I should have ordered horse radish cream to go with it because it was so bland. Even the buttery crust did not add much flavor.

Beef Wellington

Husband had the 32oz Bone-In Ribeye. His, oddly, was medium-rare and he ordered his medium-well. Husband also did not make a fuss because he was darn hungry! Sad to say, the steak was not seasoned very well. We were all kinds of disappointed. We didn't even bother to look at the dessert menu.

Bone-In Ribeye

SUMMARY REVIEW: I would skip Hy's. The service is not exceptional. The food even less than that. What I liked most about my trip there was the foie gras and the valet parking and that's it.

Restaurant Review: Dukes Waikiki

Dukes Waikiki
2335 Kalakaua Ave #116
Honolulu, Hawaii 96815
Phone (808) 922-2268

Who says Waikiki is only for tourists? **giggles** For the most part, I agree that Waikiki is not the funnest place for locals but it definitely has some great places to hang out at. The decision to head out to Waikiki belongs to my husband. Our decision to go to Dukes Waikiki belongs to my ride-or-die cousin-slash-sister, Mahealani (a former employee of Dukes). We were supposed to get on a catamaran today but the wind was whipping and was too much for the catamarans. We had planned on getting on the sunset sail, which departs Waikiki Beach at 5pm'ish and docks about 2-3 miles out for 90 minutes or so. The weather was not in our favor to get on the catamaran but was still very beautiful!

So we didn't make it on the catamaran but we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon on Waikiki Beach. See pictures and captions at the bottom.

Background Info:
I am not sure if there are any recent developments regarding the serious legal battle over who owns the legally trademarked name and image of Duke Kahanamoku. For those unfamiliar with Duke and the legal battles, click here for a 2006 article that appeared in The Honolulu Magazine regarding Duke and the fight over the trademark.

This United States of America Legal System approach to the rights of its citizens makes no concessions for a person's ignorance of the law and how to navigate it. With the complexities of the legal system's administrative rules, an individual has a difficult time navigating the courts and this flows over into trademark issues like the Duke fiasco. Ultimately, the legal system is biased to be in favor of the claimant with the most money and the most outrageous legal team. There are very few underdogs that are in it for the long haul. Either one runs out of money to see it through and thus loses the lawyers or just don't have the endurance to see it allllll the way through. It is probably a combination of both.

AMBIANCE:
Dukes Waikiki is located directly on Waikiki Beach. Depending on the time and weather, you can catch a gorgeous Hawaiian sunset. The colors and hues in the sky is truly one to behold. The restaurant features dark wood walls. There are dark tables and chairs that are all very neat and orderly. The bar area boasts a beautiful bartop and gorgeous views. The decor is exactly what a tourist would desire to see in a Hawaiian setting.  In the busy rush during dinner and night cap drinking, the restaurant is bustling and loud. On the weekends, the evenings feature live music. Sundays are reserved for 70's Hawai'i icon, Henry Kapono, who has enjoyed a comeback in recent years.

Our visit to Dukes Waikiki featured Sean Na'auao and friends from 4-6pm. Sean Na'auao did very little singing but traded off playing the electric bass and acoustic guitar. The true star was a band member that showed up maybe 30-45 minutes late. When he got to the gig, boy did the music change. The group, surprisingly, covered Musiq Soulchild's Just Friends, which is one of my faves.


They had a nice mix of contemporary R&B and Adult Pop, some stuff from the 80's. They covered some Maroon 5 hits, lots of Bob Marley and Alpha Blondy, Journey, The Eagles. I was very impressed with the cover list. They even covered Waterfalls by TLC. It would have been really nice to see Sean perform some Hawaiian numbers. It is always so beautiful to hear the language of Hawai'i.


SERVICE:
I have to say that EVERY single time I have visited Dukes Waikiki, I have been met with excellent service! You will be treated as if you were the one and only customer in the restaurant. I love going there for the service and we always tip generously.

FOOD:
Breakfast - Dukes Waikiki offers a breakfast buffet that features regular breakfast items. This is NOT upscale eating. This is just a normal breakfast buffet that you could probably find in Waffle Houses across America but better quality.

Lunch - The food on the bar side is also their lunch menu. It is average bar fare: burgers, nachos, waffle fries, caesar salad, etc.

Dinner - Dinner features a full service salad bar that is complimentary to every meal. The appetizers are always a hit. Their dinner menu changes based on the fresh-caught fish. If I remember correctly, they have a few staples on their dinner menu. The value for this area is definitely the ambiance (more than the food).

PARKING:
Good luck with parking. They offer 2-hour validated parking at Outrigger East.

PICTURES:
I took these pictures on such a beautiful afternoon. I edited some to mimic old pictures with a vintage feel. These are indeed my own personal photos so I would appreciate it if  you get written permission from me before using the photos. Email me for written permission and instructions on using the photos or any content from this blog.

This was my view in front of me.

This view was behind me.
Total throwback to postcards from yesteryear.

The band is setting up.
They played beautiful music at a wonderful setting.

Santa Claus showed up. I could not stop laughing!

The roof hut is a touch of the tropics.

Once again...
a photo I vintaged with the iconic Diamond Head.

Sean Na'auao and his band.
The black and white makes it look like
it could be any era in Waikiki's history.

 

Restaurant Review: Kiss My Grits

LOCATION:
1035 University Ave
Honolulu, HI 96826
(808) 348-0626

Cozy and quaint restaurant;

Open seating - we sat at a Luau table outside of the building; the server came and asked us to move because a family wanted to sit there. That was NOT cool. If it was open seating then we should be able to sit where we want to. If not, then the server should seat us where they want us to sit before we get cozy.

AMBIENCE: casual. rustic. cozy.

SERVICE: **shrugs** Average service. Not something to write home about but they weren't rude.

FOOD:
Hubby ordered the chicken and waffles with two sides: Macaroni and Cheese & Collard Greens. He said the chicken had no flavor. The waffle was the best thing he ate on our visit there. The macaroni and cheese was really delicious on top. It was topped with slivers of fried chicken skin and some bacon. The greens must have been prepared in a health conscious way because there was no flavor. It is not authentic southern where the greens are prepared with ham hock or some kind of fat flavor.

I ordered the pork barbecue (pulled pork) with three sides: black eye peas, hush puppies, and cheesy grits. I also ordered macaroni and cheese and a biscuit. I wanted a sampling of everything because I was really craving Southern food and Barbecue. The biscuit was large and on the dry side. The apple butter that it came with was really good. I probably would have liked the biscuit to be warm so that when I put the butter on it, it melts.

The cheesy grits did not have any butter in it -- that's something I really enjoy about eating grits in the south is the butter and cheese. Southern food is about rich, full-fat flavors. I don't eat that way everyday but when I do want to indulge, Southern food is normally what I like. The grits was disappointing. Very under seasoned.

The macaroni and cheese was greasy and under seasoned. The macaroni was dry and not cheesy enough.

The black eye peas were decent but lacked fat flavor from ham hock or salt pork. It was missing that smoky flavor.

The hush puppies were perfect. It wasn't greasy and the batter was very delicious.

The pork was alright. I would have loved to have the ribs but they didn't have any. I would have also loved to eat some sausage but that wasn't on the menu. The two sauces that came with the pork left much to be desired.

The excellent thing about the food is the way they present it. It is really pretty on the plate! Overall though, the food was very under seasoned! The fried chicken was not fried to order. That sucks! Almost everything on the menu can be prepped and simmering on the stove so I don't know why they wouldn't drop the chicken into the fryer as needed.

PARKING: This is on University Ave @ Pucks Alley. Limited parking but the upside is that the restaurant validates - free for an hour. If you're going to linger longer, make sure you have money to pay for parking.

I don't know if I'll go back to this restaurant.