For my girlfriend’s birthday, we decided to go to Nick’s Fishmarket since she’s heard only wonderful things about this place, and she is a seafood lover.  I made reservations and let them know it was her birthday, because they normally have great service and give a nice slice of cake with a candle to commemorate the birthday girl.

Arriving to Nick’s, we were greeted by 2 valet people who promptly valet’d the car.  The lot was very very small…probably could hold about 15 cars total, and even if I wanted to park myself, you can’t really since it was valet only.  Good thing it was free, but you still should pay tip.

The restaurant is very elegantly laid out.  It’s not on the calibur of many other high end restaurants, but it does have a nice “homey” feeling, with dim lights and ample seating.  We were promptly seated and served water.  As we were looking at the menu, we were given their sourdough bread with butter.  It was very delicious as the bread in the middle was very warm and soft with a little crunch on the outside.  It was so good we went through two baskets.

When we finally decided to order, we wanted to start off with an appetizer.  We ended up ordering the Assorted Hot Appetizer Platter.  This wonderful platter comes with blackened sashimi, shrimp scampi in garlic butter, crab seafood cake, and oyster rockefeller.  But don’t let the assortment fool you…the portions were very small, as there were two slices of sashimi, one shrimp, one crab cake, and one oyster.  Needless to say, even with the small portions, they all tasted wonderful, especially the blackened sashimi.

For entrees, I ordered the Hawaiian Opakapaka, which is sauteed, and served with a sundried tomato, basil, and garlic butter sauce.  It is served on a bed of parmesan mashed potatoes and tomato confite.  They also included a slice of carrot and zucchini.  The fish was VERY tender and everything was piping hot.  The garlic butter sauce was extremely good, but if you are sensitive to things that are salty, you might want to look for a different dish.  But I do like salty things, and this sauce was phenomenol.  And it is more of a salty taste from buttery and not strictly salt.

My girlfriend ordered the seabass which was a very large portion of the fish over a bed of mashed potatoes, surrounded with 1 scallop, 2 shrimp, mussels, carrot, zucchini, and smothered with a tomato sauce with capers.  It was very tender and very delicious from the bite that I had.

Our food was complimented with a riesling and a blush white zinfandel.  Both were very good and decently sweet.

We ended the night with a banana flambe.  Make sure you order this dessert because it’s not on the menu.  Not only that, but a cook comes out and makes the flambe right next to your table.  In any case, they make their caramel with 3 different types of alcohol with brown sugar and butter, with a few drips of orange at the end.  And it’s not a flambe without the flames, which he did twice.  He also put in macadamia nuts on top of the cooked bananas that soak the caramel, then pour it over vanilla ice cream.  Pure bliss.

The total cost was about $132, but using our Entertainment card, we saved $28, bringing the grand total to $104.  Head over there if you want great seafood!

After 2 of my coworkers suggested Diego’s as the best Mexican food on Oahu, I decided to take a trip there.  This little Mexican restaurant is located on 2239 S. King St. right across Longs and next to a large park.  Parking is in the back…just take the street right before it and turn immediately to your left.  There should be parking for about 10 cars.

Walking into the restaurant, you immediately notice that it is a very very small place.  There are probably about 7-8 tables that can only seat 2.  At about 6pm, all but 2 tables were filled.  I ended up purchasing a combo plate that included a carne asada burrito and two rolled tacos.  The plate also came with Mexican rice, beans, and a medium soft drink.  This combo plate cost me $7.85.

The burrito was HUGE.  I mean, HUGE.  Cutting the burrito in half, I noticed that there was basically nothing but meat, meat, and meat.  I couldn’t believe how much meat was in the burrito.  It had to weigh more than a pound.  The seasoning was very tasty, but it wasn’t too spicy.  Even with their homemade salsa (very watery and not chunky like most salsa), the spicyness wasn’t there.  Then again, I did ask for mild.  If you are into hot salsa, make sure you ask for the hot one.  Anyways, the burrito had some sauce that I assume was sour cream, but very little of it, and specks of parsley.

Next was the two rolled tacos.  The tacos were actually deep fried, filled with ground beef, and topped with lettuce, shredded cheese, and sour cream.  The tacos were alright and nothing special, but it definitely was a good addition to the total cost of the combo.

The rice and beans were pretty standard and didn’t really stand out in anyway.  The beans were actually kind of mushy and a bit on the watery side, but somehow they still tasted decent with its unusual runny texture.

For such a hearty meal that cost less than $8 is outstanding.  I was left very full and very content.  By the way, I also tried their Mexican soda that they actually import from Mexico.  We tried the mandarin flavored one, and I didn’t really care for it that much.  Somehow there was this funny taste…kind of bitter and sour at the same time, which I assume is their carbonated water and most likely on all of their Mexican sodas.  The guy at the register (very nice individual I might add) liked the strawberry one, so if you are adventurous, give that one a try.  There are about 7-8 different flavors to choose from.

After experience Diego’s, I have to say I’m also a big fan.  While I still have yet to try many different Mexican restaurants around Oahu, I have to put this place as #1 for now.  Give it a try!

Wow.  That’s how I felt after eating the legendary Sunday brunch buffet at Halekulani’s Orchids restaurant.  It was for my girlfriend’s mother’s birthday, so we all went out to Halekulani this past Sunday to eat brunch.  We arrived at 9:30am and valeted our car to very friendly people.  After walking over to Orchids, we were seated next to the beach end of the restaurant, and were treated to a fantastic view of the ocean.  The server promptly asked what kind of drinks we wanted which were included in the meal.  They offered coffee, orange juice, cranberry juice, pineapple juice, guava juice, and water.  I tried both the orange and guava juices, and I ended up liking the orange juice much better.  The guava was slightly on the bitter side, and wasn’t that sweet.  It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t all that great either.

So what did they offer?  On one end, there was the usual salad area and cold section.  This included poke, thai beef salad, papaya salad, asian duck salad, tomato with mozarella slices, green bean salad, assorted sushi, sashimi, cheeses, cold cuts, soba, and the soup of the day just to name a few.  This section was OK, but the papaya salad was good as well as teh tomato with mozarella.  I also had their salmon with capers, but they lacked bagels and cream cheese.  Nevertheless, the salmon was delicious.

The next station was an omelette station that included LOTS of toppings.  What I remember seeing was shrimp, salmon, bacon, chives, onions, american and swiss cheese, tomatos, and mushroom.  The omelette was delicious and made very well.

Next, we went over to the hot foods/entree section.  There we found suckling pig (with the head still on!), roast beef, chicken, mahi mahi, bacon, rice, mashed potatoes, spicy sausage, turkey, assorted stir fried vegetables, and a unusually good warm pastry wrapped around cream cheese and topped with blueberrys.  I loved all the dishes, btu the spicy sausage wasn’t all that great.  They also had a puffed bread that was very airy and looked like a chef’s hat.  I forgot what it was called, but you get this type of puffed bread at Mariposa in Neiman Marcus, which is much better than the one at Orchids.  They do have a very nice lilikoi butter, which I wish I could purchase and use everyday.

Finally, there is the famed dessert section.  If you have a sweet tooth, you are in luck!  There are TONS of cakes, mousses, haupia, fresh fruit, cheesecake, and chocolate everything.  There is even an awesome ice cream station where you can get a wide range of toppings, including fresh blueberrys, blackberrys, raspberrys, caramel, chocolate, cherrys, macadamia nuts, and even lilikoi sauce.  The ice cream was definitely the best dessert for me, but if you are into lots of variety, make sure you stop by this hard to miss station.

My girlfriend’s brother was gracious enough to pay the bill for the five of us, but beware because it is on the pricey side.  Looking around the internet I found that it is about $50 a head to eat at Orchids.  But they don’t have trouble finding business since it was completely packed that morning.  Personally I would go back there again.  If you want to splurge on a great brunch with a great view, don’t forget to head down to Halekulani’s Orchids restaurant!  Oh, and don’t forget to make reservations.  From what I heard, it’s hard to get in without reserving first.  Happy eating!

Since my girlfriend’s parents were in town for the weekend to celebrate her birthday, we decided to get together and have dinner at Tsukiji Fish Market at the Hookipa Terrace in the Ala Moana Shopping Center.  I’ve heard some good and bad things about this buffet restaurant, but since it was new, we decided to give it a shot.

The cost of the dinner was $32 a head.  We were promptly seated since we had reservations.  After serving us water and tea, and asking if we wanted to have any other drinks (which are not included in the price of the buffet), they let us know it was OK for us to start getting our food.

The beginning of the line was a whole range of nigiri sushi.  It wasn’t that high quality, and looked more like something from fast food sushi places such as Kozo.  It made Genki Sushi look more appetizing.  I did enjoy the spicy tuna roll, and the unagi (eel) nigiri was decent, but the rest were very subpar.

We walked over to the next section that included more American foods like lilikoi BBQ ribs, fish, and chicken wings.  I didn’t really care for this section, so I went to the next section which was the crab legs.  This is where I was thoroughly disappointed.  The restaurant did not provide at crackers, and to top it off, they don’t even crack it for you.  In addition, the legs were really pointy and pokey, so it was hard to crack in half with your bare hands.  And when you finally worked hard enough to take out the meat, it was really dry and didn’t taste good at all.

The next section was a teppanyaki area, where they cook steak to your desire with bean sprouts.  This was pretty good, but there was no taste to the steak because they don’t add any type of seasoning or sauce.  The only sauce was shoyu that they had on the side.  Regardless, this was one of the better foods there.

The next section included more Japanese foods, like misoyaki butterfish (very tender) and chicken karrage (basically fried chicken, but it was suprisingly crispy and very tasty).  Those two were good enough to go back for seconds.

The next section consisted of tempura fried right in front of you and placed right under heat lamps.  There were the usual suspects of shrimp, potato, and vegetables.  They were surpisingly good as well, with the batter still hot and crispy.

The last station was a noodle section, where they offerred udon, ramen, and cold or warm soba.  I opted for the cold soba, which was very refreshing.

There was also a dessert section with a bunch of cakes that I never tried, but none of them looked good enough for me to pick up.  The highlight of the night was the shaved ice.  The shaved ice was very light and powdery, much like snow.  There were many flavors, including strawberry, banana, melon, and vanilla.  You can also top it off with azuki beans and condensed milk.  I mixed in strawberry, melon, and vanilla with the beans and condensed milk. By far, the best part of the night.  If I wasn’t so full, I would have one for seconds.

Personally, I would say take your buffet money elsewhere.  Some do enjoy this place though, so hold your judgement until you taste it for yourself.  As for me, I think I’m going to take my $32 and eat at Roy’s.

Every now and then when one of us Aloha Update writers heads out to a restaurant or fun place to visit in the islands we write about it. We share the experience with you all so you can be open to new things.

We think reviews written by common folk (what we’d call ourselves) are great. You get an opinion from someone who isn’t getting paid to write it. So with that we’d like to share our favorite reviews of local restaurants on the Island of Oahu that we’ve done.

We have to start out with our latest review on the Olive Tree from Anthony. I’ve been told by many that it’s great, now read his review and see if it entices you to go.

The second review we have to send you to read is the review Dr. J did on his favorite Korean restaurant Sorabol. Again I’ve never been, but I’ve only heard good things.

Next is the review on the new Waikiki hot spot The Yardhouse. I have been to this place and with it’s wide selection of beers you can’t really go wrong anytime you go.

The last one I’m going to send you guys to is one that I wrote. It’s a review on Nico’s Pier 38. The fish there is excellent and the atmosphere is unlike most other lunch spots on the island of Oahu.

Hope you enjoy! Looking through these reviews made me realize that I have to follow some of them and try a new restaurant or two.