Empire Steak House Hawaii — Local services in Honolulu

Food and service wasn’t worth the price. Atmosphere was nice but loud. View was nice. Room temp was a bit warm at times. Piano player was great. Table for 2 felt a little narrow and small. Items kept having to be moved around due to not enough room on the table.

FOOD: 2/5 We ordered the Emperor Steak for 2 which was a Porterhouse. House bread, Calamari appetizer, mash potato and sautéed spinach. Dessert was apple crumble with chocolate ice cream.

Calamari was standard to any steakhouse, the sauce was tomatoey. Mash potatoes and spinach was fine.

Emperor steak was cooked well but the filet end really tasted like prime rib to me, which was not the taste or texture I was hoping for. Overall for $215 I would prefer Ruth Chris or Signature steakhouse.

Dessert was ok but mostly just enjoyed the chocolate ice cream.

SERVICE: 1/5 Our server was a kind gentlemen but he was serving too many tables. We had to keep waving him down to remind him about our order or drinks. Whenever he did come to our table it was either to give us an order that he forgot to put in earlier. Wife ordered a drink from the bar and it wasn’t ordered until his third time back when we were almost done with dinner. He came to take our bread, I said I wasn’t done with it. He asked if we wanted more. I said “Yes”. He still took the bread and never came back with more. Which was disappointing because I love having bread with my steak. During our service our server came about 4 times. The waitress refilling our water came 7 times. So that says a lot. It got frustrating watching our server help all the other tables diligently but we were kind of left hanging. Nevertheless I don’t fault the server, I fault the restaurant for not staffing properly and not having other staff cover each other.

ATMOSPHERE: 3/5 Nice modern restaurant with great views. The acoustics make it very easy to hear the other tables conversations. Which takes away from the romantic intimate dining feeling. Our table was up against the floor to ceiling window. So if you get nervous of heights you may get butterflies. As stated earlier the table was a bit small. So they keep coming around to take away or move around the plates. So it makes you feel a bit rushed to eat before they take the food away.

In the end we gave our server a 24% tip because he was working hard even if our personal service wasn’t that good. Still tho, with a final price over $400. I won’t be...

We were really looking forward to this dinner, but sadly it was the worst Mother's Day dinner I ever had and it definitely ruined the night for my whole family. If I could give no star, I would!

The restaurant has lovely view of the marina and Hilton beach. We arrived 10 minutes early for our reservation and promptly seated. The receptionist lady was very welcoming! 3 of us decided to order from the special Mother's Day menu, $120 per person including appetizer, entree, dessert and a glass of Prosecco. We also added a dozen oysters. Appetizer was great, tried to get waiter's attention was impossible but no big deal as they were busy. Prosecco didn't come with appetizer but a lovely lady kept our water glass filled. When we finally asked about Prosecco, it took over 20 minutes to show up. At this point, tables around us were all waiting, nobody had food on their tables. Things started to go downhill fast. 40 minutes go by, waiter finally stopped by apologizing for the wait "sorry kitchen is a bit backed up, everybody decided to show up at the same time" Ha? the restaurant reservation system took them in! Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiter pays no attention, and when he came by again, he said "yours coming up, it's #3 on the list". Well, another 45 minutes go by, still no food, but tables around us, despite arriving after us, got their entrees. We stopped the waiter and asked him for a manager, 10 minutes later no manager came by (I bet the waiter never told the manager). My husband finally went to find a manager, who came to our table 10 minutes later and offered to check on our order. No thank you! At this point, no food will be enjoyable. Your restaurant has ruined my Mother's Day, and more importantly, you ruined the precious time I get to spend with my daughter who is here attending college and who I only get to see a few times a year when we visit the island. I am glad I didn't pick your restaurant for her graduation dinner this week!

My advice to those who want to try out this place -- if you expect service, do not come here. And if you do come, be prepared to wait hours for your food. Save your money and go elsewhere. The view is not worth the pain!

And I have to wonder, where is management? No one from the restaurant has reached out. I guess they only comment on...

We visited Waikiki for our anniversary and received a local recommendation to try Empire Steak House for its beautiful view. Although the restaurant had only been open for two months, we decided to give it a chance despite our initial skepticism.

Before our reservation, we sat at the bar to enjoy a couple of happy hour drink specials. We had a great conversation with the bartender, James, who was delightful and clearly skilled at his job. The atmosphere was enhanced by a piano player, adding a nice touch with the music.

When we sat down at our table, a lady greeted us and mentioned she would be our waitress. We ordered an appetizer and salad from her. Shortly after, the manager introduced himself, which was a nice gesture. We requested a sommelier from another waiter, and the manager came over to give us wine suggestions. We ended up ordering our food from the manager since the waitress only stopped by our table once. We received more attention from the manager and another server named Alfred, who provided exceptional service throughout the evening. We made sure Alfred was well taken care of at the end of the night.

Now, let's talk about the food! It was probably one of the best meals we've ever had, and we were pleasantly surprised. A week later, we're still talking about it. We started with the grilled octopus and Caesar salad. The octopus was cooked to perfection, not rubbery at all, and absolutely delicious. For our main course, we ordered the beef short ribs and prime NY strip steak. We were advised to try the risotto, which paired wonderfully with the steak and ribs. Although the risotto was great, it was a lot of food since the ribs came with rice, which wasn't mentioned on the menu. The short ribs literally melted in our mouths, and the NY steak had the best flavor, cooked exactly as we wanted—perfectly seasoned. We ate a lot, from the start of the meal to the end! To celebrate our anniversary, they brought us a piece of cheesecake that we didn't need but still devoured. It was a great ending to the night. Thank you all for making it so special. I highly recommend trying Empire Steak House for its ambiance, service, drinks, wine, and especially the food. The views didn't...