Binchotan Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Hawaii

I think the food was...ok. I've eaten at a lot of places and worked as a cook and that's the best I can say about it. I'll give you a quick rundown of what we got and you can see the prices in the menu pics below. Everything felt ~3x more than it should have been for the quality.

Hot Rock - beef portion was small (expected) but it was obviously presliced and had been sitting for AT LEAST 24h in the cooler. Should have been cut fresh to order, especially for $32. Quality was not comparable to real wagyu. (Served raw, cook on rock). 1/5, do not get.

Chicken Yakitori - Good. But not THAT good. 2 skewers. 3.5/5

Corn and crab croquettes - Decent. Sauce was not amazing. Curry powder was overpowering. 3/5

Tempura Cauliflower - best this we had. 5/5.

Pork Belly Fried Rice - I was excited for this but then I got it and I've had better on a food truck for $10. Kimchi was....from a jar? It was fine, just not great. 2.7/5

Short rib donburi - It was better than the fried rice, but not by much. 3.1/5

Drinks were ok but I got the martini and the last 20% of the glass was empty, which is like 50% of the total volume and feels super chincy for a martini. Would have been able to overlook that but it was like 2/5 for quality. Rest of the drinks were plentiful and tasted good though.

Overall, I wouldn't go back except for the cauliflower or maybe to try the ramen.

I understand the price is going to be higher since it's on the big island and in a resort but I expected some quality to match. Overall, pretty amateur execution. Disappointed.

Edit:After eating at more places in the area, this place REALLY disappointed me. I'm changing 2 stars to...

We have come here for breakfast buffet (orchid court) & dinner (Binchotan) during our stay and the service is unfortunately subpar.

The tables are filthy, food stains on wicker and bird droppings on the seat backs & cushions. Ants crawling all over them too. We had to ask to be re-seated twice due to gross tables.

The servers seem so over it with the guests coming in. They work, but haven’t been trained to provide an exceptional experience.

For breakfast, the egg line has mean hangry customers, the man cooking the egg has a tough job.

For dinner, my main complaint was no one explained what we were eating. They gave us green bread with butter when we noticed other tables had it, but we didn’t. I asked why the bread was green, green tea and the butter was sweet because they add honey to it. There was something on the edamame the kids got with their meal- only after I asked did they reveal it had yuzu butter on it. My kids like food they know and in this case, they did not like the flavor of the extra unknown taste to them. My chicken curry was very good. Presentation was beautiful and the food was unique and tasty. My husband got the ribeye and it came with a whole plate of broccolini & croquette which made it worth the cost. My daughter’s kid’s udon noodles were sad. They were $14 for something that could be made at home for $2. I felt my daughter’s bento dinner was nice because it came with edamame, fruit & rice- but the meat portion was unsubstantial.

I get the vibe that the servers are all just over it. I get the sense they don’t get paid enough and just deal with privileged mean people all day long. It must...

I’m not going to lie, I’m very perplexed by the relatively mediocre rating of the restaurant. I always keep an open mind and I’m glad I did. My husband and I dined there this evening to celebrate our honeymoon and The food was spectacular.

We ordered the Tuna Crispy Rice, chicken karaage, pork gyoza, crab and corn croquettes, hot rock wagyu beef and several delicious cocktails. The food was extremely well executed and was delicious beyond our expectations. Accompanying sauces really elevated the plates of food.

Our server was great- friendly and informative. It took a little time for him to get to our table but he checked in and apologized for the wait. It’s clear they are short staffed and servers are doing the best they can to manage it. Once he got our food and drink orders in he was on his game and made sure we were well taken care of. The initial service was a bit slow, but everything else made up for it.

Cocktails were delicious. The bar menu has an amazing chart of their drinks as far as light vs heavy/boozy, fruity vs sour and where each cocktail falls on that “roadmap”.

This place is much better than the 3.6 I’m seeing at the time of my review. Be patient and check it out. You won’t be disappointed. I hope to go back before we move islands.

PS: their breakfast buffet is amazing. You can find...