GOEN Dining + Bar — Restaurant in Hawaii

I've never wanted to tip so low because of how ripped off I felt, but last night was the first. $130 with my wife for dinner and the complimentary water and edamame were the only things worth charging for. Food descriptions, presentation, and ambiance are all well done and thus 2 stars. The food and drinks failed to deliver. The broad menu options tells you they aren't focused. Ordered 2 cocktails. Rip Tai'd and the spicy mango one. Great ideas on paper - poor execution. Both had incorrect proportion of ingredients. First it's not understood that when multiple ingredients are blended correctly a new flavor should emerge that's complex. Instead you just taste a couple overwhelming features. Further large ice for alcohol isn't used, but rather small pieces for water. Within five minutes my drink tasted like water and all of its ingredients kept separating apart and the paper straw was soggy so it couldn't remix it. We were notified the mango drink was spicy, but a single sip of it upset my stomach for 15 minutes until food arrived. We both eat spicy food and enjoy hot sauce like Sriracha on lots of food. But this ridiculous - it was like spicy wings contest level of hot, not delicious heat. Also the drink wasn't chilled so we received a warm cocktail making it taste worse. Again the ingredients separated as I noticed my wife intoxicated after just a few sips to realize she was drinking the layer of tequila only. She mixed it up to dilute it, but stopped drinking cause she said it tasted worse... Also, additional spice and salt on the rim doesn't pair well with the spicy mango. Simplify it - sweeten the rim, tone down the heat, and prechill the ingredients. Just buy a beer - there's a decent selection. Mixed drinks is just not their thing. The buratta was recommended and should certainly be removed from the menu. An actual buratta should be tried before trying to create one - fresh mozzarella is supposed to be heated so it's melting when pierced. Both of us could not find any hint of lavender or honey as described on the menu. Some of the tomatoes were not fresh. Save your money, skip the appetizer, and split a salad. The goen greens salad was basic - out of the box mixed greens and slices of tomatoes on top. Proportions incorrect. The beets were good. They should consider store bought dressing, cause there's wasn't good. The ingredients mixed in the vinagrette didn't pair well, a yogurt based should be considered instead. The proportion was good for two people - I would recommend this, not for quality but for quantity and need to get your daily veggie intake. We both ordered the fish and chips cause they "are the bomb!" As the waitress put it. No they aren't. They have lots of good ideas, but again the execution falls short. Which makes me wonder if they lost their head chef with covid or they haven't trained their cooking staff sufficiently. Fresh fish is used as it was flakey and delicate. The beer batter was decent but kind of plain and over fried. It wasn't golden, but brown to dark brown. Consider mixing a herb in the batter mix. The tartar was decent but really strong. The pickles my wife liked. I was overwhelmed with the amount of salt across the whole entree I honestly couldn't really appreciate it as only it's saltines stood out so I was repulsed by it. The tomatoes were a good idea, but again struggle to fit into the bigger picture of the meal. First bite is great because of its strong flavor, but finishing this gets worse as you go on because it's overwhelming. Service: The person who greets you and takes you to your table was great - he was proactive ordering our drinks, getting us setup for the waiter, and seeing us out. Then there were 3 others for who I couldn't actually figure out was our waiter. None introduced themselves, and the first one went missing after awhile. Which is fine - but no one took lead after. We were directly in view of the staff and they just looked at us for 10 mins before bringing the bill. California pizza kitchen is better, focused, executed well, $30/person,...

I’m happy that many others had good experiences here, the food is certainly delicious and did not disappoint in any way. We had high expectations after a delicious meal at the Roy’s Turtle Bay resort restaurant and we looked forward to another Roy Yamaguchi meal. After being in Kailua for 3 weeks and denying ourselves indoor dining due to the start of the 6th wave of Covid-19 we could not resist the abundance of patio greenery, tiki torches, and the outdoor seating. We thus made a reservation for dinner, only available for 8:15pm presumably because we called the day of, and there were 6 of us. We arrived promptly and after several minutes we were ungraciously led to literally the worst table in the restaurant. We were next to a storage area of a dozen high chairs and the restrooms. We had a view of the kitchen. We were fully indoors at one of the few inside tables, with no tropical plants in sight. The lighting was glaring. It wasn’t pretty. We politely asked if it would be possible to move to another table. We were informed that there were no other tables available but they could check. A server arrived a couple of minutes later and we again politely mentioned our inquiry as to the possibility of moving to another table once one became available. We were told he would check. A few minutes later a third staff, presumably a manager came to tell us there were no other tables and it would be 30 to 40 minutes before one might be expected to become available, so… With no other information offered we said okay… And I guess that was the end of the discussion because she walked away. My teenage kids felt we should be grateful for the table and not complain. However the issue was less about the terrible table and more with how poorly our concern was handled. The fourth staff person to interact with us was our server who was lovely. She took our orders and did regular quality checks. Our food arrived promptly and was so delicious we became happy despite our frustration. It was surprising to be told it was “last call for hot food” at 8:55 when we were still finishing our appetizers and fortunately we were ready to place our orders for entrees. However we ate fresh innovative and perfectly cooked meals with pleasure and no complaints. So that was our experience. We tipped our server 25% and hope that she is happy in her workplace because it didn’t seem like her coworkers were. Won’t go back most likely but would recommend it for the food if you don’t mind spending a lot of money for...

This was an interesting dining experience. Goen is really focusing on being a drinking establishment for the Kailua town residents and it’s visitors by it’s design and offerings. The menu is limited, but what is offered is some amazing flavors.

The bites are amazing in variety and combinations. Try the Fry Basket for sure. You won’t be disappointed or feel guilty by eating the succulent Portobello mushrooms that have been french-fried and served with two different dipping sauces. My favorite was the bell pepper pesto since is added contrast to the fried mushrooms. The serving is enough for 3-4 people to taste. Next great treat was the Mussels. The lemongrass coconut broth gave it a light Thai flavor pizazz. It was served with some amazing toasted baguettes that I eagerly drowned in the broth and devoured.

For the plates, the Salmon was a great take on the Asian bento in a bowl. It was glazed in a kalbi sauce and served with Asian pickles and vegetables on rice. Not to big yet not to small of a portion. For the fresh market catch, they offered Opah “Moonfish” the evening we dined. It was very tasty with a smoky grilled flavor, but not dry or tough. The charizo and tomato emulsion added a spice to the background, but not to overwhelming. Just like the Salmon described about, it was served in a bowl rather than plated and the not too big yet not too small.

The desert offerings were pretty run of the mill except for the Halo-Halo. They took a classic Filipino iced treat and turned Hawaiian style with pickled mangos. It was a great meal finisher and very unique in it’s preparation. There was lots of open seating and variety of table options in and out set. There are no windows or walls on the sides, so you have a very open air café feel on the edge seating that continues to the inset seating. Noise didn’t seem to be much of an issue from the outside. All of the staff was friendly and super attentive.

One consideration is to possibly avoid going on a Thursday night. Due to the Farmer’s market right next to the restaurant , parking is very challenging, however it might be a good time to go as the restaurant wasn’t overly crowded.

Definitely will return again if dining in...