Tommy Bahama Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Hawaii

The quality of the food here was excellent, but the in part the execution and service were completely inept. Management in both the kitchen and front front of the house needs to be replaced.

We made a reservation for 11 people for dinner several days in advance. The restaurant was extremely crowded, and we waited over 20 minutes for our table, which was far too small for our group: all of our chairs were pressed against each other. Despite this, it was impossible to hear our table-mates other than those people we were seated next to or across from because the restaurant was so very loud. The server had to shout to be heard.

After we ordered, a few of us wanted another round of drinks, but didn't get the opportunity to order them. Our appetizers arrived. The macadamia-nut crusted goat cheese was nice; the dips were tasty but not worth the price; the asparagus was good but several spears lacked dressing and seasoning. The bread was undercooked and doughy inside.

No one came to clear our table after the appetizers, so when dinner arrived, there was nowhere to put the plates. We shoved things aside as best we could. Plates were dropped haphazardly as if the runners didn't know who'd ordered what or which direction a plate should be placed (psst: protein toward the diner!).

My 11-year-old daughter had ordered the ahi taco appetizer. When she thought the server had asked if she wanted two tacos, she said yes. He instead brought her two orders of four tacos each. Utterly ridiculous—but because the restaurant was so loud, I had no idea that she'd mis-ordered (if she did) even though she was sitting across from me. What server assumes a child is authorized to order two portions of something?

Both the steaks our party ordered were badly overcooked, medium well instead of medium rare. My husband sent his back. A new steak arrived only a few minutes later; the server told us they'd "stolen" it from another table. But this one was cooked well-done. My husband sent it back again. After awhile (the appropriate amount of time to recook the steak), he got another plate; this one was perfect. The steak was incredibly delicious.

We had to ask several times for my sister-in-law's Caesar salad, but finally we had all been served our meals. Aside from my brother's overcooked steak, which he chose not to send back, everything was terrific. My mac-nut crusted Mahi Mahi was wonderful, though the plate was a bit austere. My daughter's tacos were great, the shrimp and ramen dish was great. The food was high-quality and fresh.

It started getting less fresh as our plates lingered on the table, uncleared, even after some of our party stepped out for air. Clearing was even less professional than the entree service. Staff stacked plates up their arms as if they worked at a diner, spilling large lumps of food on the table and failing to return to clean it up. A few plates, like mine, just stayed on the table despite my parked silverware. Bread plates and extra silver were never cleared while we remained at the table. Even if we'd wanted dessert, the unappetizing remnants of our meal would have discouraged us.

When our waiter brought the check, handing it to me instead of the person who'd asked for it—ostensibly she was too far away to reach, from across the table, but of course she wasn't—he apologized again for my husband's steak and said they'd taken it off the bill. (I wouldn't have expected this; he finally did get a well-prepared meal and ate it all.) But in perusing the check, I found that this wasn't correct. Three orders of the filet had been entered, but only two removed. I pointed this out to the server and he fixed it. I didn't expect the steak to be comped, but if you say you're going to comp it, you should in fact do that.

Both the kitchen and the front of the house failed in some of the most simple, easy-to-avoid ways. The restaurant should not overbook; having more guests than you can accommodate detracts from everyone's experience. You have a name to live up to....

Tommy’s is just across the golf course from where we were staying. It has great reviews so we thought we’d give it a try! I purposefully dress down because I find it comfortable. If you don’t like the way I dress feel free to look away! I know I am perceived as someone with little money but that is definitely NOT the case. Tip oriented service is often a detrimental experience as a result, BUT I kinda asked for it because Tommy’s is uptown and I was definitely dressed downtown (probably lucky they even let me in)! My wife and I, both got the stink eye right off the bat! Front staff tried to run us off by promising long wait times at first and then seated us at the bar. As we were sitting there we noticed more and more tables emptying out way ahead of the projected wait time we were told! The whole saving grace was the bar tender who was in charge of our service! She had the same look in her eye, but provided near flawless service to us anyway! I imagine she saw through the disguise because of what we ordered. Believe me when I say she reaped the benefit too! I am a very heavy tipper when service warrants that! My mother was a service worker and taught me the merit of providing a decent tip to these often underpaid and undervalued workers. I don’t know! Maybe there was some kind of nasty smell in the air that day. Hopefully it wasn’t me! The food was excellent which is why I am giving the place such a high rating! Can’t go wrong with...

We arrived with a reservation and were seated only to wait for over 15 minutes for a waiter to notice that we were there, unsuccessfully. Multiple servers went by multiple times not taking notice that we hadn’t even been offered water; heck, even energetic hand waving and loud ‘excuse me’ made no difference, it seemed like we were invisible and inaudible. It took a trip to the front desk for something to change. After the dismal start, things didn’t improve. The waiter made us uncomfortable by adopting an oily insincere attitude and then taking a long awkward time opening the Prosecco bottle. He then spilled some while pouring. Then he placed the bucket by my side in such a way that I hit my elbow on it and had to move it. The main course arrived when we’ve just started eating the appetizers. Then we were asked how the main dish tasted while our mouths were stuffed full of it. He then spilled more Prosecco. For a $$$ restaurant I would expect the staff to be properly trained and the work well organized. It seemed that servers were working chaotically, tables often stayed half-cleaned for a prolonged time, the poor musician was crammed in a super uncomfortable spot where he was always in the way off clients and staff. The food was great, but overall the experience is a poor value for the outrageous price that...