Asahi Grill — Restaurant in Honolulu

This hole-in-the-wall experience leaves something to be desired. This restaurant is a couple blocks south of the Blaisdell Arena. The service is what bothered me the most. One could argue that it's just that my expectations were high, but for you would-be guests, I'll let you decide.

I entered through the side/take-out door since that's where the parking lot is (there are double glass doors on the Ward Street side). Upon walking in, I noticed some chairs against a short wall. On this short wall was a sign that instructs patrons to wait to be seated.

The restaurant wasn't busy at all (maybe three or four of about 15 tables occupied). I sat and waited while the hostesses walked past me several times without even so much as acknowledging my presence. After sitting for a few minutes, a man walks in; walks passed me while I'm "waiting to be seated"; and then approaches a hostess, who then seats this man. Of course, I was baffled and pointed to the 'wait to be seated' sign.

Immediately after situating the man that walked minutes after I did, the hostess finally takes me to a table. The hostess that guided me to my table sets down a glass of water and the menu. Ironically, now that I have been seated, suddenly there is nothing else for the hostess to do, as she just stood by the table side waiting for me to decide what to eat - I felt rushed.

The menu does not mention what side dishes come with the entree and the hostess did not ask what I would like with my entree (rice, salad, etc.), heck, she didn't even ask me if I wanted anything to drink. I ordered the chicken katsu and immediately after writing down my order, the hostess told me to stick the menu between the condiments and the wall, then walked away. The menu mentions gravy, but I didn't get any, so if the gravy is part of the meal price, I was overcharged. My entree came with rice and mac salad, and the salad was warm, as if was sitting out. As soon as I tasted the salad, I spit it out. If substitutions are available, I wasn't told of any, so if you have any food allergies, consider asking the staff about their dishes.

If you plan to eat here, I recommend you lower your expectations, as the staff is very impersonable. I honestly feel the staff at the nearby Jack-in-the-Box had...

Good oxtail soup, but not the best.

we are oxtail soup hounds, have now searched out the best on Oahu, Maui and Kauai.

to date, of the roughly dozen or so places we've tried in the various Hawaiian islands, my opinion of the very elite best still stands to be Aiea Bowl in Oahu (aka bowling alley restaurant).

As for Asahi, frankly, we were a bit disappointed, as we had high expectations.

What I liked about Asahi : friendly staff. quality broth.

what i felt wasn't quite up to par with the best (or at least my taste preferences) : way too salty - so much so that it is difficult to appreciate the quality beef enriched broth

not much meat - ordered a "regular" (the medium size). bowl kinda small, but more over, the oxtails themselves contained a lot less meat that of the competition. my main goal us quality,not quantity. but frankly, the low meat content, larger boney oxtails just didn't do it for me. note - if your ever on Kauai, snd big portions is your gual, try Tip Top - crazy huge portions. 2 can share 1 bowl.

meat tender, but not as tender as the best places. please try Aiea bowl here on Oahu and do your own comparison. the meat here was tender, but a little stringy, just not super tender. at Aiea, it literally falls off the bone. even the cartilage and such are tender gel like snd delicious. we actually learned to make out own oxtail soup at home a few years back, but after many trials and variations, still never figured out how to achieve their quality.

conclusion - Would i love Asahi and frequent it if i was able to magically transport the restaurant to where i live in Texas ? Absolutely.

Would I go back while in Hawaii ? probably not. well, maybe try there other location once, but unless something's different, that would be it. Competition on Oahu is just too stiff. if i rate Aiea bowl a 10 for perfect oxtail soup, i would give Asahi probably more like a 6 (and the now chain-ish places like zippys or L&L similar in the 6 to 8ish range).

but just to put things in perspective, compared to all my searching outside hawaii (mainly in texas, and in NY), the very best I've found is more...

Well, it started off well with good service. The food was good, but once it came time to pay the bill the old lady working the register was super rude after I paid and demanded a tip. She literally picked up the receipt and slammed it down and said you must add a tip. Now, don't get me wrong, I always tip when I like the service, the servers are doing a lot like delivering the food, topping off drinks, checking up on us, etc. However, in this case, we ordered two regular sized Ox Tail soup and one ramen oxtail. They delivered the food to our table, which is part of their normal business process and requires no tip. They did not check on us, top off drinks or provide any extra service, so no tip is required. Fortunately for her, I was in a good mood since I was in Hawaii, so I let her rudeness slide without backslapping her across the face. I seriously almost walked out, but I decided to give them a whole $5 since the start of the service was decent. She was less than thrilled about the $5 tip, but she's lucky she got that. Here's a tip for her, who I assume is the manager. Learn some customer service skills. Smile. Check-up on your customers. Top of drinks. Do things that are deserving of a tip. It didn't help that I just got back from Japan, where they ACTUALLY do things deserving of tips on a regular basis and receive $0 in tips. I mean they ACTUALLY work super hard and make you feel special and receive $0 tips. At this location, they take your order and bring you food. That's it. The old lady thinks you should tip them $100 for this. Avoid this place. I found out from a local that this isn't even the original Asahi Grill. They are just capitalizing on...