Fête — Restaurant in Honolulu

It all started with a text from a friend asking if I ever ate at Fête (pronounced "fate"). I replied "No" and she replied back "The chef/owner (Robynne Maii) just won a James Beard award". I had a daytrip to Oahu coming up with dinner plans at Piggy Smalls but wasn't keen on their limited menu so I ended up canceling them to try Fête. Congrats to her as she's the first female in Hawaii to win AND the award hasn't been won by a Hawaii chef since 2003!

ATMOSPHERE: Due to last minute reservations (a must, BTW), we had to sit at the bar which ended up being very entertaining as we had front row seats to watch cocktails being made. It's a small, cozy space with flexible seating for no more than one large group. A small room to the side where the open-view kitchen is offers a few tables but the fluorescent lighting coming from the kitchen clashed with the otherwise warm ambiance.

MENU: Mix of American, Asian and Italian dishes with a farm-to-table concept.

BEVERAGE: Spicy Kitty - $13.00 Perfectly balanced sweet & tart vodka-based mixture came in a ceramic cat mug with one of its ears covered in salty-spicy togarashi. I took it as a play on a margarita and licked the ear prior to taking a sips.

FOOD: Fête Spreads - $10.00 Delicious and a great bang-for-your-buck app! Nicely toasted and chewy sourdough bread slices were ready for three different spreads - ricotta cheese drizzled with honey, mac nut tapenade (my fave) and caponata (a thick medley of seasoned and spreadable veggies). The bread was a bit burnt but I liked their crunch and charred flavor.

Basil Caesar - $15.00 The subtle basil flavor was a surprisingly welcomed addition to the otherwise mainstream Caesar salad but for me the crispy shallots (think French-fried onions) set it over the top.

Korean Bavette - $27.00 This cut of flank steak is supposed to be tender especially since we opted for medium rare but it was anything but. While flavorful, we couldn't eat about 60% of it as we spit out loads of tough, gristly meat. Such a waste! On the up side, the fried rice was tasty with a nice crunch to it, similar to being cooked in a clay pot.

Kampachi - $42.00 (special) A tad pricey for the portion but I guess fish are prone to inflation too! The filet was warm, perfectly seasoned and seared with medium firmness. A creamy-savory orange sauce pooled the plate and complimented the fish nicely. Accompanying sides were moist sweet potato mash flanked with crisp plantain chips and sautéed veggies.

DESSERT: Olive Oil Cake & Vanilla Ice Cream I don't have a sweet tooth but took a bite of the warm and moist yellow cake just to try it. It was good but a bit too sweet for me. The vanilla bean ice cream was mainstream. Their rocky road ice cream was sold out so it must be homemade and good!

RESERVATIONS: I booked via Open Table a day ahead and got bar seating reservations for 5:30pm on a Saturday as no other times or seating options were available.

SERVICE: Greeting was immediate and professional. Harry, the bartender, took great care of us as we sat at the bar for dinner. Server Josh also was terrific and recognized my spouse as they used to work together on Maui.

OVERALL: A perfect end to my daytrip to Oahu. Everything was excellent sans for that...

First things 1st, went there for Anniversary this weekend b/c we wanted to try a James Beard award restaurant. Appetizer: Beet salad & Kualoa oysters. Very fresh salad, vinegarette like dressing, beets were cooked to perfection. Oysters were excellent and seasoned well, didn't know that Kualoa Ranch was growing oysters (in salt H20), they were steamed (I think) perfectly. Will order both again in the future if we return. Entrees: Steak and Fish of the day. Ribeye was aged appropriately and medium rare. Sumida Aligot was delicous. Fish was Kampachi from the Big Island. Both excellent and would order again, esp. the fish. Probably the best Kampachi I've ever had!! Dessert: Tiramisu like dessert and POG Cake. Tiramisu like dessert tasted mostly like rum, it WAY overpowered any sweetness or any cocoa flavors. The POG cake didn't contain the flavors of "POG", the lilikoi was too tart per the wife. We wouldn't order either of these desserts if we returned and were bummed that our meals ended on this note. We notified waiter that we would not order the POG cake again when we were asked for our feedback, our concern was only noted.

Service was excellent (except for when no substitute dessert was offered) as they are very attentive, appetizers were perfect, entrees were excellent as well. However, we felt that the waiter should have offered us another dessert when we expressed that the POG cake was not very good and that we would not order it again. I didn''t want it taken off the bill, my wife just wanted a good dessert on our anniversary :)

Lastly, my wife observed a waitstaff member drop a spoon, wipe the spoon off with her apron and place it back in holder with the other spoons. They appeared to be coffee spoons. Not being nit-picky, just an observation. It's such a small and intimate restaurant, one can see the kitchen and waitstaff if seated against the window. Ten second rule is okay when dining at home or maybe at a food truck, but not at an award winning restaurant.

Overall, I highly recommend eating here, it lived up the the reviews (except for our dessert). We'll be back and hopefully we'll have a better...

I went to Fete with 2 friends, and we got 3 cocktails, an appetizer to share, 3 entrees, and 3 desserts. We decided to get dessert only because everything else that we had ordered before was really delicious and exceeded all our expectations. The restaurant is located at the intersection of 2 streets, but it doesn't have a very visible logo. We were looking for the full restaurant name outside the restaurant but their logo is a big letter F, so even when we got there, we had to double-check to make sure we were at the right place. They have indoor, outdoor, and bar seating area. For drinks, we got spicy kitty, sushi Collins, and Kult following. All three drinks were really good. The spicy kitty was visually appealing and had a kick to it. Kult following was the strongest drink of the three, but it was also the sweetest. Sushi Collins was a citrusy and overall well-balanced drink. After the drinks, we ordered steak tartare as the appetizer for the table. The steak was finely minced. It was fresh and flavorful with a rich and creamy texture. For our entree, my 2 friends ordered their daily special - 3 oz. seared ahi tuna, and I ordered Korean Bavette. They both were delicious, but there was a day and night difference between the portion sizes. The portion size of the ahi tuna was really small and definitely not filling. Korean bavette, on the other hand, was filling with big portions. Korean bavette was hands down the best dish. It was very flavorful (on the sweeter end). Meat was juicy and tender. The side salad was also fresh.

For the dessert, my friends got vanilla ice cream and rocky road ice cream, and I got the bombolini. Of the three, the rocky road was my favorite, followed by vanilla ice cream and then bombolini. Bombolini didn't have enough chocolate sauce, and the doughnut itself wasn't as flavorful. The two ice creams, on the other hand, were super rich in flavors, had a very smooth texture, and the perfect amount of sweetness.

The indoor dining area had the tropical island vibe with rattan chairs and plants filling the space. Our server was very attentive and sweet. Overall, it was a great experience. I...