GOHAN — Restaurant in Honolulu

Great casual dine-in spot for lunch (5 stars), but not so much for take out (3.5? 4? stars).

DINE-IN: The ingredients are fresh and the rice is cooked perfectly. They have a wide selection to choose from, from handrolls to grilled musubis and other specials (some sell out before closing). The texture and bite of the food are executed well, and I love how the food is prepared after your order goes in.

They also have onigiris available for takeout, which you can opt for if you're looking for a quick bite.

TAKEOUT: To-go orders are good but they don't really hold well and get soggy pretty quickly. The nori is packed separately so that holds, but the content itself is best eaten fresh. If you are planning on eating 30 mins+ after purchase, it won't be as good.

There was also an order mishap where I had made a list of 12 handrolls/onigiri/musubi but ended up with 20+. My friend went to make/pick up my order and showed them the list of things I wanted. I thought it was weird that the total came up to a pretty big sum. The huge amount of food explained the price 🥲

Overall I would go back to dine in but won't be getting anything to go (unless it's to eat...

Food was mediocre at best and service is completely lacking. The staff is just not very good with service at all and not very attentive. Two male servers just seem to be pushing work to one or another. The musibi was just full of rice without much of the topping. The only decent were the hand rolls. We waited very long for the food while dining in and each person's plates come out at different times. To top off the lack of service, when we were ready to pay the bill for dine in, the server told us to go stand behind the line of people who were getting to gos at the counter to pay. Had to wait another 10mins to just pay and leave while the server just cleans our table and refuse to take our check to close out, it was not...

My sister-in-law said this restaurant is the closest to eating delicious and quality handrolls from Japan. Naturally I had to try...

Each handroll is pricey, but its also very delicious. I was impressed by the tonkotsu and kakuni rolls, I wasn't expecting it. If you sit inside, handrolls are made to order and is balanced in flavor. Will I go again, yes i would, unfortunately I need to time it. They only open during lunch.

Service is friendly but if busy, can be hard to wave over. Atmosphere is very much like a business man style restaurant in japan. They also have pre-made quick to go musubis too.

Overall I enjoy eatting here. If it was more affordable, I could see myself coming here more often, but I understand it...