Harumi Izakaya — Restaurant in Honolulu

Izakaya Launch — high hopes, high price, and not quite full. 🍣💸

I came in excited — I saw the place pop up in a few Google reviews and even spotted someone raving about this “hidden gem” special dish… which, by the way, wasn’t even on the menu when I got there.

Still, I stayed optimistic. The vibe was cool, the staff friendly, and the setup felt promising.

But then came the bill…

Let’s break it down: • $100 for 18 small bites — and I mean really small. Flavorful? Yes. Filling? Absolutely not. • Add a drink, maybe two. • Leave a decent tip. Suddenly you’re at $140+ per person for something that didn’t even count as dinner in my body’s opinion.

Look — if you’re charging that price point, I’m expecting more than just good sushi. I want ambiance. I want plating that stuns. I want storytelling. I want focus and presence from the chef. And honestly? I want to walk out feeling like I had dinner.

Instead, it felt like I paid luxury prices for light snacking.

If this is meant to be a premium omakase experience, it needs polish, depth, and serious value adjustment. Because right now, it’s just a tasty sushi bar that thinks too highly of itself.

— Ilya #CyborgRecommendsTransparency #IzakayaOrNotEnoughaya #HypeVsReality...

The food was okay—just another sushi spot I wanted to try. However, the customer service was disappointing.

I called ahead to ask how long the wait would be for a party of 9. They told me about 35 minutes. Just to clarify, I didn’t make a reservation; I was simply inquiring about the wait time. So, my group and I walked over, and it took us around 30 minutes to get there, so the timing seemed perfect.

When we arrived, I reminded them that I had called in advance to give them a heads-up, to be nice and helpful. The staff looked confused and claimed they hadn't received any notice. I double-checked the restaurant on Google Maps and confirmed it was the right place. It was!

As a result, we had to wait an additional 30 minutes, and by that time, everyone was pretty hungry. They eventually told us they could seat us at two separate tables since our party was large, and we agreed since we were already there.

This experience made it clear they need to improve communication, both with their customers and among...

Food was good but the service was terrible. I usually dont leave reviews but the servers gave me attitudes for the entire time dining. Thought it was toddler friendly because they had highchairs and I went in because I thought I could feed my toddler yakitori and veggies etc but I guess they did not like that I brought my baby? I ordered more than $200 worth of dish and sake but not sure why they would give me that attitudes. The sushi omakase and other dish were served but the utensils were missing so we asked for the chopsticks and they forgot again so we had to grab them ourselves. And then I saw them looking at our table like whatever. I saw other tables around but they didn’t forget the chopsticks for other people dining around us. We had to keep chasing them for our additional needs for our table and didn’t meet any good service expectations. I still gave them decent tip but still left the restaurant discriminated, unpleasant, and disappointed like what the...