Hau Tree — Restaurant in Honolulu

When you consider how many great high end restaurants are in Honolulu, this one is extremely mediocre in food, ambiance and service. Food: The seafood (octopus, snapper and scallops) was cooked properly, not overcooked. The scallops were decent, but small. We ordered the entree which came with 3 scallops. Two were only a bit bigger than a quarter, and one the size of a half-dollar, but the flavor good. The risotto was probably the best, but there were very few mushrooms. The snapper and octopus both had additional sauces that were either bland or bad. The chef also seems to like to add pickled cauliflower to several different dishes and it was way too vinegar-y to complement anything. The brussels sprouts were extremely bitter, even to us, a family who loves them. Overall, food was extremely disappointing. Ambiance: This could be a nice venue, but the restaurant is connected to both the bar and hotel lobby as one big open space. You'd think that since it's open air, the sound would dissipate, but instead the sound from all those spaces echoes against the cement building and it was very loud. Loud enough that you'd feel bad for grandma. You definitely need to raise your voice to be heard. Service: Table was not ready at time of reservation. We were told to wait in the hotel lobby. When no one came to get us, we checked in with them again and they seemed clueless. We waited another 10mins. Gave us two paper menus for 5 people and we were told to use QR code, but it was too dark and I couldn't get it to work. There was a lot of staff, both at the hostess station and on the floor of the restaurant. But for some reason, it was near the end of the meal before anyone filled our water and I was to the point of rationing it because it was difficult to catch the eye of anyone to ask for the water. Waitress checked on us only once at the beginning. Then at the end she didn't ask how the food was. Only said "Yummy, huh?"...which it was not! Anyway, if you want a high-end lanai-seating experience, don't come here. It was so...

From the moment we walked in we felt welcomed by the amazing hostess, Lela who even let us pick our table of choice - which has never happened to us - we felt like VIPs! Then came the server, Juan who was beyond amazing with great recommendations and the friendliest most welcoming smiles we've gotten all year. He was genuine and gave off the best positive energy! It's clear this place is a well-oiled machine because we whispered that it was a bit hot since it was just before sunset and Nicole, a server for another table brought us some cute fans - THAT IS SUPERIOR SERVICE & ATTENTION TO GUESTS. PERIOD. The manager, Dell also came over several times to make sure everything was great and gave us his card so we could text him about anything should we need him. AND ALL THIS W/OUT DISCUSSING THE DELICIOUS, MEMORABLE FOOD on our plates - the chef & his team LOVE what they do and it shows in every dish they put out from the hamachi crudo, the BEST crispy octopus we've ever had, and the pasta dishes that took us back to Venice & the Amalfi Coast (no joke) & all before the wonderful almond cake & aperitif at the end of the meal. P.S. every cocktail was delicious and strong & the bottle of Malbec we got was perfectly priced. The lounge music from the nearby bar was perfect for giving the whole place a hip vibe without being overwhelming. OMG and the views, the SUNSET across the sparkling waves, the blue hour that followed as the Hau Tree lanai transformed under the warmth of the yellow lanterns hanging off the trees, plus the Waikiki Friday fireworks in the distance - we were front row for all of it. IF THE RATING IS 5-STARS WE NEED LIKE 10 MORE STARS FOR HAU TREEE...not only will we be back soon, but we will proudly share it with friends and family who visit the island. ONE OF THE MOST UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES WE'VE HAD THIS YEAR at a local restaurant (or maybe ever, idk) it was SIMPLY AMAZING & I couldn't stop...

I had a very bad experience in Hau Tree. Although the food was okay, the servers were too fake and feels like they were just after the tips.

I decided to have my honeymoon birthday dinner here and LUKE was the assigned server for us that day. His only job was to take our orders, punch it in and that’s it. He didn’t even serve the food himself.

In addition, we ordered different course of meals, from appetizer, salad, main course etc. But we weren’t even asked if we want to serve it all together or 1 by 1. I guess that’s just not a thing in there.

That part is understandable but after he gave our bill amounting to around 180 USD, I paid cash of 200 USD and didn’t ask for any change. (FYI, we don’t even do tips in my country) but I know I had to tip just to respect the tipping culture in the US.

Honestly, I had no problems with tipping until I asked LUKE to take a photo me and my wife before we leave, he said “OK I’LL BE RIGHT BACK”. We waited around 15-20 mins because we understood that he might be busy taking orders, but after a while we noticed that he was doing it on purpose. He definitely saw us standing there waiting for him and he chose to ignore us and pretend that he doesn’t see us or acting busy. In the end, we just asked for other servers to take the photo before we left.

This is just disappointing, we definitely understand that most servers live for the tip, and that’s totally understandable. But to be obliged or to be mentally demanded to give a certain amount of % is totally inappropriate. And the fact that he didn’t do anything besides punching our orders, I don’t see a reason to even tip a single dollar with that kind of service.

Americans should be aware that they do earn a lot more than the rest of the world (10x more compared to most asian countries), so that 20 USD tip is a one day salary of a worker somewhere. So please stop being entitled and learn how to earn it and...