Honolulu Skewer House — Restaurant in Honolulu

Very flavorful, fun, delicious, and a perfect date dinner for a cold and rainy night.

Chinese skewers feature tender cuts of beef, lamb, chicken, fish, sausages, and more, covered in generous seasonings and spices, heavily featuring cumin, and with a nice touch of heat. The skewers rotate themselves over the little fire that burns in the middle of your table, grilling over an open flame that imparts the smoky crispiness that can only come from BBQ. Helpful waiters point out the ones that are done, and if there isn’t room on your plate yet, you can keep the skewers warm on the top rack beside the vent.

My favorite dishes were the scallion pancakes, a crispy, buttery pancake that reminded me of Indian roti or a fried and flattened croissant, infused with the flavor of scallions. I also loved the refreshing, garlicky tofu salad that was topped in scallions and tiny bits of peppers. The lamb and the beef skewers each had their own distinct meaty flavor, but were both fatty and crispy and perfectly melted in our mouths. We also got the Chinese buns in condensed milk, which came on skewers for a quick grill, becoming lightly toasted on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. Dipped in the condensed milk, they were a satisfying and sweet palate cleanser for the end of the meal.

For dessert, we ordered the taro pancakes, which were crispy and buttery, similar to the scallion pancakes, but with a sweet, smooth blend of taro filling inside. Delicious. And we thought that was enough, but then the waiter came by with these beautiful candied strawberries that weren’t on the menu yet, topped in a light crystallized sugar glaze that cracked and crunched with each bite. They were sooooo good, and we were super satisfied by the end of our meal.

The food is a little pricy, maybe a little bit more than getting all you can eat Korean BBQ, but definitely worth it for the unique experience and the very different flavors. There is ample paid public parking in the lot across the street, at $2 for 2 hours. You should keep in mind, this restaurant is currently RESERVATION ONLY, as they are still only in their soft opening, so be sure to call in advance to make your reservation! The spots fill up fast, and we were only lucky enough to get ours because someone else...

This place literally saved our trip in Honolulu! The service is very friendly and we got seated immediately. The restaurant is super clean. The food is unworldly tasty, especially given how many ridiculous restaurants we tried in Honolulu these days… Read my story below and you will understand better the local environment and why this place is a gem.

Do you know that in Honolulu, you have to line up long time for a McDonald’s breakfast, even if it’s slow season? With so many tourists, the restaurants can make easy money only because the location is great. My boyfriend and I live in the center of Waikiki beach and have tried a couple of restaurants around. We followed Google reviews and only eat in places with 4+ stars. This strategy works well overall for many places, except for the Waikiki area. We had ahi poke - one that got reviewed 1000+ times - forgot to put soy sauce to the fish. We had salmon so smelly that has obviously gone bad. We also had coffee that’s even worse than instant…And they are all ridiculously overpriced. It’s beyond people like me expecting a wonderful vacation. But it makes sense economically, as the local market is running on one-time visits, which determines that quality is never as important as location. In such a market, if you are a little bit better than average, you get good words, tons of reservations, and ultimately not available for people who don’t plan meals ahead.

Unexpectedly, we came to this skewer house without reservation and it is phenomenal. I don’t always write reviews for restaurants, but both my boyfriend and I believe this place deserve more than 5 star and we want to show our appreciation that the food has made our day and our trip to Honolulu....

Came here at 9pm on a Tuesday with a group of friends. It was my first skewers experience involving a grill, and it was really fun! It was pretty easy to do since you just need to stop when the fire flares.

Our table of five was sat in 10 minutes. The meal can take a while to cook because there’s limited space on the grill. We were worried that we wouldn’t be full enough after our meal but the food had time to settle as we ate slowly.

Hanging pork belly - I really liked the garlicky sauce on the bottom. The presentation was cool too; I’ve heard of places where noodles are presented like that. For what it is though, it’s just a few thin pieces of meat and cucumber.

Mushroom medley was not in a saucy pan like we had thought, but was rather pan fried and seasoned. It was good, just a bit small.

Skewers - Some hits at our table were the mixed tendon and beef, king oyster mushrooms, lamb, and gizzard. The gizzard here felt more meaty than the ones you’d get at a pocha. We also had enoki mushrooms which were good but they took up a lot of space on the grill, around two at a time.

I loved the red powder and sauce on the table. It was so flavorful! I haven’t been to a skewer place that had that before. I dipped veggies in the thick sauce and meats in the powder.

Including tax and tip, it cost $28 per person for a group of five. I preferred choosing our own meats over getting the combos. Overall, it was a cool first time at a skewer experience like this and we left smelling less smelly than KBBQ although...