Kapa Hale — Restaurant in Honolulu

Most of the dinner was good other than poorly cooked seafood in one expensive entree. This was politely brought up with server only to be told it would be “passed on.” When no apology or follow up was forthcoming from the manager, a further inquiry was made to speak to the manager (who was also the owner). The chef/co-owner then came out and became verbally abusive — actually yelling and demanding we leave (this despite the fact that we had already paid the $400 bill and generously tipped the server). When we complained further, he literally began screaming and physically coming at one member of our party to the point he had to be restrained by his own staff. We ended up calling the police who ultimately said it was a “he said - he said civil situation.” Other diners were as shocked as us with the owner’s behavior and everyone agreed with us they’d never return. Wow! What an experience! We sure won’t be back.

I see the response that was given to the review written above. Just to be clear, we had eaten at the restaurant before and had a good dinner and a very nice evening. In fact, we thought the chef was talented. That’s why we returned. We even brought out of town guests. Of course we tried to resolve things in a low-key way with the server and manager, but that was an exercise in frustration, futility, and fear. It’s not worth the effort in this space to even attempt a rebuttal regarding all the completely false things the owner wrote in his response (below) to the review we gave, but we stand by everything that we described. We had no reason to make things up—and it was a member of our party who ultimately called the police when she became scared and freaked out. We’re always happy to give good reviews when we receive good service. We love supporting good local restaurants, and fortunately there are many of them in Honolulu! We have no idea what was going on with the owner on this particular evening, but we hope our experience was an...

Excellent service at Kapa Hale! Our host was incredibly knowledgeable about the menu and patient with all of our questions. He was also able to recommend drinks after asking about taste pallet.

The four of us hadn't eaten here before so we basically wanted to try everything. (And it was fun ordering the punny named dishes!) We ordered several starters: corn bread, naan/curry, octopus, and the special. Of these the "corny bread" was preferred. The naan in "naan ya business" was delish but the curry sauce didn't impress. We didn't taste the special, I can't remember what it was supposed to be now, because zucchini jun came out.

The entrées were so filling because they're so rich. So, though you might see small plates in the guests' pictures, keep that in mind.

We ordered the special (a porridge with shredded hamhock), two pastas (one comes with pork, the order does not, but noodles are housemade), and the steak.

The porridge was tasty and super rich, especially with that salty hock and after eating all those apps. The "pappardelle alla pork guisantes" was okay. My entrée was the "agnolotti alla funghi" and it was de-licious. The "Koji aged boeuf" a 12oz steak was hands down melt in your mouth wonderful. It was enough to share and, fortunately, take home extra.

We were stuffed but why not try dessert? We swooned over the oreo/coffee/chocolate pie (middle of the three menu options).

(I had water so can't comment on non/alcoholic drinks, but my friends enjoyed them!)

Overall, yes! Visit this place, try the rotating specials and definitely the steak. The service is top-notch and chef...

Don't let the small menu fool you, there was a lot of thought put behind it. Balanced portions with bright flavors and some uncommon pairings that definitely piqued my interest.

We noticed that a lot of surrounding tables were getting the naan and curry appetizer. The Tikka masala curry had the right amount of balanced sweetness with a nice peppery crunch from the watercress that provided a nice texture contrast. The naan was a little gummy internally for my liking and appeared a little undercooked, but the char on the outside mixed with the curry more then made up for it.

I ordered the Koji aged steak and while the char, temp, and flavor was absolutely spot on, my steak had quite a bit of sinew left inside of the cut which made it quite chewy and I had to spit some of it out as it was not edible. That's the only reason for taking away a star for which otherwise would have been a total five star meal.

My favorite dish of the night was the char siu Tako with lomi tomato. The combination of the caramelized marinade of the char siu with the extra soft Tako paired beautifully! Would definitely order again for sure.

Ended the night with a small selection of their desserts, my favorite being the avo-matcha made in heaven 2.0. The savory notes from the matcha and avocado roulade paired with the toasty and earthy flavor of the sesame tuile. I also enjoyed the preserved strawberry with the ume which lent a nice salty touch to round out the overall sweetness of the dish.

Would definitely come back to try the remaining menu items and for the exemplary...