Lucky Belly — Restaurant in Honolulu

Lucky Belly had been bookmarked for a while now, and we finally made it in for dinner.

PARKING: We made 2 laps in the immediate area, found no street parking and ended up in a paid lot.

ATMOSPHERE: Very chic. Brick walls, big windows, high ceilings, exposed concrete floors. We sat at the bar. Seating isn't too plentiful. The a/c was a bit nippy.

MENU: Asian fusion apps, salads, ramen, entrees, and a unique selection of beers and mixed drinks.

FOOD: Lobster Shu Mai There wasn't a distinct taste of lobster that I was anticipating, but the 3 pieces that sat over a subtle beurre blanc sauce were moist and had a nice subtle flavor. Pricey at $20. Oddly this ended up being my fave dish of the night.

Shrimp Gyoza They do a twist on the traditional gyoza with this version that's filled with chunks of shrimp. The 3 gyozas were laid on pats of an edamame & avocado purée that had a slight wasabi note. The tanginess from the ponzu and pinch of sprouts were nice enhancers.

Pork Belly Bao Everyone is doing these nowadays. Their's is spot on if not monotonous along with the rest of the world who makes these. The buns were smaller compared to others I've had.

Belly Bowl I opted for this over the Lucky Bowl mainly due to the addition of the arabiki sausage. I'm not a fan of pork belly or thick chunks of bacon, but they came with, along with the standard bean sprouts, a whole medium egg, seaweed, and sprinkled sesame seeds. First off, the broth was warm, not hot, and killed the dish immediately for me. Is it so hard to understand the concept of hot broth + room temperature noodles = warm ramen? Sigh... The broth had a bold porky and slight creamy flavor with an appetizing color, but was a tad too salty even for me, and I rarely complain of overly-salted broth. Perhaps the simmered bacon took the sodium level over the edge. The noodles and bean sprouts were a bit overdone, the almost hard boiled and unseasoned egg was very lifeless, and the overload of seaweed tasted like the smell of marijuana. Less is definitely more.

Beast Bowl My spouse's dish. All of the ramen share the same broth, but this top-of-the-line selection adds in brisket, short ribs, and oxtail won tons. I had half of a won ton which was undercooked. The shell was doughy and super al dente at the edges, and the oxtail stuffing was laced with my kryptonite cilantro. Bleh.

SERVICE: We were greeted immediately by a smiley and welcoming gal, and seated immediately at the bar. The wait for a table would've been about 30 minutes, and there weren't too many to go around.

One of the guy bar backs doubled as our server. He was friendly, knowledgeable, and attentive.

The gal who greeted us has a sharp eye. She noticed that another patron was sitting in my spouse's chair which he actually offered out because we were about to leave. She questioned the party professionally but felt bad for us so she comped 2 of our drinks. So sweet!

OVERALL: Nice ambiance and food presentation, good apps, not my...

Unfortunately this place falls under my "overhyped" category. Nothing stood out as good and one dish was just horrible. Came here on a Saturday afternoon around 1 PM. There were a handful of parties so we didn't have to wait to get seated. A waitress came by and blurted out the special of the day, but she spoke so fast and in such a low voice that I didn't even bother paying attention. We ordered pork belly bao appetizers, scallop cone-sushi, and belly bowl ramen. The pork belly bao dish consisted of three baos. The amount of pork in each bao was on the small side and there wasn't much flavor. The ramen was just okay. The most disappointing dish had to be the scallop cone-sushi. First of all, the name is misleading as it's not a cone or hand roll which is what I was thinking. The dish is actually risotto with scallops stuffed in a tofu pouch. There are three of these pouches to be precise. Each one filled with hard scallops and undercooked risotto. It was so awful that I simply ate the tofu pouch and left the risotto and scallops on the plate. The atmosphere is nice and chill with a cool bar and some tables along the back wall and windows. Not a bad place to sit and take a break from the heat outside...just wished the...

Went here for lunch the other day with the work buddy. It's been a while since I ate here, so wanted to check if it still had the ono grinds. I didn't eat breakfast, so I decided to the BEAST BOWL. Wish we could've got some midday libations but we were still working. It wasn't that crowded when we were seated but by the time we left it was getting full. Got my BEAST BOWL, oh my words it had the meats, the umami, the meats, the noodles, the meats, the gooey egg, did I mention the MEATS. According to work buddy, I could've just said some of the meat and had it later with rice as snack or something, but why would I do that, you needs to eat all of the MEATS. I mean buggah was very filling and I am bulking for the summer. Hah. Anyways, the brisket and short ribs were soooo tender. The oxtail won ton, wrapped meaty goodness. I shouldn't have eaten it all, but I had to. Broth was nice and rich. KANAK ATTACK. It's a good thing we walked from the office, so the opu had chance for digest all the MEAT. I forgot the name of what work buddy got, but she liked and had some self control and saved some of her dish for snack time later. All in all, they still have the good eats. Staff was friendly and attentive. Place was chill...