Mezzo Bistro & Bar — Restaurant in Honolulu

Went here with a few friends and coworkers to try. None of us has ate here before...we will go back here...nah, it was alright. Parking is convenient since they are located on market city center, however finding parking on a Friday immediately after work...is a bit challenging. The interior of the restaurant has an almost similar look to the previous restaurant formaggio wine bar. So not much effort on "change". Service was OK. There were times we were waiting and looking around for service, towards the end of the night, they came more frequent. Our drinks and food came out whenever it was ready. Our group of 5 people, we first ordered 3 different types of drink. It took awhile for all the drinks to come. I figured highballs took a while to make vs an old fashion that's why the highballs came out later... Food was good, Local style Italian type dishes. We ordered crispy pork belly, Mezzo board, bruschetta, and the Mediterranean pizza (small pizza for the price). All were delicious, the pork belly, Mezzo board, bruschetta are my favorite. They also adjusted the bruschetta order for the 5 of us, since it's usually 4 pieces, that was nice. The other dish in my photos was the special, I forgot the name but was seared fish with a mildly spiced sauce on a gray plate. It was delicious. With the addition of price, since we ordered lots of drinks, and was there from 6pm to 10pm, it was not bad. About 60 to 75 a person. As we were leaving, seems like lots of groups/parties come to this restaurant, I don't suggest it to be a date night...the groups, including myself was loud. Lastly, there were several dishes I still wanted to try, maybe I'll buy it for take out. Good size menu...everything...

7/19/23. We came in for our 1 year anniversary dinner. Amazing everything. From the atmosphere, of the restaurant to the staff, to the food everything was a bit. We were welcomed right away at the bar and shown our table fast even though the place was packed. Decor was great, lighting great, and the place was very clean. Drink order were taken quick and came out timely. Our glasses were never once empty, and we never felt once like we were looking for our server/waiter. Onto the food, for our starters we got the bruschetta and the escargot. Bruschetta came out first, the bread was soft and every flavor from the tomato to garlic to olive oil came through. Onto the highlight, the escargot was really in a league of its own. Not to take away from any of the other food here but we were really blown away by the texture, and flavor of the escargot. Presentation alone was great, so much so we forgot to take a picture until we were almost completely done. Our entree was a suggestion from our waitress, a mix of the mezzo meatballs with their puttanesca sauce. The meatballs had a great soft texture and worked really well with the rich and robust flavor of the olives in the tomato sauce. We ended the night with their mud pie which was like an ice cream cake, not too rich, not too sweet, it was really great! Suggestions were great and I'd change nothing about the meal, we got the meet one of the owners too, Jun, who was really nice and welcoming....

My wife and I recently stopped in here on a whim after a wine tasting at Fujioka's next door, and had a really fantastic little date together. Despite it being a Friday night, we were able to be seated right away, though I'd still opt to make a reservation if I were planning to go here ahead of time.

The food was excellent. While it wasn't super cheap and wasn't huge, it was well cooked and just the right size. You're going to walk out feeling satisfied, not waddle out feeling bloated. Of particular note from our night was the pork belly, perfectly fried, which came with an amazing calamansi lime and jalapeno dip which was a superb pairing.

The drink selection is varied without being overwhelming. My personal choice was the whisky flight, which featured three well-picked varieties from a Japanese bottler.

The atmosphere is very chill and laid back, even with a football game on the TV at the bar. The older-skewing crowd were all talking at respectful volumes, the folks at the bar watching the game weren't shouting, and the American Songbook classics on the speakers were just the right touch.

Service was fast and attentive, the waters beside our drinks were refilled regularly, and the food came out with just the right amount of pause in between...