Michel's at the Colony Surf — Restaurant in Honolulu

Great service, great food and post covid they are taking things very seriously. They take your temperature at the door, they placed the tables apart and everyone wears a mask. The only thing is they still have the carts they roll around for table side service and Im pretty sure thats not "covid safe" but I also dont think its going to cause a spread. They also do not provide fresh bread baked in house, they outsource it now and provide you with a fully packaged bag.

This is fine dining, so prepare to pay a lot for service and status as well as wonderful food at tiny portions. The menus come with your name on them which is a great touch of class

They first brought out abalone and mushroom soup, which was in a shot glass sized cup, but it was complementary so thats good.

We started off with the lobster bisque, which honestly as a great show but the flavor wasnt that great. I think they also put maybe .25 ounce of actual lobster meat in there so aside from flambeing it table side it wasnt that good.

We got the lobster ravioli as another appetizer and it was amazing. There are only 2 of them however they are big. Again though not a lot of lobster meat in them and for $28 I would hope for at least 4 ounces of meat. They are served on a bed of lettuce with a good dressing.

We also ordered the tableside Caesar salad, which by far was a home run. The tableside made sauce and their preparation was without a doubt the best Caesar salad I have ever had. This salad redeemed them from the lackluster lobster bisque and lobster lacking ravioli.

For our entree we got the Chateaubriand which came out as one large cut of filet. The preparation was spot on, the meat was wonderfully flavored and the presentation was magnificent. The tiny amount of potatoes and small vegetable serving was a little curious.

We also ordered the Chocolate souffle which was a decent desert, but nothing to write home about.

All in all our total bill was just shy of $300 but we did order 1 lobster bisque, 2 Caesar salads, 1 lobster ravioli, 2 entrees and 1 chocolate souffle. We each had 3-4 drinks. Serving a long board for $8 is ridiculous when you can buy them for $2 at the store and most bars charge $5. That presentation fee of $3 more dollars for a beer is ludicrous but again, you are paying for the ambiance, location and service all which were top notch.

I would give this place 5 stars but the absence of lobster in their lobster dishes as well as the honestly rather bland lobster bisque looses...

This restaurant is running on reputation and nothing else. The food is soggy and disgusting, with minimal preparation into it. Cheaper chain restaurants had better quality. Book at your own caution and don’t be surprised if you’re underwhelmed. Get new chefs. Note: Lengthened reading ahead of you. Read if you desire. Not impressed at all, especially for the cost of everything. The complimentary dishes were small and great, loved the idea, but the food itself was horrendous and not worth the cost. My boyfriend and I had the lobster bisque each, which consisted of one tablespoon of poorly divided lobster for two plates. Mind you, we did not split the bisque, this was a separate order for each. The bisque was very heavy and rich, which I understand is normal, but right in the middle you have the minuscule amount of lobster. For the price, it wasn’t worth it. The beach is flooded with kids yelling and running around, not exactly a beautiful scenery. We’ve had the reservations for almost a year now. Not worth it. After the appetizer was the main dish. We decided to opt out from a taste of michels as it was just the two of us and there were specific dishes we weren’t interested in. The main dishes were soggy and saturated in oil, nothing else, no flavoring or seasoning behind it. I purchased the oceans bounty, which was forgotten about for 20-30min and the incorrect plates brought out twice, almost three times. The ahi was straight pepper, nothing else, ruining the texture and taste of it. Simply put, I coughed from the extreme threshold of pepper used and I personally love pepper. The pasta tasted weird and off. The rest of the dish was underwhelming. The dessert was pathetic as well. The lemon drop was straight lemon juice, my boyfriend whom loves lemon drops, couldn’t get past one sip. I’m extremely disappointed in being forgotten about for 20-30min, the soggy food, the poor service and everything else. The building itself was beautiful, but the food simply wasn’t. Maybe our courses would’ve been edible if it had been received 10-20min after preparation, with no server stumbling and providing the incorrect dishes, time after time, Even after we reminded two parties of the dishes we ordered. Update: After reviewing other “Ocean’s Bounty” dishes, mine was NOTHING like that. Mine was quickly tossed together with each ingredient indistinguishable from what it was...

Overall: 6.5/10 Disjointed service, wrong orders, VERY long wait times and mediocre food.

Location: 9/10 Very easy to park and parking is really close to the restaurant. It's also just outside of the busy part of Waikiki, so traffic isn't bad.

Ambiance: 8.5/10 Beautiful sunset views and open air dining. The dining room felt fairly elegant.

Drinks: 7.5/10 I got the smoked old fashion and my wife got the Blue Hummingbird. While being served in a typical smoke box, I found that the smoke didn't permeate at all and the drink felt a bit on the light end of a pour. It had good flavor, but fell on the bottom end of the spectrum regarding strength. The Blue Hummingbird was good, but also tasted like champagne with a hint of flavor. As the ice cube melted, it added some flavor, but diluted the drink.

Bread: 2/10 The bread was actually a plate of what I assume to be large crackers. It was served with a semi firm butter and neither really had good taste. The crackers were pretty dry and lifeless, and the butter didn't help.

Appetizers: 5/10 Our table had Escargot and French Onion soup. The soup itself was good, but the pastry on top wasn't cooked through and semi-gooey. The Escargot was lost among the sauce, which was good, but masked everything in it. The bread served with it was hot, but fairly forgetful. Additionally, I waited about 45 min for my soup AFTER the Escargot arrived.

Mains: 6/10 We had to flag our waitress down to put in our food order, as we had already been there 90 minutes. My wife got the Beef Wellington and I got the Steak and Lobster. The Beef Wellington was cooked nicely and had good flavor, but the pastry wasn't crispy and the truffle sauce wasn't very good. My filet would have been better, but it was drown in a sauce that had been sitting long enough to solidify. The asparagus wasn't good, but the mashed potatoes were ok, even though the portion size was absolutely tiny. The lobster was middle of the pack. Not bad, but not that good. Our reservation was for 5:15 pm on a Saturday and we didn't leave until close to 9. Everything took forever and the wait staff was constantly bringing wrong items to various tables in our section.

Desserts: 8/10 We had a birthday at the table so we got a complimentary Creme Brulee. It was pretty good...