Onkee Korean Grill House — Restaurant in Honolulu

The world food tour stopped in at Onkee, one of the newest restaurants in Honolulu. It’s still in soft-opening mode but we wanted to try it before we’re off on other worldly adventures.

First up, a bottle of 2021 My Favorite Neighbor Cabernet Sauvignon ($125) from several vineyards around Paso Robles. It was dark, full bodied with dark fruit and surprisingly well-controlled tannins for such a young wine.

We ordered Beef Tartare ($32), Special Kimchi ($15), Green Onion Salad ($9), Ribeye Cap ($58), Tongue ($38), Washugyu Short Rib ($68), Dry-Aged Ribeye ($52), and White Rice ($3/bowl).

Four banchan arrived: a large plate of kimchi that I mistook for the special kimchi, daikon, cucumber / mushroom with sesame seeds, and cucumber kimchi. The regular kimchi was okay, I was disappointed until the real plate of special kimchi arrived. Whoa, it was a visual treat … A long piece of won bok with shaved ice kimchi sauce and green onions. It was COLD! While I liked the slightly sour taste, the temperature was far too cold for my sensitive teeth. The green onions salad was okay … I was somewhat disappointed as it lacked something.

The beef tartare arrived … The preparation was simple, carefully cut pieces of beef mixed with sesame oil served with an egg yolk, chives and pear. It was so simple, yet it was one of the best tartare we’ve eaten, IMO.

Our server, Micah, cooked our meat for us. He did a very good job but could have spaced out the process a bit more. He started with the ribeye cap … Wow, this was so flavorful and tender! Next came the dry-aged ribeye. Micah set the grill on low so it would give us time to finish the cap meat. There were two containers of salt; we tried one of them. I didn’t think the meat needed any additional seasoning; the beef flavor shone through.

The ribeye was nutty, as dry-aged meat should be. It was somewhat chewy … we informed Micah that we like our meat done to the rare side of medium rare and he adjusted the cooking times accordingly. The Washugyu Short Rib was next … Wow, it was so tender and flavorful … No seasoning needed. Finally, the tongue was on the grill. This is one of our favorite cuts of meat and we looked forward to it. Alas, it was somewhat tough, so I cut it into bit-sized pieces. This came with a sauce and lemon … The tongue needed this sauce.

We were too full to contemplate dessert, so we settled the tab and were out of Onkee in just over an hour. This is my primary “complaint”; the restaurant is very casual, and the service is fast, maybe too fast. This diner feels that, for $500+, one should expect a more leisurely...

Disappointing.

I really hate to be the contrarian, as people seem to love the food there and frequently give them 4 or 5 stars.

The restaurant is gorgeous, and you can tell the owners spent a lot of money on the design, furniture, fixtures and equipment. That along with the dishes and utensils were first rate. Just be prepared for a noisy dining experience.

The service was decent, but the server was not very friendly. I would say the reception was rather lukewarm. My wife and her friend are Korean born and raised, and the server sort of blew off my wife's question.

The presentation of the food is very nice. We had the lunch combos and they arrived on a nice tray with small dishes of banchan. We were also served a larger plate with baechu (won bok/napa cabbage) kim chee and a bowl with some oi (cucumber) kim chee. The taste was unlike your typical kim chee. It did not have the chili pepper punch, but a taste more akin to a mix of salt with sesame oil and fish sauce. Totally unexpected. This flavoring continued on to the banchan that came with our meal. There was a pickled style cucumber kim chee, that was more like Japanese tsukemono.

My mul-naengmyeon was the biggest disappointment. Granted, it was cold, but the temperature seemed as if the noodles, meat and egg were pulled from the freezer as they were very hard, and I had to break them apart. I had to ask for scissors to cut up the noodles. The soup taste was on the bland side, but some vinegar would help that out. I had one thin pear slice, and very little daikon and cucumber.

I thought perhaps my food was an anomaly, so I asked my wife about her food. The spicy pork, again, was on the salty vs spicy spectrum. I usually expect heat from spicy pork, but this rated a 3 out of 10 for heat. I thought the taste was pretty good, but she said it wasn't right. The chige was lacking in something. Her girlfriend gave similar comments about her combo meal.

We were expecting a lot, due to the presence of Michelin trained chefs, but were left disappointed. I gave an average of 3 stars because we did not eat their specialty of grilled meats. Perhaps that will be a different experience. However, when three people were not pleased with the food, it says something. Especially when two of them are native Korean, who just returned from a few...

I've been wanting to try this new supposedly elevated Korean restaurant. I finally came here to try it out for lunch with two other people so we were able to order a few things to share or to sample from each other's plate - how I usually do it haha. Overall it's a decent spot for lunch for the quality and the amount of food served. I'm not so sure about paying a lot more for dinner though.

I liked the complimentary kimchi and the cold seaweed soup. The kimchi had a good balance of flavors, crunch and was arranged in a tidy manner. The seaweed soup was a bit salty so I wasn't sure if I should be drinking the liquid part lol.

I got to try their steak on iron skillet lunch set, some bibimbap, kimchi friend rice and cold noodles, along with a bunch of banchan. I enjoyed the steak and the kimchi friend rice most. The steak had good marbling and had a good aroma. The kimchi fried rice had a great presentation and it tasted amazing too.

Strangely the kimchi that came with the sets were different from the bowl of kimchi for the table. It's more sour, more aged and less crunchy which I didn't care for. The bibimbap wasn't served in a stone pot which was a bit disappointing and I wish they would make it clear on the menu for non Korean speakers. The most disappointing item was the cold noodle. The noodle texture was chewy but the soup was so bland that it only tasted slightly better than salty water honestly...

I love the decor and the ambiance. High ceilings and huge windows. It definitely felt like an upscale restaurant. The service was friendly and helpful too.

Overall a good experience for...