Senia — Restaurant in Honolulu

We came for an early Valentine's dinner to avoid the madness of the actual Valentine's Day. The place is absolutely beautiful to look at when you're inside. Everything from the tables to the lighting to the utensil holder. Service is impeccable. We were seated right at the front so we could see a lot of what's happening between servers. We started with the "snacks" aka appetizers. The cigars were delicious and I wish I had more. This was probably the most savory item that I had from all our orders. It was more on the saltier side but not too salty. mind you, I am more sensitive to salt. The tarts were not what I expected. I thought it was a whole mushroom that was stuffed or something within the tart that had mushroom pieces. I really wanted to love this but sadly I was not enthralled. The filling was lighter than a moose almost like a foam. You are encouraged to take one bite. So I felt like a mouthful of foam in my mouth. An explosion of taste happened but again, I wish the texture was more chewable. For entrées we split everything. The sea scallops were delicious. Lots of different flavors on that plate. I am not a fan of kambocha in drink so I thought I would not like this. However I had had a taste of whipped sweet potato. I enjoyed this as a side and not paired with my scallop. I could've eaten the whole plate by myself. The tagliatelli was delicious with almost a light cream sauce. The sea asparagus was nice and and light and crunchy and added a nice balance with the sauce. And lastly the salmon. My Mr. fishes for salmon in Alaska every summer so we were excited to see how this was prepared since he also smokes his at home. Mind you it does say it takes 30 minutes to prepare. It all came in perfect timing as we sat and drank so everything flowed well. when we were ready for the salmon it came right in time. All right here we go: I would not say this even pushes feeding four people. Two at Best. I literally could've eaten it all by myself and the only reason why I ate most of it on my own was my Mr. said it was too rich for him. Hey that's more for me! The salmon was cooked perfectly in my opinion and melted in your mouth. My Mr. felt he could taste fake smoke which bothered him a bit. We like the set up as it was almost like a breakfast for dinner with the waffle, crème fraîche, compote, and cucumbers. However, I am not gonna lie we would rather have rice lol but I get it this is not L&L. This seemed more of a talk piece by layering ingredients on top of the waffle. I actually was not a fan of all of that on top of the waffle so I just used the salmon alone. We had the sommelier come by and give us suggestions for a riesling. I was given suggestions as well as a taste. He came back later on and said he thought about other alternatives based on my liking and I actually chose one of his suggestions which was a great choice. Not too sweet and not too dry. He also said whoever orders the wine the server should always serve them first and if that doesn't happen to scold them. We giggled throughout the dinner because the server always poured Mr. man's drink first. And no we did not scold the server. Would we come back again? Absolutely. It's a beautiful restaurant and the booth that we were sitting on offered some privacy where we did not see others dining. It is clear the chef put lots of thought to the menu with different...

2018 experience:

We ended up here on recommendation by a colleague of my spouse who is a chef.

ATMOSPHERE: The bistro-chic spot was pretty frigid inside which meant it was perfect for me. Contemporary décor and chill background music made for a total modern feel. A chef's table at the rear blended into the open kitchen. Seating is fairly limited so reservations are required, moreso for the chef's table and its tasting menu.

PARKING: It's luck-of-the-draw street stalls or in one of the area's over-priced lots or garages.

MENU: The menu rotates but unsure how often. Items I saw from a review from six months ago weren't listed when we went. We were treated to a mix of shareable dishes including vegetables, pasta, cheese, beef, fish, scallops, escargot and oxtail selections. The wine menu is extensive. There's also a separate tasting menu reserved for the chef's table.

FOOD: Kalua Pork & Cabbage Croquettes The four pieces were filled with a smooth, puréed-like mixture of kalua pork and other binders. Being a purist, I tried the croquettes plain but later drizzled on the accompanying chili pepper water and never looked back. It made the subtle flavor pop. Highly recommended.

Charred Cabbage I chose this on recommendation by a fellow Yelper. If you like the Brussels sprouts app that many-a-restaurants serve, you're going to love this. The combination of creamy, buttery, ocean-y, minty and charred flavors were simply amazing. Easily my favorite dish of the night that made me moan with every bite.

Maine Sea Scallops Ridiculously pricey for just two scallops, but dang it, they were expertly seared and extremely tasty. Crunchy corn kernels, artistically rolled up zucchini strips and a creamy miso sauce were nice accompaniments. Another highly recommended dish.

Spaghetti They had me at lobster. Unfortunately, this was just okay. For the price, I expected more lobster and a wow-factor. It was simply tomato-y and spicy, about a 3 on a 5-scale. I'm always apprehensive about ordering homemade pasta due to it not being cooked properly but Senia did a great job of it keeping it as al dente as possible.

Triple-Smoked King Salmon I was wondering why I kept smelling burning kiawe wood in the restaurant from time to time and it was because of this dish. The salmon comes covered in a smoke-filled glass dome and opened at the table. Honestly, the salmon was way too smoky for us. I also felt it was too soft but my spouse liked it. This dish is a twist on the chicken and waffles craze. Here, it was lemony waffles, a buttermilk spread, maple-caramelized onions and sliced pickles that came to the side and was meant to pair with the salmon. It did not work for me. Very over-priced dish and my least favorite of the night. Pass.

DESSERT: Mousse au Chocolat I'm not a dessert fan but I loved this! It wasn't overly sweet which was a huge plus for me. The smooth flavors of chocolate, banana and hazelnut were so good. And the crust! Moist and crunchy at the same time... Heaven. Highly recommended.

SERVICE: Everyone was terrific and worked as a team.

OVERALL: Mostly very good dishes. Mostly good pricing. That fifth star...

The world food tour duo dined at Senia at 5:30pm on a Saturday … we had to make our way between the people waiting to enter Pig & the Lady next door. While waiting, we spoke to an Australian couple that had a reservation at Senia the day prior but had problems as the restaurant didn’t open at the time of the reservation. Hmmm, we hoped that wouldn’t happen to us and, drum roll please, the doors opened at 5:30pm and we were their first patrons of the evening.

I perused both the menu and the wine list online, so we knew pretty much what we wanted … The wine list was slightly different, but I did find a 2020 Nuits-St-Georges Les Charmois by Jean Grivot. I was hoping for a slightly older vintage but the other wine I was interested in wasn’t available. The wine was fruity, slightly acidic but it turned out to be a fine wine; perfect for the food we intended to order.

Our appetizers were the Maui Venison Tartare and the Roasted Bone Marrow. Each were works of art, visually and taste-wise. The tartare was presented as a field of flowers; the cubes of venison were covered by tiny rounds of daikon, topped with pickled elderberries. It was served with toasted bread from Breadshop in Kaimuki. I’m on a low carb diet but I couldn’t resist having one piece of this delicious bread. Topped with a generous heaping of the tartare, I was in food heaven. The bone marrow was served with an oxtail marmalade, piccalilli (a mustard based mixed vegetable relish), three kinds of salt and toasted Hawaiian sweet rolls. Open the roll, spoon in some oxtail, scoop out some marrow, add piccalilli and a touch of salt and you have a complex mélange of flavors. One small nitpick … The oxtail was so flavorful that it overwhelmed the marrow. I wanted more but limited myself to just one roil. What a start!

We ordered the Duck Three Ways as our entrée with Charred Snap Peas and Cauliflower & Truffle Gratin as sides. Another visual delight: almost too thick slices of perfectly cooked duck breast surrounding a duck leg confit, almost like Chinese stuffed duck, but crispy on the outside, topped with a nice piece of foie gras. I thought I was eating beef or venison instead of duck breast. The charred snap peas were okay but nothing special; the cauliflower & truffle gratin was fine. The star was the duck.

We ended by sharing a chocolate dessert; another visual delight … Little pieces of chocolate surrounding a quenelle of pistachio sorbet and pieces of pistachio clouds. I paired dessert with a cup of Guatemalan coffee … A perfect ending to a perfect meal.

This was a fabulous meal, likely the best that we’ve had so far in 2023. The service was attentive but not obtrusive and the noise level was fine even with a full restaurant. Highly...