Tempura inaba Hanalei’i Sushi inaba Hanalei’i — Restaurant in Honolulu

We literally cancelled our teppanyaki reservation at Suntory after a horrendous experience at Tananka East to avoid another overpriced tourist trap on the Waikiki strip (go read the recent reviews and you'd know what I mean) and ended up at this gem of a restaurant. It's a bit further out in not the best neighborhood, but it's literally our best meal in Honolulu and it was worth every penny. Don't let the small number of reviews phase you, i-naba is the place to be for your teppanyaki experience. Chef Kobayashi was such a a delight. He skillfully prepared our muti course meal with devotion to the craft that is rare to witness in person. This is while our 4yr old is semi screaming in the background (sorry about this nobu-san).

The wife and I had the lobster set with waygu upgrade and one uni hand roll. All of which was super fresh and taste devine. The buttered lobster was silky, creamy, but not overwhelmingly fatty. The abalone was probably the best I've ever had. He cooks the abalone guts with a soy sauce fortified butter, which somehow creates a truffle esque profile. The lobster butter sauce and the abalone sauce is so good, I can eat bowls of rice with it! This is before the best part of the whole meal, the Miyazaki waygu. I am not sure what grade it is. I suspect its low to mid A4. I don't think my pallet is sophisticated enough, but it had a ton of marble and it was so damn good. Massive callout here is the wasabi, try it with your waygu and you won't be disappointed. This was my first time trying it with steak and it was eye opening how the wasabi brings out a hint of sweetness to the fatty protein.

The appetizers, soup, miso soup, and the ice cream were all very good.

This was not a cheap meal for sure. We definitely over compensated for the horrible dinner we had at Tanaka east. But it's definitely worth it given the quality of the ingredients, the dedication to the craft, and the superb service.

If you're reading this, thank you again for such an awesome meal Chef Kobayashi (and apologies again for our toddler 😅). We look forward to coming back in the near future and hopefully some referrals in...

Highly recommend this place! Our family tried the lunch special hamburger steak sets. Great value considering the level of high service, clean decor and dishes (this is a nice touch at some Japanese restaurants), and the fact that the hamburger steaks are cooked right in front of you!

Hamburger steak, for those who don’t know, is kinda like a Japanese Salisbury steak, but usually thicker and more tender. A staple in TONS of restaurants in Japan. So I’m always looking for good hamburger steaks in the US, but since most Americans don’t know the dish, there isn’t a high demand for it. Midoh has a great one in LA and Rowland Heights.

The assistant manager was also our chef. She was friendly. For lunch, they have a limited menu, but our food was great. For dinner they have an expanded teppan menu with many meats and other options.

If you know food, and also the Honolulu food scene, you probably know that the main Japanese Inaba restaurant is really special overall. Please support this newer sister restaurant and be kind! Btw, I’m not related to this restaurant in any way. I...

Go to 1726 S King. 1610 is soba. One side teppanyaki, 1 side sushi. Sushi/Sashimi...get the omikase for $120/person. Definaitely add any of the sake flights. Pull up your Google audio translate early on and you'll have an amazing time! Kakuya-san is very friendly and as good at English as most of us are with Japanese, so pass your phones back and forth to know what's going on. It was fun! This is true omikase, with fish (and snails) you've never heard of, let alone eaten before. Fish originates from Hokkaido, where Kakuya-san is from. Bring your kid (we brought our 4 year old who was on the verge of meltdown half the night), get them amazing soba for $10, slip them a bit of Sashimi here and there, and enjoy the best fish, mollusks and real wasabi you've ever tasted. My wife was very full, and I hit just north of hara hachi bu (I had a couple Sapporos and sake flight $20-30 for 3 types) Place should be packed every night. Don't wait until it is. Oh, and they have $2000+ bidet toilets and CVG fir trim and...