Upstairs at Pier 38 — Restaurant in Honolulu

Visit: Oct 13, 2023 6:05 pm - 8:40 pm

We walked in for the first time to Upstairs at Pier 38 and were pleasantly surprised with the atmosphere and ambiance when compared to Nico's (downstairs). It portrayed an air of elegant fine dining.

We sat at the bar for a few minutes and greeted by Matthew, the bartender. He was very pleasant and knowledgeable on the various wine selections. Soon thereafter, our Hostess was ready to seat us at our table. Matthew pleasantly offered to bring our wine to our table - which he promptly did.

Our server greeted us after a short wait and took our orders for additional drinks. Our Server returned after a short while with our drinks and recited the evening specials. Way too many specials were offered (5 or 6) and a couple of them should just be made part of the menu. Our Server returned after about 20 minutes, reminded us of the specials, and took our dinner order.

The meals began to be brought out by different servers about 40-45 minutes after ordering. We had a difficult time getting our Server's attention on several occasions. What had transpired during the 40-45 minute wait for our dinner was that our Server was also attending to a table right beside us with 15-16 people! I am not certain if our Server had other tables, but between us and the table of 15/16 people right beside us, our Server seemed overwhelmed from our perspective with no additional help in sight. The Server did do a "drive by" about 20-25 minutes after having our dinner served to ask us the customary and cordial, "how is the meal thus far?" Two of the four meals were "okay" but the Server continued to move on.

About 15 minutes after we finished eating our meal, our Server sent over a team to remove our plates. Our Server then returned (appearing exhausted) and asked us if we would like any dessert. We were given dessert menus and she returned after about 10 minutes with our dessert order. We ordered two desserts. Our desserts arrived 20 minutes later. Glad they were not left out to melt.

After about 10-15 minutes, we tried to get our Server's attention to get the final bill. It took another 10 minutes once I got her attention I had given her my credit card at the onset of dinner as I was surprising the other couple we invited. We were there a total of 2 hours and 35 minutes. Way too long for me/us especially with the wait in between evolutions.

Bottom line: I recommend better management of Servers. If you have a server assigned to an area, and assistance is needed, please provide additional servers especially to handle large groups (i.e., 2 Servers for groups/tables of 8 or more). Maybe they were short staffed last Friday but a few recurring reviews states that "Upstairs...was short staffed".

I do not intend to revisit Upstairs or spend $400 for the service rendered. Next time, I prefer to eat "Downstairs" at more than half the cost for...

So! I would like to share my personal experience and an opinion about that "fancy" Cafe....ones apon a time when i examined my credit card statement i realized some weird amount of changes on my account. i considered to ask my credit company what is going on and credit company for the process of investigation requested copy of receipt. i came to that place but it has been closed. sighn says: due to re covid19. later on i came back again and the place was open for the public. so i requested my recipient and provided THEM ALL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION INCLUDES PHONE NUMBER CREDIT CARD NUMBERS AND DATES. GIRL MANAGER PROMISED TO HELP AND LET ME KNOW. AFTER 2-3 after that visit i came today 2d of December 2022 and ask what about my question- no phone calls, nothing... Same manager who spoke with me in the last time called othe "manager " and he start lie saying: HE PESONALLY CHECKED EVERYTHING AND HE CANT FOUND NOTHING! LIKE I NEWER PRETEND TO BE THERE!!!... THAN, OF COURSE, they refused to provide a copy of the check. OR ANY HELP AT ALL!!! Apparently my suspicions about fraud in that business on the part of the institution were not in vain and for the right now there are some of use in the correctness of my suspicions. Management was tell lies about time frame of working of that business and about unreality for get that simple 90$ question to be resolve. Same time today thay was crazy mean to me and "recommended " me to resolve a question with my credit company and call PHD 911. JUST INSANE! HIGHLY(!) BY THE PRINCIPAL IM HIGHLY NOT RECOMMEND THIS "GARBAGE" PLACE... JUST RESPECT YOURSELF!!!!...

Such a beautiful restaurant and a lovely location for my grandmas birthday dinner. Thanks for making it memorable everyone! All of the staff were extremely friendly, informative, and punctual and ensured we were given a lovely dinner.

My family ordered the Spanish Octopus and French Onion soup to start and they were delicious! The octopus was tender, a little spicy and had a beautiful chimchurri on top providing exquisite flavor and tang. The French onion soup was boiling hot, cheesy and flavorful.

For the main course, I ordered the seared ahi and my son ordered the kids Mac and cheese. The seared ahi had the perfect sear with it being rare on the inside, the perfect texture for it. The accompanying brussel sprouts and potato’s were deliciously seasoned and I couldn’t get enough of it! Even the kids Mac and cheese was heavenly. The French fries were perfectly crisp and the Mac and cheese was cheesy and delicious!

I was able to try my mom’s misoyaki sea bass and that was deliciously tender and the misoyaki sauce was mild yet potent in flavor. Everyone else loved their dishes as well as all the plates were practically licked clean.

At the end, they brought out the cake we brought, and they were able to store for us, and we were able to sing happy birthday to grandma and they offered to cut and serve the cake for us as well. Even taking a group picture for our family.

Overall a truly memorable and wonderful experience for us and my grandma enjoyed her birthday. Thank...