La Hiki — Restaurant in Oʻahu

What are you even doing right now? This side of the island, no other steakhouse compares! The menu is fantastic. The ambient sound of smooth mid volume live music with the slight breeze in the open air restaurant and the ocean lullaby is only the aperitif of when the first part of your food adventure comes out! Their house bread. Amazing texture, smell and flavor! Be sure to use their special butter! Then even to their base deviled eggs, each one was a delight! Perfect balance of mustard for a kick not to overpower. Juxtaposed with a house sweet/sour pickle underneath to add a fun zing. The Ahi poke needed zero extra seasoning. ZERO. A perfect balance of poke kicked up to the chefs version where you can feel the history and soul of this dish only lifted up to soar. I recommend getting brown rice to mix in. Has a slight snap to it that offsets the soft tuna texture better than white rice.

Now... without mincing words, every steak option sounded, looked and smelled fantastic. But without a doubt if you are staying here, go twice. You CANNOT miss some of these menu options! #1 whether you do it on your first or second visit, DO NOT MISS the local steak option! #2 Any other option is fair game and has one of the more exciting list of options I have seen in a while. I have been spoiled in life by places I have lived and traveled to, and this perfectly seasoned local steak cooked a PERFECT medium rare, rivaled even Don Schulas steak house on the mainland, at their best! Schulas has some of the best prime cuts possible on the market. They make damn good steaks. But this... yeah. I didn't even need to use a side sauce. Do get the Foie Gras topper it adds a soft buttery goodness that just makes this steak launch you to another universe!

I got the lobster mashed potatoes side. A great combination! Very well seasoned and each component melded together nicely.

Dessert options were "okay" but I already knew this place had to be about the main course options and was not at all disappointed. I was so sated that even the dessert I ordered was nearly unnoticed as I drifted off to Foodcoma euphoria with the music and the lullaby washing back over me.

Do not...

La Hiki at the Four Seasons Resort over in Ko'Olina used to be my favorite buffet of all time. Of all time, which is saying something.

So why the one star?

I am writing in response, or rather the lack of response I have received from management after I reported food poisoning nearly a year ago that I had dined here for their highly sought-after Sunday brunch buffet.

Admittedly, one of the general managers Sebastian did attempt to reach out to me by phone but I unfortunately told him I was in the middle of something and I would call him back. He understood and we promised to speak later. Then I tried reaching him numerous times but I could not get a hold of him, and neither could his assistant. I also tried to get a hold of the other general manager, Stephanie, but alas no luck even with her assistant.

I finally made one last attempt to contact them via email but I received no response unfortunately. I have the impression they were ghosting me.

So here I am, writing this review in retrospect having suffered a few days of gastrointestinal problems and nausea after having had some bad oysters from the buffet. I also noticed the quality of the food, especially the seafood, had gone downhill ever since they reopened back in 2022. Before my food poisoning episode, I had visited La Hiki for the brunch buffet twice with nothing but complete satisfaction. The establishment had always been expensive but I felt it was always a great way to treat myself to high-quality food with top-notch service and a comfortable atmosphere. Now it is hard to justify the price given it had gone up considerably more within a short span.

It is such a shame because I had loved this place but it is quite frustrating that management has...

I made two reservations and mistakenly showed up early for my first reservation but with a short wait we were able to be seated half an hour early. Both hostesses were very pleasant and our waitress was very pleasant. The food spread is pretty large. There is seafood by the pool and inside the buffet area. There is a omelet station, pasta station, prime rib station, poke station. Along with the usual fresh fruits, salad, breakfast, cheese and salami spread and a separate station for dessert. The buffet includes drinks of course non-alcoholic beverages for the price of $75 per person. I am local from here and we come to celebrate special occasions from time to time. Honestly I'm probably the wrong person to take to a buffet because I'm very picky. What I find missing is simple items like chicken, or some type of ground beef entree. The pasta station was not my favorite. The pasta was majorly undercooked and the sauce wasn't great at all. It tasted like a can of opened tomato sauce fried over hard pasta. The prime rib was perfect the seafood was amazing. The fresh lilikoi juice it's my favorite. make sure you get your parking ticket validated by the hostess. Spending $400 for 4 Inc tip I would like to see more variety for a main dish. Not everybody takes advantage of...