Mina's Fish House — Restaurant in Oʻahu

My husband called a week in advance to make reservations and to inform them it would be the two of us and our 2 month old.

Check in: We arrived at 7:30 p.m. and were told that we made a reservation for 8 p.m. so we couldn't 'Check In' and that they would just come call us when it was 8 p.m. at 8 p.m. on the dot my husband went to see about a table and they told us they would come call on us when they had it ready.

Seating: Mind you, we already informed them ahead of time about the baby. When my husband went to check on the reservation, he had our daughter in her car seat. They could see we had an infant, they could have maybe taken that into account when seating us. They sat us outside in the open, under the coconut tree. The waiter who showed us our seats told us we could just put the car seat in one of their seats. That would have been Ok had the ground where they sat us outside not been uneven, the seat sinking in sand therefore made the seat wobbly. I had to maneuver the seat half towards me, half towards the table and pack sand on the bottom of the chair leg to make it sturdy. I wish they had taken into account the fact that we had an infant and sat us at a better location. Instead they sat us directly by the pathway, where everyone was walking and drinking and we could barely hear each other talk.

Ambience: the hanging lights and the tiki torches were very beautiful. Very well lit. They had live music and the singer sounded so beautiful, we could hear her great when we were waiting by the pool for our table. But, when we were seated, we were so far away we couldn't really hear her and the sound or her mic kept disconnecting.

Drinks: They were very expensive and VERY strong. If you wanted to have a very nice, well balanced drink, make sure you let them k ow to go easy on the liquor so you can actually taste your food. The drinks were so strong we couldn't enjoy it with our dinner like we wanted to. We didn't finish them. It was a waste, because had they eased on the alcohol, it would have been perfect.

Food: The Garlic & duck fries was ok. We couldnt really taste the garlic and the duck was nonexistent. Maybe they meant the sauces that came with them, but those werent that great either. The Taro chips with dip was very good! The Butterfish and Chicken were melt in your mouth good. They were the saving grace for this place. Was it worth the money charged? Not really.

Service: Our Waiter was very nice. Very hospitable and attentive. Very sweet guy. Made sure we were good and our waters were always filled.

All in all. It just didn't feel family friendly to us. The check in process & the girls tone set the whole mood for our dinner. Maybe its family friendly to parents with older children, but definitely not for couples with infants. I could have asked for a better table, but I didn't want to ruin our anniversary any more than it already was by asking to be seated elsewhere. Maybe they thought our infant would scream and bother the other patrons, but our baby sleeps through all kinds of noise and she never once screamed or cried while we were there. We chose that time because that's when she would be asleep. Most definitely won't be coming back here...

We walked over to the restaurant from Aulani using the beach path. We arrived a little early for our reservation but we were seated right away. Got a great table with a great view of the ocean on the patio. Damon was our server for the night and he was super funny and chatty with our group. All the staff were friendly which added to the pleasantness of the evening and enhanced the dining experience. There were 4 of us in our party and we elected to do the prix fixe menu at $110 each. Note that if one person elects this then the whole table must get it and Damon mentioned it is available for pairs- not single diners. One of our dishes we selected was the lobster pot pie which is an additional $85 on top of the prix fixe price- but worth every dollar. Would highly recommend this restaurant!

Ordered an espresso martini. A little on the stronger side. I originally ordered a Carajillo but they didn’t have the liquor needed for that drink. Still good and finished it!

Chef treated us to a mini taco. Don’t remember what it was but it was super good and a nice treat before we ordered!

Started with Ono Tataki - good flavor and nice consistency.

Japanese Hamachi Crudo & Pacific Oysters - very light and slightly citrusy. One of my favorite dishes of the night!

Spanish Octopus - had a little kick and was super tasty. Octopus had a good consistency and not chewy. Another favorite dish!

Shishito peppers - this was one of my favorite dishes! Nice consistency and not too spicy. They were perfectly seasoned!

We each got to pick our entrees we shared family style- ordered 2 Miso Black Cods, Filet Mignon, and Lobster Pot Pie. Miso black cod and filet were both good. Cod was perfectly cooked and flaky while the filet was also perfectly prepared at the requested medium rare temperature. However, the dish of the night was the lobster pot pie! It arrived in a copper pot with a nice flaky outer crust. They plate the dish table-side. First the crust is cut off and placed on the plate then they reconstruct every part of the lobster for you on the plate. Lastly, the remaining contents in the pot are placed onto the plate. Hands down the best dish!

With the prix fixe you get either the garlic fried rice or broccolini however since there were 4 of us, they gave us both sides. The garlic fried rice was so good!

Ended the night with a complimentary chocolate cake since we were there to celebrate my...

Came here for birthday dinner since I was staying at Four Seasons Ko Olina. Despite reading the mixed reviews decided to gamble and give Minas Fish House benefit of the doubt . The next day I wrote this review and didn't feel great about the experience and wanted to share it with people who are on the fence eating at Minas.

Tuna and fois gras 2/5 Fois gras was perfectly seared but tuna steak had too much tendons in the muscle and eating it raw was a challenge. Noe's tuna appetizer just blows this dish out of the water. Can't recommend this dish..the attention to details and care is clearly missing .

Spanish squid 3/5 Mediocre. The chunks of squid was cut too small. The seasoning and the greens were okay but it was thrown into a bowl and tossed around and visually plated like a salad. If you've never had Spanish squid before this one definitely ranks at the who bottom. I felt like the management decided to put it in the menu because it's a popular item at other restaurants. They need to rework the visuals and also the recipe. It's it's really lackluster. Nothing exciting.

Tomato salad. 1/5. ( Terrible) Mostly arugula and a few chunks of flavorless tomatoes. Totally missed the mark. They should take this off the menu and not serve it.

Bartenders special 5/5 Decide to take a gamble and go with a bartender special. It was a really unique cocktail made with mezcal. Hard to describe what salad it was terrible but flavor notes were complex. Smokey sweet sour umami.

Final thoughts If you want to stay someplace close to your hotel at the Four seasons Mina's fish House is a great option for beachside views and livemusic. Set lower expectations for the food and of course you're going to pay resort prices and that's just the way how it goes. You're not going to recommend your friends this restaurant.

Tips: If you sit on the lower level, you'll be eaten up by tiny biting bugs. They're so microscopic but there's a lot of them there. Try sitting up on the upper deck away from the upholstered patio furniture. If you come for seating around 6:00 p.m. The sun is still out and most of the customers sun shiny directly on their face at an angle. I noticed that the restaurant offers diners personal umbrellas as there are no actual umbrellas on...