Stonefish Grill — Restaurant in Oʻahu

We walked into a partially empty restaurant at between 9:00 and 9:10 on Memorial Day and were very excited that we could be seated right away. The hostess was friendly and answered a question about our meal choice (eggs Benedict) and took us to our table.

Unfortunately it was downhill from there. After 10 minutes of sitting our server had not come over to meet us. My boyfriend gave up and went to the bar to place our order but was sent back to our table and then our server arrived. We placed our drink and food order, however we were told that the eggs Benedict (on the menu we were given and the hostess had answered a question about) was a weekend only item and not available so we placed an alternate order. The pancakes came with a breakfast meat of our choice but since we don't eat meat the server offered to sub vegetables for it.

Our drinks came promptly but we found ourselves waiting a ridiculously long time for our food. After about a half hour the server came by to top off our coffee and water but still no updates on our food. After another 10 minutes or so we didn't see our waiter so my boyfriend went to the kitchen to ask about how much longer our food would take. They said that we were the 3rd ticket in line but declined to give us a time estimate.

The hostess (or possibly manager? We couldn't quite figure it out) came over to apologize and said that they had seated 7 groups in a row and that she should have told us that their would be a long ticket time. She offered us a discount and we asked how much longer it would be before our food was out to decide it it was worth waiting for even at a reduced rate. She went to talk to the kitchen and when she came back she completely avoided the question (only saying, when pressed, that no it definitely wouldn't be another half hour) but said that she was going to pay for the food. We got our food 15-20 minutes later and scarfed it down. There avocado toast wasn't bad and the pancakes were really good (not worth the hour+ wait but good). We never received our side of vegetables.

We asked for our check to pay for the coffee and tip our server on but were surprised to find that not only was our food not comped but there wasn't even a discount. After talking for a minute, my boyfriend decided to just pay it so we could get out of there instead of figuring trying to get it resolved. We paid the check and walked out the door at 10:47. The food was good and the atmosphere was nice but we won't be going back.

Edit: I forgot to mention that when my boyfriend was in the restroom, instead of knocking and waiting for a response, a server used their key to open the restroom door and use it, I guess assuming that it was empty and hadn't been opened for the morning. That in itself wouldn't be enough to ruin our impression of the restaurant but it definitely isn't...

Update, Jan. 2025. 3rd time at Stonefish. 1st review a year ago or so is below. We ordered the same 2 dishes we ordered on our 2nd visit in Oct. 2024. Both were delicious then. Not now unfortunately. The meat in the reuben with fries was shaped like thick cut bacon, I think it was pastrami. It was tough, far too chewy, had to spit out bites. The crab cake salad that was so good in Oct. was off, had a slight bitter after taste and 3 mini cakes vs 4 we got in Oct. Our waitress was great, friendly and very helpful. It seems maybe Stonefish has a new chef or something else has changed in the kitchen. Hope they fix this as we really liked this place, nice atmosphere.

1st review a year ago. Quick review, had lunch special, 'Today's Local Catch' with their curled ear fries and salad plus the Ola Boys Katsu fish sandwich with salad and an app of calamari rings and tentacles.

The fish with the local catch (Walu?) whatever that is was cooked perfectly, tender juicy, good. The "ear" shaped fries--never saw those before--were large but seasoned well and good potato flavor.

The Katsu fish (breaded tuna and deep fried) was good, on a sweet roll, sorta like brioche, had an interesting aoli type sauce which I liked. I did think the tuna was cut too thin though making it a little dry and not as much protein as I would expect.

The salads on both meals was a spring like mix with a couple of cherry tomatoe halves, a little cucumber slice and 2 thin strips of red and yellow bell pepper with choice of dressings. The salad was quite small, they could give you more I feel.

Unfortunately our calamari app didn't come until after we had our entree and it was slightly burnt, dark brown with a bitter taste and chewy like rubber bands. Obviously overcooked and not tenderized, a big miss on the calamari. We sent it back and they removed it from our bill.

Our waitress was very friendly as were the servers and hostess.

So much for a quick review, guess I find it hard to leave out some things. I would skip the calamari here but all else was good. I have been to Haleiwa several times, find it hard to find a favorite place to eat since Jameson's by...

Stopped for lunch today. Hubs had Cheesesteak w Onion Rings, I ordered Crab Cake Salad. Our service was terrific although she was pretty busy and didn’t offer her name. We are restaurant industry people so I suppose we have higher expectations. If you don’t mind average fare you will be fine here. Don’t bother w the onion rings. Frozen product that may have spent time near an onion. Cooked to perfection, if ya wanted slightly onion flavored crunch rings. Crab Cake Salad read well on menu. Unfortunately the crab cakes are mainly breading and… BONUS, mine came w a 4” blond/red hair embedded. So they def were hand made. With what what ingredients I am not certain… whole lotta bread crumb w white fish and canned crab was my guess. You won’t visibly discern any actual crab meat. The Pineapple Salsa must have been put together a day (or more) earlier. Points for the fresh mix leaf greens. They were fresh. Ultimately, the hair in the patty really ruined what was edible but lackluster entree salad. You have been warned. Staying locally and have tried a couple other restaurants. For the money we spent, there are at least two other nice places that have better/house made products to spend your money on. Won’t both going back. PS. We didn’t partake in any apps or bar drinks, so can’t say anything about em. I don’t usually bother doing neg reviews but… Hawaii is pricey. No one wants cheap/poor quality food for top dollar. There just was nothing about the food to bring us back. If I could have rated food at 2.5 I would have just because the hubs steak sandwich was tasty and...