Honolulu is a city that is rich in dining and drinking choices. Cuisine from all cultures can be found here in abundance. The competition to capture part of the tourist market (5 million persons annually) makes restaurants innovative and very conscious of quality. Whether you are in the mood for seafood, Chinese, Italian, French, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese or good old American fare, Honolulu will not disappoint you.

Waikiki
Hawaii’s premiere vacation destination, Waikiki, boasts every imaginable kind of dining establishment. Every large hotel has at least one restaurant and some boast five or six; most are very worthwhile. For great steak, your choices are many. The original Chuck’s Steakhouse in the Edgewater Hotel is in the top tier for beef, and the Lewers Steak & Seafood in the Marc Suites is a strong contender. Seafood places are everywhere in Waikiki. At the Lobster & Crab House in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, a large tank of live Maine lobsters is positioned at the entrance so that you may pick your clawed choice for dinner. La Mer, in the Halekulani Hotel, is a nouveau French seafood restaurant that is one of the top-rated establishments in Hawaii.

Many residents and visitors consider Matteo’s in the Marine Surf Hotel to be the finest Italian restaurant in Waikiki and Honolulu. The superb menu is served in an intimate setting. The wine list here is also one of the best in town. Duke’s Restaurant and Barefoot Bar is also in a class all by itself, offering great food, live Hawaiian music and a fantastic beachfront location. This is the place to be on a Sunday afternoon after a refreshing dip in the blue Pacific. A
Honolulu institution and an absolute “must” for any gourmand is the original Chart House Restaurant overlooking the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor. The food, service and sunset are simply wonderful. For Japanese Teppan-yaki, try Tanaka of Tokyo, with three locations in Waikiki. A Japanese fast food favorite, the Ezogiku Noodle Café, also has three locations in Waikiki, not to mention several more throughout the city. Chinese food options also abound. House of Hong is one of the best.

Chinatown
As might be expected, Honolulu’s Chinatown features some of the best Chinese restaurants in the Pacific Basin. In addition to regional Chinese establishments, you’ll find other authentic Asian eateries. Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean and Indonesian food is available and in most cases, very reasonably priced. There are about 10 restaurants in and around the Chinese Cultural Plaza on King Street. Enjoy buffets, dim sum, or inexpensive a la carte meals from all regions of China. One of the best known restaurants in the Plaza is Legend Seafood Restaurant. As the name suggests, seafood of all kinds is in the spotlight here. It’s a noisy place reminiscent of modern-day Hong Kong. The dim sum lunch is not to be missed. Many excellent Vietnamese restaurants are in this district; the most famous is probably Pho 97 on Maunakea. It’s easy to confuse them, but don’t worry too much about it; the menus and prices are comparable. Anyone sampling Vietnamese cuisine for the first time needs to order a huge, steaming bowl of Pho, the
ubiquitous Vietnamese soup.

Downtown Honolulu
The center of this fascinating melting-pot city offers a wide choice of dining establishments. Straddling the border of downtown and Ala Moana is Restaurant Row on Ala Moana Boulevard. Among the restaurants found here are Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse—the only location on Oahu—and the trendy Sunset Grill. Several blocks away, the Aloha Tower Marketplace at the Port of Honolulu also boasts a number of excellent dining choices. The Big Island Steakhouse on the second level uses only beef grown on Hawaii (“The Big Island”). Hong Kong Harbour View Seafood Restaurant
offers authentic Cantonese dishes. Chai’s Island Bistro is the place to go for upscale Hawaiian dishes and contemporary Pacific Basin cuisine.

New to this district is gourmet hot spot Chef Mavro Restaurant. Under the stellar direction of the culinary wizard who was formerly executive chef at La Mer, this restaurant has already garnered accolades from the likes of Gourmet Magazine and The New York Times. In the center of Honolulu’s old town, you’ll find Murphy’s Bar and Grill on Merchant Street. As might be expected, the corned beef and cabbage is great, and Guinness is on tap. Palomino Euro Bistro on Queen Street wins prizes for decor and cuisine every year.

The Garden Cafe at Honolulu Academy of Arts is a wonderful place for lunch. Have a delicious, healthful meal and a glass of wine in a tropical courtyard, surrounded by many wonderful works of art. On the Pearl Harbor side of Honolulu, you’ll find Sam Choy’s. This is great place to have a hearty, stick-to-the-ribs meal prepared in a contemporary Hawaiian style. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Ala Moana and Kaakako
There are some great places to dine on the stretch between downtown Honolulu and Waikiki. The two main thoroughfares that span this four-mile distance are Ala Moana and Kapiolani Boulevards. The many-sided Victoria Ward Center on Ala Moana has some of the best spots in town. In the Ward Warehouse, you’ll find cheap seafood at The Chowder House and pricey steaks at Stuart Anderson’s. Across the street in the Ward Center, visit Ryan’s Grill, a great saloon with excellent food. This is a favorite watering hole for the downtown business crowd. The area’s premiere seafood restaurant is John Dominus on Ahui Street near Ward Center.

Nearby the huge Ala Moana Shopping Center, you’ll find the I Love Country Café. It is the best place in the area to sample inexpensive local cooking, with lots of Philippine and Thai accents.

In the Ala Moana Center itself, there are over 30 choices for dining. Bubba Gump Shrimp Company on the second level serves up shrimp dishes of all kinds in a fun atmosphere. Delicious Italian food can be enjoyed in the contemporary setting of Assaggio’s , easily distinguishable by the modern-art fountain out front. The Ala Moana Food Court, also known as the Makai Market, has over 20 stalls that serve American, Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese and local cuisine. Singha Thai Restaurant, across from the Renaissance Ilikai on the Ala Moana/Waikiki border, is one of the best Thai places in Hawaii. It’s a large restaurant with excellent food and authentic Thai dancers performing twice every evening.