Hot Tables: Where Oʻahu Locals are Eating Now

The best restaurants are rarely the ones right outside your hotel room. Sometimes you need to hop in a rideshare, take a bus to another neighborhood or walk off the beaten path. It may be less convenient, but it is always worth the effort. If you are curious where the locals are going out to eat on Oʻahu, here are 15 of the hottest reservations in town. Make sure to call ahead of time.

Aburiya Ibushi is a sweet neighborhood izakaya specializing in Japanese small plates. Order a round of beers, a bottle of sake and at least two dishes per person for the best experience. For sure, get the jellyfish salad, chicken karaage, cucumber tataki, beef tongue and any of the potato dishes. After dinner, go next door to sister property, Cha to Gelato Zen, for house-made gelato and ceremonial-grade matcha drinks.

Arden Waikiki is a high-end farm-to-table restaurant on the edge of Waikīkī overlooking Kapiʻolani Park. Rooted in Japanese culture and trained in French cuisine, Chef and co-owner Makoto Ono incorporates local ingredients such as ʻulu (breadfruit), Kona Kampachi and Maui Nui Venison into exquisitely presented dishes that offer not only elegance, but also bright, punchy flavors. His partner, pastry chef and co-owner Amanda Cheng executes whimsical desserts at the highest level. Make sure to save room for her Baked Hawaiian and Chocolate Candy Bar. Manager and wine director Jonathan Carlile's natural wine program offers selections like skin contact wines from Slovenia and low-intervention Bordeuxs. He'll even Coravin wines from the bottle list for you to try by the glass.

Bar Māze is owned by Tom and Justin Park of the acclaimed Bar Leather Apron. Together, Chef Ki Chung and Head Bartender Justin Park offer an upscale omakase tasting menu with cocktail pairings that seamlessly blend together as one. The menu changes about once a month, which gives Park and Chung's creative minds ample opportunity to run wild.

Brick Fire Tavern is an Italian restaurant in the Kaimukī neighborhood specializing in Neapolitan style pizza, house-made pasta and amaro cocktails. Come hungry, so you can order from each section of the menu including dessert. Donʻt miss the BFT Chopped Salad, Sal’s Bolognese Pappardelle and the Mamma Mia! pizza. In the neighborhood, but already ate? Bar manager Arielle Hafen's cocktails are reason enough to stop in.

Faria restaurant is where Portuguese meets Hawai’i local cuisine. It's a family-run operation where the hospitality is as warm as its cozy setting. To get the most out of your experience, come with a party of at least four people. Portions are big, the menu is big and everything is good. Crack open a bottle of vinho verde and settle in for the feast. Must-try items include the Bolinhos de Bacalhau (Cod + Potato Croquettes), Oxtail Caldo Verde (Kale + Potato Soup), Bacalhau a Bras (Cod + Potato Gratin) and the Pasteis De Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts).

Fete

Brooklyn meets Honolulu in this neighborhood favorite, owned by husband-and-wife team Chuck Bussler and James Beard Award-winning chef Robynne Maiʻi. Here, Maiʻi and her executive chef Emily Iguchi create classic dishes that people crave. Chicken liver mousse, steak tartare, burgers, grilled cheese — you get the idea. Fete partners with over 30 local vendors to incorporate as many local ingredients into the menu as possible, which leads to numerous nightly specials. If you’re a solo traveler in town for just one night, order the Smoked Ono Club and a scoop of house-made Rocky Road ice cream with one of head bartender Fabrice McCarthy’s craft cocktails.

This year, Giovedi won a Hale ʻĀina Award for best new restaurant from Honolulu magazine and made Bon Appétit’s 20 Best New Restaurants of 2025 list. The Italian-Asian menu blends influences from Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese and Italian cuisines. The dishes are comforting and novel in their approach — not a spaghetti-and-meatballs joint, and not the Asian fusion restaurants of the ’90s either. Giovedì stands in a class of its own. Don’t leave without trying the Prosciutto San Daniele, Gnocchi Mapolonese, Char Siu Pork and a Dayvan Cowboy — a Southeast Asian spin on an Old Fashioned.

Koko Head Cafe, owned by chef Lee Anne Wong, is an all-day brunch institution in the neighborhood of Kaimukī. This year, it began serving dinner too. Wong is an avid supporter of local farmers, ranchers, fishers, distillers, brewers...you name it. Although its hard to pass up hits like the Cornflake French Toast with billionaireʻs bacon (get it? because it's so rich?), the sleepers on the menu like the tropical fresh fruit plate and breakfast congee are also bangers. Now, for dinner you can move beyond Wong's brunch staples to see what else she can do (which is a lot). A stand-out is the Lamb Adobo, which features succulent slow-cooked local lamb, ʻulu flatbread, queso fresco and house-made pickles which, combined, creates a superlative taco, novel in its approach and impressive in execution.

Lady Elaine is a Mediterranean-leaning, farm-to-table restaurant in Mānoa Valley with ample space for large parties and expertly crafted cocktails. Its owners — a group of friends who have worked together in multiple Honolulu restaurants for more than a decade — have a knack for restaurant design, hospitality and community building. Lady Elaine is not just a neighborhood restaurant but a place for locals to convene, share food and relax close to home. Order the roasted eggplant risotto, grilled octopus and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms with herb polenta and a soft-poached egg. Although the wine list is thoughtfully curated, the cocktails steal the beverage show.

LIttle Plum offers local-style comfort food in a nostalgic setting. Think upscale diner or a neighborhood joint designed by people who have worked in fine dining and you start to get the idea. Dishes are cozy, yet refined. The server will keep filling your coffee cup (with local specialty coffee no less) until you beg them to stop. The cooks in the open kitchen will entertain you. There are so many reasons to love this place, but like all Lovers + Fighters restaurants (they also own Lady Elaine next door) the feeling that you are being served by people who truly care about your experience tops the list.

The PIg and The Lady is a Honolulu institution serving modern Vietnamese fare. This year, the nationally-acclaimed restaurant moved from Chinatown to Kaimukī. Chef and co-owner Andrew Le, along with his chef de cuisine Kristene Moon, create thoughtful and thought-provoking dishes with a story. From incorporating Italian pasta to soft-serve ice cream into P&Ls canon of Vietnamese-inspired dishes, nothing is off the table, making each visit exciting and new. If you'd rather play it safe, the pho and bahn mi — Le's mother's recipes — are some of the best versions you'll find outside of Vietnam.

Pizza Mamo specializes in Brooklyn and Detroit-style pizza using double-fermented dough to produce a light, crisp crust. The Brooklyn-style blends New York- and Neapolitan-style to produce a charred crust that stays crisp all the way through versus a floppy crust. The Detroit-style — which has gained a cult following in Honolulu — is cooked in a deep-dish pan to produce a thick, fluffy crust similar to focaccia. The kicker is the Wisconsin cheddar that oozes over the edges creating a crisp, caramelized cheese skirt. Remember to add a few chocolate chip cookies to your order. Made with brown butter to create a crisp exterior and chewy interior and topped with sea salt, they are just as craveable as the pies.

Sing Sing Thai Street Food is a hole-in-the wall mom-and-pop restaurant in Chinatown producing some of the best Thai food on the island. The chef and owner updates the menu every three months inviting you to try more and more dishes from his homeland, where he was trained in the homes of Thai grandmas and aunties. The restaurant is intended to be Bangkok-style, meaning it is not region specific, but celebrates variations of Thai cuisine from all over Thailand. Standout dishes include the grilled pork neck with tamarind dressing, Raw ʻAhi Betel Wraps with turmeric relish, Thai Beef Carpaccio and the Panang of Beef Cheek.

Silver Lining Wine Bar specializes in natural wine from around the world. Being there is like being in co-owner Rick Lilley's home. With just 10 seats around a large horseshoe shaped bar, you have ample time to chat with him about wine and mingle with the other guests. There are also small plates and cocktails to enhance your experience, and a cigar bar upstairs run by Lilley's wife and co-owner Elaine Lilley. If you are looking for an educational experience that's also fun and a bit debaucherous, this is your place.