Reviews for Moani Waik?k? in Honolulu, HI
Lively spot with live music, colorful lights, and lots of foot traffic. Moani Waikiki was able to hold a fun environment during... our dinner. However, the food itself was a little interesting. For starters, the Dad’s prime ribeye was decent but itdidn’t live up to the price. There didn’t seem to be anything special about the meat, the way it was cooked, or the sides.Comings in at $60 you’re not getting robbed but you didn’t get value either. The Guava BBQ chicken had a great flavor to itand the sides were very tasty. The chicken was a bit dry and the servings of sides were quite small. It’s still more thanenough food for a meal with the amount of chicken you get. The Loco Moco was better than I expected it to be. This was thewaitress’ recommendation and was quite surprised at the taste. The smoked meat risotto in it was delicious and the garnish didwell with the other textures. The only thing I could complain about is the beef patty seemed to be previously frozen. The pattystill has the texture of raw ground beef despite being cooked medium well. Overall not a bad place to have dinner. My personalsuggestion of the three dishes would be the BBQ chicken. 6.5/10 Read more
Absolutely phenomenal food. We went there two nights in a row. Traditional Hawaiian food has been elevated into a restaurant... quality dish. Lovely atmosphere with live music. Family friendly. Read more
Our world food tour stopped at Moani Waikiki, on the 3rd floor of the International Marketplace. It’s a large space, with two... stages (one inside, one outside), a large bar splitting the restaurant. We sat at a table for two adjacent to the railing, about40ft from the outer stage. It was a beautiful evening so we looked forward to our experience. We started with a 2019 BergstromCumberland Reserve Pinot Noir, an earthy wine with lots of fruit. I had the same wine at a different restaurant and it was $30less at Moani; a very reasonable deal for this bottle. My fellow foodie had been here before so she recommended Seffer’sSliders and the Pork Belly Skewers. The sliders were nothing special but the accompanying fries are special. (I’d want thebuns toasted.) I didn’t get much hint of truffle but the smoked tomato chutney and the fries were delicious! I’d buy it forjust the fries. The pork belly was moist and tender, with a char siu glaze and pieces of kimchi to add crunch. Two winners tostart the evening. Our server (Kanoe) recommended the ahi special and the steamed local fish (mahi). Both were preparedexpertly; the ahi was medium rare and served over a bed of fried rice. The steamed fish was perfect; moist and flavorful, in ashiitake, lup cheong and truffle shoyu dashi. This combination could become too salty but this one was just right. After packingaway lots of food, we shared the Ube Andagi dessert; six petite balls in a chocolate sauce. Two were enough for me so anothercontainer to take home. The music was low key and not too loud; a singer and guitarist serenaded us and had to compete withsomething happening on the stage on the ground floor for part of their set. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to try Moani;live music. The restaurant was packed with mostly 20- and 30-somethings out for a good time and we can see why …The prices arevery reasonable and the atmosphere is great. We seniors enjoyed our time too. Recommended! Read more
Really enjoyed coming here. They've got live music on some nights, sports on, food was delicious, and staff were very... accommodating to find me a place on a busy night where I didn't have a reservation. I couldn't decide between the mains, so Iopted for 3 starters. Prawns weren't my cup of tea but they taste similar to most places I've had. I'm just not that keen onPrawns I guess, so I don't fault them. The pork belly and the calamari fries were delicious. As were the drinks! I'd definitelyrecommend everyone to come here, local or tourist. The pork belly was so good. Read more
We’ve eaten at 4 restaurants in Waikiki since we arrived and this was the most disappointing. Service was mediocre and so was... the food, at best. The scallops were under seasoned and clams were all sandy! We definitely do not recommend this restaurant. Read more
I came here recently to celebrate my Girl Friend's Birthday. Nice indoor and outdoor atmosphere. Good quality food. Nice sized... appetizers. Cocktails were yummy. Live music. We had a nice Waiter and the food came out in a timely manner. Kind of pricey butseems like the average prices for Waikiki. Overall I'd go there again ???? Read more
Service was phenomenal, waiters and waitresses were very attentive. The food presentation speaks for itself in the pictures... uploaded. The Loco Moco was very tasty and full of flavor. The poke serving was generous for two people and the slidersappetizers itself felt like a main dish. Everything was perfect and left with the biggest food coma. Compliments to the chef! Read more
We went here specifically for happy hour and was super excited to also try the miso garlic butterfish and pork belly. ... Unfortunately a few things didn’t go our way. First of all, our waitress didn’t really seem happy to be working that day. She could have pretended since at some point she would expect a tip. Before we placed our order, we were told that theydidn’t have any butterfish. Ughhh, must be another supply chain issue since it was 5:15pm and they opened at 5pm and alreadydidn’t have one of their entrees on the menu. We ordered all the pupus on the happy hour menu and loved the prawns and thesliders. Prawns were so tasty and had a good amount of shrimp. We ended up ordering a second order they were so good. Thefries that came with the sliders were crispy but still soft inside smothered in a truffle cheese sauce. As for our drinks, theLilikoi mule was definitely missing the Lilikoi. We did get full off the pupus so only one person ordered an actual entreewhich was the Arroz palabok. It was more like a seafood risotto than a palabok. Tastes good but the palabok name draws you into order but it’s not noodles. The photos on Yelp of the crab Caesar salad looks so good with large chunks of crab but againours didn’t look like that at all lacking a lot of crab compared to the pic. It was more like a crab salad easy on the crab! Fried chicken was also pretty deceiving as it was supposed to be adobo flavored but I didn’t taste a hint ofadobo. Restaurant was nice and roomy, large outside dining area located on the 3rd floor of International Marketplace. Diningexperience was just average when it’s all said and done. Read more