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My family and I eat here at least two times a month so why the four stars and not five? The food is inconsistent. Sometimes very good and sometimes meh. What's always consistent is the awesome staff. The Pearl City location is also better than the S.King location as far as food quality is concerned. I've had some rank sashimi at the S.King location more than once.
I tend to eat the bento Yasaka alot and my mom tends to go for any kind of shrimp tempura combination (even though Kunio's is her favorite). Gyotaku is like the Zippy's of japanese food. Don't expect anything too fancy and you'll be happy.
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Saturday night, and I'm craving my favorite meal for dinner. I had tried just about every sushi joint that I know of in the Aiea area, except for this one. Not to mention a few people that I know had told me good things about it, so why not try it...hmmm, so, why not try it? Heh, I'll tell you why right now.
Food - Now, maybe I am being too tough on them. In fact, i should have known to just run away when I walked in and realized there was no sushi bar...a Japanese restaurant with no sushi bar...this was a first. I was even more surprised when i was told that they do not have temaki (hand rolls)...a Japanese restaurant with no sushi bar and no hand rolls...another first. Well, ill tell you what's a last...me ever eating there again. I had a dragon roll, a couple pieces nigiri, and sashimi. All of which were sub par. The fish tasted low grade and wasn't even that cold.
Service - Lack thereof is more like it. I may have seen my waiter twice, and with a very long amount of time in between. After tasting the sushi, though, i really just stopped caring. Again, maybe i was expecting more from a Japanese restaurant, as they tend to have great service.
Ambiance - Have you ever been to Shiz...i mean, Sizzler? The ambiance is alot like that. Very impersonal, buffet type service.
I'd give this place 1.5 stars if i could. Gyotaku is not a Japanese restaurant. It is a steakhouse with a cultural identity crisis.
Everytime hubby and I visit Hawaii, we eat here often. I come here for my job, so I'm working during the week and normally don't have time or desire to dress up and go to a fancy place afterwards - just want something yummy to eat and go back to the hotel.
We don't have kids, so we avoid the place on Mon and Tue nights (kids eat free), but I am so impressed with the Misoyaki Butterfish served here! It is my favorite! Hubby likes the Ahi Poke and Misoyaki Salmon. What I really like is the casual atmosphere, and the complete meals. Tea and water upon request, salad and soup, then your main meal. We don't leave here hungry, and the food is delicious.
Service for us has been great and the food was ready quickly. I guess it depends on when you go and how crowded it is, etc, but we have had good service so far; I was especially impressed with Ginger - she is a very professional server. So I rate 4 stars out of 5 because I am saving that 5 star rating for the places that really blow my socks off - this place was great though!
I've been to this place about three times and each time I wished I spent my money at the fast-food joint next door. The most recent visit was for a baby shower and I thought the food was worse than my first experience. The sashimi was of really low quality, the sushi rice was tasteless and dry, and the tempura looked and tasted like it was cooked in day-old oil. The service was okay, and the atmosphere was annoyingly noisy with the bus help practically throwing plates/utensils in the tray carts. I will never ever go back to this place, it is a disgrace to Japanese cuisine.
My diner at Gyotaku was good. Th crunchy Tenpura Roll, Edamame and Udon was all tasty. The star of the meal was the sushi roll and mostly because of the tasty, spicy sauce. It is by far NOT the best I have ever had, but I enjoyed and will probably go back to get more in the future. The place was pack for a Sunday night; the had some type of private party going on which lead to parking crisis, but that proves that someone likes the place enough to host a party there. I have been to Japan many times and the food seemed authentic enough for me. Another good sign was that there was a lot of Japanese people eating there so in my opinion that proves it is not too bad because most Japanese that their food seriously.
The worst restaurant ever!!! They don't know the meaning of customer service.
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3 1/2.
A good family restaurant since kids eat free on Mondays and Tuesdays with every complete meal ordered.
The menu has tons of choices and the portions are a good size.
It can get pretty crowded during the evening so it's good to get there around 6:00 if your party is under 5 since they don't take reservations for groups of 4 or less.
As a bonus their green tea ice cream with azuki bean topping is pretty good.
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So they take long to make food no matter what.
Sunday. Noon. The place is half empty. They take just as long.
I got a luncheon special udon with loads of veggies ($12), I forgot the name and it's not on the website.
But it came in a silver pot like bowl (which didn't look all that clean). There was mushrooms, chicken that was half raw, carrots, poached egg and a bunch of green stuff that I don't remember it's name.
Why wait so long for food that's not all that great??
The nice things was the manager was walking around asking how things were and refilling everyones water.
OHH. Parking sucks. It's cramped and my Tacoma could BARLEY make it into the garage.
Go here early because after about 7PM it's hella crowded.
The junk part is that they take a long time…
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Got the udon & agedashi tofu. The udon was not much better than instant from the package. I only ate about half the bowl. The tofu was pretty good and was served with furikake rather than bonito on top, so I was grateful for that. My niece had a good kids' meal that included shrimp tempura. She really seemed to enjoy it. Too bad I don't eat shrimp.
Seating was quick, but they were obvious in wanting us to leave right away when we were done. It's a crazy busy place!
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Haven't eaten here yet, but called to try to make a reservation and had to listen to a really long,… Read more »
My visiting parents and siblings wanted sushi, and there's a sushi bar on every corner here. So I got on the internet and looked at menus for local sushi bars to find a place that had stuff on the menu that my wife and 7 and 4 year old boys would eat.
I was very pleased with Gyotaku.
As we were entering the restaurant, I was admiring the amazing fish prints they had framed on the walls. Come to find out, "gyotaku" is the Japanese name for fish prints.
The sushi was fabulous. We got a whole bunch of different bizarre sushi rolls to share. They had a kid's menu and ice cream for the boys afterwards. I had their "sweet potato pie" and it was really good, too. It wasn't at all what I expected. My previous encounters with "sweet potato pie" have been something similar in color and texture to pumpkin pie. This was more like a Hawaiian sweet potato that was purple, and it had a layer of haupia on top.
The prices were reasonable and the service was good. Note they do NOT take reservations on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday after 4 p.m. We got there at 5:30 p.m. and asked for a table for TEN, and they managed to seat us within about ten minutes (just long enough to push the tables together to set it up for us). We were glad we got there when we did, because there was soon a line of people waiting for tables.
People thought this was:
I dread going to this place.
It's not that thing's are awful, they just aren't good. The only real positive thing this place has is that it's kid friendly.
I've eaten here over six times (family members with gift certificates) and the food's never been better than mediocre. For waaaay better Japanese food in the neighborhood check out Tadashi http://www.yelp.com/bi... or Spicy Ahi BBQ http://www.yelp.com/bi... The sushi and preparation of the cooked dishes are world's better and in some cases cheaper.
Call me a hater, but why this place is popular I'll never know.
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I came here for lunch with a friend and it wasnt too crowded there were many older japanese and locals that looked like regulars so it must be good. They even have lunch specials which was also a plus. I ordered the miso butterfish and tempura bento that came with rice, miso soup, salad, and pickles. The butterfish was soooo DELISH! it was perfect and didnt have that fishy taste or smell like some other butterfishes that i've tasted. I was especially happy that it didnt leave me with a fishy aftertaste that I have after eating some fish so that was good. The tempura was also good but my favorite was the sweet potato. It came with 1 shrimp, 2 green beans, 1 regular potato i think and 1 sweet potato. This bento was $13.95 so it was a good deal, especially since the butterfish was a good size (unlike other places where they give you like a small sliver). Overall this place has made me a fan so im bound to go back!
People thought this was:
My Dad, my Wife and I enjoy this place. I love the Butterfish, my Dad the Soba and my Wife the Udon. Pretty much everything that I've tried, I've liked. Not too many sushi selections, but ample.
They will make substitutions, like Veggie Tempura instead of Shrimp and they make up the difference by adding a bunch of different pieces of Veggies.
The one thing that I don't really care for is that they don't serve coffee, just tea...
The service is consistant and the prices a little high, especially the specialty sushi rolls, but it's a nice place for decent Japanese food.
It may be a long wait depending on what time you're there. Weekend dinners and Tuesday nights when kids eat free could be a challange.
Food is good. Not really a great mix and match type place, but the food is definitely good. Service and ambiance leave much to be desired. The service is slow, and ordering sushi for holidays must be done many weeks in advance. That being said, that sushi isn't much to go crazy over, but the tempura and poke don are fabulous!
Located pretty centrally in Pearl City this place is almost always busy. They have good food, decent prices, and lots of parking. The restaurant is actually rather large and very clean so when I say its almost always busy for dinner that really is saying something.
In addition, for lunch they have quite a few lunch specials that are all under $10 and all of them come with soup and salad.
So if you're looking for some place to eat in Pearl City definitely worth stopping in for a bite. As their food is tasty and always presented nicely.
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After finding a long wait at Makino Chaya's (both in Mililani & Pearl City!) we decided to come here. I've heard good things about it, so I did have some high expectations.
First off, let me say the customer service is wonderful. We were supposed to wait half an hour, but it seemed like we didn't have to wait long.
I didn't have any of their sushi rolls, they looked good, but I think they weren't any different than what you can get anywhere else. I had the 3 combo dinner ($17.59), with butterfish, (1) shrimp & veg tempura, and chicken karage. I seemed to keep picking at the butterfish (good), but the shrimp tempura (forgettable), and chicken karage (bland) was picked at for the sake of eating. The salad was good and the miso soup was on the saltier side.
It kind of reminded me of westernized Japanese food, but a few dollars more in price. I would come here because it's good for large groups, but it wouldn't be my first choice.
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There are better Japanese food restaurants that are MUCH cheaper, however this place has a good environment, & you just have to know when to go at what time, & you wont have to wait too long.
The tempura sushi roll is delish, they serve daves ice cream there, (YAAAAY) and for kids, I think its Tuesdays (?) when they get free dinner :D
I liiike eating there, but its not "The Best."
Oh btw, bring a jacket. its freeeezing in there.
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The 3 random times I've been here have always been a let down. It's never been my idea to eat here but my fault for giving in. I can honestly say I'll never be back. The food is horribly mediocre for a full fledged "Japanese" restaurant. The sashimi never seems to be fresh and the Nattochos that they're know for disgust me. Look elsewhere for your Japanese food fix.
People thought this was:
Been wanting to eat here ever since the Hawaii Kai location opened, but every time we'd go there, we'd be put on a waiting list that's as long as George W. Bush's crap. So when I decided to try the Pearl City location for lunch, I was happy to be seated promptly by the very attentive & congenial staff. I always judge how good an eating place is by the number of patrons at the time, & Gyotaku's was pretty full, for lunch. The menu was extensive & my misoyaki butterfish & assorted tempura were satisfying. Restaurant atmosphere could be better, but service was top notch.
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It's pricey here for food that's just okay.my husband really liked his bento he ordered though. the menu has a lot to choose from which is a bonus. parking really sucked at this location. it's tight and not that many stalls.if you have a big car leave it home and carpool. i won't be coming back here because the experience wasn't worth it. i can get the same food cheaper and better elsewhere.
My parent's FAVE restaurant. Every time I visit them, we always do at least one family meal here, because they're vegan and the restaurant allows them to order a special tofu steak (which is not even on the menu). The food is always fresh and tasty, and the service is fast and friendly! I always seem to order the teriyaki chicken and veggie tempura. Ono!
Excellent, tasty, and very decent priced Japanese food including the sushi. Service was fast and friendly. Love the sushi to death... sooo tasty and it melts in your mouth type! Well, compares to what I've been having in SF. Now, I miss Hawaii so much for the sushi!!! :) My favorite is the eel donburi and the crunchy tempura sushi.. aaawww... I want some now!!
Man, how times have changed. Back in the day, this place used to be the suburban outpost of the Honolulu institution known as Columbia Inn. Gyotaku took over the building after Columbia Inn shut down and, from what I can tell, did practially nothing to change the decor or fixtures. So you still feel like you are dining at the ol' family restaurant, but the beef stew and hamburger steak are long gone. Fortunately, Gyotaku serves up tasty, reasonably priced Japanese food that does not disppoint.
I've only been during the lunch hours and both times make me want to go back. The food is good and cheap and not just b/c it's cheap was it good... but it was good eats. The place is huge. Very clean. Very accomodating. Worth a trip if you're in the area and looking for something to eat.
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I really like the cheap and delicious combo plates here. Sushi rolls are so good. The Udon soup is great. Hot sake is awesome. Added one more star for the superb customer service. You won't be dissapointed.
Honolulu, HI
Category: Japanese
Honolulu, HI
Category: Caterers
Honolulu, HI
Category: Caterers
Pearl City, HI
Category: Thai
Honolulu, HI
Category: Restaurants
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