With my shift in priorities came, not only a reduction in travel, but a massive scaling back in the amount I dine out. As such, I haven’t really been keeping track of restaurant openings. But, Mrs. Island Miler wanted to treat me to a nice night out, and I ended up picking Arden Waikiki.
Honolulu’s food scene has been kind of all over the place since the pandemic, at least in my opinion. A lot of restaurants disappeared, including several favorites of mine. In their place, many new spots popped up, though a lot of these seem similar to others, like they’re focused more on the Gram, or are just far too expensive for my (virtually non-existent) budget. But one newer spot kind of stuck out to me and that one was, obviously, Arden Waikiki.
Arden Waikiki Location
I didn’t realize it until we got there, but Arden Waikiki took the space formerly occupied by TBD Hawaii. I’ve never been to that restaurant, but it’s another that had intrigued me. That said, that places Arden in the Lotus Waikiki hotel, just two driveways to the east (towards Diamond Head) from the Kaimana Beach Hotel and its popular Hau Tree restaurant. Likewise, this means that the restaurant and hotel are not on Waikiki’s main drag, despite having a Kalakaua Ave address. Rather, they’re in a quieter section near the aquarium.
It’s worth noting that parking is valet-only, unless you street park. However, despite the claim ticket stating that parking is $7, our server informed us that parking is free, and that no validation is needed.
Ambiance & Service
Arden Waikiki occupies a spot on Lotus Waikiki’s second floor overlooking Kapiolani Park framed by Diamond Head’s imposing figure. That means the restaurant has a decent view, but not the ideal Pacific Ocean one you’d get at neighboring restaurants like Michele’s and Hau Tree. That said, the interior has a stylish island vibe and open kitchen. Interestingly, despite the open kitchen and large picture windows looking over Kalakaua Ave, noise is well-controlled. We never had to raise our voices to communicate with one another or our server.
Speaking of our server, she was great. She was very friendly and knowledgeable. Our glasses never went empty, despite being quite small, and someone always ensured we had everything we needed. Our share plates and utensils were even changed out during our appetizer courses, and between each course thereafter.
Arden Waikiki Menu
Honestly, reading through the menu, it seemed to take inspiration from some of Hawaii’s restaurants, past and present. However, the husband and wife team leading Arden Waikiki, Chef Makoto Ono and Chef Amanda Cheng, are from Canada, so I don’t think this is the case. Perhaps, it’s just coincidence? At any rate, the menu is farm-to-table driven, and reflects our increasingly diverse culinary scene quite nicely.
What We Ordered
We started off our night at Arden Waikiki with a couple of mortals. I went with the Island Nectar – lime, guava, lychee, and sparkling grapefruit – while Mrs. Island Miler chose the Lavender Fizz – Orgeat, lemon, ginger, lavender, elderflower tonic. My drink had bold fruit flavors with a refreshing tartness to it. Mrs. Island Miler’s drink was on the sweeter side with a more herbaceous, floral flavor profile.
For our first course, we opted for “Tomatoes,” which tomatoes, Bocconcino burrata, Maui onions, mint, and li hing vinaigrette. For anyone familiar with Alan Wong’s, this dish’s description will instantly remind them Chef Wong’s iconic Whole Tomato Salad, which came with a li hing vinaigrette. However, unlike Alan Wong’s version, it’s not the tomato that’s the centerpiece of this salad – rather, it’s the luscious burrata cheese from Honolulu’s Bocconcino. That said, the li hing is identifiable in the vinaigrette and provides a lovely balance to the rich cheese and meaty tomatoes.
Next up, we tried Arden Waikiki’s Kauai Prawn Toast. Paying homage to the dim sum stable, the Kauai Prawn toast makes use of sweet Kauai prawns on top of Honolulu-based Epi-ya pillow toast, prawn mayo, finger lime, and shichimi. This is one of the more popular dishes here, and while good, I wish there were more of the prawn mayo on the plate, as that’s where most of the flavor came from.
For our final appetizer, we had the Roasted Cabbage, which consists of sous vide and roasted cabbage, ahi mayo, tempura flakes, marinated trout roe, and tonkatsu sauce. Honestly, the name of the dish brought Chef Chris Kajioka’s amazing roast cabbage dishes to mind. Unfortunately, this version fell well short. Much of the inside portion of the cabbage was made up of the core, and despite being cooked sous vide before charring, was still incredibly tough, while lacking sufficient charring.
That said, it wasn’t a bad dish. While it failed as a roasted cabbage dish, it was still interesting, being reminiscent of okonomiyaki, in my opinion.
For our mains, we chose the two fish dishes. Unfortunately, everything else was beef or lamb, which I can no longer eat. No matter, the fish ones were the ones that piqued our interest the most, anyway. And those dishes included the Steamed Kona Kampachi with tobiko beurre blanc, and the Charcoal Grilled Ahi with peppercorn crust, Sumida Farms watercress, and hollandaise.
The Kona Kampachi was tasty and rich – almost too rich. The pea tendrils, along with my drink, provided for a nicely balanced dining experience.
The Grilled Ahi was definitely the more interesting of the two, taking a thick cut of buttery ahi, coating it in crushed peppercorns, and lightly grilling it just to warm up the exterior, but leave the inside completely raw. A whipped hollandaise added a bit more richness and some acid, while providing a lovely counter to the spicy peppercorns. The watercress salad helped to cut the overall richness of the dish.
To accompany our mains, we went a little overboard and ordered three sides. The first of these was the Roasted Hirabara Carrots, which came atop a black sesame paste and topped with some Sweetland Farms chèvre. I normally don’t like cooked carrots, but these had a lot of crunch left in them, and paired beautifully with the nutty sesame paste and creamy, tangy chèvre.
Our second side was the Seared Kahumana Zucchini, which came glazed with lehua honey and crusted with panko. Slivers of Thai basil and tangy pickled zucchini rounds rounded out what was a surprisingly savory and absolutely delectable plate of vegetables.
Lastly, we ordered the Mushroom Rice. The menu states that this dish combines Rice Factory rice with shiitake dashi, brown butter, garlic, and a medley of mushrooms. The shiitake was certainly there, and was nearly overwhelming. However, overall, I do feel like this dish worked, with the roasted mushrooms providing a deep, umami quality to the rice. Honestly, though, I think this would hav been even better if they charred the bottom layer of rice a bit.
By this point, were were getting really full. Clearly, we had over-ordered. However, we couldn’t leave without trying a dessert, so we boxed up half each entree and a good chunk of two of the sides, and took a look at the sweets menu. Choosing, though, ended up not being all that difficult, as there were only two options – a “Baked Hawaii” and a Brownie Bar.
Mrs. Island Miler isn’t a big chocolate desert person, but we both weren’t feeling like having sorbet and were intrigued by the miso ice cream, so Brownie Bar it was! And this was a good call. Here, a chewy brownie serves as a platform for a chocolate mousse, all of which is enrobed in a decadent chocolate ganache. I loved the chocolate flavors combined with the chewy, creamy textures, but did find it a bit sweet for my taste.
Luckily, the miso ice cream, while not tasting particularly strongly of miso, had a salt-forward flavor profile to it, which helped to balance everything out. The dots of “chocolate” around the bar are actually a sort of banana puree, which added a somewhat tart note to the dish.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I was pleased with our dinner at Arden Waikiki. My favorite dishes of the night were clearly the tomato salad, charcoal grilled ahi, the seared zucchini, mushroom rice, and the brownie. That said, I did generally like everything, though, again, the cabbage was a little disappointing. Despite this, I’d definitely return.