Honolulu is home to a plethora of Japanese restaurants, consisting of a mixture of newer spots and older ones, traditional ones and more modern ones. For better or worst, the older spots evolve, while others don’t. Mr Ojisan is of the later type, having moved a couple of times and reinvented itself.
Mr Ojisan was originally a ramen spot in Waikiki. In 1989, Nobu Kawaharada, an immigrant from Japan, purchased the restaurant after a year of working there and learning to cooking. There the restaurant remained until 2000 when it moved to Kilohana Square in Kapahulu. However, tragically, Kawaharada-san passed away two years later. But, his dying wish was for his wife to keep his restaurant open, which she did. In fact, the restaurant was reinvented and moved in the early 2020s.
Mr Ojisan Location
As I mentioned earlier, for the past couple of decades, Mr Ojisan called Kapahulu home. However, they recently moved a short distance to the McCully area of Honolulu. Parking for the restaurant is located in the back off a side street just past the building. Only a certain number of stalls are reserved for them, though, so you may need to find street parking in the area.
Ambiance + Service
I’ve never been to any of their previous locations, so I can’t say what they were like, but the current iteration of Mr Ojisan has a bit of a sports bar vibe. There were a couple of sizable parties while we were there, too, adds to that feeling. Service is well-intentioned and mostly good, though we had one server that kind of didn’t listen. For example, I asked for a booster seat for our friends’ kid, but she said we should wait for the kid to actually arrive (they did about five minutes later) and she never brought the seat. The restaurant was relatively empty when that happened.
Menu
Again, I’ve never been to the previous version of Mr Ojisan, so I’m not sure what the menu was like. However, their website states that they were known for their handmade gyoza, and Kawaharada-san’s riffs on miso ramen and curry ramen. Today, though, they have a page worth of sushi, appetizers, noodles, salad, donburi, entrees, a couple of “other” items, and a few desserts. Ironically, there’s no longer any ramen on the menu. Instead, there’s soba and udon.
What We Ordered
Before we talk about the food we actually ordered, it’s worth mentioning that they give you little dishes of edamame.
To start, Mrs. Island Miler and I went with the Agedashi Tofu ($8). Here, the dish comes with four cubes of silky tofu with a crispy, airy exterior swimming in tsuyu (sauce), green onion, and katsuo shavings. Overall, it’s a great version of the dish, though I do wish the tsuyu had more flavor.
For her main, Mrs. Island Miler went with the Misoyaki Butterfish ($20) which she upgraded to a teishoku set for $4 more. The upgrade included a bowl of rice, miso soup, a small bowl of zaru udon, sunomono, and a small chunk of tamago. That’s a lot of food! I didn’t sample any of her set, but she was very happy with everything.
For my main, I went with the Tempura Udon ($18). I got it hand it to them, not a lot of places do this right, which is pretty inexcusable. However, the soup in the udon is flavorful, while the noodles (despite being of the thinner variety) had a nice chew to them. The tempura was excellent – they were light and crispy without being oily – and included two pieces of shrimp, sweet potato, carrot, and zucchini. My one complaint is that the tsuyu was a little bland, but I remedied that by dipping my tempura in my udon. This was, honestly, some of the best udon and tempura I’ve had in town.
Mr Ojisan, Final Thoughts
You know, I’m not really sure why it took me this long to give Mr Ojisan a try. However, I’m glad I finally did, as the food was pretty great. I do actually want to head back one day to try a couple of other things, including the fried Kauai Shrimp and Ahi Belly, among others. So if you’re looking for a casual spot with simple, quality Japanese food, consider checking out Mr Ojisan. And that says something in a town that has excellent spots such as Akira and Uosan.