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08/23/2007: "Gyotaku Japanese Restaurant and Catering"

Gyotaku has always been a favorite restaurant of mine, but I may be a biased. I used to work for the restaurant when they were named Kyotaru...but only as part of their bento shops in downtown. So before I worked here, I had never even been to the restaurant! When the restaurant was sold, my job was gone (no hard feelings here!) but I have enjoyed my visits here (they have their ups and downs) but let's get to the post shall we?

Here is the yummy salad that comes with our meal. Their salad dressing is great! It's a shoyu and vinegar based dressing, it is so popular that it is sold in local grocery stores.
Click here for more pictures and full review...


Tsukemono.


Miso soup, nothing special.


Chawan Mushi, the best I have ever tasted! The seasonings are just right and the egg custard is like silk. My ordering definitely is impacted in terms of wanting a chawan mushi with my meal. I'm not too sure of the price of this by itself...I want to say about $3.00 USD.


Yum, the shiitake in the chawan mushi.


Chicken Karaage Keiki Set ($4.95 USD). Anything fried is always a popular choice with kids, Joshua loved the fries and ate some chicken as well! Their chicken karaage is very good, not too salty or crispy. The chicken is incredibly juicy inside. This set also comes with a drink and a dessert (shave ice or ice cream).


Pele Lava Roll ($11.95 USD).


Delicious. As you should know by now, I am a big fan of spicy tuna. This roll is pretty good. It's actually a california roll with spicy tuna on top.


Udon and California Roll ($12.95 USD), here is the udon.


Here is the sushi that comes with the set, it contains a california roll and their volcano roll (spicy tuna roll). This meal comes with salad only.


Poke Don Teishoku ($15.95 USD). This is always a winner and this is what I always order. It comes with miso soup, pickles, and chawan mushi(!). It's a great dish and I always enjoy it, the only thing I wish they would do is to be consistent. Almost every time I go, they have changed the recipe in some way. This time, I noticed they put it in a smaller bowl and definitely gave a lot less fresh fish. I was disappointed by that but definitely not by the taste. Very good.
I've had good service in this restaurant, but I've also had bad experiences as well. I remember one particular visit to the Waimalu location...I had horrible service throughout the meal and when the check came...they gave me a customer survey which I did (and always have)...I walk up to the manager who was ringing up my bill, he took a quick look at it and then crumpled it up and threw it in the trash....RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE. I was not happy with that...and when I took another glance at the trash bin, it was full of them! What a waste of my time and a waste of paper! I was not happy and that has deterred me from returning to that location.

The South King location is pretty good, the staff is friendly and the food comes out in a reasonable amount of time. My office has ordered food from them for lunch a few times and I must tell you, never expect your food to be ready on time. Each time we arrived there at the time we said we would, we had to wait at least 20-30 minutes in the hot sun. Just a warning if you ever put in big take-out orders.

Gyotaku Japanese Restaurant and Catering
1824 South King Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96826
(808) 949-4584

Sundays - Thursdays
11:00 am - 9:00 pm

Fridays - Saturdays
11:00 am - 10:00 pm

Bento & Plate Lunch Window
9:00 am - 2:30 pm

Price


Food


Service

Replies: 2 Comments

on Saturday, August 25th, Jenny said

I would think that Gyotaku would have Nabeyaki Udon...and I would imagine that it would be very good! If you start a petition, I will sign!

on Thursday, August 23rd, Pikko said

I <3 Gyotaku but dang it when the heck are they going to add Nabeyaki Udon. When Suehiro closed I was so ticked that Gyotaku opened there yet didn't add the Nabeyaki!!