Fighting Eel Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center

I will admit that I’m a relatively new fan of Fighting Eel. For the past 10 years, I’ve been purposely avoiding FE because I could not comprehend how people could spend so much money on very simple looking clothing. It’s been hard, especially with friends like Nicole K and Steph C who feel the need to tempt me with all their cute IG posts in FE clothes. I’d have to say that I am now an avid fan.
I’d also have to say that Kahala FE is my favorite location because the sales people there are so soo nice and friendly. I always walk in feeling a little nervous because I’m new to this whole spending $ 150 on a dress thing, but the Kahala salespeople always remember my name, pick out great things for me to try on and are always so gracious. The Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center FE is my second favorite because they usually have a good sale selection and the sales people are almost as great. It’s hard to compete with the Kahala staff, they go above and beyond! The Waikiki FE staff is also friendly and thankfully, they always ask if I need parking validation.
The clothes are cute and well-​made. I usually try to limit myself to one or two pieces every season, but it ends up being more like 5 or 6 things, especially if I rack up enough stamps to get 15% off or I find things in the sales rack. :)
I totally understand people not «getting it» about FE. It’s kind of like a cult. Not really, but I definitely feel a little proud of myself when I can name the dress styles of the girls around me who are wearing FE out and about.
Oh, p. s. if you happen to not be all that into FE’s simple clothes styles, they also sell cute bathing suits, t-​shirts, locally made jewelry and little accessories. They also recently came out with some cute workout clothes.

This is a commentary about the experience I just had with their staff and customer service. I love Fighting Eel — I’ve been a fan since their days in Chinatown. And one of the things I’ve liked about them has been the friendly staff who are helpful and easy to talk to. I just walked in to this location — I’m shopping for a bridesmaid dress (that I can keep and wear as a dress afterwards) — and I was not greeted. Nobody talked to me the 15 minutes I was in there. The 3 women in the store were talking among themselves the whole time (I was the only one in the store). I’m writing this because I’m very disappointed and if anyone from the company is reading this I wanted them to know.

I LOVE shopping at this boutique! I’ll admit that I do frequent the other Fighting Eel locations (downtown & Kahala– not so much Kailua unless I’m out that way) and I always enjoy shopping at all of their stores but I don’t mind trekking into Waikiki just to go to this location! They validate parking and the 1^st hour is free (I think after the 1^st hour you pay $ 1/​hour for the next 3 hours) so it’s the perfect excuse to do a little Waikiki shopping.
The girls that work at this location are always «extra» helpful and always do whatever they can to help me find what I need, even if it means calling the other stores to hunt down my size in a particular size/​color. The clothes are a little on the pricier side but totally worth it in my opinion! I especially love their dresses and tanks!

Fighting Eel usually has impeccable customer service but I’ve found it to be quite lacking at this location. After picking out a top I wanted to purchase, I stood at the counter waiting to pay. The ladies appeared to all be helping other customers, which was fine but none of them even bothered to acknowledge me. A simple «I’ll be right with you» would’ve sufficed but one worker even looked me straight in the eyes without even a smile & went back to what she was doing. I worked in retail for years so I’m no stranger to customer service. If I could work a shift with a hangover from staying out until 2:00 in the morning & way too many shots of Crown & still have a chipper attitude, I have no sympathy for someone who can’t even muster a fake smile. When someone finally came to ring me up she apologized for the wait & was very friendly but my shopping experience was already shot. Needless to say, I won’t be coming back to this location. I’ll stick with Kahala where I know the customer service is awesome & the girls are super friendly & welcoming.
NOTE: My initial review stated that the cashier didn’t give me validation. I was wrong, she did. I’m the idiot who lost it in the abyss of my wallet. My bad.

Such a pretty store, just as beautiful as their downtown location…

The only thing keeping it from a five star rating is it’s a touch pricier than I’d like. I recently revived a tradition of hitting fighting eel every couple weeks and it has proven to be fruitful.
First off I love the bags. The fighting eel shield logo is really cool and the bags are high quality and glossy and can be reused for myriad of purposes. This was the first time I’ve been to the Waikiki location and I thought the store looked really good.
While I didn’t get to take it all in, the new summer collection features a lot of horizontal stripes and loose fitted cute casual items. I picked up the «Dress Jane» which to my untrained eye seemed to be 1960s inspired. They didn’t have the paint spots one in the right size (not for me obviously!;) so I went with the cyan blue which was a big hit.
I’ll have to return to check out other items in the paint spots print as I think it looks pretty cool.

Last night I stopped by Fighting Eel for the first time and was pleasantly welcomed and told there was a 25% off flash sale on swimwear :) The selection was decent and they had a lot of cute clothing and accessories in stock. There was a bit of a wait to try on since it is a smaller boutique but all the sales associates were really friendly and helpful. I definitely will be back!

My mother purchased a top for me from the downtown location during Black Friday. The top said size 8 and I could not fit my head through where my head should go. My size is an x-​small so I thought it was weird. Maybe they also carry sizes for toddlers?
I tried to exchange it at the Waikiki location and since the top was on sale I could not exchange it at all. I understand if they don’t take returns for sale items but to not take exchanges for sale items is a ridiculous store policy to have.
Now I’m left with a top that I can never use. I can’t even give it away because I don’t think anyone’s head can fit through the hole, except for maybe children.
Great boutique if you want overpriced, basic clothing. Their customer service is also lacking. They initially refused to validate my parking ticket because I didn’t purchase anything. Well, I probably would’ve spent more money if they let me exchange my top.

Beautiful things, nice staff, lots of local pieces.
It’s a nice addition to the large chain & super high end retailers in the area. I love boutique shopping and this fits the bill. If you need gifts for that hard-​to-​buy-​for lady (and don’t mind spending a bit of coin) this is the place. Adorable clothes, unique jewelry, and a nice selection of accessories.

I looooove the boutique! It’s filled with a large selection of cute spring/​resort wear! Not to mention they’re super comfy and flattering as well. Recently fell in love with some of the new Ava Sky pieces, definitely a must have for spring and summer.
Every girl needs some Fighting Eel in her closet, perfect for those «I don’t know what to wear!» days. Also don’t forget to sign up if you’re a loyal FE shopper… Every purchase of $ 500, receive a discount in purchases.
Don’t let driving into Waikiki scare you, there’s parking validation available at Royal Hawaiian garage for discounted parking rates.

For me, it’s a lot easier coming to the Waikiki location. Parking is easy (Royal Hawaiian) and validated for the first hour. And because the downtown location is the more popular one, I beat the crowd and hustle & bustle especially during the holidays! The staff is extremely friendly and helpful. They are not overly pushy or trying to hard to make you purchase something (I hate that!). Although the pricing is not what I would normally spend on my wardrobe, they are definitely pieces that I wear time and time again that don’t go out of style. Very classy, comfy and wearable. All my FE clothes that I have collected over the years, I can still wear today since they are timeless. They also have a pretty awesome sales rack/​bin! :)

Visiting from the mainland, this boutique is a breath of fresh air. Love the vibe, the location is perfect being so close to all the hotels and the ladies that work here are absolute dolls. Bought two dresses, one of the housebrand designs (an adorable shirt dress that was on sale) and an Otaheite dress that I was originally going to order from the Maui store’s online website but they had it here! Great selection of purses, gifts and island-​centric fashion that can easily be worn back in California. Sending all my girlfriends to this boutique — it is so worth it!

I love this store as much as the DT location! Manami is super sweet and calls me when something that I had been waiting for comes in. DT is close to where I work but I still try to make it to this store especially since they seem to have more sizes available. They validate one hour of parking with purchase which means free parking! :)

I have shopped here twice and purchased on both occasions. However, my purchases were because I needed something that evening and I was persistent in being helped.
Customer service at the Royal Hawaiian location is lacking. On both occasions that I visited the store, I was never greeted or acknowledged and had to approach the sales associates for assistance with sizes and questions. When something was not available in my size I had to ask if they could check another store. They had samples of upcoming items displayed so I had to ask to be called when they arrived which sadly they never did.
I like Fighting Eel, but regretfully I will no longer shop this location.

Came here for the first time today, glad it was super easy to find in the royal Hawaiian shopping center. Saw some nice clothes but really loved the bathing suits, too bad the one I wanted was $ 200+. I ended up just purchasing a chevron ring while my friend got a rose gold snake ring. They were super cute and priced really well. Staff was also very helpful and friendly!