Hanamaru Japanese Restaurant

This place tastes like a korean-​owned Japanese restaurant. (Hopefully you know what I mean). The fish is not so fresh. The nigiri has large lumps of rice and thin slices of fish. I’d say eat Nabe at Ichi Rikki and eat sushi ANYWHERE else. Kozo has better sushi than this place!

How we ended up here was simply by chance. My BF and I literally drove down King Street with the Unilocal app up on his phone looking at restaurants in the area after being quoted a 45 minute wait at another restaurant. Then I remembered a restaurant on University Avenue that caught my attention the other time we drove by. I was thoroughly confused because at that time I couldn’t find «Nabeya» on Unilocal,and Unilocal after all has EVERYTHING. Low and behold, my BF found that Nabeya is still referred to as Hanamaru Japanese on Unilocal.After seeing their satisfactory 3.5 star rating, we decided to give it a try.
Getting here is a little tricky because you can’t make a left if you are going east on King Street. The best thing is to make a u-​turn into the gas station, and then a right at the next driveway to go into the parking garage. They do validate for parking so that is a plus!
As for the menu, it is a little confusing as many things are not explained. If there was one recommendation I’d have for them is to make their menu more descriptive. I guess if you understand Japanese it would be okay, but I– like most common folk– need a little further explanation. The server also wasn’t very helpful at describing because of a language barrier, but it was hard to be frustrated because she was so darn cute and sweet with her Japanese accent.
After a couple minutes of deliberation we settled on getting the Washu Nabe which is a shoyu based Nabe with beef. We decided to share a Nabe since we wanted to try other things on the menu and by recommendation we ordered the fishcake with Tako, fried oysters, and spicy fried chicken. The Nabe broth came out first accompanied by a standard plate full of veggies, tofu, and beef. For the price, the serving size was very reasonable. The Tsukune in the nabe was also very tasty and had traces of shitake mushroom which gave it a nice flavor. Like many other hot pot places, Nabeya also has a fridge of noodles and veggies for an extra $ 2.95 a plate. Since our set came with some udon noodles we decided to try the Okinawan noodle which was a like a thicker ramen noodle. It tasted great in the broth! As for our other dishes my favorite was the fishcake with tako. It was a tubular fishcake stuffed with tako, dipped in a tempura batter and fried. That was so delicious especially with tonkatsu sauce it was served with. The Oysters was also very good – small oysters covered in Panko and fried served with tonkatsu sauce. The spicy fried chicken however was probably the only thing I wouldn’t order again. It wasn’t bad, but it lacked spiciness and any pizzazz.
Overall, the food was very tasty, well portioned, and all for reasonable prices. The restaurant and food is probably closer to a 3.5 star but what gives this place the extra half star in my book is the über-​cheap beers. Regular prices are about $ 4.50 for a glass of Kirin, and after 9 is happy hour where draft Kirin goes to $ 2.25 a glass. It is hard to find places that have great, cheap beer! They also have special happy hour prices for Nabe for $ 8.95. I’d say, after 9 Nabeya is definitely the place to be!
Service here was also great, but then again we were one of three parties in the restaurant so I’m not sure if that is a fair assessment. It’s sad to see such a worthy restaurant so empty, so I am hoping business picks up soon.

Rating: 2.5÷5
Date (s) Visited: 10÷29÷10
Food: ²⁄₅
Service: ³⁄₅
Atmosphere: ²⁄₅
Price: ³⁄₅
There’s not much sadder than seeing a favorite restaurant circle the drain. I’m afraid that despite numerous management changes, this latest incarnation of Hanamaru (actually it’s called «Nabeya» now) will be the last. They’ve done away with everything that was good about Hanamaru and decided to throw all their energy into nabe — a field in which they cannot compete.
Food:
Sadly their menu has changed for the worse. You won’t find anything original or striking on their menu, which now imitates a poorly handled Japanese chain. The names of their dishes are vague, at best, following a general «X item with Y». I suspect that in order to cater to non-​Japanese customers, they’ve Americanized a lot of the names. It’s not «Hiyyayako», it’s «Cold Tofu». The few Japanese-​named items on their menu are pretty obscure, requiring that the reader either be well-​versed in Japanese cuisine or capable of reading Japanese.
The food, itself, is of decent quality, but the portion sizes are outrageously small.
I ordered their «Cold Tofu» and got a small piece that was about a third of the size of a block of tofu one would buy at the store. It was overly firm and thus brittle. With every attempt to pick it up, it would seem to fall apart into dozens of pieces. When I finally got a piece in my mouth, it was vaguely grainy. The toppings were the usual: green onions, ginger and bonito.
Their «Homemade Spring Rolls» was the next dish. The rolls were surprisingly light and crunchy, although several pieces were burned. It had a good balance of meat and vegetables, though that’s pretty much it for the dish. It was served with a sweet and spicy sauce that didn’t do anything for me, since it was mostly sweet with only a dying ember of heat to it.
For my entrée, I ordered «Grilled Salmon with Rice» and received a shockingly small fillet of salmon with a bowl of rice. How boring. The salmon itself was good, though. It was properly cooked and the skin was both salty and crunchy. I thought that adding lemon overpowered what little flavor (aside from salty) that it had.
For dessert, I got their «Shaved Ice» and asked for green tea syrup. I think I got yuzu instead, since it was rather citrusy. Either way, it was ok, but nothing special and I don’t think it was worth the price.
As a drink, I got their «Oolong Tea», which was ridiculously overpriced for tasting EXACTLY like unsweetened iced tea. No free refills, either.
Service:
This restaurant’s service is rather in-​your-​face. They were totally overstaffed and so the waiters and hostesses just stood in the corner and swooped in with great frequency to ask me how the food was in the middle of eating or to ask to take away an empty plate. I was sitting a four top and I had pushed the empty plate to the side. You don’t need to ask me if it’s alright to take it away. And since there are so many staff members, I was waited on by at least three different people: the bartender, the hostess and a busboy.
I also had some problems communicating with them. Not confident enough in my Japanese to try, they seemed to ask me to repeat myself after everything I said. That was kind of annoying. I guess they got fed up and so they sent a native English speaker to take my order. Ouch.
They also don’t seem to have much coordination. I had originally wanted to order their «Vanilla Ice Cream with Coffee Liqueur», but since I’m not 21 I asked if I was allowed to order it (since I figured that they weren’t actually going to use liqueur). The waiter asked the bartender, who said yes. Five minutes later, they waiter came back and said no because their manager had said no. Argh.
Atmosphere:
I would compare the restaurant’s atmosphere to a little kid coming across a dying kitty in a back alley somewhere. You want so desperately someone to help or comfort you, yet there’s nobody. Aside from me and a couple sitting at the other end of the sizable restaurant, it was absolutely deserted. I think it’s a pretty bad sign for a restaurant to be empty at 8 o’clock on a Friday night.
The theme of the place was also highly confusing and uncoordinated. The décor is very traditional Japanese, but they have 60’s music and music videos playing on the giant big screen TVs. Uhh… what? I don’t think tall African American women with big hair really fit in with a Japanese restaurant.
Price:
I’m sorry, but it’s not worth it. The portion sizes were insulting for the price. It would have been tolerable if the fare was original, but it’s not. It’s something that literally anybody could make at home for half the price and twice the food.

the nabe is a really good deal.
we had the curry nabe set. flavorful, and came with a big plateful of stuff to throw in.
the carrot salad was very refreshing.
its too bad the place was empty! it was good!!!
they really should have changed the name when the ownership switched. i’m convinced that that is one of the reasons why it’s so empty… people still think it’s the same restaurant as before.

New owners so time for a new review!
While I admit, I did enjoy the place and i’m not opposed to going back but there were a few downsides to the «new» Hanamaru.
Let’s see… the menu is pretty vague and the waiter really doesn’t know whats in a lot of the things or how to explain them well. *hint* If you’re going to make up names for your stuff, include an explanation please! It’s like sitting there while the menu and the waiter tell inside jokes to each other leaving you confused and wondering what the heck they’re talking about.
Prices are kinda high for what you get. The sushi was ok… i’ve had much better at California Rock n’ Sushi, but it wasn’t bad. Some of the fish was bland, and the jalapenos on the tuna were really hot, totally overpowering the tuna. Also, i’m a firm believer that charging $ 20+ for a damn ok nabe is highway robbery. I personally prefer Ichiriki’s.
Overall, ok food, semi-​ok service (clueless but nice), totally situationally inappropriate yet awesome funk/​Michael Jackson music playing all night, and somewhat high prices for what you get = meh. Not great, but not terrible… but at least there was Funk!

We came back here to finish off the bottle of Iichiko (which they hold for eight months). We ordered the fried mochi (again), uni, toro, and hamachi sushi, one combination dinner with pork kakuni and tempura, fried chicken wings, ahi tataki and for dessert, the vanilla ice cream with green tea sauce of course!
Everything was delicious and the pork kakuni was my favorite tonight. The chicken wings were good, but they only gave us three pieces. I don’t expect much for $ 5, but DAMN, that’s over a $ 1.50 for each wing!
I forgot to ask them where they get their green tea sauce from. I’m on the hunt for it. Shirokiya? Nijiya Market? Marukai? If anyone knows, holla at your girl!

Definitely one of the best Japanese restaurants Ive been to. Must have eaten here at least 30 times in the past year. I cant believe some people actually wrote bad reviews about this place.
I love the seafood nabe. So good! Also, the Kamehameha platter is always good. We almost always ordered the same thing so I havent really tried some of their other entrees, but I am sure they are just as good. They have huge pitchers of Kirin Ichiban for only $ 12, also they always gave us a a $ 10 dollar coupon (sometimes two coupons). The service is ALWAYS good. Definitely check it out, you wont be disappointed.

I am still looking for good sushi. Fellow Unilocalers please help!
The atmosphere and service here is nothing to complain about. I went for a quick dinner and they were fast to take my order and get me my food.
The sushi was edible but not enjoyable. I was super hungry and in a hurry so I still ate it.
In the spicy tuna I ordered there was hardly any tuna and whatever they used to make it spicy was pretty awful. The tempura california roll was good, but really when I think sushi california roll does not count as REAL sushi. But… Their sushi selection was extremely limited compared to the menu I am used to in Cali. boo :(
I LOVE SUSHI

After reading mixed reviews about this place, I honestly had low expectations, but I must say that after eating here tonight, this place did not disappoint. Although some had brought up negative experiences, I honestly didn’t receive any bad service or taste any crappy Japanese food during my time here at all. In fact, according to my parents who are Japanese and are highly critical of their food, this is actually one of the more better Japanese restaurants out there and I agree with them.
I tried the Fried Oysters (around $ 9 — delicious; some of the best «Kaki Fry» I’ve tasted at a Japanese restaurant, seriously) and their Sushi & Sahimi box special (around $ 17 for dinner — good deal for what you get), and thought that the quantity of the food that they give you is a good amount — not too much, not too little.
I had to minus a star because my Dad and I thought they should give you a bowl of rice and miso soup for SOME of these dinner specials, honestly (though they’ll gladly give you them, for $ 2). But other than that, we did have to admit the quality of the food itself was delicious and the quantity was sufficient enough to make up for the extra $ 2. I left satisfied and would no doubt come here again the next time I’m back in Honolulu.

Lunch is regular fare. Portions for lunch was also okay. I took my niece and sister out for lunch. They are very kid friendly. I have had better Japanese food. There are others right around the block with better prices and choices.
Service was attentive. Food didn’t take too long either. I just didn’t get the «wow“experience as expected. I would go back, my niece loved their keiki menu!

I only ate here for lunch a few times and had the chirashi sushi, butterfish, fried chicken, nigiri set, and tonkatsu.
Overall the food was good, I guess it’s standard japanese but not so pricey. I like that the food is affordable (most items $ 10 and under– except seafood). The butterfish was a good sized piece and tasted excellent! I recommend the lunch specials because each time I went I got a lunch special and it was good. I also was given a coupon for $ 5.00 off an entrée. I was able to use 2 for each entrée and my bill for lunch was $ 8.75. (if still available coupons were found at Japan Video then when you go they give you another coupon for $ 5.00 off)
Service for me was OK, not horrible. I wished they offered me more tea and asked at least once how we were doing They did come and give us lots of water though.

I HATE butterfish.
I took one bite of theirs and was absolutely floored. My jaw dropped. My eyes bulged in disbelief. How high was I? This was heaven. Double-​yew-​tee-​eff.
Saikyo miso, I learned, was the magic-​maker. This special kind of miso has a greater ratio of rice to soybeans, creating a more delicate sweetness that translated onto the butterfish ($ 12.95), whose palate-​numbing deliciousness was further helped by perfect cooking.
And where have I ever had better salt-​grilled salmon ($ 6.00 a la carte)?
My mom moaned about her garlic butter chicken ($ 12.95), my dad relished his enormous bowl of unagi over rice with dashi ($ 18.95), and my grandpa gobbled down his tempura ($ 17.50) without a word, which was highly unusual given that he usually has something to complain about. Even my 7-​year-​old brother enjoyed his fun-​sized portion of shrimp tempura udon ($ 5.50) and, of course, still had room to scarf a green tea cheesecake ($ 6.50), which from the bite I took while he wasn’t looking, was very impressive for a Japanese restaurant.
A steamer basket filled with nothing more than unseasoned pork, cabbage and green onion ($ 7) I found oddly good, even though there was really nothing to it.
How then, could the sushi chefs, decked out in ties and looking very important, manage to make utterly tasteless spicy tuna ($ 5.50), nothing more than Grade B ‘ahi with a stingy schmear of mayo and Sriracha? Soy sauce saved the day but I can do without anywhere else. Virtue was found in the fresh mackerel, uni, ikura and king clam, all part of the Kamehameha nigiri platter ($ 23.00 — not bad for 13 sushi), but we discovered that because the fish were sliced more thinly than is customary, letting them sit for more than 10 minutes dried them out.
Nothing a Kirin draft couldn’t take care of. And the very, very nice waitstaff; our assigned waitress never stopped smiling but at the same time it never seemed farcical. The seriously FOB busboy poured water into my brother’s Sprite, which had a straw and whose glass was markedly different from everyone else’s, something he should have picked up on.
Then again, it’s all part of the experience, eh?

Wow… I’m surprised at the lower marks for Hanamaru. I’ve been here couple times now both lunch and dinner and I think the food is awesome. I like getting their combination teishoku style sets. Last time had the aji fish with sashimi, it came with soup, salad, sides, it was as good as it could get. I think there sashimi was very fresh and service was good too. I mean you can’t compare to Imana Tei since they are expensive and obviously good, but compared to like Gyo-​taku for example, Hanamaru’s quality is way better.
They also have private rooms too. and setting is casual.

I’d heard that this place was good… so tonite we decided to give it a try…
Spider roll, chu toro, fried tofu, dynamite, clams, soft shell crab, miso soup rice, tempura platter… I’d say we gave it a decent try…
Don’t think we’ll go back… seriously for the money, I’d MUCH rather eat at Imana Tei… right next door.
Totally not impressed with the food. Spider roll was ok, chu toro was ok, fried tofu, nothing special, dynamite — terrible, soft shell crab, ok, tempura platter ok… all in all… ok I think we gave them a fair shot. People were nice but food just not special…

I love the food and at home atmosphere.
The Crab Karaage was great 5 star!
I really want order again!!!

OooOooo the steak sauce! *drooling* I am in love with the their sirloin steak thing, which apparently only comes in the 2 combo set.
–2 combo; garlic butter chicken & tender house sirloin steak. The sauce that comes in that little genie lamp looking container is super yummy with the steak. I’m not a fan of beef, but I will totally get this. Fo sho!
–Tempura; the shrimps are small, but it does come with a lot of tempura pieces. 4 shrimps and a lot of different vegetables. I think even a leaf of lettuce?!
–Ahi Poke;…just like any other.
–Couple Nigiri Platter; the unagi melts in your mouth.
–Green Tea Panna Cotta; they consider this their #1 dessert. I enjoyed it, because frankly, I like green tea anything. My company didn’t care for it.
I’ve read about the horrible service… Maybe we just seem to go at the right times (Wednesday nights) and the service has always been attentive, our waters were filled, dished removed at a timely manner. Nothing to really complain about.
There is this super nice, lanky Japanese guy there with glasses, that is adorable! I just wanna fold him up and put him in my pocket! We asked him to take a picture of us. He suggested a place for us to stand, took a picture, and then moved us to another place to take another picture because the showcase we were talking a picture in front of meant prosperity (or something good along those lines) Then after we looked at it, he asked if it came out okay, and if not he could take another one. So kawaii!

3 late night dishes & 1 Kirin draft = about $ 20. I liked the tempura udon (I opted for all vegetable, no problem), and the house salad (awesome, with tasty and light dressing).
However, the third late night special I got turned out to be about 2 tablespoons of superfine shredded daikon with about a teaspoon of very slimy tiny canned-​tasting mushrooms. Very odd. I put on a little shoyu, and I was fine eating it. Without the shoyu it was very plain. Weird. I forget what this dish was called, but there’s the option to get salmon eggs instead of slimy mushroom.
I experienced some unwanted waiting to order. I thought if I took out my planner and organized my week, they’d get the message, but no. I drank almost my whole beer and was a little buzzed by the time I ordered. Oh, well. I would like to return to try more things, especially the green tea panacotta and mochi ball soup dessert.

Some local friends took me here for dinner on Sunday night, seated in a booth below the «High Plains Drifter» poster. We were a party of five and ordered the following:
Appetizer
Nigiri Sushi platter — Pretty good stuff as most of the fish melted in our mouth — maguro, hamachi, octopus, uni, California roll, unagi, and ebi (3 pieces each of the nigiri’s and about six to eight pieces of the Cal roll).
Entrees
Misoyaki Butterfish — Two medium sized tender pieces of skin-​on butterfish filets on a shiso leaf, flanked by marinated pepper pieces and marinated pickles; ordered the dinner set which included a bowl of miso soup and a bowl of rice. The fish was sweet, except a fishy flavor when eating the skin.
Seafood Nabe — Shared by two, this entrée was served in a large clay pot of soup with two large dishes container a variety of seafood (mussels, crab, prawns, clams, salmon), veggies (tofu and napa cabbage), and udon noodles. Tried a small bowl with salmon and udon, which was not bad.
The total bill came to about $ 82.00 for five people before tip which is about average; our hosts used some discount coupons. The wait staff was nice and quick about removing empty plates and bowls as well as refilling tea and water. Only minor quirk was that our hosts told the waiter about their previous dining experience there, getting sick from the nabe, and the waiter did not believe them. Originally, this convinced the other couple to steer away from ordering the nabe, but they stayed adventurous and ordered it anyway. Haven’t spoken with them since leaving town, so hopefully…
Decent restaurant to visit if in the neighborhood.

First time here… the inside was better than I thought it would be. I thought it was going to be some cheap looking hole in the wall kind of place, but it’s actually kinda nice in there.
I had the nabeyaki-​udon, which was okay.
But the coffee jelly! mmmmmm… I love coffee jelly… it’s like coffee jello w/​ice cream. You have to try it!

**UPDATE 6/​9/​08**
I went back to Hanamaru the other night. The place is packed now so I would suggest reservations. This time we sat at the sushi bar. The sushi this time was great. The sushi chefs here have the best attitudes I have seen in Honolulu. Friendly, talkative and willing to accommodate. My only complaint about this place they serve very unique dishes but the menu doesn’t really describe what you get. Also the appetizer portions are HUGE. If you have a big group this i great but for a couple you can fill up on just one dish. Economical, yes, but I like to taste different things when I eat izakaya style. The sushi chef told us the kitchen is staffed with six Japanese professional chefs so even though the restaurant has only been open a short time the food comes out quick and the quality has been very good. Service was great except the young hostess who lacked personality.
***Original Review below****
Another new Japanese restaurant on King St… In Puck’s Alley facing King Street, Hanamaru will be another restaurant added to my rotation. What looks like a small place from the street is actually pretty large space with a small bar area in front, two private dining rooms on the right side, a large dining section around the corner and a sushi bar in back. The menu is pretty unique with some traditional Izakaya dishes like you would find at Imanas Tei or Aki no no, the regular sushi/​sashimi fare but also includes some pasta dishes and some fusion experiments.
We had the Couple’s Nigiri Sushi platter, Kakuni, Carbonara Pasta, Agedashi Cheese Tofu and their dinner salad. I really don’t like to order sushi if it is not being made «me no mae» or in front of your eyes and found this platter to be a bit skimpy on the cuts of maguro, hamachi, unagi and salmon. But at $ 15 for all that and the ebi I can’t complain too much. I would imagine the sushi at the sushi bar would be a more healthy cut.
The kakuni was great. A very large portion of fatty braised pork like you see at Shirokiya for only $ 7.
I kind of like Japanese style pasta from my Japan days and was excited to see Carbonara on the menu. The taste was very heavy on Japanese cream with very tasty bacon or panceta and some sun dried tomato. I loved the taste but was expecting the Japanese style flavors.
The tofu dish was a bit unique. Agedashi tofu stuffed with Cheddar cheese. I really like the taste, but I am a sucker for anything deep fried.
The service was excellent with plenty of staff around. My only complaint was the kitchen was a bit too fast and most of our dishes came a one time right after ordering. I will know better to order one or two dishes at a time here.
They only have been open for three weeks. The manager dude said the owner has a restaurant in Hilton Hawaiian Village and is looking for an escape if the rents go any higher there. Only open for dinner now but will add lunch soon.
I have high hopes for this place. I will reserve my 5^th star after a few more trips.