Imanas Tei Restaurant

Very good food and fresh fish. I was fortunate enough to have a friend take me out here. Nice ambience.

Small restaurant with very limited parking. Overall the food was good, however the sashimi didn’t seem too fresh the night I went. The older lady in the front was friendly but the servers who helped us was rude and very unfriendly.

Took a chance and walked in on a Saturday night around 8pm and got seated right away. It’s been over a year since my last visit, and same friendly welcome greeted me. Steamed clams, king crab dynamite, katsu kushi and orders of maguro, hamachi and ikura completed our meal. Looking forward to returning soon…

I went to Imanas Tei with a friend of mine. The two items that we ordered that stick out in my mind and really make me want to go back were the soft shell crab, which was outstanding and the cooked pumpkin. The cooked pumpkin is served cold in a sauce that while sweet isn’t overly sweet. I will definitely be back for those two items.

By far, one of the best Japanese restaurants on the island. from the service to the presentation. reservations recommended, though there is usually space at the sushi bar.

Omg everything was delicious :) we ordered soft shell crab, ankimo, fried gobo, hamachi, butter fish, sashimi, beef tongue, and oyster shots (Yamaimo, quail eggs, oysters). I will definitely go there again!

Average 3 stars experience.
Sushi: compared to NY and Tokyo just average quality. slightly above average quality in Honolulu standard… just ok
Nabe: used to be better… it was just ok. Above avg in Honolulu standard.
Service slightly below average. Too crowded and busy…
Interior: 4 stars
Food: 3 stars
Service: 2 stars
Price: 3 stars

We’ve been to Imanas Tei a few times now and it’s always very good quality sushi, friendly attentive service, and everyone loves a clean restaurant. Ambiance is very relaxing, you might even lose track of time while you’re there, especially in good company. I personally enjoy the back tables where you get to act like you’re in Japan. Remove your shoes and «sit on the ground» some of friends still get fooled into thinking they have to cross their legs to sit, and are pleasantly surprised to find the open bottom. Anyways, a few tips about Imanas Tei, call to make reservations if you can but beware they only take reservations until 7pm on weekends it seems and after that you have to try to walk-​in and hope they have seats available with minimal wait.
Parking is a little difficult in this area as they have a small shared parking lot with Kohnotori (another favorite!) it basically has only 8 stalls and good luck searching for street parking in that area. Either go early evening or late night :\
If you’re someone that appreciates good sushi and doesn’t want to break the bank, you’ll like Imanas Tei, not to say their «cheap» but it’s a lot easier on your wallet compared to Kona Kai, Sushi ii, or Sasabune. Put it right up there with some of the better sushi spots in town!

So dericious! Took my girlfriend here last night and we came in just to eat. The toro was so goooooooood I wanted to cry. This morning my girlfriend kept repeating” that sushi was so good!” The whole morning. Service was great and i like the atmosphere.

Someone close to me knows how much I love Japanese food and they had recommended this restaurant in the begin of the year. After a recent visit to Japan in October I’m on the look out for some great Japanese cuisine. So for my friends Birthday we met here and it was amazing oshi!
A quant and nice dinning area and a sushi bar that sits about 14. It was Friday at 7pm and it was a full house. We sat at the sushi bar but order off the dinner menu. Sashimi plate was terrific. All the fish was melt in your mouth fresh! Flavored of Sauce for each dish was great. And the size of the meals were dished out plenty which isn’t always the case for Japanese. If I didn’t know any better I would say this was as good as any if not better then some of the places I visited in Japan. So good in fact my friend called me just to tell me how great the food was the night before! Service was 5 star and you didn’t need to wait to long after you ordered! Definitely a favorite on the island

I really enjoy eating here because the handful of times i have been here has always been good. Service and food are always consistent.
Usually they are crowded, but we went a little later than usual and we were able to be seated right away. We even got to sit at the sushi bar which is always fun. The restaurant is nice, the décor and ambience is pleasant. The servers are quick and friendly, and the food was brought out quickly.
We stuck with our usual order, cali roll, spicy ahi roll, hamachi sashimi, miso butterfish, chicken and ika karaage and Asahi. Everything tasted good and we enjoyed ourselves. We will definitely be back.

It’s been a long long time since I came back to Imanas Tei. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to come back sooner but I had always had a hard time getting a reservation in time. Boy, have I been missing out or what? Great quality food, good portion size, and value price! Who can ask for more?
Here’s the breakdown of what we had:
Ankimo ($ 8.5) — Monkfish liver as a starter, not many izakaya has this as an appeitizer.
Sashimi Deluxe ($ 30) — 7 pieces of ahi, 4 pieces of Hamachi, 4 pieces of salmon, 4 pieces of surf clam and 4 pieces of aku. Each piece of sashimi was thick cut and packed with freshness.
Sushi Delux ($ 21.50) — 8 pieces of sushi and 6 pieces of ahi maki. Fish includes: Ebi, Aku, Salmon, Ahi, Hamachi, Unagi, uni and ikura. Very good value for its quality!
Dynamite ($ 11) — Mixed scallop and mushrooms flavored with dynamite sauce. It’s not baby scallops, but big chucks.
Salmon Chazuke ($ 6.5) — I was expecting a small rice bowl, but no, it came in a big noodle bowl. Definitely need to unbuckle my belt to finish this bowl of rice.
The atmosphere is a relaxing romantic izakaya where you can «couple watch» or entertain friends. Everything was just oh so good. I need to come back more often.

Guess it’s time to update my review… still my favorite go to Japanese restaurant.
I go to dinner with a group of ladies… the «birthday girl» gets to pick. Everyone gets to order whatever they want and then the birthday girl get treated and rest of us split the tab. We generally have 6 of us, so the tab is split 5 ways. We have gone to many of the fine dining restaurants and on numerous occasions, the tab can run upwards of $ 85-​$ 100…
On this past Thursday evening, we all ordered a lot of dishes from sushi to miso butterfish, garlic clams, steak, fried gobo, agedashi tofu, soft shelled crab, dynamite and the like.
At the end of dinner, were were stuffed and the bill came out to be only $ 42 per person, including tax and tip!
Another great meal with great service.

Dinner was amazing! I went with four friends on a Tuesday night. We had a reservation that I’d made the week before (except they had a very difficult time with my name, LOL). We ate family style: fried tofu, kabocha, miso braised beef, teriyaki chicken, butter salmon, eggplant, chicken karaage, seafood salad, and three kinds of sushi (spicy ahi, California roll, and unagi avocado). Everything was scrumptious and arrived at a good pace.
I parked in Puck’s Alley and the attendant was gone by the time I left at around 8:45 pm, so that was convenient.
I love the ambiance too — dim lighting but not too dim, and quiet enough for good conversation. Our bill was reasonable. I definitely plan to be back!

Imanas Tei is a long time Izakaya-​style restaurant in Honolulu that can be relied on for good food and friendly service. It lacks surrounding parking, but there is a structure nearby that is reasonable.
The food is tasty and seasoned well — items like Gyutan are grilled and sliced thin to perfection. Sushi rolls are a great value, and mix a variety of flavors and sometimes textures, i.e. tobiko with salmon skin, to create a delicious bite, without resorting to ridiculous local trends by some hack sushi chefs like putting chili oil over everything! Also known for good nabe, though there are many other cheaper and specialized places in Honolulu, still good enough to try…
Service here is in line with what you’d expect in a traditional Japanese restaurant, welcoming and courteous if you are dissapointed in a dish. I had agedashi tofu and truth be told it wasn’t the best. Sometimes tofu quality can suffer and it tasted a little «wooden»…the waitress was apologetic and removed it from our bill. Easy and professional.
Pricing is on the upper average range, though some items are a steal like cut sushi rolls…
Always pleased to come here and with an intimate, dimly lit, cozy ambiance to boot… perfect drinking environment when cruising with a date or a group of friends.

Went here on a Thursday night around 8pm with my boyfriend.
I should first and foremost mention the issue of parking here. It’s a tiny lot with no more than 15 stalls, all of which are shared with the Kohnotori Yakitori place next door. Luckily my friend and I were able to snag a stall the second time around after passing through an entirely full lot the first time. I suggest either street parking or, like others have said, park in the Puck’s Alley lot.
The wait wasn’t bad at all, maybe about 15 minutes. The interior of the restaurant was nicely dimmed, was a cool temperature (honestly AC is so important in my opinion), and the seats and tables are nicely spaced out.
We ordered hamachi kama, tekka maki, tamago nigiri (which turned out to be my favorite), nameko miso soup, fried baby shrimp, assorted sushi B (we ordered this twice because it was so good and so cheap), grilled beed tongue, and mentaiko maki (?), and one other maki with shiso in it. Everything was very good; standard Japanese bar food.
Service was pretty good too. The man at the register was always greeting incoming customers and thanking leaving customers. The servers were 3 women, all of whom were quite friendly.
I definitely plan on coming back! There’s so many other things I want to try!

I’m sure my mercury levels were already sky-​high after eating sushi the night before, but once again my sushi cravings were strong enough that I found myself taking some risks in eating some weirder styles of sushi like sea urchin (uni) and salmon eggs. I was unprepared for the slimy texture of the sea urchin paste and came close to spitting it out but stomached it in front of the sushi chef. I was the only white dude there – the sure sign of a good Japanese restaurant.

Came here with my family (party of six) on a Friday at 6pm for dinner… I was genuinely surprised that we were able to secure a reservation on Tuesday of that week, but it helps to get there early.
Here’s what we had:
— Eggplant Agedashi (super delicious)
— Seafood Dynamite (too much mayo)
— Sashimi platter (decent)
— Gobo Kakiage (MUST order)
— Chanko Nabe (meats, Korean mochi, beef, meatballs, EXCELLENT Udon)
— Yellow Tail Kama (grilled, SUPER delicious)
— Junmai Ginko sake was delicious, and I took the bottle home since I couldn’t finish
— Fried squid legs: my nephew devoured them.
My Dad did ask for fresh wasabi at one point and it’s WAY spicier than what you’re getting at the table. Yum.
Dessert options were limited — red bean or green tea ice-​cream.
Our server deserved a medal. He was incredibly patient, he made really smart recommendations (we literally had the PERFECT amount of food) and also advised us on how to order in the most economical way.
All in, it was $ 149 to feed a party of six. I look forward to visiting again on future trips to Oahu!

I am a huge fan of sushi. Imanas has been on my Unilocal Bookmarked list for a while now and I figured it was time to satisfy my sushi craving. First tip: make reservations. Good luck if you want to walk in. This place gets so busy!
I had called 3 days prior and got reservations for a Wednesday night. Was seated right away. Their service is wonderful. Very attentive and always making sure we were okay.
Their sushi: excellent. However, hardcore Imanas patrons might get upset with me for this… I liked Gaku better. The menu is a little more diverse and bold. Imanas tends to be a little more «traditional» in a general sense.
Nonetheless, the sushi is still superb. Ordered some Uni, Sashimi Platter for Two, and Beef Tongue. Oishii!
If you’re craving sushi and want some value for some good quality sushi, try Imanas out.

parking: private lot, didn’t have issues finding parking here. There’s also some street parking around
cost: $ 50 per person
reservations: recommended they take reservations between 5−7pm but they fill up fast then it becomes first come first serve. We showed up at 5:15pm with a party of 2 and were seated promptly. However, a party of 4 showed up right after us and were turned away.
The food:
— Gobo kakiage
— hamachi and o-​toro sashimi
— seafood dynamite
— grilled beef tongue
— king crab dynamite
— squid and uni
— fried tofu
I just love the ambiance of this place! You feel like you’ve been transported to Japan. Quiet and unassuming and provides a tranquil and calm dining experience. There’s a nice amount of dim lighting that would be perfect for a romantic dinner. All the tables and seats of made of wood with a central seating area that’s bench style. In the back you have floor seating and near the entrance is the bar. The star of my meal was definitely the king crab dynamite. It’s quite a unique dish that I haven’t found elsewhere. It’s just the right amount of creaminess. I found the gobo a slight letdown. It tasted like any fried vegetable, and I didn’t find it that special. The seafood dynamite was good, it can be a little heavy but the first couple of bites are simply amazing. The grilled beef tongue was a let down. It was too moist with not enough crispiness in my opinion.
Overall, an ideal place to take a date or a small group of friends. I’ve found better food at other Izakaya establishments but the ambiance and mood of this place makes up for it! I will have to come back for the nabe!