Sapori Enoteca

This has got to be one of the best Italian restaurants on the island. There isn’t that many good options for Italian food in Hawaii, that I consider this to be my go-​to place for an Italian fix. Vino being my 2^nd option. I’ve gone to this place before when it was French/​Italian and enjoyed it very much, but I think the place is even better now with it’s very reasonably priced Tapas style dishes.

Service is awful… going to keep this short and sweet — I’ll just list everything:
1. No hostess to greet us, we waited a few minutes before being acknowledged.
2. We had a reservation, obviously a large party of 50 – 60 year olds did too. They were seated, served and serviced way faster than we were. (Our party consisted of 8 30somethings).
3. Understand its tapas, but the food would sporadically come out. Almost like they forgot to put in our entire order!
4. On their website they advertise «four wines paired with four of Chef Donato delectable Italian dishes. $ 20» special. Our waiter had no idea what is was, then when he came back w/​more info… the menu was on a crookedly cut piece of xeroxed paper. Not even color.
5. The waiter forgot a portion of our four course meal above and paired the wine and food wrong. Seriously makes you wonder how many people actually order this!
6. The portion sizes were very inconsistent. Again, understand its tapas, but really there is not reason that pasta dishes shouldn’t be equal.
7. You have to ask for bread and water refills. I lost count how many times our glasses (water and wine) were empty.
8. When we were seated the waiter didn’t offer us drinks. In fact, we didn’t get water until about 15 minutes after we were seated!
9. The waiter could not explain dishes or wines and couldn’t pronounce anything either! (Seriously, why work at an Italian place if you can’t pronounce anything!)

The food is good.
The service is terrible. If this happens to you, find the manager and let her know. I forgot her name… I think it was Theresa? But she made things better instantly — food and service was phenomenal.

The last time I came here was a very long time ago when it was the L’Uraku restaurant. The place looked different in a good way, I kind of felt like I was in LA for a moment. We initially came here for the 4 tastings of wine with 4 small tapas but tonight’s menu didn’t sound too good so we passed on it and instead decided to go off the menu and share.
There were 4 of us girls, and I think we unintentionally gave the servers a difficult time (but it wasn’t our faults). First of all, the ice water was dirty, there was some particles floating around so we asked the server if we can get new glasses and water. Service was just slow and terrible. We waited forever to place in our order, and to get our order… it didn’t go well with us 4 hungry girls.
I didn’t care for the wines except for the last dessert wine. The dessert was over the top delicious. I don’t remember the last time I had a chocolate cake that good (chocolate and apple banana torte with hawaiian red salt). Oh so the appetizers…
we ordered the trio of bruschetta which was quite tasty. The cheese and meat platter was disappointing. Some of the meats looked like bologna (ick). We all agreed Formaggio’s had much better cheeses so we’re going there next time. The risotto was perfectly cooked and seasoned. The pork dish which was recommended was so ono! and those little tiny baby potatoes were the best ever. I wasn’t impressed with our last dish which was the special — opah in some greek salsa type thing. But the others enjoyed it.
Israel was a cool waiter though we may have been a little tough on him (e.g. the prices of the wines did not make sense — you’ll see for yourself when you compare the 3oz vs 5oz). I would come again to try some other dishes but maybe on a slower night. I can’t forget about that chocolate cake!!! yyyuuuummmmyyyy…

Sapori Enocata/​Birreria. A mouthful of a name that means «taste», «wine» and «beer».
Once again, I find myself eating at the handsome bar, featuring a wide counter of warm wood, lots of leg room and friendly, attentive staff. My only «complaint», no hooks for my bag.
What I like at Sapori is the selection of small plates — perfect for sharing. My dining partner and I enjoyed a super-​fresh and delightful salad made of vine-​ripened tomatoes, bits of roasted beets, creamy goat-​cheese and marinated (maybe slightly roasted?) artichokes hearts. WOW!!! We also enjoyed the Carpaccio, thin slices of tender beef, served with cheese shavings and some olive oil… and a few other things I couldn’t identify, and the stracciatella, a pulled, mildly dressed mozzarella salad. What better review than having three very clean plates by the night’s end?!
I want to know more about their monthly beer and wine events/​tastings.

Normally I like to detail the dishes that we tried, but we had far too many martinis and a bit too much wine for me to remember the whole night… BUT, the one thing that I could not forget was the white anchovy tapas. The anchovies were mild and had a beautiful creamy texture which made for one the best single tapas dish anywhere. From what I recall, the rest of the dishes were solid with the octopus being a bit salty. Our waiter was friendly, attentive and knoweledgeable of the wine list. Whenever we are back in Honolulu I will insist on coming back here just for the anchovies.

Service was outstanding, in fact, it could not have been better. The reception at the front was quick and polite, and the waiter was knowledgeable and attentive. He offered to get us a basket of bread to soak up the yummy seven-​cheese gnocchi sauce and the broth from the perfectly steamed mussels. We were there on a Saturday night, and it was quite busy. I was impressed by the friendliness of the staff.
The only downside was the art, which was dark and depressing. It was more fun to look at the people.

Definitely a good place for a date! We went on a Friday night at 7pm and it was busy, but not overly crowded.
We had the oysters, which came with a nice cucumber granita which was an unexpected flavor addition while the oyster is going down! Not as fresh as I’d like, but still tasty.
We also had the AWESOME gnocchi! It’s like a cheesy garlic sauce with truffle oil and just melt in your mouth handmade gnocchi!
Also, the risotto was very creamy! Not as soft as I would’ve like, but so tasty that you forget about it!
We also had the steak which was REALLY good and I’m not a steak person!
All portions are small, but we shared everything and were perfectly satisfied.
And for dessert, we had the crème brûlée. It was cooked too fast I think, but the inside was very good!
They have an AMAZING wine and beer selection. Not a LARGE selection, but a good quality selection. I LOVE Ballast Point beer, both Pale and Amber Ale, which they had both of them!
Definitely completed the meal! And we got to speak to the Chef’s wife which was very interesting. She’s very nice and genuine and recommended the gnocchi and steak, which we were glad she did! Enjoy!

Wow, this really makes me miss Elua… and I’ll even go all the way back and miss having L’Uraku there.
The space is essentially unchanged from the previous two iterations — high-​ceilings, good for seeing & being seen without feeling like you’re in a fishbowl (that is, pretty comfortable), nicely furnished.
The food, however, is miles below what it should be, and so is the help.
We had a 6:30 reservation for our party of four. We got there a few minutes early and apparently that meant we didn’t have to be seated right away even though we could see the table the guy pointed out for us. There’s no real waiting area and we milled about until they could get a grip.
We were two vegetarians plus two omnivores who generally prefer seafood. Not a problem for a good restaurant, right?
Wrong we were, and did we pay (pun intended). It’s very apparent that all the food is pre-​made and loaded with hidden fats to make the pre-​made food taste better.
Every single thing there has either egg, cheese, or hidden meat in it. That includes the bread, which has dairy. It’s like the expensive version of those food expose books that show how fast food places and restaurants lure you into liking their food by loading it with salt and fat.
In the end, they brought me about 10 string beans AS MY DINNER. That was after unnecessarily long consultation about each item — no, they already put the cheese in this, no, they already put the chicken fat in this. I give them points for checking, but eventually I put myself in their hands & said just bring me something, anything. Oops! They brought the limp veggies, and with something on it. But what?
At this point, I was starving. My friends weren’t too enthused either — they’d had salads that were okay and were awaiting their other dishes, but after hearing how everything was already made & seeing how ineffective the kitchen really is, hopes were pretty dim. The waiter then insisted that only sea salt was on my veggies. Uh, sea salt isn’t oily. I had precisely — nothing — for dinner. I could not wait to finish my glass of wine and go eat, which is what I did.
The other vegetarian had gnocchi, which he said was about what he could boil at home from a package. The others had the mushroom risotto and some fish, which they gave a B.
I have to go back soon for a friend’s party. If they’ve magically reformed their cheating ways (loading everything with oil and fat and cheese), I’ll be right back here. I hope that happens, because Honolulu could really use a good tapas place. So far, this isn’t it.

Sapori just opened a couple of months ago so they have a few ticks to adjust, but I am extremely impressed with this place and am delighted to recommend it. The food is fabulous, just a bit shy of a 5 really, so we’ll see if my next time hits the mark again.
My top rated dishes:
— Carpaccio: extremely tender, melts in your mouth. Perfect flavor balance (got a lot of oohs and aahs from our group).
— Polenta w/​Goat Cheese: again, perfect flavor balance w/​a delicate salad and delicious cubed yellow and red beets.
— 7 Cheese Gnocchi: Fresh gnocchi made perfectly with the right seasoning. I heart gnocchi.
Other dishes:
— Mussels w/​broth: made well but execution of flavors weren’t as brilliant as the one as Imana’s or at Uncle Bo’s, but loved the yellow and red grape tomatoes (my apologies for the name dropping, but it’s a relative point)
— Mushroom Risotto: others in my group loved this dish but I did not agree. It was earthy but lacked some herbs and salt, and the texture fell a little flat (maybe overcooked?)
— Escargot: served on hard bread, very buttery but lacked in herbs
— Pork Loin: again, a dish that others in my group liked a lot but to me the flavors fell flat and it wasn’t as tender as it should have been. Although I was full at this point, I didn’t think highly of this dish.
We ordered 7 dishes for 4 people which was way too much food. I don’t think it was really tapas we were served, but more like appetizers and big portions of food. Not that I’m complaining about how much they give you for what you pay, but we probably could have made do with just 5 dishes.
Service was slow but they were very nice and accommodating. They have an extensive beer menu but the mojitos did not really resemble them decently. The plates were unnecessarily huge that we literally could not fit more than 4 dishes on our table. Still, I give it a 4 because the food should theoretically only get better, and I am coming back for more.

I’m sorry, Sappori Enoteca :’(I hate to give this place anything under four stars because the first time around was really good, but the service we received this time (or lack thereof) really was too S L O W for words… but I’ll attempt to do so anyways: P
Granted we were waiting for the last member of our 8-​person party to arrive about 45 minutes into us being seated, they didn’t even bring us water or ask if we wanted to order any drinks/​starters until about half an hour in. We asked for a wine menu, and our waitress said that the sommelier was just about to print a new one out — after about 20 minutes of waiting for it, we just decided to order mixed drinks. We had ordered a steak dish, which we looking forward to mind you, but that never came out. Our server walked past us several times without checking in with us — which wouldn’t be TOO bad had there not have been a bunch of empty plates and glasses in front us, just dying to be cleared.
On the positive side, the food and drinks that DID make their way out were indeed yummy. I definitely recommend the gnocchi and risotto! We had a pretty good mojito as well. And the girl who served us, while inattentive, was very friendly.
PS: So actually, half of our groups (4) are Unilocalers. We jokingly said that we should hold up our iPhones with the Unilocal app open to see if that get us quicker service: P I wonder if that actually works…

We went to Sapori for the first time last night, and had a really, really nice time. The food is nicely proportioned for the price and extremely tasty. Unfortunately, given my current state of pregnancy, over half the menu was off limits due to either raw products or my intense aversion to seafood… but what we did eat was delightful. I can’t wait to pop the baby out so I can try the carpaccio and the asparagus salad with the sunny side up egg — but I will live for the next 4 months with the taste of the lemongrass vanilla panna cotta. Oh that was divine. And the gnocchi was fantabulous.

Honestly, the only thing I like about this place is the gnocchi. And the only reason I’m giving this place 5 stars is because 1) they have gnocchi and 2) it’s good… even though it’s SUPER overpriced.
I had the gnocchi, 3 cheese sampler, mahi special, some wine, and the crème brûlée.
If I were to go back, I’d just get 3 servings of the gnocchi. That would cost me $ 10 for each, but that’s because it would be totally worth it.

Finally, a great (Italian) tapas place in Hawaii.
The Great:
Food is awesome. Met a couple of friends here for dinner, and I am very glad we gave this place a shot. I was really impressed by the luscious flavors of the food. The prices are pretty reasonable, and the menu is very engaging. We shared a pretty good portion of the menu, but I still want to come back to try more.
We started with the Carpaccio with Hamakua Mushrooms, which was delicately soft and tender. The flavors were rich and light. Then came Escargot with Mushrooms, which was an explosion of texture and richness.
The second wave of dishes started with Lightly Fried Polenta and Goat Cheese, with a salad medley of greens and beets. It was delicious, and I even loved the combination of the beets: I hate beets. Then, came the Black Mussels with Tomatoes and Potatoes, which had a pretty good sweetened shellfish flavor. I actually was hoping that the mussel sauce could’ve been much more flavorful, but it was adequate.
With the third wave came the Linguine Bolognese, which was probably the most boring of the evening: pass. The Homemade Gnocchi in Cheese Sauce was fantastically soft and fancifully light.
The last wave of dishes started with the Mushroom Risotto; I loved the saucy and earthy flavor. We finished off with the Pork Loin in Truffle Sauce: succulently rich. The pork wasn’t the most tender I’ve had, but I absolutely love truffles.
I loved the journey of earthen Northern Italian flavors the meal took me on. My faves of the meal were the Carpaccio, the Polenta and Goat Cheese, the Gnocchi, the Mushroom Risotto, and the Pork Loin with Truffle Sauce. My least favorites were the Linguine Bolognese, and the Black Mussels.
The Wine and Beer List is extensive. Another great point of the place is that they have a wide variety of beers and wines. Both the wine and beer lists have several selections from around the world. The hoppy belgian beer I ordered was great. The pinot noir we shared was light and full bodied.
The Not-​So-​Great:
Too big dishes, too small tables. The disparity makes for a very clunky and uncomfortable experience. If the plateware were smaller, or the tables larger, it would make things much better. With little room for our glasses and utensils, It felt like we were eating in a prison or something.
The timing of the serving seemed too rushed, there were too many dishes coming at once. This just exacerbated the issue with the awkward tables. Our table quickly became stacked and stuffed with plates, leaving little room to maneuver.
Overall:
Despite some gripes, I really enjoyed my meal. The food was amazing, and I was very impressed by the flavors. Even though the table situation was claustrophobic, but the service was attentive. The prices are pretty reasonable: about $ 30 — $ 40 per person without drinks. All enough to eagerly look forward to coming back again.
I found out that the place is owned by one of my fave local chefs, Donato Loperfido. I love his food, and am very happy to support him: with the exception of his disappointing Pasta Basta take-​out place.
My fave find of the year so far: Donato seems to have opened another winner.

I must have got the alternate universe Satori. It was a horrible experience and I could not wait to get out the door.
The selection of wines by the glass was fine. I had an Italian ($ 12/​glass) and my BF had the Washington wine recommended by the waiter ($ 14/​glass). Mine was better, but still not good enough to stay for another, especially considering that 2 glasses each would have been about $ 60 total.
Before I continue, let me mention the two good things: the manager, who saves the place, and the woman who poured water constantly.
On to the rest: the place is freezing. Freezing. Unless you’re drunk or wearing a thick jacket, or are direct from the mainland, you’ll be cold. What’s the point of that? The space is open and airy and does not need that kind of AC. The temperature made the otherwise desirable open feeling into an unpleasant experience.
The staff is semi-​competent at best. We had two waiters approach the front while we waited and neither was able to seat us in a fairly empty restaurant. They each examined the seating chart, the open table chart, and said we’d have to wait for the manager because she manages the seating. We waited five minutes to be seated.
The waiter was a nice guy, but his wine recommendations were not so good. He would hang out at some tables and rush by others. He kept promising bread while we waited and forgot it twice. We ended up ordering bruschetta to get our bread fix.
The food — blah. meh. The cooks are more like assemblers, apparently. Some of the food was clearly pre-​cooked. The beet & goat cheese salad was okay, but seriously, I can make that at home and it shouldn’t be the highlight of a restaurant meal. The risotto was mushy, although the flavors were good. The bread for the bruschetta was nothing special, and the toppings were basic.
If they lowered the temperature, trained their waitstaff how to seat people and keep track of tables, and improved the food, Sapori would be great.
Oh, parking’s very convenient. I want to be fair.

i was pleasantly surprised by this place. my friend brought me here last night, when i really wanted to go eat some sushi (i know, its very typical of me).
prices are quite reasonable, and the food was beautifully prepared! i loved their gnocchi, and their brushetta. the mushroom risotto was also very tasty and i had no complains about their food at all.
the only con i would say, is that i love drinking merlot, and they didn’t have a single merlot on their wine list. :(so i drank a pinot instead :)

Loved the bruschetta, the scallops, mushroom risotto, and the stuffed pork chop with the truffle sauce. After converting to Sapori from Elua, they got rid of some pesky wait staff and this time, our waiter was great. Also, Cynthia Fenner, the sommelier is very knowledgeble and pleasant.
We can’t wait to go back! The food was delicious and good price performers!
UPDATE ⁶⁄₁₀: We went back to Sapori; same great food, but the aforementioned pesky waiter was there – I guess they either didn’t get rid of him or rehired him. His name is Kelly. Next time, I will ask for a table served by someone else. Also, alas, Cynthia Fenner left them to go and work for Formaggio in Kailua. A big loss for them.

Absolutely beautiful… I honestly don’t know where to begin. Maybe the eloquent wines that will satisfy almost any wine drinkers. Or the beers that will make any brutish beer drinker feel aphrodisiac. Or the staff that really knows their stuff. There are few places that I have gone to where I have asked the Bar Keep to make a suggestion and have it stun my senses in bliss. I have never met a Sommelier that could find me an alternative to Zinfandel; my preference in wine. And the Mikkeller’s Beer Geek Breakfest is to die for if you love good beer.
It may be bit costly for your average Joe… but, in my opinion, it’s worth the cost.

I’ve been waiting for a late night place where i can mostly sit, drink and talk with friends. It’s a bonus that the food is tasty. It’s a good place to start your night off, like eat and pre-​funk before going out or after going to the movies or theater.
I will admit, i’m no gourmond (ck spelling), so i wouldn’t be able to be a judge on Top Chef. However i found the food to be very good, especially the charred steak!
Wines — i can differentiate between $ 1000 wine and $ 2 wine, everything else — it’s a crap shoot. So i will just say this: there’s a lot of wine and beer choices.
Pros:
Lots of alcohol, they have everything from wines, beers to hards. They do serve by the bottle as well.
Food is good and easy to share.
Knowledgeable staff on re wines
Plenty Parking
Nice atmosphere
(i hope they open up the outdoor seating area)
Cons:
maybe add a few more ‘healthier” items to the menu
need drink specials
Bottom line — good place to meet friends and chill before going out. PS — im 33 years old so might not be suited towards the barely 21 year olds.

I LOVE TAPAS!
Sapori Enoteca is located on the ground floor of the ritzy Uraku Towers (can you believe it’s on
?
). The restaurant used to be Elua (a French/​American combo), but the owner got smart and made it into a tapas place! The food is TO DIE FOR! We got the charred steak, trio of bruschetta, risotto, mushroom toast…(i will have to update this later with more detailed descriptions bc my memory is not giving the food justice lol).
This place is great for a first date, anniversary, grandma’s birthday, (u get the idea lol). The atmosphere is ELEGANT but not overly romantic, FANCY but not stuffy, and CASUALbut not trashy. The waiters are very knowledgeable on the menu and the wines, and the staff are super friendly! Also, on the night that I went, there was a live band playing music. Another plus is that they have a great drinking menu, so you can go here before going out out.
AND even if you don’t like tapas, don’t worry. The portions aren’t the traditional super tiny plates like you would imagine. Technically you could eat one as an entrée (if you are not too hungry or a small child). The price is right at about $ 10 an item, so doing family style with a group is a great idea. All in all, I am never that ecstatic about food places, but this place definitely surprised me and I will go back :)